Writer's Island #12 - The Letter

This week's prompt over at Writer's Island is "the letter". I'm at work right now, and I'm thinking of this great poem I wrote in high school about a letter. I can remember some of it, but not enough of it to reproduce it from memory. However, because I'm thinking of that poem, I'm blocked to write anything else...so I'll dig that up tonight and post it.

In the meantime, I'll tell you about a letter I wrote this weekend instead. My brother went on a religious retreat this weekend. At 24, he's in a place in his life where he's been feeling lost and this retreat came at the right time for him. We're not a highly religious family in the going to church every Sunday sense, but we are of strong faith. My brother had wandered away from his faith, and was looking for his way back. Anyway, I digress. Part of what happens on this retreat is you receive letters from loved ones. So, on Friday, I spent some time composing a letter to my little brother. The brother I prayed for when I was 9 years old, because I no longer wanted to be an only child. The brother I treated like my little doll as a baby, dressing him up and carrying him around the house. The brother I read to, played with, entertained. The brother I brought to school with me to show off to my friends. The brother I would have long talks with when he was a teenager, trying to keep him from straying too far from our parents' ideals. The brother I've traveled with. The brother who is now growing into an exceptional young man, who I'm so proud of. And I reminded him of all this in that letter. He tells me he didn't make it past the first paragraph before there were tears in his eyes, and I didn't mean to make him cry, but I wanted him to know just how much it's meant to me to have him as a brother all these years. What a gift it was to me to be able to take the time to write this letter, to reflect on our relationship. As he becomes more of an adult, our relationship is changing into one of equals as opposed to a big sister, little brother thing. We are friends on a different level now. But he will always be my baby brother. And for that, I am grateful.

Be sure to visit Writer's Island for more castaways!

Writer's Island #11 - The Dream

I almost forgot about Writer's Island this week, so it's funny that upon visiting the site this morning, I should find out that the theme is "the Dream". Funny because I had quite the dream last night. It was probably more of a nightmare than a dream, but it was quite vivid and realistic. See, in real life, I have an irrational fear of "edges" or "precipices", and and it transpired into my dream last night.


Cremnophobia

I find myself
on a precipice
looking down
looking up
with nowhere to go

I must approach the edge
in order to proceed
to escape
but paralysis sets in

I can't move
I can't focus
I can't breathe

Knowing I will die here
If I don't move forward
I prepare myself
I inch forward
and I panic
palms sweaty
breath in hiccups
hyperventilating I scream

Frozen in place,
Dizzy, terrified
Wanting to jump
Get it over with
Too afraid to attempt
The descent

Pushing myself
Against the wall behind me
Drawing strength from its solidity
But the edge, so near
All alone up here
So quiet…so still…
I catch my breath with a sigh
The alarm, the bed, my pillow

It was only a dream.

Copyright 2007 - Karina

Be sure to visit Writer's Island for other castaways' work.

Pensieve's Poetic License #1 - Thanksgiving Limerick

What is Pensieve's Poetic License? A monthly meme designed to encourage EVERYONE to exercise their poetry gene. Everyone is born with one; sometimes you just need "permission" (or a kick in the behind) to use it.

Please click the button above for more information. This month's theme is "Thanksgiving", the form: Limericks.

To get us going, Robin (Pensieve) gave us the following and asked us to provide the last line...here's my contribution to the last line:

The pilgrims, they started it all.
A feast fit for kings in the Fall.
Thankful were they,
Eating turkey all day
Who knew it would lead to a brawl?

AND, here's my Limerick for the month:

A day to give thanks it is said
With stuffing and turkey we're fed
We eat our share
But we truly care
Much more for the store sales ahead

This was so much fun...thanks Robin for creating this meme! I'm looking forward to next month's theme of Celebration in the form of a cinquian (which is what exactly you ask? Visit Pensieve and find out!)

Writer's Island #10 - Friendship

This week's prompt for Writer's Island is Friendship. There were so many directions I could have gone with this prompt. Just the word friendship evokes so many thoughts and feelings within. Feelings of love and support, as well as feelings of loss and betrayal rise to the surface at the simple uttering of the word...friendship...so many meanings this word contains.

Today, concern for a friend envelops me, and brings me to this:

Silent Prayer for a Friend

Life in limbo
as you wait
as I wait
to hear the words
I can't let you see
how I worry
so deeply
for you
so I smile
and convince
you and I
that we've nothing to fear
while in privacy, I pray
that they'll say
you're okay
I can't imagine it'll go any other way.

Copyright 2007 - Karina

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with my friend, and she's been given a clean bill of health from her doctor. Amen.

Writer's Island #9 - Unforgettable

This week over at Writer's Island we are remembering those things we can never forget. The prompt is "Unforgettable".

I'm taking a somber turn with this one. I wrote this poem in February of 1996, after I lost a friend to a drunk driver. He was the sort of person you just never forget, but less forgetable is the pain I felt upon losing him. He's been on my mind for some reason lately, so it felt fitting for this prompt.

Not Leo


The world turned
everything changed in a single instant
it only took 5 seconds,
5 words
"He was killed last night"
that bitter taste lingers
I never had my chance to say goodbye
I lose control
unable to see through tears
unable to feel...numbed
unable to hear past those words
over and over again in my mind
"he was killed last night"
At first, "How" and then "when"
followed quickly by "where, why and...
Not Leo"
words tattoed forever in my mind
etched in pain in my memory
"yes, Leo, he was killed last night"
Now, when it rains I cry
when the sun shines, I wonder why
friendship borne, only to die
nobody ever really knows why
and I still cry
forever asking why
why Leo?
Why did he have to die?
And the words,
those fucking words
over and over
again and again
"Leo...he was killed last night
he was killed last night
he was killed..."

Copyright 2007 - Karina

Be sure to visit Writer's Island for other castaways, who will hopefully have much lighter fare for you.

Sunday Scribblings #7 - Money

This week's Sunday Scribblings Prompt is "Money". Ah..Money...as I'm in the middle of both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo (on my other blog), I'll keep this one short and sweet:

The root of all evil
the seed of all hope
the end
the beginning
a slippery slope

we spend it
we save it
we hoard it
we share it
without it we crave it
but with it
we bear it

what is it about it
that makes us so crazy
how is it without it
the world becomes hazy

This thing we call money
some paper, some ink
it all seems so funny
and yet in the blink
of an eye
you'd grab it
don't lie.

Copyright 2007 - Karina

NaBloPoMo

I'm doing NaBloPoMo over at my other blog Candid Karina. I'm also doing NaNoWriMo. Therefore, I'm not going to comit to doing NaBloPoMo over here...however, I'm going to try to post something creative in here daily. I may not do it, but currently I only post here once a week...so even if I manage to post a few more times a week over here, it'll be something. I will post snippets of my NaNoWriMo novel in here periodically, and then some other poems or prose which might come along. I will also continue to do "Writer's Island".

That said....a little Haiku for the month of November.

Write a post a day
and a novel in a month
this is November.