Flash Fiction, Friday Jan 8

My Critic has this thing about me writing poetry, or rather the Critic is quick to remind me that I am not great at poetry and thinks I should avoid it at all costs. I'm not entirely convinced the Critic is wrong, but I've decided to continue the practice of forcing myself to post my poems somewhere whenever I happen across them.

So, for Flash Fiction Friday, here is a poem from senior year of high school:

Retreat

Nature's call is a siren's song.
Trees croon lullabyes with creaking limbs.
Grass whispers secrets to the wind, and
the brook's cheerful chatter tells us to hurry
as we fly to nature's retreat.

But we look back.


Jangling phones, shreiking printers,
cranky customers, bosses with razor tongues,
children clamoring for attention,
clanging construction, blaring alarms,
headaches screaming for Excedrin -
These are the tools society uses to
restrain our retreat.

Mother Nature greets you in her backyard,
a barefoot version of Cinderella's fairy godmother
with twigs in her hair and grass stains on her feet.
Her smile shines like the sun in her domain, and
her bower offers respite from the world looming large
behind us. The cheerful brook lip-laps away the headache,
the grass massages stressed muscles, and
the trees rock us into peaceful repose.

Then we go back.

---

I suppose poetry is like anything else - you have to practice to get better. Still, I persist in seeing poetry as something you are born with, not something you learn. I can't imagine ever really getting comfortable with it, but picking at the scab of it every so often seems to be good for me.

I was also reminded of a poem that I'd almost forgotten, but that still gets right inside me. It's Love Song: I and Thou by Alan Dugan, and I have always connected with it. You can read it here.

On another topic, I pulled out some of my very first stories the other day in a fit of nostalgia. I have to apologize to some of my poor characters, because I had completely forgotten about them. I remembered a few as works in progress, but I did have a couple that were completely finished. Very much a sixteen-year-old-girl kind of thing, but not altogether the horror I remembered. I also found a hard copy of one of two fanfiction stories that I'd lost. It's like having an extra warm fuzzy blanket to know that story's in the world somewhere again.

Thursday Thirteen 12/31

It's New Year's Eve, but I find that I'm not quite ready yet to shift my focus to the new year. This day is going to fly by and I'll be thrust into 2010, ready or not, before I know it. But for now, today is just Thursday.

What I was actually thinking about this morning was movies. My new year's celebration will most likely involve a movie fest, and I was remembering all my favorite movie scenes. You know, the one scene that can make even a terrible movie bearable, the scenes that stick with you.

So, here are my 13 of my favorite movie scenes.

1. When Aragorn pushes opens the doors to the throne room at Helms Deep in The Two Towers.

2. Near the end of the most recent Pride and Prejudice when Matthew McFadyen's Darcy struggles to say "I love you" to Elizabeth.

3. When Jason Bourne drives the car off the roof of the parking garage in Bourne Ultimatum.

4. In the newer version, when Edmund comes to take Fanny back to Mansfield Park. I love that carriage ride, where they both acknowledge and avoid their feelings for each other.

5. The first scene with Methos in Highlander End Game. Blah blah Duncan, broody broody blah blah, then ..... METHOS!

6. In P.S. I Love You, when they're reading the letters in Ireland. "Hey, Big Mama" has me bawling every time.

7. The dance party in steerage in Titanic.

8. Any scene with Jeremy Northam in Emma.

9. In 27 Dresses when Jane tells Tess, "Today you're just some b**ch who cut up my mother's wedding dress." Also love "Benny and the Jets."

10. I realize he's like twelve, but the scene with Jacob and Bella on the stairs at the movie theater in New Moon gets me, too. Something about the long hair pulled back in front, and the way he's into her is just yummy.

11. The scene where Jet Li pretends to be the takeout delivery guy at Aaliyah's apartment in Romeo Must Die.

12. In the new Star Trek when Spock tells the council to "Live long, and prosper" after they diss his mom. Love that.

13. In Serenity when they're discussing whether or not Inara's call is a trap. "Did you see us fight?.....No.....Trap."

Have a wonderful, safe celebration tonight. May the new year bring you all good things.

Writer's Retreat Blog 12/20

Here is my latest post to the Writer's Retreat Blog:


To Drabble or Not to Drabble?

Enjoy!

Friday Flash Fiction Dec 11

I was really trying to write something new, and apparently it was just not going to happen tonight. Jason had this major attack of potty mouth, and that was about all I got, lol.

So I'm going to post this little snippet I wrote before Thanksgiving instead. I begged for a prompt on RD chat, and Inez told me to blow something up. This is what came out.


The fuse had been lit. Licks of amber flame circled black pools of darkness, spreading slowly outward until a wide ring of fire blazed.

Lord Jeran smiled at his handiwork. Prince Ming would be pleased.

“Don’t worry, Lord Rogon, I won’t tell a soul,” Jeran assured the man beside him. He hurried to cover his smirk with sympathetic concern as the laser focus of Rogon’s attention returned to him. Heat shimmered in the air, searing Jeran’s skin, and the acrid stench of smoke burned his nostrils and clogged his throat.

A trill of feminine laughter drew Rogon’s eye to the back of the room, and suddenly Jeran could breathe again. The sight of a willowy blonde standing close to a tall, dark-haired man, her arm resting lightly against the emerald velvet of the man’s jacket as she laughed up at him nearly drew an answering giggle from Jeran.

How wonderful! Jeran knew he couldn’t have choreographed the scene more perfectly than the two unwitting participants in this little play had just done. Now all he had to do was stand back and wait for the inevitable explosion.

Thursday Thirteen Dec 10

This last weekend was my Christmas tree decorating party, and in the absence of of any other inspiration this week, I thought I would show you all my thirteen favorite Christmas ornaments. They are, in no particular order:


1.

This is a pretty simple ornament, but my friend Shelly painted it for me, and it's had a special place on the tree for close to 20 years now.

2.


This angel is part of the set of ornaments I bought for the very first Christmas tree I had on my own. I collect angels in a small way, especially at Christmas.

3.

For some reason I just love this ornament. The colors remind me of the tree at my dad's parents' house. They only ever had a white flocked tree with red balls. Period. I guess this ornament takes me back there without actually having to have a tree like that myself.

4.


A couple years ago I added snowflakes to my list of things I collect at Christmas. For some reason not a lot of them made it on the tree this year, but this one from Pier 1 is one of my favorites.

5.

This is just one of a set of sparkly pear ornaments we got at Marshalls. They aren't anything fancy, but I love them.

6.

This is a balsa wood angel ornament from the Every Husband's Nightmare Bazaar. Mom and I go every year the weekend before Thanksgiving and always come away with something. This one is from the first year we ever went.

7.

This is a sort of Mardi Gras themed ornament from our trip to New Orleans. My mom had always wanted to go there, and she and my two aunts and I went the Memorial Day before Hurricane Katrina. If I ever needed a reminder not to put off the things that are really important, this is it.

8.

This is a bell hand painted by our church minister's wife when I was in elementary school. We haven't seen her in years, but every time we put the ornaments on the tree we say, "It's a Jo Bunch bell." They're simple and beautiful and still some of my favorites.

9.

LOL - this is one of those ornaments that I both love and hate. It was made by a great grandmother that I don't have a lot of other memories of, so the big purple....rabbit? mouse? ...finds a home on the tree every year.

10.

No one hear wants to actually hear me play the french horn anymore, but I used to. This was a present from a fellow horn player in college. I still love them and always find myself looking for a new horn ornament.

11.

This bell is part of a set my uncle's mom would send him from Denmark. My uncle was a chef who was usually working on Christmas Eve during our family celebration, and he's passed on now, but I'm glad to have these bells so he's with us still.

12.

It's a bell, it's sparkly - pretty much a perfect Nikki Christmas ornament.

13.

This is another one of the ornaments from the tree in my first apartment. I love it because it's actually a bell (her feet dangle in the middle for the chime). It's a heavy ornament so it always has to go at the top, but it's still one of my favorites.

Time for the Tree!

The Tree Party is over, and we have a beautiful tree to show for it again this year. If there's only going to be one Christmas tree in the family, it should be a good one, and everyone contributed to this year's effort. What a great start to the Christmas season!

Flash Friday December 4

I feel like the Flash Friday is supposed to be for original fiction, but that's just not where I'm at today. The only writing of mine that I really wanted to read tonight was an old Highlander story. It's called Public Displays, Private Affections. and it's my favorite Richie/Methos story.



It is m/m slash, so I'm only going to post the link here. In my own Richie/Methos-verse, Richie and Methos got set up on a date for a gay and lesbian edition of the WB show Blind Date. This story is the one year anniversary of that date.



Thank you to Emma, who is still kind enough to host my HL stories for me. Public Displays, Private Affections can be found at: http://www.ithilas.com/chezemma/nikki/hl/public.html



Enjoy!