Tangled Vines

On February 1, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn Flash fiction10 Comments

Greta waited until her husband was fast asleep. Then she’d tiptoe out of their bedroom, pull on her overcoat and mud kickers and practically run to the barn. She need not have worried about waking the sleeping giant next to her. Bert usually drank himself to sleep most nights. As long as she fed him three squares a day, he usually left her alone. After a full day of working the vineyards with the field hands, he only desired about six tall ones for his last meal.

Tonight, she only heard the long low whistle of the train as she scurried across the grassy path. Franco must have sensed her arrival for he lay there waiting on a blanket in all his beautiful bareness. The tower of burlap feed sacks created a cozy and well-secluded nightly hideaway for their nightly assignations.

Franco was a brute of a man in the fields, sweat pouring from his body as he hauled and lifted these same sacks for cultivating the robust plantings along those thousand acres of heavenly grapes. But his strength turned to tenderness when he took Greta into his arms. Their love-making was transcendent, nearly tantric in its ritual. She did not hesitate to offer herself in ways she could never have imagined; opening herself to him, discovering her pearls of pleasure. A feeling of intense vertigo, a loss of total control, near groundlessness drew them together time and time again.

They had been together long enough now to know that what they were experiencing was not fiction; not just sheer physical attraction. But until they could untangle themselves from their daily reality, this was all they had. They held onto each other and they held onto hope.

IT’S FREE WRITE FRIDAY!!

This is Kellie’s Prompt:

#FWF Free Write Friday: Word Bank

Here is your FWF prompt:

You may use any of the following words as inspiration for your piece, or you may use all of them if it does not hinder your ability to write in free flow.

train – burlap – fiction – pearls – vertigo

Lover’s Creed

On January 25, 2014February 20, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn Lovers, poetry17 Comments

trust[4]

Meeting for a late night meal

Not quite strangers, Not quite friends

But something else unborn and unspoken

A forward movement,

A relevant transition,

A certain shift

resonating between and within us

The repast remained barely consumed

Our hearts full of anticipation instead

The ease at which we came to be joined

An affirmation that it was meant to be

The darkness deepened outside

The air breathing its long December chill

But here in this space lay newborn warmth

Eyes wide open

Souls ready to receive

Two lovers sealing their covenant

A confident expectation

A credulous commitment

Thus, on this night,

in this blood-thin blackness

this achy, gasping vortex of interminable frost

A recollection of our whispered pact

soothes me in a blanket of torrid heat

#FWF Free Write Friday: Trust

Just one word this week. It can mean many things can’t it? I am grateful to have it back in my life. I took a trip down memory lane for this one. And I am glad that I still am making more with my beloved! Perfect way to end the week.

I AM ME

On January 18, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn Independent Woman19 Comments

passion for love by bagdadi d411qag11 750x557 How to Develop True Passion in Your Life

Image Credit: Passion for love by Bagdadi

My verse, you say?

I have not a clue.

My words are my life.

My thoughts a singing stream, a babbling brook and a raging river.

I wear many faces.

Fierce Female but not a Fatale.

Passionate Protector of my Progeny.

Irenic but Fearless in the Face of Falsehoods and Fallacies.

Vivacious, Vigorous Vibrant Vamp.

Physically Fit Phoenix Fertile in Mind, Body and Spirit.

My Work on this Earth has yet to be Complete.

My next Calling is in the Making.

I Sense a Worthy Cause.

But I Know One Thing:

Who I Am Makes a Difference

NOW

#FWF Free Write Friday: O me! O life!

The following is the speech, and it is your FWF prompt. What will your verse be?

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” — John Keating (Robin Williams) Dead Poets Society

Alone Without You

On January 2, 2014January 2, 2014 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry2 Comments

Credit: www.soulcerer.com

Sluggish- asleep with grief

Silent-unusually absent of words

I left you this morning

In the dismal liquid haze

of the winter tropics

Nothing can describe this unjust

And too common a parting once again

Each egress excruciating

My heart holds you here

Two souls, joined as spirits

Sanguine and seeking

Still lustful, blissful

Slaking our thirst

in our union’s oasis

We are artists of Love

Constantly Creating

Fleshing out new the landscapes

Still lifes

Abstracts

Self-portraits

Of this torrid and tranquil love affair

I long for you before I leave

Already missing the sweetness, serenity and sensuality of you

Awaiting our new awakening once again

A Change in Latititude

On November 1, 2013 By buildingalifeofhopeIn Independent Woman20 Comments

credit: www.flickr.com

So there I was enjoying the hot Florida sun, languishing with the post race crowd in the cool waters of a pool. I looked over to my left as a fellow runner (whom I met earlier at the race) walked in wearing a Red Sox cap and T-shirt. “Hey, where are you from?”, I shouted to him as he approached the water. I was surprise to learn that he had grown up in a town not too far from where I was currently living. Before I knew it, he had climbed into the pool beside me. An immediate sense of ease came over me as we began what turned into a 2 1/2 hour conversation.

I will spare you the details; they are not important. Suffice it to say that we each felt a shift occur. A connection. Certainly we were not the only ones to witness this event. Fellow runners and my own teenage sons were keen observers as well. My parents -especially my late mother-were thrilled to see me enjoy myself for a change. (I was in the midst of a nasty divorce, feeling drained and lost.) My mother sang this man’s praises later that evening, but I had no expectations. After all, we lived very far from each other and I was still not legally divorced. Her reply was simple: “Well, you never know.”

And that’s right. You never do know. Pivotal changes can be subtle. They can be the beginnings of something new without any tangible or obvious or even immediate changes. In my life, meeting the man I love helped me to return to myself. He did not come into my life to save me-that was up to me. He came into my life for many reasons not the least of which was to show me the profound sense of peace that deep love and commitment can bring.

We have been together nearly five years and will be married in a year and a half. My hard work raising my sons is done. I have given birth to myself once again. I will be moving away from a place that I have known all my life to embrace a newer culture and climate. I have never been more afraid and more ready. Living out loud and truly free with a man who loves me for me.

Many thanks to Kelley Rose for hosting Kellie Elmore’s Free Write Friday this week!

#FWF Free Write Friday: LIFE CHANGERS | with Guest Host Kelley Rose

Blood Moon

On October 19, 2013October 19, 2013 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry8 Comments

Hunter's Moon

Stalked Chased Hunted

Ground cracking beneath her feet

Air heated and misted

Body tormented and twisted

Her breath lowly humming

Her predator is drumming

Traced Tracked Shadowed

She knows he is coming

Must she keep running?

His pursuit is impassioned

Hewn by lunar crimson splendor

He wants but to love her

Not place himself above her

Their hearts are afire

Yearning deep desire

He draws himself closer

Near enough to reach out and touch her

Captured by her radiance

A magenta maiden

A ruby fruit jungle

Her heat a vermillion feast

Seized Surrendered Suppressed

He lays his head low in defeat

#FWF Free Write Friday: Image Prompt With Guest Host Mark Schutter

The Leaving

On September 29, 2013September 29, 2013 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry6 Comments

Credit: www.fluidr.com

Lovers awaken in the darkness of the dawn

The shimmer of last night’s conjugations

Imprinted on their skins

The sweetness of each other’s fruit

Tattooed on their tongues

The suppleness of their limbs

Entwined and askew

Sheets tangled

Coverings lost

They stumble from their slumber

Into the black fog

The lone light a crescent moon

yearning to be seen

The drive is silent

the hum of the music calming

for the road is unseen

They must separate once again

Knowing they are

Confined only by distance

Bound and Unbound

Consummated and Consumed

Enraptured and Captured

Deeply rooted

Committed

Anxiously Awaiting

A New Reunion

A Fresh Awakening

A Succulent Stirring

Gasping and Grasping

Mind Body Soul

Graced by Love

Woman to Woman

On September 26, 2013 By buildingalifeofhopeIn poetry2 Comments

Credit: www.mutantspace.com

I remember when I knew it was you

I felt your conspicuous stare

Your obvious observations

You had heard of me through your lover

A man of ill repute

A believer in his own lies

Who couldn’t handle any truth

Your curiosity couldn’t stand itself

So I wonder

Were you

Satisfied?

Or more mystified?

Did you feel justified?

Unaware that I knew it was YOU

Your morning appearances an insinuation

Gathering information about my situation

I played it cool and remained myself

Empowered by your insecurity

Emboldened by my maturity

Embraced by my community

I’ve watched you watch me

And I know you’re not like me

I am graced by sensuality

Secure in my femininity

Aglow in my luminosity

I, too was once under his spell

My life becoming a slow burning hell

I look at you and see you’re not well

Nearly heartless

A vacuous void

Neither shapes nor curves to your body and soul

Invisibly thin

As deep as spit

(Well suited to him)

Artificially earnest

With manners that are staged

Tinged with feigned politeness

And a simmering rage

I cannot say I wish you good luck

You see he’s only interested in a nice little fuck

I celebrate a new life

Possessed of deep roots

A bearer of ripe fruit

A feast for another much sweeter brute

Love Always

On September 20, 2013September 22, 2013 By buildingalifeofhopeIn Flash fiction13 Comments

Jackson Wedding

He had fallen in love with those dark tresses first, he thought. Something about the way she moved her body as she walked by him set his soul on fire. Her hair moved in rhythm with the sway of her hips. Her skin alabaster white and her eyes endless black pools-lit with a life affirming force. And then she spoke. “I’m new to town and I was wondering if there was a bookstore nearby. My brain is thirsty for words!”

“It’s two blocks down on the right. I can walk you there since it is getting a little dark,” he replied.

They shared the literary world and each other from that moment on. Although friends old and new dismissed their whirlwind romance at first, they soon realized that they were witnessing a lifetime love. So today, on this day, vows and promises were exchanged along with the anticipation of a new life they created from the love and pure passion of one another.

This Friday’s post is brought to you by Kellie Elmore.