Category Archives: Relationships

TRIGGER WARNING: The Only Sane Person In The Room

You were the only sane person in the room that day in Earl’s basement in November of that year. You were the one I clung to as my savior because even Janet, his wife and sole witness, rejected the truth before her eyes that Ron committed against my nine year old body.

I escaped through the portal into the apartment that Mork shared with Mindy. I thought of you, Robin Williams, the way you brought that alien to life. You sheltered me from the horrors that happened to me that day. You allowed me a place to recluse myself so that I witnessed what happened to me from a distance. That the pain was unfettered was too much to bear and you, without knowing it, were there with me. You stood by me in rainbow colored be-pinned suspenders and danced around the Colorado apartment. You protected me. Mindy didn’t matter as much as you did, dear Mork. She wasn’t strong enough of a personality to shield me from personal tragedy like you even though she was there too.

I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me that day in the basement unbeknownst to you. If it hadn’t been for the character you brought to life, ironically, I would have emotionally shattered. I only wish that I could have returned the favor to you. I only wish I could have eased the hurt, sadness, and tragedy that haunted your life.

My beloved friend, that I didn’t know in person, I will treasure your gift to the world as if you made it just for me, because that day…that one day, you did.

Truly and Dearly

The day we met, I knew, that from that day forward

The sky would have to embrace a truer blue,

The stars couldn’t sparkle except from your eyes,

The sun would shy from your radiance,

The moon would hide its face in shame,

The oceans would flow from your fingertips

Bending to your whim and desires,

The earth, itself, would long to capture your attention

And when you smiled

There was my Happy Ever After staring back at me

It was then that I realized that I’d move any obstacle

To bask in your heart

In your love

Forever

My Friend Stand-By

When I was younger,

You chose,

For some reason,

To give me support when I was broken

Offered kindness when I acted stupid

Gifted patience when I didn’t understand.

You stood by me when it felt

The whole world was laughing,

Not with me, but at me.

Because of these things

You’ve given so freely to my spirit

I’m taking the time to tell you

How very much you’re loved.

Thank you for being my friend.

Dusty thoughts

 

The dust has barely settled.
My cup is empty again.
The protests of the floor above
isn’t you. It’s them.

I sit at my table wanting
to be left alone
I have no need for antics
knowing you are gone

I’m not really sad
I’m not really upset
I’m not really happy
Wishing to forget.

These Are My People: Alicia Menninga

A Love Note

A Love Note

Goddess

Her hair flows like cool rivers around her shoulders

brushing softly at my cheeks

she leans in to touch my arm

whispering thoughts that caress my ears like a song

Her scent is musky rain with a hint of sandalwood

It cloaks my breath with its subtle incense

My heart shudders, bounces, tossed as if on a rolling sea

Her soul floats openly in her kaleidoscope eyes

Her tranquil gracefulness is haunted

with echos of vulnerability and pain

She glows like an oil lamp, flickering, heated,

fueled by a passion for life…and love

She pulls away and with a simple gesture of her hand

she proves herself to be exquisite, delicate, powerful

Her gentleness sweeps against my skin like a searing hot fire

Her giggled words, like cannons,

firing…exploding

encompassing me.

One kiss would damn me

One intimate touch would be my downfall

The consequences harsh and brutal

The risk too great

I hover, instead, around her light in hopes

that perhaps she might shine on me again.

Phoenix (1995-Revised)

I don’t feel like a phoenix anymore
I feel overthrown and solitary
In my dreams and nightmares
I hear his cries, his pleas
I am as defenseless as he
I can’t save him from living death
Any more than I can save myself
In my meandering daydreams
I cuddle him closely to my skin
But the sun snows clouds of fog

and I become confused in the ashes.
And I can’t feel his hair
I can’t smell his skin
My body aches to hug him tightly
To tell him everything will be okay
I wander around in darkness without him
I don’t feel like a phoenix anymore

These Are My People: Sue Cline

Ribbons

Participation Ribbons

The ribbons that bound me to you
with generous abandon,
tied up in knots of
“I want you and need you”
have unraveled into muddied rainbows

puddled on the ground
I can no longer cherish them
because they serve no purpose
when my heart looked forward
instead of tick-tocking back
into the mess we created together
with scissors flashing
through the complicated maze
we’d woven together
then destroyed with guilty hearts &
shameless blame
of who was actually at fault
for our conjoined festivities.

 

Small Wishes

I wish a special someone
had a song in them for me.
Some music they just had to sing
with my heart the melody.

I wish a special someone
had a dream in them for me.
A waking place, built on grace
a feeling like reveille.

I wish a special someone
had some words for me
a declaration of their love
that would last for eternity

I wish a special someone
had a picture in them for me.
One that captured their emotion,
from the brush that set it free.

I could wish a million lifetimes
for something as rare as this
and still quite never find it
the love that is lost and missed.

Jedi Garden

Your sugar-coated violence was used

to coax my sympathetic heart back

from where I felt safe

from where I felt protected

from where I felt alive

from where I could be myself

instead of a role that you glued on my back

a role that I allowed to be superimposed

a lampshade to dim my light which shined anyway

Did it ever occur to you

that once you punched me

that once you slapped me

that once you pushed me down

that once you pulled my gun on me

that maybe, just maybe,

you shot me alive

by demonstrating the very reason

I could no longer stay by you

because you’d have destroyed

the very me I’ve become,

a light to guide others through

the loss of their power.

Had you succeeded

the skies would have gone dark

My tears of mourning would have drowned me

I gratefully would have rejoiced in the absence of me.

GO LOVE! Stop the Hate

As I’m scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed each day, I noticed an unusually high ratio of hate. Hate Justin Beiber? That’s okay. Hate Westboro Baptist Church? That’s okay. How about Democrats? Republicans? Atheists? Gays? Women? Men? Goldfish? That’s okay too.

I am all about personal freedom. I believe that every person is entitled to their own opinions, beliefs, and ways of doing things. What I don’t understand is why the hate of such ridiculous things? If you want to hate something, what about poverty? Hunger? Rape? Acid Attacks? War? Human Rights Violations?

These are things that should be hated. These are things that should not be tolerated, but we do. We allow it because it isn’t in our own backyard. It’s okay because it isn’t directly affecting most of us, thankfully, on a daily basis.

STOP HATE! GO LOVE!

STOP HATE! GO LOVE!

If you’re reading this, you at least have electricity with pretty good odds you have clean safe water to drink. If you’re reading this, you’re probably not worrying about soldiers breaking into your house, killing the man/men and raping the women. If you’re reading this, odds are you have at least a rudimentary education that taught you how to unlike the millions of children who will never witness these words. If you’re reading this, odds are you’re using some sort of electronics device that cost enough to supply an entire village for an entire year clean water, food, and/or medicine needed for survival.

The generosity shown by the United States when 9/11 happened, when Katrina hit, when, most recently, the tornadoes hit in Oklahoma, is amazing. That’s because it happened where we couldn’t ignore it. We couldn’t walk away because the victims of these tragedies are our neighbors, friends and relatives. They have faces like ours.

Think about this: The people in a remote village in South Africa, in Russian States, in China, in Singapore are someone’s neighbors, friends and relatives too. They have faces, but they don’t look like our well fed American selves. They don’t have the resources we do. They don’t have what we do, but that doesn’t make them any less of a human being.

Hate is such a nasty thing. It takes away from our compassion. It takes away from our kindness. It blurs love into a meaningless statement of favorites instead of being the action it is intended to be. Think about what you dislike. Now think about all the wonderful things we could be doing for each other right now in the name of love. Do not tolerate the abominations against humanity. Find a way to change the hate speak into love speak. It’s the only way the human race, humanity, will survive.