My Book Shelf - ASCHENPUTTEL

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ASCHENPUTTEL (c) 1965 by Der Kinderbuchverlag Berlin

This book is THE favorite from my childhood. 

Looking through the pages, I can see why I like to read and write fantasy. 

Look, all of the elements are there: bats, rats and black cats.

And since it's the Grimm version of Cinderella, it's not sanitized.

It's written in German. Here's the English translation.

I didn't get my image of a prince from here, though. 

This guy would never do it for me, except for the hair. I like the hair.

You can still buy this book for 9,95 euros or 13.58 US.

ears to hear

silence in the garden

quiet in the yard

a lull upon the lawn

stillness on the porch

peace 

rivers of green

sunlight strikes the water

the sky turns green

and i a reminded to color

inside the lines

trees can not be purple

like the color of your

cheeks when i do the

unexpected

walking on eggshells

crushing my imagination

under you boot heels

of sync step

it's impossible to make

the impossible possible

or passable, probable

plausible

not all things in

nature are symmetrical

neat or orderly

dirt has its pleasures

lines are meant for

crossing into other

worlds of daring

do

there's no fitting

into the middle

ground 

the game of love

He loves me

He loves me not

Is a dangerous 

Game to play

You pluck each

Petal of a bloom

Hoping to get

Not the nots

Much better a

Happy ending

He loves me

He loves me lots

white on white - 4 thursday 13

13 white things i love

vanilla

snow

the crests on ocean waves

angels

daisies

crisp Egyptian cotton sheets

seashells

pearls

smooth delicate porcelain tea cups 

clouds

stars

thick sweet whipped cream

~

the potential of a blank sheet of paper

anywhere

I could live inside a nutshell

like Thumbelina floating 

down the river to new 

adventures

I would peek over the edge

blinking at the sunlight

reflecting off of iridescent

dragonfly wings 

I should step off the edge

get my toes wet

take the plunge to new

adventures

~

wandering for dVerse Poets

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next issue comes out 

just before 

the summer solstice 

June 19, 2014

how old are you?

if we were to cut ourselves in half 

at the waist 

would we see the rings of lives

well lived or 

all the waste

why do you lie?

This is the story that made me want to be a writer:

My great-great-grandfather 

(whose name I still haven't gotten out of my mother) 

was a shoemaker in Adnet, Austria. 

One evening, 

he was on his way home from 

delivering and getting paid for 

a pair of lady's wedding shoes. 

At the tunnel in the mountain along the road, 

he was jumped, robbed and killed by a local man 

who was never punished. 

dizzy

move too quickly from a position of rest
lightheaded
falling down 
when really you should float up
like a balloon
hot air
cold cheeks
sweaty brow
dry mouth

just keep moving in any direction
circling
a straight line
2 forward 1 back is progress
level headed
air headed
turning around
feet on the ground

on the move in time space
point
wave
rippling in black holes
swallowed up
pushed down
joining in
running out

prompt idea from dVerse

moon

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there's a slightly greater chance 

that the 13th will occur on a Friday 

rather than any of the other six days of the week

i couldn't see the full moon because the sky was cloudy

the full moon occurred at 12:11 a.m. EDT, exactly

this was the strawberry moon

so called because of the brief

strawberry picking time

13 is a baker's dozen because

baker's used to cheat their customers

with light loaves of bread

a 13th loaf kept them out of jail

12 is a divine number

13 transgresses this completeness

if 13 people sit down at a table, one will die

in a Tarot deck, XIII is the Death card

13 is my lucky number

Throwback Thursday - 1971 #TbT

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Summer 1971

My brother, James 

(Jim to the the rest of you, 

Jamie to those who've known us since 1971) 

is on the left. He's 9 here. 

I am on the right and 12 at the time of the photo 

but I'll be 13 in a few months. I have braces.

This was taken in Salzburg, Austria, 

during our family trip back home. 

I believe we are in the apartment of 

our Tante Hermi and Onkel Seppi.

You're digging those really rad striped pants, aren't you?

the day after

I unplugged yesterday. Kept things turned off. It was horrible.

I thought I'd have the hardest time with the TV. I'm a TV baby. It's always on, pretty much 365/24/7 and has always been for as long as I can remember. It was our babysitter, entertainer and background music for our lives. Interesting to me was that I missed the TV less than anything else. The only time it was hard was first thing in the morning because I watch my DVR'd late night shows with my coffee.

I'm not much of a phone chatter so that didn't bother me and it wasn't a surprise that I didn't miss my phone. I made notes on stickies instead on my phone's notepad.

Not opening my laptop all day was very hard. I looked at it lovingly, wishing I could check my email or read facebook or blogs. I wanted to google the answers to all kinds of questions. I wanted to use it to procrastinate all day. Not opening the lid freed up all kinds of time.

Thank goodness I still have some actual books. I read The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler (which I recommend to all creative types) and got halfway through. I buy reference books in paper form. Otherwise, I would have been reading cereal boxes. I made lots of paper notes to help the revision of Divine Death. I didn't miss anything while I was reading but that's not really news.

It's not good that I am so dependent on internet access. I don't like how out of sorts I felt by being away for only 24 hours. Something to work on.

I'm happy to know that I can go without my TV.

tech-less tuesday

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masonry

grains of sand pumice my soles

as the sound of waves rock

roll against the boulders damming

my heart 

the pressure of my lungs

crystallize them into faceted gems

tearing, blocking, constricting

my throat

* Children in the throes of strong emotions are told to "use their words" instead of striking out physically. I usually shut down.

prompt from DVerse

stickie notes

Celebrity "Hall Pass" List

Which celebrities would make it onto your "Hall Pass" list?
These are my top ten for today (they are subject to change depending on my mood):
You'll notice I have a "type."


Jeffrey Dean Morgan


Chris Hemsworth


Hugh Laurie


Gerard Butler


Matt Bomer


Jason Momoa


Jason Statham


Nathan Fillion


Christian Bale


Sean Bean

Bonus: any man in a kilt


Hugh Jackman

oppression

daffodils confined

in a vase

can't dance

nightingales clipped

in gilded cages

go silent

tigers caught

behind steel bars

pace ruts

orcas captured

in stale aquariums

suffer boredom

children chained

to wooden desks

die inside

seeds

the most beautiful seeds come from
weeds that blow upon the wind
dancing like ballerinas
dressed in white tutus
and delicate slippers 
until changing in the next movement
over the bright grass with bursts of yellow
butter so creamy that it dribbles down
my childhood chin dazzling the sun twinkling
in my blue eyes
eyes as blue as the skies
of summers that live in perfect memory

prompt idea from dVerse