Author: buildingalifeofhope

My name is Kim. I believe that life always allows us an opportunity for genuine connections with others. I believe in waking up each day, not with dread about what's ahead, but with the idea to expect the unexpected. What a miracle! There was a time in my life that I became voiceless; I lost my sense of self. Now I am learning how to live out loud and appreciate the small blessings (even the ones in disguise!) that my new life has given me. Through this blog, I hope to promote humor, honesty and humility and share the knowledge that no one is ever alone in any struggle that they may face.

The Aftermath

On April 28, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry4 Comments

Credit: www.submit.manscostyle.com ( “A Wounded Heart” by Tim Dwyer)

In the dark recesses of my mind

I hear the gunfire of your wounds

Land mines of domestic destruction

Improvised explosives shrouded in verbal volleys

Scattered shrapnel

Stinging pain from your scoffs

Mocking my every move

In the dark recesses of my gut

I taste the heaving

My attempts to digest your vile invectives

your vicious vitriol that holds my virtues in a vise

In the dark recesses of my heart

I feel the agony of your aggression

the abscess of your abandonment

and the anguish of your annihilation

For those known and unknown who are experiencing abuse. Mine is past but the pain is sometimes present.

A Moment in Eden

On April 27, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry2 Comments

Credit: crimson-werecat.deviantart.com

He reached out to touch her

His fingertips alighting ever so slightly on the curve in her back

The small cavern just above her tail bone that allows for the slight rise to her rear cheeks

A tender spot peach fuzz soft

He moved his lips down to kiss her there

The sweet taste sowing a sensation a synchronized sigh

Scarcely sleeping she turns absent of words

Her body the response the answer and permission

“Yes, please”

Happy Hour

On April 26, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry2 Comments

Credit: www.lynnegolodner.com

Black coffee in bed

The morning quiet adding the sweetness to my first sip

My day unfolds with no set plans

A run in the rain

I lose myself in dreams

My body a zen-like stream

as I am carried over these endless rises

A heated cleansing

The ritual soothing to the double digit distance

Stomach empty- a primal hunger invades

I sip and sup listening to Saturday stories

The day turns raw

I shelter myself baking, laundering and dancing

A spontaneous urge propels me out the door

Seeking sustenance

I turn my wheels and spy two mates

We gather at the bar

Coffee, Tea for they and me

Tall tales Told (gosh are we getting old!)

Time flies by

We leave and say goodbye

I arrive at the stead new plans ahead

Dinner to make or should I bake?

The night is a pup

At five, I fill my cup

One needs to dine with a good fine wine!

Day 26 of the Challenge. For my friends L and J: Thanks for being a part of my day! XO

Three Old Bitches

On April 25, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry20 Comments

You know, I didn’t think we’d survive in that pounding surf

Tell me about it, Myrtle. It felt like a hurricane was sweeping over the Gulf

No, No Myrna, it was the gosh darn pelicans thinking we were still housing those crabs

True enough Phyllis. Thank goodness those babies flew the coop a long time ago.

Well, I certainly was relieved when we washed up on shore at sunset!

Yes, indeed a beautiful sight just in time for a little shut-eye

Only to be rudely awakened by that beach loader. Geez, just when we relax, we get moved again

Now, Myrtle, you have to admit the driver was a hottie!

Oh I must say I was getting a case of the vapors when he laid me down in the sand…

Well girls, I have to admit that he sure picked a cozy spot for the three of us

Until that middle aged beach babe spotted us…

Yes girls but she has a plan, I believe

Well, it looks like we’re going for a ride since she plopped us down right beside her truck

OOh I am all a- flutter Myrtle, I hear there’s some BIG conch shells in these parts!

Myrna, I think you’ve got a bit too much sand stuck that shell of yours. Those conchies are always after the younger set

You’re right about the sand Phyllis and we’re about to get some shaken loose. It’s been a long time…

Our Lovely Miss Kellie presented us with a most original prompt this week! I left out the mystery since I had taken this photo earlier this month and knew I would use it someday in my writing. It fit perfectly for today’s prompt. My oldest son came up with the title after he saw the photo and dared me to use it!

Here is your FWF prompt:

per·son·i·fi·ca·tion

pərˌsänəfiˈkāSHən/

noun

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Select something nonhuman and write about it as though it were human. It is up to you whether or not you reveal what it is, but I have found it a lot of fun to leave it a mystery and allow others to guess at what you were writing about. 🙂 Have fun!

Once upon a Time

On April 24, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry5 Comments

Credit: scoopempire.com

What once was daunting is now empowering

What once had me nearly on my knees has given me wings

What once left me stoic in silence has made me loquacious with laughter

What once gave me grief has given me the gift of profound joy

What once left me shackled, tied to the metaphorical bedpost

has posted bail and declared me innocent and unbound

What once left me invisible has made me someone worth remembering

What once left me feeling lonely and isolated

has made me feel inhabited in my solitude

and a gleeful player on the world’s stage

Hidden Hunger

On April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry4 Comments

Credit: belleofthelibrary.com

Her toes tickled the sand

Her face baked in the August sun

Her ears deafened by the roar of the ocean

Her sunglasses shielded her eyes from the surf’s glare

as she tried to ignore the deep, grinding hollowed out hunger in her gut

She could not conjure up her family’s next meal

No magic wand of money would be appearing any time soon

The stash in the basement was null and void

The fridge a wide open expanse of empty

And what else would be waiting at home?

Just the cause of the family’s famine in the first place

The one who dared touch the last remnants of fruit left for his children

Whose anger ignited at being denied those rock bottom bits

She rested in the stillness with her dull endless ache

Becoming more numb by the minute

The tide washing her pain away

“It’s something we’d all gotten used to, that hollowness in the veins, the nagging feeling there was always just a bit too much air behind your ribs.”

~Andre’ Dubus III (from his memoir “Townie”)

A Grifter’s Rap

On April 22, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry5 Comments

Credit: gatesofpower.com

Would you ever really know if your beloved strayed?

Or would you believe that you’ve been duplicitously played?

His absences explained so charmingly

As you played your role so willingly

You hang on long for the children’s sake

As you think he still loves you

Those vows he would not break

But he did so again and again

Not always with another

But with the click of a pen

When at last he made the ultimate exit

That last gasp to leave

You thought it was with money

That he did deceive

To fall in with another was too hard to believe

Looking back on it now-it was so long ago

All those scenes so intense

And his emotions: a mere pretense

You realize SHE was his reason for love’s final blow

But no matter now, this memory is like vapor

A mischievous muse’s attempt at a silly old caper

The mind goes awry

No need to know why

He’s nothing but a blip in your mind’s eye

First Images

On April 21, 2014April 21, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetryLeave a comment

Credit: aromaofislam.com

At first glance, a meeting by chance

Warming up on sweltering day in the tropical summer

Later, an initial re-aquaintance

in the post race cooling waters

Effortless conversation deeper than the liquid that floated around us

Soothing our heat

A natural ebb and flow

Sunlight’s spark on a newly forming shore

A long run twelve hours hence

My skin bubbled and blistered

Unaccustomed to the equatorial temps

My hair matted with sweat

My mouth sticky- white from thirst

You lingered

Is that when our hearts first burst?

An attempt to capture a moment or two in time when the seeds of new love take hold without the pair fully knowing it is happening. Snippets of memory nearly six years old that still make me smile.

Sweet Summit

On April 20, 2014July 27, 2018 By buildingalifeofhopeIn Hiking, Life's Journey, memoir, poetry2 Comments

Air: A clean briskness as we commenced our ascent

The rugged and roughed terrain slick with mud

and granite waterfalls

and thick, melting snow

We bushwack our way off the trail

Avoiding the micro glaciers that are sure to plant us on our face

The breath and sweat from our exertions is soon evident

I slip my crampons on

Each step closer to the rock face warmth

Trail anointed by silver cairns and orange blazes

The subalpine space is 360 degrees wide open

A tristate view

Higher peaks still holding onto the fourth season

Yet their lower elevation cousins a blanket of purple-brown

We lunch by the lookout

A trinity already risen

Celebrating another resurrection

A luscious Easter Feast

My sons and I climbed a mountain on this Easter Day. This inscription was on the Lookout tower at the summit. Poetry at 3511 feet! (photos taken with my phone)