November 2010
2 posts
prodigy
Listen here, she said while she smoothed an imaginary crease from her simple frock, I’m a kid, not an idiot. With a voice chillingly icy for a 12-year old, she masticated the poor old man much like a Serengeti lioness devouring her kill.
I‘d read the Bible cover to cover by the time other kids were presenting glue-and-glitter crosses to their mother, agreed with Kant by my 8th Easter and found...
the convincer
Knuckles, bleeding.
Elbow, a weapon.
Shoulder, a joint crafted of bruises.
You should've seen the other guy. This ain't your bar no more, son.
It'll take a shower to wash off the blood, and a beer to wash down the doubt.
They tell me I'm a hero now. I should hold this chin up like one.
I really shouldn't be asking for proof.
~ vanessa s
July 2010
5 posts
“faith”
– ~ word of the week
belong
Trevor watched that morning show where they invited a different guest host every week to team up with the permanent presenter. He wondered if it was because the regular guy was odiously boring or because the show’s content was remarkably dry. After twenty minutes, he decided it was both.
Leigh switched on her television to the same channel. How could they run a show like this every morning...
credit
The fumes perforated your lungs and burnt large gaps making every desperate gasp feel like you were swallowing fires from the pits of Hell. You’re drowning in a pool of acid, your eyelids dissolving and your sclerae corroding into a puddle of your liquid flesh. Flames lick at your skin and you can see Hades standing beside you with a white-hot brand in his hand, which he presses to your...
amanda
never trust girls whose name starts with a’s. ariel, she’s a mermaid but you’re a hydrophobic. alice is in wonderland and you can’t catch her. anneliese, too pretty a name for anyone. anna, palindromes are just tricks that break your heart. annabelle will just be anna. then amanda, oh amanda, she has gold streaks in her hair and a golden smile. she dresses in indigo and...
“belong”
– ~ word of the week
June 2010
4 posts
flow
He cursed under his breath.
Idiot, you should have worn the oxfords today, he berated himself. Lacking the nerve to trust his gut that morning, he had worn his new black wing-tips. As black as night and as new as dawn. He had been so proud of his decision; the store assistant had in no small part assured him that he’ll be very satisfied with the purchase. “The ladies will love...
coda
There was that strange part that was oddly missing, deliberately left out for a purpose - so that she could wake in the morning in a bed meant for one and prepare a breakfast for one. Maybe missing isn’t such a good word, because it wasn’t exactly something that should’ve been there but wasn’t there.
It had been removed, edited, consciously taken away from the strands of...
“water”
– ~ word of the week
potion
His keen eyes observed the way she shimmied to her bed, languidly peeling off the jacket he had gallantly draped around her. It had been cold out, too blustery and cold for her sequined minidress and stilettos.
As they entered her apartment, the tepid air felt like fire on her icy skin. “Hot,” she mumbled, drunkenly pulling the thin jacket off her slender arms, exposing her vanilla...
April 2010
2 posts
gaze
“Do they collide?”
I turn around, and I smile. She’s beautiful. Flowing auburn strands of hair fall across her porcelain skin. She brushes them away absentmindedly. This side of existence, there is no one else but the two of us. Sleeping. mumbling. gazing. holding. breathing. on the grass. to each other. at the heavens. hands. slowly. “Do what collide?”, I asked.
...
“blush”
– ~ word of the week
March 2010
6 posts
splat
It’s so hard not to cry.
Impulsive decisions are always a gamble. Opportunities are always scarce. The fortuitous meeting of both are inexplicably rare and indescribably precious.
So if you’re taking a leisurely stroll through life, not looking for much, when suddenly you catch Opportunity shyly smiling at you from a distance - flirtatiously, at that - you find yourself looking...
the never was
I lay motionless on my bed, my temple pressed against the window. The glow of the city and the conciliatory light of dusk tempt Nyx to reveal herself. And all of a sudden I find myself saturated in the darkness of the bedroom, my five senses under a spell.
The corners of my satin sheets are untouched, still tucked immaculately into the bottom of the firm mattress, taut and pressed like a new...
reasons
(02:59):
Hey you.
*nudge*
(03:02):
Hey…
(03:04):
You don’t have to do this you know =(
(03:05):
Then what? lol
(03:05):
Then don’t.
(03:05):
It’s hard for me, you know that.
(03:07):
So make it simple.
(03:08)
How?
(03:11)
I don’t know. :^)
(03.15)
sigh me neither. brb
(03:15)
k
(03:27):
k back
(03.27):
I’m sorry.
(03.28):
Don’t be.
(03.29):
Trying.
Let’s play...
“despair”
– ~ word of the week
von
You have never felt so alive. Your once-steady heartbeat is now a trill of thumping bass notes, resonating deeply through your bones, making you shudder with every booming note.
Feel the coarse track beneath the soles of your bare feet, the familiar pain from the pinch of its rough texture allowing you better grip thus enabling you to propel yourself farther, faster, more furiously. Feel the...
solace
I am control, sonorous and fervent.
I am also its evil twin chaos, conniving and deleterious.
Listen to my contradictory wisdom, for I am too complex to be contained within simple binary oppositions. You cannot say that I am right, or that I am wrong. And if you say I am neither, you are not merely mistaken once, but twice.
Hear my voice, the beguiling background noise that seduces you. You...
February 2010
5 posts
“control”
– ~ word of the week
hurry
She gripped the door handle so tightly she thought she might break it.
A shuddering bolt of pain ran through her spine and she cried out, immediately regretting it. “Hang in there, baby,” she heard his nervous voice attempting to reassure her, “we’ll be there in no time.”
“What’s with the traffic, oh, oh, oh god,” she wailed. Beads of cold sweat...
governance
She looks out the tiny window.
The runway lights rush past her weary eyes one by one, quickly melting into a long blinking streak of brilliance. Too bright. She exhales a lengthy sigh and tucks her legs beneath her small frame. As the plane breaks free of gravity, she clutches her blanket a little tighter, curling up into the tiniest ball possible. Oh, how she hates flying.
Breathe, she tells...
“deprive”
– ~ word of the week
refulgence
A breeze shines through the cracks of your outstretched fingers. Light flows around your hand, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat. Your palms are wet with anxiety as you reach into the darkness of uncertainty. What are you hoping for? A sign? Some tangible proof that you are headed in the right direction?
Slight pause as your hand touches something. You feel it carefully, gingerly at first,...
January 2010
2 posts
memo
I frowned.
“Green argyle on a blue shirt? Honey, you -” I couldn’t stifle my laughter “-you look like-” more uncontrollable laughing “-like my Sociology professor back at Georgetown.” Whenever he sulks, he has a dimple on his left cheek; one that isn’t present when he smiles. I spot the expressive dip in his skin and my heart flutters, sending...
“peculiar”
– - word of the week
December 2009
4 posts
munch
I hated you from the split second I saw you pick up the brush.
I loathed the freckles that lightly dusted your Celtic skin, resented the way your threadbare sweater hung on you, exposing glimpses of the white shirt underneath. I was disgusted by the mottled skin of your forearms and the unruly insult that was your garnet hair. Did no-one introduce you to the simple technology of a disposable...
vogue
Oh vanity, you are quite the beast.
Nothing hurts like you, savage mistress. The moment I string the words style and comfort in the same sentence, you lose interest in me. I strive to live up to your expectations constantly, yet you cast a disdained glance and turn away from me. Anything less than creme de la creme fills you with abhorrence and disgust.
I can’t explain why it’s never...
“beast”
– ~ word of the week
fight club
I am Leigh’s teardrops.
I am her heartbreak.
I am her setbacks, her fears unfounded, her paralyzing guilt and utter remorse. I define her bourgeois existence and steal her nights.
I am the final precipice after all attempts. She is my Olivia, and like Malvolio, I am tormented. There is no surrogate, this is the crossroad; should I leap, or fall? Nary a difference, but in the heart’s...
November 2009
9 posts
loki
Satisfaction is never guileless. Beneath the charming veneer lies the rotting wormwood of pleasure’s true colors. Satisfaction is not seeing your child climb onstage to receive tacky golden awards, or being hugged by someone you cherish. It is neither the diffusing lightness of a sudden stroke of luck nor the unexpected reprieve from something one dreads.
Satisfaction does not manifest in simple...
“precipice”
– ~ word of the week
describe
Describe yourself in ten words. Or a hundred and forty characters.
It would be myopic to attempt to simplify your whole self into ten adjectives. Or to try to describe love.
Or to describe us.
What are we? Did our hearts that beat in unison quantify as a new being? Do the nights where you stayed awake just to watch me sleep account for anything? Were our violent outbursts and passionate...
dream
She awakes.
The first thing she remembers is being loved. She frantically grasps at the vanishing trails of that vivid feeling to no avail. Fragments of memories swirl around between her eyes, taunting, begging to be remembered. She shuts out the world and falls asleep again in hopes of reuniting with that feeling. She knows it only belongs in the sandman’s domain.
She is the sun. The sun...
“shadow”
– ~ word of the week
tightrope
There’s something about living on a razor’s edge, walking the tightrope of life. There are people in their cubicles at work plugging their umbilical cords into the mother ship and sacrificing some of their freedom for a little more security. There are only two doors in life; the door marked ‘security’ and the door marked ‘freedom’. If you choose security, you...
stigma
With flushed cheeks she held out the delicate flower, inviting him to touch its soft velvety petals. He hesitated, and she noticed the tiny tremors at the base of his lovely throat, before extending his hand slowly to stroke the pale pink magnolia.
The flower was hypnotizing and beautiful. As he dipped his head forward, he breathed in its dense musk; its intoxicating sweet scent. It’s...
“magnolia”
– ~ word of the week
kaleidoscope eyes
Your eyes flash open - shockingly fast, a frightened reaction - and all you see is a brilliant, blinding white. Tentatively, you reach out and survey your fingers, closely examining, ensuring that everything is in place. With a deep, tired sigh, you slowly close your weary eyes and let the overwhelming silence deafen you. And you open them again.
A girl.
Her golden eyes are smiling at you and...
October 2009
4 posts
shape of regret
For every wrong turn, there is an exit route. But as you draw closer to it, you see the folly of going back. Quick glance to the back. Double check rearview mirrors for assurances. Deep breath. Hit the gears, eighty six miles per hour past redemption.
Regret shapes in your heart, but you dismiss it as you steer around that dangerous bend. Regrets are for wimps. Small people with small lives....
“ocean”
– ~ word of the week
monolith
When you’ve been to the moon, you can’t come back to Earth and stand in line at Starbucks. You can’t order a coffee, and pay for it, and drink it beside someone in a Sarah Palin t-shirt sipping some healthy option of a latte and fiddling with his blackberry. The regression to mediocrity is stunning and sapping. You would die inside.
When Buzz Aldrin, second man to set foot on...
bud / blossom
As I watched you get dressed in the dim glow of the nightlight; as you were carefully checking for the usual and incriminating cliches - the traces of lipstick I may have left behind, cerise rashes at all your favorite places, or the foreign perfume that is my signature scent - inside, a monster stirred and I knew that I wanted you all to myself.
Secretly I wished she’d find my venom on...
July 2009
2 posts
“greed”
– ~ word of the week
for lack of better words, a rant
Don’t get me wrong. I love people. I’m just not a people person. Same way you can appreciate the aesthetics and beauty of a car, but not have any interest in knowing how many horse power lies under its hood. Same as someone who loves to eat, but can’t cook. I love people, they’re just, not my type.
Lovers or haters, procrastinators or yes mens, beggars or robin hoods,...
June 2009
3 posts
“freckle”
– ~ word of the week
repeat performances
Rarely does something happen that prompts a new beginning of an unprecedented nature. Most beginnings are repeat performances, old routines infused with a sleight of hand, magically appearing to be different. But they are all the same tired tricks disguising as new ones. You think you are starting a new job, a better life, a different chapter, but then you pause midway and realize it’s a...
“beginning”
– ~ word of the week