Song of the Day (12/24/12): Your Love - Justin Vernon

Palindrome Flower

When I walk

 The wooded path alone,

I find the same flower

Lying in the road. 

Battered, bruised, and Beautiful

It makes me weep.

Always, I try to stoop low

And rescue this treasure,

But each time it grabs the wind

And flies away, teasingly. 

I try, again and again, but 

My luck always runs dry.

In frustration, I converse

With it, in my mind.

Why must you flee me,

When I can show you 

Life once more?

Why do you run,

When I hold the key

You need to flourish?

If you would only just

Let go, and leave your 

Roots behind you, I 

Could nurture you back

 Lusher than ever.

But of course

You cannot reply,

And the desperate cries

I shout from within die

 As silently as they were born.

I know I cannot fault you,
But I am left, ignored
By my lonesome.

And so I walk
The wooded path alone.
I find the same flower
Lying in the road.
Battered, bruised, and Beautiful
It makes me weep.

Song Of The Day (12/12/12): The Park - Bon Iver (Feist Cover)

Flight (Story)

(One of my earliest attempts at short story. Not perfect, but I was content with it for a late hour one-sitting piece)

As she waited for her plans to be set in motion, she thought of the time before - the happier days before the sudden departure of her mother. She could remember her father returning from the mill every night, standing tall and chanting, “There is no shame in being a working man.” How things change, she thought to herself. She heard the Ford pulling up the gravel driveway. Finally. It was evident that he was returning in his usual inebriated stupor, as she heard him drop the keys at the doorstep. After what seemed like hours he managed to snake the key into the hole and push the door open. It took him even longer to notice her in the middle of the den, standing as if a statue. The two stared at each other, not daring to make the first move. There in front of her stood a man she once revered. But no, it was not that man; this man was a mere shadow of whom he once represented.

As she eyed him down, she realized he was barely recognizable these days, hidden behind his disgusting new image. His dark, matted hair had receded much over the years. His once hardened face was now covered by fat cheeks and a double-chin. His once clean-shaven chin now an unkempt field of patched stubble. His once muscular figure now replaced with a large rotund belly, protruding out from a shirt too small. He just looked so very…dirty. All of this, accompanied by the ghastly smell of alcohol on his breath, was what was left of one she once loved. It was a saddening sight.

“Fix me a drink, will yeh” he grumbled as he at last made his way to the couch. She gave a start at the request, having been lost in her thoughts. He noticed her hesitation, and began to stare. “Yes sir,” she whispered, before making her way quietly to the kitchen. This is it. The moment had finally come. All her preparations over the last two weeks were about to be put into action. She began to fix the usual gin and coke that he liked. Only, this time, she added her own ingredient – two tablets of Benadryl. Combined with the alcohol, it would be enough to put him out for a few hours, and that is all she needed. She brought it out to him, and he thanked her with a muffled grunt. Although it was much more than a shot, he downed it briefly nonetheless.

It was done; all there was left to do was to wait for him to succumb to the drowsiness. She nestled herself halfway up the carpeted stairs where she had a perfect view of his spot. She estimated that there would probably be a solid fifteen minutes of waiting, but this did not bother her. After her mother’s passing, she learned to appreciate solitude, and thus her patience increased tenfold. While she waited, her mind wandered back to thoughts of before. Her mother had been the guiding light in their family, holding everything together. Whenever something was amiss, somehow she would always find a way to fix things. Even now she could feel her mother’s embrace from the time the power went out in a thunderstorm. She was safe, and nothing could harm her. But that was before. Things were different now. There was no family, only two people who happened to live together. Her father never had the time to create a real relationship with her, and her mother’s passing only distanced them further. He took her death badly, more so than is accepted. His heart, seeking a new lover, turned to alcohol; liquor was his new wife. More faithful to his drinks he was than to anything else. Jealous this new lover was, towards anyone else. He soon turned spiteful towards his own daughter. The verbal abuse she could tolerate, trying her best not to blame him. But after he struck her, she realized she needed a way out. Being already 18, she decided sooner than later would be the better option.

She was ripped from her thoughts with a sudden thunk as the television remote slipped from his hand, signaling his submission to sleep. With her plan finally set in motion, she jumped up silently from her spot. She tiptoed downstairs and approached him. The nearer she got, the stronger the horrible scent of the alcohol. She did a quick once over, and discovered the bulge in the pocket of his tattered jeans that she was searching for. She gently slid her hand inside his front left pocket, looping her index finger around the keychain that was kept inside. During this, he let out a soft “oh” of pleasure, but remained asleep. Mortified and even more disgusted, she hastily finished removing the keys. She crept throughout the house, gathering her bag from the unused dining room. She did a quick double check of the contents, especially making sure that her reserve funds saved up from her part-time job were all packed and ready to go. Now reassured, she approached the door with an odd feeling, one of both excitement and apprehension. As she reached for the doorknob, she realized her hand, her whole body even, was shaking. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins as she hesitated for only a moment, taking a quick glance back into the place she once called home. Then, just as brief, she closed the door behind her, never to set foot inside there again. She flew down the outside steps and through the old vegetable garden that was now a scarce patch of dirt. Out onto the driveway she walked, no longer able to pass silently as each step was accompanied by a loud crunch in the rocks. For a fleeting second she froze where she stood, stricken with fear that he would wake. Reason soon regained control of her, though, as she remembered his special cocktail. Even so, she moved with a larger, more rushed gait after that.Crunch. Crunch. After what seemed like ages, she reached the truck. She opened the driver side door using the key with ease, her shaking now relaxed. She tossed her bag in the back and settled in her seat. She inserted the key into the ignition and started the engine. Immediately afterwards she began backing out of the driveway, still slightly wary that he may wake. She reached the end of the path and turned onto the highway, towards the interstate. This time, she did not hesitate. She did not glance back one last time, for she wouldn’t have the will to go on if she did. As she turned onto the exit ramp towards I-95 North, a single tear rolled down her cheek. Not one of sorrow, but one of joy – nay, one of relief. She was free.

Bookworm

So this is a picture I took April 10th, 2011.

 It was my goal that I made for myself - to finish all of these books on the list. I at first set a deadline of over that summer, but since then have just decided that I shall be content if I finish them at all. Since then, I have added books to the list, and just plain read some that were never on it. So I've decided to transfer this list to here, so that I can keep track of my progress, in hopes that it will further encourage me to read more. I will post updates as they come. The current list is as follows (asterisk means it is a book I have previously read but feel I read it at too young an age to fully appreciate the piece):

• Ender's Game
• Of Mice And Men
• Moonwalking With Einstein
• Slaughter-House Five* (Work In Progress)
• Infinite Jest
• Gang Leader for a Day
• The Promise
• Catch-22
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King
• The Name of the Wind
• Foundation
• Foundation and Empire
• V for Vendetta
• The Hunger Games
• Speaker for the Dead*
• Xenocide*
• Children of the Mind*
• Ender's Shadow*
• Shadow of the Hegemon*
• Shadow Puppets*
• Shadow of the Giant*
• The Gunslinger
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• 1984*
• Dune
• Brave New World
• Catcher in the Rye
• Neuromancer
• The Stranger*
• The Long Walk
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• It's Kind of a Funny Story
• Cat's Cradle
• The Great Gatsby*
• The Communist Manifesto
• Contact
• A Clockwork Orange
• The Stand
• The Hobbit*

Hello World

I was made today.
Yeah.
Gonna post random shit here, like journal entries, short stories, and whatever else I feel like writing.
Yeah.