Fair Play

source

Jackson stroked
The little nub
On the mouse.
His pace alternating
From quick, quick,
Slow, quick, quick,
Stop.

I held my breath
In anticipation of what
He would do next.
Would he continue?
Or would he leave me
On the brink of
My sexual fantasy.

I looked up
At his face,
Right into his eyes,
A lazy, suggestive smile
Crossing his face,
Then he slowly strokes.

Staring at me,
He returns to his
Pace of
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick.
Quick.
Slow.

With all my strength,
I release a demure sigh
When I wanted
To scream with
Careless abandon.

Jackson smirked,
But his smile quickly faded
When I reached
For the joystick,
Holding it firmly in my hand
As I softly touched
It's buttons.

Payback is only
Fair play.

The Queen's Speech

“He don’t love you!”
Her face had contorted
Into an unpleasant mask
Of fury, disgust with
A hint of fear.

She stood just
Beyond my reach
Spewing malicious words
Like toxic sludge,
And I just smiled.

Not a fake smile
Or an embarrassed smile,
More like a smile
That proceeds a hearty laugh
That was truly genuine.

This only stoked
The fire of her ire
And she started in
Step by step, hurling
Every hurtful thing
Her mind could conjure up.

When I was certain
That she was done
And she had nothing
Else to say, I let
My smile melt away.

I held her gaze
And spoke slowly,
Letting the sound rumble
Out of me like a growl,
Putting the right amount
Of fear into her heart.

“No, sugar, he don’t love me,
He lusts me,
He craves me,
He needs me,
He wants me.

He worships at the altar
That is this body,
And when he thinks
Himself unworthy of
My greatness, with tail
Between his legs,
He runs to you.

Her jaw swung open
And the fire was
Reignite in the depths
Of her being
But I could care less.

I said my piece
And closed the door,
Then I slipped back
Into bed next to him,
Whispering into his ear.

“Baby, please tell
Your lady friend to
Not come to our home,
Making a scene."

"Better yet, if I find
Out you have any lady friends,
It will be you meeting them
At the door as you
Leave this house for good."

With that said,
I fell asleep,
Sated in the knowledge
That my husband would
Heed my warning.

When the queen speaks,
Even the king will obey.


Submitted to dVerse Open Link #51

Ago - She Wanted A Love Poem

The following poem is from the section, "Secrets" of She Wanted A Love Poem, a collection of poems.

Ago

 Jacob stumbled out
Out of the barn,
Bits of hay still
Stuck to his knees,
A haunted look
On his face.

It's amazing
How one's world changes
In the course of
Two hours.

Three hours ago,
Jacob was in
His parents' kitchen
Trying to study
While Cressida cried
In her bassinet.

Two and a half hours ago,
He was walking around,
Trying to find somewhere
To study when he sees
Jebidiah's old barn.

Two hours  ago,
He was situated
In the loft of the barn,
His nose deep
In his text book,
Coming out only
To make notes.

One hour, forty five minutes ago,
He heard the barn door
Open and close,
Then two sets of foot steps.
Jacob ducked low,
Peeking over the edge
Of the loft.

One hour, thirty minutes ago,
Jacob watched
Pastor Elijah and Teacher Morris
Make love to each other,
Their sweaty bodies glistening
In the late afternoon sun.

One hour ago,
Jacob laid on his back,
Staring at the barn's ceiling
As he listened to
The two most respected men
In his closed in community
Get dressed. Sugarcoated
Endearments  interlacing
Their idle chatter.

Forty five minutes ago,
He listened as
The secret lovers exited
The barn, one then the other.
Jacob was too stunned
To move, he only started
To breathe normally
Five minutes ago.

Half an hour ago,
Most of his shock
Had subsided and
Jacob was packing
His books away.
He then climbed
Down the ladder,
Exiting the loft.

Fifteen minutes ago,
Jacob was staring
At the spot where
The two men had laid.
He could smell
A distinct scent
That he now associated
With what he saw.

Five  minutes ago,
An unidentifiable sound
Broke Jacob's trance,
Sending him stumbling
Out of the barn
Where he bumped
Into Pastor Elijah.

The young man and the old man
Stared at each other,
Both trying to decipher
What the other knew.
Jacob looked away,
Mumbling something under his breath,
Pastor Elijah just nodded,
Saying he was looking
For Jebidiah.

Jacob never looked
At the two men
The same again,
In fact, he didn't
Know what to think.
All he knew was
What he saw between
The two learned men
Was the most genuine
Depiction of love
He ever saw.

In the course
Of two hours,
Jacob's world shifted,
He discovered
That love  had
No limits.
Even in the most
Closed in, strict communities,
Love finds a way.

To get your copy
of this collection
of poems,
click here.

Untitled

source

I never told him
That I loved him,
Fearing that the words
Would weigh him down.

Like anchors pulling him
Into an unknown abyss,
Just before he starts fighting it,
Fighting the words,
And by extension,
Fighting me.

I let what we have
Be as shallow as a puddle,
As light as butterfly wings,
As effortless as falling asleep.

In doing so,
I was committing suicide,
Sinking in the lake
Of my emotions.

Drowning on my own
Desires to express
How I feel and
Know that he feels the same.

And just as I had
Accepted my fate,
Willing to settle
For something less than ideal,
He said
"I love you."

It was like a hand
Reaching through murky waters
And holding onto me,
Pulling me out of
My own despair.

Through my shock,
Through my confusion,
Through my relief and elation,
I answered
"I love you, too."

The tides have shifted
And we journey forth
In a new direction.

Charlie's Wish

Charlie had a death wish,
He had his fill of life
And was prepared to
Meet his maker.

Only problem was
His maker was not read
For Charlie.

Charlie's car stalled
When he locked himself
In his garage.

Charlie's gun jammed
While it was
In his mouth.

Charlie's rope broke
When he knocked
His chair from under himself.

The firemen came
When Charlie tried to
Jump from the 20th floor.

The hit men took
The wrong address
And killed the wrong man.

Seeing a pattern,
Charlie accepted
That he wasn't going to
Die anytime soon
So he went on with his life.

One day as
Charlie was walking
To his fiancee's home
From the job he loved,
He got hit by a bus,
Then the ambulance taking
Charlie to the hospital
Got hit by a train,
And to top it all off,
The Medivac helicopter
Stalled and crashed.

Charlie had a death wish
And his wish was granted.

A Prayer For Summer

I sat under the willow tree
That stood on the hill
Overlooking my little village.
The wind was blowing through the leaves
And I let the sound
Fall effortlessly around me.

Summer was just around the corner,
I had closed my text books
For the last time ages ago
And I had written my last exam
That day. Instead of home
My feet led me to the willow tree.

I waited patiently
For the wind to die down
And for silence to reign.
When everything was still,
Even the birds in the tree
Held their tune, I clasped my hands
And said my prayer for summer.

I prayed that
I would have as much fun
As I could possibly have
From sunrise to sunset.
And that I may sleep
Fitfully as the moon
Traveled across the sky
So I could have more fun
The next day.

I prayed that
I would laugh more
Than I did the last time
And that my smiles
Would be brighter
Than the sun above
And my body would
Exert more energy
Than that same sun.

And when I get too hot,
I prayed that there
Would be countless visits
To the pond and to the beach
To cool me down, and
If no body of water be available,
May there be ice cold ice pop
To cool me from within.

But I did not only pray
For this summer only,
I prayed for the summers
Yet to come. From those
That will still find me playing
To those where I will be
Locked away in the world
Of paychecks and bills.
I prayed that I will be able
To look back at these summers of fun
And revel in the memories.

I prayed for the summers
When work is a distant memory
And I am too tired to play any more,
But I still go out and sit in the sun
And it gives me enough energy to
Rock my rocking chair as
 I listen to my grandchildren play.

I prayed that when I die,
I die during the summertime,
That my last breath is
Of the warm summer breeze,
That my last experience
Be wrapped up in
The trappings of summer.

And as easily as my prayer began,
It ended with a quiet amen.
As I opened my eyes,
I see a friend from school
Walking home, I ran down
To catch up with him, a cloud
Of dust in my wake.

If I had stayed sitting under
The willow tree,
I would have noticed the wind
Had started to blow through
The leaves of the great tree,
And instead of its usual melody,
I would have heard my prayer
Repeated over and over again.

If I had stayed
I would have heard my prayer
Repeated back in the song
Of the birds in the tree.

And from then on
At the beginning of summer,
One would find me
Under the willow tree,
Hands clasped, eyes closed
Saying out loud
My prayer for summer.
And every summer
I would make my prayer
A reality.

To Blog or Not To Blog

 

source 

 

While checking out my FaceBook Posts I saw a comment asking how I set up this blog. I was all set to post the two links I use but realized they might not translate well in the comment box, so this post was spawned. LOL.

Platform

To begin, the platforms, there are a lot of ways you can create your own blog, the following are the ones I came across with the first and second being the ones I use.

• Blogger - I had used this donkey years ago for another project but I did not have the commitment for that project. Then one day I was inspired to post my poems online after coming across the Sartorialist, who's original site was a blogger site. The platform is easy to set up and navigate. Pretty much all you have to worry about is your content (what you got to say) and your layout (what will make you different from all the bloggers who start a blog and then forget about it).
• Tumblr - This is another great platform, but I don't use it for original content, it's more a collection of images and quotes that inspire me. I reblog like a mad woman when I'm on tumblr. My tumblr is for another project of mine called KOLA. Once again, easy to set up and easy to navigate. When it comes to the reblogging aspect you can check out other tumblr sites and follow them and they will appear in your dashboard when you login to Tumblr. You can also tailor it to a specific like, e.g. natural hair/african descent imagery, menswear, fitness, sex. If you can think it there are tumblrs about them.
• Wordpress - This is one of the popular blogging platforms. It's relatively easy to set up and manage. I have not used it because I would have to figure out how to navigate it and I don't like to leave from blogger to go to another platform and back and forth. Feel free to check it out and see if it works for you.
• Typepad - I'm not familiar with this platform but from just a glance it looks like you have to pay for this one. The others I mentioned before are free. Feel free to check it out, but keep in mind you will have to pay to use it.

Layout

Next up, layout this is what sets you apart from all the new blogs out there. This is a lot of trial and error, I went through a lot of layouts before I settled on this one. To be honest when I started blogging this layout did not exist. That is why you may have to keep checking to see what is available. Okay, I don't know about you but if I was reading this I would be thinking checking what and where. Don't worry I got you covered.

What - Templates. Like all things if something comes out, along comes a lot of things to support it and make it easier. I have to thank Google for this, I was not satisfied with what blogger had to offer so I put into Google "Blogger templates". There are tons of sites that come up but I always return to one site which is always coming out with new templates. This leads to where.

Where - Blogger Templates. Here you have a lot of templates to choose from, you can check out the demos to see how the template look and you can download the template. My only issue is that now that Blogger is changing up their dashboard I'm not sure how to upload the template using the new dashboard. But once again it's all trial and error. I know for sure there are Tumblr templates so there should be templates for the other platforms.

You will have to sit down and go through a lot of templates to find the one for you but trust me it is worth it. Especially if it reflects you and/or your message.

Content

So you have a blogger account, you chose the template and set up your layout, now what do you have to say? That my friend is up to you. My content is poetry on this blog and random stuff on my other blog - Kimolisa Was Here. I won't lie and say it will be easy in terms of finding something to write about and being consistent. In my case for this blog, I had a lot of poems going back over 15 years so I spent a good part of a year just posting them. I was lucky to have a job in retail where there was some down time which allowed me freedom to create new content.

As for Kimolisa Was Here, I just wrote about things that interested me. I would write about things from my perspective, some personal stuff, a couple reviews about movies I watched. Some of my favourite posts were Male Appreciation, Why I'm Single and a few here and there.

But enough about me, what about you? What do you want to share with the world? Is it original content - poetry, short stories, photography, recipes, artwork? Is it your opinion on matters that are close to your heart? Keep in mind it is all up to you and you have to ask the serious questions

• What are you going to put out there?
• Can you be consistent?
• Are you willing to post personal things about yourself?
• Can you handle any and everybody seeing your content?
• Are you doing this for yourself or for exposure?
• Do you really want to do this?

A lot of people set up blogs, only a few actually put out content on a consistent basis. Some bloggers take days to create the content you view in a couple of minutes, some (myself included) take from a couple of minutes to a couple hours. Don't worry you don't have to post content every day, some of the most popular bloggers only post once a week.

Okay, I've written a lot of stuff and I'm wrung out, LOL. I can't think of anything else to say but check out 10 Ways to Generate More Blog Traffic by Michael Hyatt. This post pretty much covers all the points on how to generate blog traffic. Also you can always check out your search engine of choice and put in a search on how to get more readers to your blog, that is if that is what you want. Also don't forget social media, share your posts with friends and family or even pages that you follow on FaceBook. Twitter is another way of getting your content out there.

Okay, okay, I'm done. If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I will try to be of service.

p.s. this is the last thing, I promise, but when posting pictures from other sites, always post a link from where you got the pic. It's just the decent thing to do, well in my book anyway. Now, I'm done. LOL

He's Mine

 

 source

We sat back,
Blowing bubbles in the air
As Johnny Cash crooned
In the background.

Taking a minute or two
To track the progression
Of our individual bubbles,
Hooting and hollering
When one went farther
Than the last one.

While he went in
To get another six pack
And another bottle of wine
For me, I followed him
With my eyes.

Once again
I fell in love with him.

So what
If we didn't drink
The same alcoholic beverages
Or he would wear denim cut-offs
And I preferred
Tasteful summer dresses.

So what if
He cursed like a sailor
And laughed uncontrollably
When ever I made a bodily noise.

I loved him
Because he makes me laugh,
Because he makes
The little girl in me
Come alive and run recklessly
In my grown up pumps.

As I watched
The night claim the sky,
He sneaks up behind me
And plants feather light
Kisses along my nick.
I fall in love with him
Even more.

Thank God
I found him.
Thank God
He's mine.


Thanks for pointing out the typo, Robert.
Posted in dVerse Open Link

ing

Ink drying,
Rings glinting,
Mouths smiling
If they are not kissing.

Fathers smiling,
Mothers crying,
Siblings vying,
Bridesmaids sighing.

The day is waning
The pastor is praying
That they will be staying Together.
Together...
Forever?

Ha, keep praying
You will just be delaying
The inevitable, cause he's laying
One, two or was it three
Of those same bridesmaids
Who be sighing.

Soon, one father will
Be roaring, the other
Will be sighing and
The mothers, once again,
Will be crying.

The siblings will be smiling,
And the bridesmaids?
They will be lurking,
While all the time
The pastor will be praying,
Saying they should forget
All that and stay together.

But all that
Goes out the window
When it comes out
That the pastor was laying
With not one
But both of the mothers.

Ink drying,
Rings selling,
Mouths frowning
If not scowling.

Play

 

source

I listened for
Tomorrow,
As I dug deeper
Under the covers,
Trying to eek out
One last strand
Of delicious, delightful,
Oh so precious sleep.

In my pursuit
Of nocturnal euphoria,
I hit something
Quite hard that
Groaned the more
I prodded it.
Sleep quickly was forgotten
As I searched out
The source of the groans.

I found it
In the far corner
Of my not so expansive
Bed in a tangle
Of bed linen and
Very much naked.
Not a bad naked either,
I would even be so bold
As to say he was nude.

I sat back
On my haunches
And pondered this
New development in
My Sunday morning routine.

What should I do with him?
Should I turn him out
As soon as he is awake?
Should I play with him,
Just a little?
Should I play house
With him? Playing out
Some ridiculous
Rom-com situation?

My thoughts were
Interrupted with the
Opening up of his eyes,
Then a lazy, sexy smile
Flashed across his face.
Oh, looks like
We're going to play.

I slip back under
The covers and tune out
Tomorrow and Sunday morning
Routines. For now,
We play and
I love to play.

Spoken

Untitled

It started.

It started as a small
Stir, nothing worth
Paying attention to.

Then it built in momentum,
A mere stir became
A tornado like frenzy,
Pulling at the moorings.

The moorings of my being
Began to become undone,
Pulling apart and away
Until I viewed everything
From some lofty place
While I created havoc.

I tried to crawl back in,
To take control,
To soothe the beast,
It was a beast.

Horns a foot long each
Grew in a curve from
It's skull. Sharp spikes
Grew along it's spine
And when it unfurled it's wings
A terrible beast it became.

It howled into the air
Deafening me till
I curled up into myself,
My original position,
My instinctual position.

I caught myself almost
To late and I jumped up
And sung into her,
Taking her down.

A terrible beast,
She may be but
She is my beast and
She will be controlled.

With my strength,
I held her down,
With my words,
I calmed her down.

Slowly, reluctantly,
She calmed down,
She grew smaller and smaller
Until she was but
The size of my little finger.

Soon she will be nothing
But a breath and
Then nothing but a twisted memory.

Thank God,
This only happens
Once a month, but
The countdown has begun.
Twenty eight days until
The beast appears.
I will be ready.

A Plastic Smile - She Wanted A Love Poem

The following poem is from the section, "Love Hurts" of She Wanted A Love Poem, a collection of poems.

A Plastic Smile

They sat on the hill
Overlooking their little town
Under the night sky,
One she no longer
Tried to guess how old
It was.

Under shiny stars
And a moon not yet full,
He took her hands
And professed his love,
Out of his pocket
He pulled out a velvet box
And popped it open.

Within sat a ring
With a solitary diamond
That shone brighter
Than the sun.
He waited for an answer
For the answer
He wanted to hear
And she gave it to him.

His happiness was potent
And he embraced her
Forgetting that her ribs
Were still bruised from
The last time he hit her.
The tears she shed
Out of pain, he mistook
For tears of happiness.

He quickly placed the ring
On her finger still
Black and blue from when
He slammed her hand
In the doorway
As she tried to escape
Him and the brutality
He was about to
Rain down on her.

Although she was in pain,
She plastered on her face her
Signature plastic smile.
A sense of relief washed over her,
He had not planned to kill her
On this hill.

As they walked back
To the car, he spoke
Non stop about the wedding
Their marriage,
Soon enough children,
Their life together,
And she smiled her plastic smile.

As they drove back down
The hill, he smile melted
As everything began
To sink in.

Their life together.
The thought sank deeper
And deeper until it tripped
Her survival instinct,
Her need to survive
At all costs.

Quietly, she undid
Her seatbelt and waited
For the right moment.
She didn't have to
Wait long.

As they rounded a corner
With a sheer cliff edge
At the driver's side,
She attacked, pushing
The steering wheel
Completely to the cliff.

He was taken by surprise
And it was too late for him
To undo the lock. And as
He tried to regain control
She opened the door
And rolled out.

She kept rolling
Until she came to a stop
In the middle of the road.

She laid there,
Looking up at the stars
And the moon,
Listening to her fiance's car
Fall down the hill.

She did not move
Until she could no longer
Hear the car falling,
Only then did she went
To look at the damage.

The car had caught
On fire. By morning
It would be nothing
But charred remains.

The scene was so familiar,
In this same spot,
Her whole family had died
And she had survived.
The exact same way,
The only difference between
Then and now was
She didn't have that guilt
Of surviving when everyone
She loved had perished.

This time around,
She understood that she
Had a chance of a life
Worth living, one that
Didn't include being
Someone's punching bag.

She limped away from
The scene of the "accident",
Making her way away
From the town she called home
For far too long.

With each step,
She felt lighter.
With each step,
A smile grew brighter,
Become more genuine.
With each step,
A plan began to form
On how she was going to live.

With each step,
She vowed never to wear
A plastic smile.

To get your copy
of this collection
of poems,
click here.