Write us in red lines;

bold, vibrant and sharp but

still

make it soft where our hand folds together, make it soft where I kiss your cheek

and where I laugh and you laugh harder and louder and bright and when the stars are

dancing for us and I’m trying to copy them (and failing) and you’re cheering for me on either way and the warmth is overflowing and our cheeks are flushed and the red is strongest and brightest and sharpest here but still somehow

the most gentle

I can't get my hands off you.

You say, "stop."

My hands stick to you like glue.

I make you laugh,

you can't help it,

but it's what I do.

You don't want me to stop,

but you say it

to drive me crazy.

If I try to take my hands off,

you pull me closer

like I did to you.

I can't say, "stop".

Because I like it,

your smile lightens up my mood.

You make me laugh,

I can't help it,

but it's what you do.

You can't get your hands off me,

neither can I.

It's what we do.

I recently came across a card I made for my grandmother a long time ago.

After seeing a whole bunch of "rewrite the roses are red poems" challenges, I figured I would post it.

After reading it, I remain firmly convinced that my eight year old self was a genius.

"Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

I can be any color

to love you!"

Sometimes, you really need some 8 year old wisdom in your life.

It has been dark for so long

The air has been heavy and oppressive

It’s been difficult to hold ones head high

Every day negativity oozed everywhere

Like a heavy weight

Everything became hard

Possibilities

In spite of it

People kept trying

People kept helping

People kept caring

Though they were tired

But hope was diminishing

Getting fainter

Possibilities

But, after some time

A small sliver of light shone through

In the darkness, it seemed even brighter

People began to focus on it

Watch it

Fascinated

They then started walking towards it

The closer they came, the brighter it became

Almost like a lighthouse beacon

The light was soothing

It was also healing

Possibilities

Eventually the light increased

Shining down everywhere

Causing the darkness to finally recede

Hope grew

Faith grew

The heaviness lifted

Possibilities

For the first time in a long time

People saw possibilities

They actually started to see the people around them

Their neighbors, friends, co-workers

And they were also seen

They talked and were heard

They listened and understood

Empathy started to grow

Care for one another grew

It was a brand new day

Possibilities

Blind allegiance to a person or cause

no rhyme or reason to back it up

A people devoid of sense or principles

sets the stage for chaos and anarchy

A broken society ripe for the picking

tyranny and dictatorship love it to death

Constricting freedoms for the greater good,

only serving to choke our vital airflow

We shrivel and wither to torpid gray

a visage belonging to dead men walking

We claim no blindness, only rose-tinted lenses;

is that why we can’t see we are slowly dying?

Take off the shades, shed the scaled skin,

look closely at reality and decide to live again

Notice the chains, the tightening noose,

before the chance to act is past all reckoning

Democracy is easily lost, but not so easily found

once slid into dim disarray, hope is all but gone

If a nation desires to return to her roots,

she must search within, where courage resides

Liberty is a privilege, freedom a gift

but is only secured by a unified force

Patriotism is a virtue, love of country admirable

but only when seasoned by humankindness.

Though divided, we are not doomed

the gap is bridgeable by mutually reaching hands

Our latent life force lying fallow as yet,

will spring to life again under a gentle touch

Healing wounds, fighting injustices,

our past not forgotten, yet mercifully forgiven

Take courage, light the torches,

as we open our hearts to be joined again

Hand in hand, we march through the dark

looking ahead to brighter days

Where future generations bask in the sunlight

of our indivisible nation, liberty and justice for all.

My senses were lit up like a beacon tonight. The light breeze wafting over the hills and through the pines to tickle my nose only served to magnify my already sensitive instincts.

I had taken up my usual post at the top of a rocky outcropping where I could more easily survey my domain and track the various inhabitants and, occasionally, intruders that lurked in the shadows of the deepening night. Sometimes the forest was alive with noise and movement; other times, like tonight, it was mostly still and serene.

I sniffed deeply, and a cocktail of scents flooded my olfactory system. Combined with my sharp senses of sight and hearing, I felt as one with every molecule of nature, more intimately than if it were rolling across my mind on a vivid-color, ultra high-definition TV screen with the full 4D experience. This was what I desperately missed and craved with every second of being in my human form. The worst part was the moment just after I’d changed back; the acute awareness of my lost senses made me feel impotent and powerless. I’d do anything to experience these glorious times more often than once a month.

A shudder rippled through my frame and I instinctively shook my body, as if I could rid myself of my agitated thoughts like shaking the water free of my coat after a cool dip in the river.

A faint scratching sound pulled my focus back to my surroundings. Narrowing my senses, I zeroed in on the sound until identifying it as a pair of skunks burrowing down in their hole for the night a few hills over. Satisfied with the lack of threat, I altered my angle of focus, widening it to the diameter of the forest on all sides of my awareness. A desperate squeal of a mouse becoming a possum’s midnight snack; the muffled hoot of a restless owl high on its leafy perch; the whish of a rogue fox trotting through tall grasses; the thunk of a pinecone hitting the spongy turf below; the snorts and snuffling of a herd of cattle a couple of miles away. The sounds of a world settling down to sleep.

Then, a crunch of padded paws on dry leaves, much closer—too close.

My hackles rose with an innate sense of wrongness before I fully knew the cause. Then I scented a foreign odor that coated my tongue in acrid bitterness. A lone wolf had crossed the border into my territory. I didn’t know who he was or what his business was here, but that didn’t matter much to me; all I knew was that he was an intruder, and I would defend what was mine.

I rose off my haunches and stretched, excitement vibrating up and down my legs and spine. A low growl ignited deep inside my chest, growing in intensity and decibels until it erupted from my throat in a mournful howl that I couldn’t have contained, had I wanted to. The sound echoed across the valley, carrying with it all the angst and pent-up emotions that I could never express to my satisfaction as a human. The weight was sometimes unbearable until the moment of release. I lived for this moment.

The undergrowth crunched under the power of my paws as I took off down the hill. Gaining speed, I ran faster and faster until my muscles tingled with adrenaline and the thrill of the chase. My quarry was just ahead; I was ready to pounce. My ears pressed back against my head as the wind whipped over my fur to mingle with the dust of the trail behind me. Exhilaration suffused me until I could not separate the feeling from the sensation of pure and unadulterated freedom. Unleashed.

This was my night, and I had never felt more alive.

~~~

#fiction

#paranormalfantasy

#wolfshifter

Only complexity exists - but who could face it? Through the falsifying ease of simplificaiton, we blind ourselves to truth. The world cannot be escaped, and we have only fooled ourselves. Nothing humbles like an exploding star. We feel so weak in the face of it, our legs go numb, our hairs stand on end. What have we done? To witness complexity is far too much for some. We could remember ourselves for a moment, realize what we are, grasp the cosmic balance, but this takes strength. We would rather peter out, lost and alone, a speck in a galaxy - a mystery to all. It can be avoided, it can be changed, but who will face complexity, and weave across the sky like stars do, before we all explode?

Not all scars

are visible.

Some are veiled

behind the facade

called life.

Some heal

on the surface,

but bleed

at the slightest scratch.

And some are so deep

that they make you wish

you were dead,

every. single. day.

They make you insecure

and your self- hate grows

until the grief envelops you

and you don't want

to live anymore.

But no matter how much

pain you go through,

These scars are also the reason

you are alive.

Thriving, fighting, smiling

despite all.

I’m just a puppet

for display and for show.

Encased within glass

with a slot on the door.

Go on, insert a coin.

I will perform and dance

to bring you joy.

I’m just a puppet

with strings controlling me.

They tighten more every day,

Tugging at me more vigorously.

I’m just a puppet

You determine my moves.

To fail, or to succeed

I don’t get to choose.

I’m just a puppet

To obey your every command

Even if it means

I’m always feeling sad.

I’m just a puppet

Forced to follow the path

you laid out for me.

Only to become the person

you expect me to be.

I’m just a puppet.

Strangled by your chains

Wishing every day

For you to end the pain.

I’m just a puppet.