Jewelry and Gifts

I've worked on a few more items on cafepress. There's a far better selection now with some pretty wildlife photos that I'd taken. It's been a lot of fun creating these items, and I hope to add more variety soon. :) Enjoy!

http://www.cafepress.com/rooksforcrooks

Persephone at One-Eyed Jack's

This poem will be published in Metaphor 2012 Edition (coming soon).

 

Persephone at One-Eyed Jacks

Succulent plum serpentines through the smoke haze,

beckoning that which stalks to seek a cooling dew.

Persephone at the bar slouched between a biker and his old lady,

the bottle of Jack at her elbow breathes in wolfishly

as she baits with a stiletto hanging from her toe.

Smoke tendrils wreath about her like dirty moths

attracted by the light glinting off her curved cheek.

The cigarette on her lips nearly plummets

as she bears canines for oaths of untasted wildness,

teething out staggering drunkenness and

pulling tight the chased frenzy upon which we feed.

As Twilight Falls

This poem won 1st place in Weber State's Writing Center Contest in the fall of 2011.

As Twilight Falls

The rusty sweetness of yams

dug up from the garden,

dirt beneath half-moon fingernails,

the pungent taste of radishes,

bitter fruit of the earth

 giving up her children after

she thought she’d buried them safely

beneath the dark soil.

Snap-peas that you used to call

snap-crackle peas because of the sound

they made when your small hands

snagged them from the vines.

The sun, like Rumpelstiltskin, illuminating

the golden strands of your hair.

The worms and beetles were your playmates,

counted as close friends, and when the rains fell,

how you buried them all again in the dirt so carefully,

so they wouldn’t know pain, wouldn’t dry out when the sun returned.

Though you have since made your bed amongst the beetles,

when the toad in our garden sings as twilight falls, and

the lavender shadows wrap around me like your little arms,

I sigh, knowing how Rapunzel once walked the earth here with me.

Here's a few links; they will be posting all the winners' work soon:

http://apps.weber.edu/WSUImages/WritingCenter/Writing%20Contest/WC%20Contest%20Winner%27s%20Flier%202.PDF

http://www.weber.edu/WritingCenter/WC/VerbalEquinox.html

 

 

Sunday Chess in the Park

I'm going to make this a blog about poetry and writing. As such, I'll put the first poem that I've published (in the 2011 Edition of Metaphor, Weber State's Literary Journal).

Sunday Chess in the Park

The two old men meet,

Cane and metal walker set to the side of the picnic table.

Expressions mirror each other like pieces of the moon.

Hats shade their eyes; shaking hands move the pieces.

 Each considers the other.

The wars they have been in lie in wooden drawers,

Purple hearts for their grandchildren to run their hands over.

The sound of airplanes and gunfire replaced

By the sound of Red-breasted birds and Bluejays chirping in the trees.

Each makes his move, carefully considering the chipped pieces.

Checkmate.

They salute and return each Sunday

O-Town

Sometimes we take our hometown for granted. Especially if it's an industrial city with traintracks, abandoned factories with broken windows, and a dog-food factory that has a smell so strong in August that it gives a new meaning to the "dog days of summer."

But given the right rosy light, Ogden can be a beautiful city with historic buildings, the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and quaint little shops lining the street, capped by the Union Station.

Advice: Friend or Foe

I was contemplating the other day about both giving and getting advice. It was prompted because I'd given one of my friends advice because I just couldn't help myself. I felt that she had made a rather glaring mistake that was detrimental to the business she was starting. I knew I shouldn't. But I did anyway. Of course, she never responded to my email. I didn't really expect her to, but I wondered; why did I feel the need to give out this advice even though I was pretty certain it wouldn't be welcome?

So I thought about it and realized that it's partly a survival instinct that must've been passed down through humanity's genetics. If you think about it, we are always figuring out ways to improve things and do better. Back when humanity was just starting out, this would've meant life and death. If one person hoarded knowledge without sharing it, that knowledge would be lost when that person died. That could spell disaster for the small group of humans (we're talking about prehistory, here). So sharing knowledge is our way of showing support and the desire for our loved ones to succeed.

My boyfriend took it one step further, and gave a valid point that it's also likely related to ego. We want to show off our knowledge by giving advice to those we think we need it. We like the feeling of knowledge and power that giving advice offers. We also realized how all humans are prone equally to giving advice and resisting it; we feel we know what we're doing.

So the next time you're giving or receiving unwanted advice, just breathe, and realize it is in our very nature to do so.