Sword and Sanctuary – A Poem

I held the letter in my hand.

It was waiting for me

when I arrived home.

I knew that he had left it for me,

one last gift or something

made to hurt. Perhaps

a little bit of both-

he was good at that.

His gifts came with strings,

his councel came a price,

and his company with

sacrifice.

In the letter,

he told me that he had

moved on, he had found

someone better than me.

It was like a knife.

with only one purpose.

I’d finally let him go.

He was like holding on to

brambles and thorns,

that took blood from me

as payment.

To get away from him,

I had fought against the

thorns he offered and hid

inside the forest,

in the branches of the trees

looking out until he

had gone away.

It was fitting that

his last words to me

cut like a sword.

That he sliced into me

as I had done to him.

I’d cut him out

to save myself.

I stood, holding the letter,

running a finger along

it’s sharp edges.

The cut was fast, like a blade.

The paper became bloody

in seconds,

the shape of trees formed

on the paper drawn in my ink.

The trees  were shaped

like the forest I had hid inside.

The branches were moving

on the paper.

Intense heat ran through me.

It wasn’t anger, just the knowledge

that the forest was no longer safe.

It was done providing sanctuary.

My hand grew warm.

When the flame erupted,

in the middle of my palm,

I was not afraid.

The burning of the paper

like the crackling of leaves,

brief and quick.

The letter was simply

ashes now.

When I blew the ashes away,

the cut on my finger was gone.

I took the sword that he

had offered to me

and used it to

cut him

away.

These Words and I – A Poem

I don’t understand the question.

Words are garbled to me,

going in and coming out.

Twice yesterday, I went to speak,

and words that I hadn’t meant to say

came out instead.

When I’m speaking, it as if

my words aren’t my own.

Sometimes, I go to speak and words

that are best left behind a filter

of some sort come out unbidden,

as if they were lying in wait.

As I say them, I try to push them back in,

try to stop the flow coming

from my mouth, try to quickly

build the barrier up again.

It is the inside voice

that we usually keep hidden.

I struggle to make sense of them,

these shapes that make letters,

those letters forming words.

I used to know them so well,

we used to be on good terms.

We got along famously,

wrote together, spoke together,

told stories together,

these words and I.

Now I wonder if I will

ever know them

that well again.

 

Christmas at Carrington’s by Alexandra Brown

 

Christmas-At-Carringtons_200x303Georgie Hart loves Christmas. It’s especially lovely at Carrington’s department store. She adores helping customers find the perfect present and there’s just something so magical about being surrounded by beautiful decorations that really make the department store sparkle.

This year is even more exceptional as Georgie has a man in her life, the hunky and adorable Tom Carrington. She’s over the moon to be with Tom at Christmas and hopes to finally be able to tell him she loves him…or is it too soon?

However, things do not go according to plan. She turns on the television one evening to see her bottom shaking to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”. Mortified beyond belief, she is shocked to learn that Carrington’s will be home to a new reality show, Kelly Cooper Come In Store.

Shock turns to mortification when she learns that Tom knew all about it and never told her! Georgie fears that instead of being magical, this will be her worst Christmas ever!

What Georgie doesn’t count on, however, is that Christmas is full of magic and a little bit of it might just come her way…

I flat out adore Alexandra Brown’s Carrington’s series. The books go beyond the genre of chick lit and make it something more, something deeper. Laugh out loud funny and told with tons of heart, Christmas at Carrington’s is no exception.

Eddie, Sam and the whole Carrington’s gang is back for me. It’s a thrill to see them all again. One of Alexandra Brown’s strength lies in the characters she creates. Georgie  is flat out the best heroine I’ve read in ages. Brown doesn’t just write characters, she creates them. You feel as if you know them, even after a few pages.

What’s great about Christmas at Carrington’s is that the book doesn’t go anywhere you think it will. The reality show (or as Eddie calls is Dramality) adds a whole new dimension to the book. Georgie is shocked to learn that a lot of the reality tv shows she loves are actually staged and there is the real reality and the one portrayed on the show.

I also loved the development in character between Georgie and her father. It was heart breaking but beautiful and tender hearted and it speaks again to Alexandra Brown’s strength that in one book, she was able to make me laugh out loud and tear up. There is such a range of emotions in Christmas at Carrington’s and it takes a very skilled author to perfect that balance.

I’ve already read the book twice and will read it for a third time over the Christmas Holidays. What makes Christmas at Carrington’s (and all of her books) so wonderful is that these are people you care about, people you root for and some that you love to hate. She’s able to pull you right into the story from page one and you won’t want to stop reading, anticipating the ending but dreading it at the same time because you never want the book to end.

Christmas at Carrington’s is a fantastic, wonderful, magical read. I for one, can’t wait to read it again. Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to an early Christmas present. One that you’ll want to read again and again.

Will Georgie get a happily ever after for Christmas? You’ll just have to read it yourself and find out!

Hungry for the Wolf

I had the pleasure of having my first professional photo shoot!

The photos were taken by Dawn from LeannaDawn Photography and I couldn’t be happier with them.

It was a very natural process and I had so much fun! It’s fantastic to know that these photos show me as I really am and I finally see what everyone else sees.

Dawn is a fantastic photographer! She made me feel at ease and helped me give the camera my true self. She saw me better than I saw myself!

The real me just shines through and I’m ecstatic!

You can check out Dawn and all her fantastic photos here:  http://www.leannadawn.com/

It was such a treat to feel like a real star and I can’t thank Dawn enough! This is only a small portion of the photos but they should be enough to wet your appetite for now! I also have them in black and white and they look awesome!

Faboosh!

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A Winter Walk – A Poem

I was walking in the snow.

my every movement

was focused only on

putting one foot

in front of the other.

My cane was making

star patterns in the

white crust on the earth.

A man approached me,

his face full of concern.

He said something

that I did not hear.

I asked him to repeat

himself. It didn’t help

that the wind was blowing

and I had gone temporarily deaf.

He spoke again and I just nodded,

still not able to make out his words.

I walked on, thinking on him

and what he said came into me

loud and clear:

“Watch where you’re going.

It’s dangerous out! You have

to be careful.”

I wish I had responded

with a thank you or

a smile, but I didn’t hear him.

I heard him now

and his words kept me safe

on the long walk home.