Happy new Year

Writing fiction is hard.
I have fleeting ideas as to what I want to say but
it won't come out the way I want it to!
I have used the kindle fire a great deal
in the last few days
and there are feathers floating on my bedroom wall
and the dreams they catch are dark.
I miss the purr of my cats as they sit on
my back
but the pain of missing them is alleviated
by the smiles of my children.
One of the best statements I've ever read
thank you Captain Awkward and Shakesville
No is a complete sentence
I try to always remember that when dealing
with people.

The holiday season is finally over
but the Christmas tree is still up
and I can still see the train run around the tree.
and the sound is vaguely comforting
I've heard it in every house I've ever been in
at various points in the year and I associate it
with my father
and it is a pleasant memory.
Post holiday fun means
playing with Christmas toys
and drinking sparkling grape juice out of
champagne flutes
I have the prettiest ones, I assure you.
And reading all the new books.
Finishing visiting extended family and
back to normal things like choir and movie nights.
Sharing my music with various people
Wait for my TV shows to come back on
watch violent and awkwardly sexual things
Thanks American Horror Story
for helping me address some truly dreadful topics
once a week.

Playing 'Party in the USA' just to annoy my husband
and spending time with my friends.
New jeans and sweaters and coats
and cigars because it is cold outside,
hopefully, at least, because I still haven't gotten to that,
which is quite tragic and will have to be remedied soon.
And eating the leftover food
and writers block
all over the damn place.

A Tragic Fairy Tale

Once upon a time
there was a pretty girl
who watched a young man while
they were in school together.
They were in Pre-calculus
and she sat next to him every day.

And since she had been mean and hateful
to him every day for the last two years,
he spent at least two months doing his best
to put her down and be mean to her
which was easy
because she was terrible at math
and he was fantastic at it.

But one day, she looked at him
and saw a person in pain
and he looked at her
and saw a person instead of an annoying
angry something or another
and they became almost-friends.
This was one of the only classes she had with him
because he got good grades
and she did not.

So they became friends and
baited each other and shoved each other
and he noticed when she failed every test
and she noticed when he spent all of class
playing on the calculator.

One day, she asked him if he'd ever been kissed
and he beat around the bush for a few days
while they talked and messed with each other
but at the end of the week
he caught her in a corner and pushed her up against a wall
and kissed her.

That was his first kiss.

That was how their story began.

They were not kind to each other at first.
They hurt each other and told each other
about the people they liked and the fun they'd have
over summer and how much their parents would hate
each other.

But eventually, gradually,
she fell for him
and he for her.
And the whole school was scornful
but generally not surprised, because isn't it always
everyone else who notices these things?

The halcyon days were there for a while
Life was relatively good
and they worked and played well together
which was surprising, given practically everything about them.

But one day she decided he wasn't good enough
or that she wasn't good enough
and decided to go.
And she not only broke it off with him
but she lost her best friend
because she chose to.
She broke him.


The end.