Lines, creases, crinkles Wrinkles, crow’s feet Haunted eyes Joyless smile Emptiness and sorrow The wonder whys Regrets Mirror receives them all Graying hair, Bags Dark circles Neck once nuzzled by Lovers and babies Sagging skin Sinking heart Withering hopes Curse the years Look at me Look at me See? See? You are what you see See beauty See love See wonder Hold your head up … Continue reading Mirror
Cubism Angles Corners Planes Perspective Front Back Side Side Up Down Above Beneath Inside Outside Around Within Without Through Trans-dimensional Complex Permeable, Impenetrable Fixed, Moving Opaque, Transparent Open, Closed Masked, Unmasked Active, Still Lost, Alert Quiet Quiet Quiet Loving, Hurtful Laughing, Crying Frowning, Smiling Joyful, Sad Gloomy, Gleeful Ecstatic, Pained Tears joyful Tears hurtful Tears sad Tears Tears Tears Tears Tears Smiling Loving Angry Loving … Continue reading Cubism
When she ailed Dependent child, you Moved back home To care for her Free room and board But doomed to toil O woe is me You cried and sighed O poor dear child My helpful soul, She prayed your aid Was not in vain I’m sorry Child Should I linger Lest your burdens grow In toil for me. O woe is me You cried and … Continue reading O Woe
bless / witness i am blessed to bear witness to these moments when my students unravel themselves before me. whether consciously or as a result of their playful, unconscious instinct – they douse me with their light spirit, momentary fears, their honesty. my wonder is unceasing as they tap dance around me with their whole hearted purity and […] via bless / witness — The Sea … Continue reading Reblog from The Sea Berry
A poetry site rejected seven poems I submitted for consideration. The editor thanked me for submitting my work and remarked that “It was a pleasure to read. However, we regret to say that it doesn’t quite fit our daily menu.” Ouch. Seven rejections with one salvo. The submission guidelines encouraged poets to send “your best work” since publishing space was tight. Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch.Ouch. Rejected AND repudiated. … Continue reading Rejected. Spurned. Snubbed. Repudiated.
If I don’t miss a part of you you are not apart from me. Continue reading I Can’t Breathe When You Are Away
The thought occurred to me a few minutes ago that I wouldn’t know how to respond if I were asked to describe myself in one sentence. Oprah: “Welcome Will, and congratulations on the publication of your Great American Novel, A Wished-For Love, debuting at number one on the NYT, LAT, ChiTrib, WSJ, Sing Sing, and Tampa Bay Voc. Tech High School Best Sellers Lists! What an … Continue reading In One Sentence
Exquisitely painful and beautiful. For a moment, echoes over the ocean sound your obituary — these jagged cliffs are your gravestones, and perhaps the algae the rolling waves offer to the shoreline is the water’s apology. For sending your casket deep into the corals. For seasoning the ocean salty with your panic. For surging your lifeless limbs away from […] via Elegy for a Drowned Girl … Continue reading Re-Blog: Elegy for a Drowned Girl
Six years ago today, I registered on WordPress. How has my writing progressed? Well, let’s see. I joined my first writing group, Writers World on Facebook, in May 2014. I submitted a 500-word extract of my draft novel, Honey ko, for critique that same day. I sat back, confident that my writing would be nominated for acclaim and recognition. Hoo boy. Was I wrong. Although … Continue reading Happy Anniversary!
I just want to take this time to thank everyone who reads, subscribers and shares my site. I appreciate all the support and encouragement.I would love to read everyone’s blog, but I don’t always get a chance to read and follow everyone’s blog. So today I want to offer a networking opportunity and a chance […] via Networking + Share Your Blog — Jay Colby Continue reading Sharing! Because I didn’t always share with my sisters…. 😉
Why do you torture me, Susanna? It is not I, William. It must be. I feel you watching me. I feel you watching me. No, William, I’m not here. I’m dead. You know that. Yes. I killed you. I left you in the cold and the rain. No, my love. I died of pneumonia in the hospital after the car accident. I couldn’t find my way … Continue reading Susanna VIII
Funny that, how the heart bursts the same way in grief and love. Continue reading Heartbrache
Nearly a year ago, I began submitting my novel, Honey Ko, to agents. In all, I queried about 65 agents, 24 of whom were kind enough to respond with a gentle “decline.” One agent’s response was so kind I imagined her typing my rejection while crying and feeling dreadful, just dreadful that she couldn’t represent me. I nearly responded with a “There, there. It’s okay. It’s … Continue reading Writing, and Phantom Stories
When I was in the Navy, I was stationed, among many other places, in Brunswick, Maine, and Barbers Point, Hawaii. At both duty stations, there were places overlooking the sea that I frequently visited to relax, take photos, and swim or scramble around the cliff faces. In Maine, that place was on Bailey Island at a place along the cliffs called The Giant’s Stairs. There … Continue reading The Satisfied Life
In the forest, I walked with my head down, It was easier so, ‘neath my burden; My boots were muddied and scuffed; An eyelet rode free on frayed lace. The winding path was hard-packed From years of heavy, burdened travel; Pebbles and stones ground-in and smoothed By soles, and the wind and the rain. The soil varied in color, Brown, black, and gray, and tan; Grass … Continue reading Each A Vignette Of Life
Ummmmmmm that’s good coffee Continue reading Good Morning 🙂
Your head rests upon my shoulder. The sun dips beneath the sea. Emotion rises from a rich, deep well, A soulful sob that catches in my throat; My heart bursts with love that swells my chest; Tears fill my eyes and a rapturous heat warms my face. Ono, my angel, I want to tell you how I love you But Heaven binds my tongue. Continue reading Heavenly
The house I wrote of yesterday stayed with me all day; I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I had intended a completely different point, about how we tear people down much easier than we build them up – people we disagree with, for example. We’ll stand in line to pick people apart for their flaws and shortcomings, their tastes, their politics, their looks. … Continue reading Home. All of Them
The old, old house stands brooding, silent, empty, shuttered. Peeling paint, peeling memories, peeling years, decaying. Squeaking gate unhinged, cracked stone steps, black holes gape between them, Give way to wild rose and dandelions, crabgrass, spurge and apples. Skinned shins on broken porch boards; cobwebs make me shrink. Ancient knocker of green-tinged brass, dolphins dancing on their tails. Quiet the knocker, there’s no one home, … Continue reading Home. With me.
Take my hand. Walk with me. Lust, fleeting. The cocoon nurtures the butterfly before its wings may spread. Continue reading I Loved You, Before I knew You
Winter appears to have returned with a vengeance over the weekend. The high in Southern Maryland yesterday was forty-three degrees, and may reach thirty-four today. I’m not one to complain about the cold (except for a cold seat-of-ease; don’t they make heated ones?), and believe temperatures this cold should be accompanied by snow. My northern friends may cast eye darts at me, but I don’t … Continue reading Chilly Willy
Dad and I used to go the movies together when I was a kid and we were stationed in Soesterberg, Netherlands. Thursday night at the Camp New Amsterdam Air Force Base theater was westerns and war movies. All my buddies and their dads went. Mom would make grilled cheese sandwiches for dad and me at home, then we’d have popcorn and soda – and candy … Continue reading Thursday Nights with Dad
I need to take up pen again, Let words flow From fingers Like blood flows From wounds. I need to let pen’s nib Bleed ink onto blank white sheet. Time Forms thought Forms words Forms phrases Informs life. Patience Crumpled paper litters my desk. The keyboard is that friend Who lives at work all day Watching feet rush back and forth. Continue reading Crumpled Paper
William Goodfellow was a man, not an animal. William dashed the hoe from his hands and stared at the earth packed beneath his torn fingernails. “This is madness. I am a man, not an animal,” he cried, and fled his field of corn and the blazing sun that burned his head. William’s farm animals howled and barked, and mooed and clucked in amazement, stamped their paws … Continue reading William Goodfellow
It thrilled me to learn I was going to deploy overseas with my squadron, Patrol Squadron Eight, the “Fighting Tigers”. My first military deployment! The P-3 Orion is an anti-submarine warfare aircraft; Soviet submarines were their primary targets. Although I was a groundpounder – a mechanic, not aircrew – everyone shared in the glory when our squadron aircrews found and tracked a Soviet boomer, sometimes … Continue reading Sea Duty, Cont’d
The Navy was not all fun and games. Official orders to report for Sea Duty carried the note that the duty was considered arduous, meaning the Sailor could expect to be deployed away from home base for any length of time, and as often as deemed necessary by the Navy. This was no surprise to the Sailor, especially one coming off of a cushy shore … Continue reading Sea Duty
Leaving the anger-filled pages of Facebook and Twitter and coming to my WordPress blog, is like finding a sun-dappled forest glade, and lying with my back against an oak tree, chewing on a blade of grass, and listening to the leaves rustling in the breeze. WordPress Reader is my sun-dappled forest glade, and your posts are the leaves. Your emotions, expressed in prose and poem, … Continue reading I Am Here
Poor Yoshi. Our 99 pound Great Dane/Labrador Retriever has always been sensitive. It’s become worse since we rescued a little (comparatively; she’s 35 pounds) mixed-breed female in November of 2016. Yoshi is ten while the rescue, Sachiko, is not yet two. Yoshi’s always been light on his paws – twinkle-toes – but is slowing down; Sachiko is all sugar: pure sweetness and high energy. I … Continue reading Mr. Sensitive
I have a difficult time accepting the pseudo-intellectual elite’s (let us call them PIEs) rants against the President. They, as all American citizens, have the right to speak out in protest against his policies. They are as affected by decisions made in Washington, DC as the ninety-nine percent of Americans not making millions of dollars every year to act, sing and dance, track your online movements, … Continue reading PIE-holes
Proofreading your work is the most important action you can perform before pressing the publish button. An error-free post sends an unconscious signal to the reader that you care about your writing. I can’t count the times I have found a beautiful post, especially a poem, ruined over a misspelled word, an incomplete phrase, or another grammatical error. The flow is brought up short and … Continue reading Proofread, Proofread, Poofread
Nope, nope, and nope: not a fan of vulgarity in blog post titles. Keep the title clean no matter how vulgar your writing. At least people will open your essay to read it before discovering you don’t have the vocabulary to choose inoffensive words. There is such a thing as a Thesaurus. Continue reading Writiquette
“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” G.K. Chesterton I’ve defeated my own dragons. More than that though, I believe in fairy tales. Let’s just say that I can’t walk by a mushroom, or a field of moss, or through a green forest and not keep an eye … Continue reading I Believe
“This is an essay Sam wrote after Susanna died. I asked him if I could keep it as a reminder of the two of them. He asked me not to share it, but he would have wanted you to read it. This is how they were, the way they acted with each other. Sam didn’t glamorize their relationship; he described it perfectly. I’ll read it … Continue reading The Love of Sam and Susanna
When two hearts break, it’s a compound fracture with all the ugliness of a leg bone sticking out awkwardly from torn, bloodied flesh, a crippling injury that takes a lifetime to heal, if it ever really heals without leaving memory of an exquisitely harsh pain, a bruise of purple and black on the soul, and a reflex action against falling in love again. Continue reading Breaking Up
Like two red eyes, the imperfections in the ruby blinked in the sunlight. He pressed the jeweled medallion to his chest to keep it from swinging on the necklace. The sun burned his back as he walked along the rock-strewn beach hunched over looking for seashells. The best ones he placed in a red, plastic cup that smelled of San Miguel. “Look, Aida.” he called. … Continue reading Sam and Susanna & Tom and Aida
“Because they understand that love is the gift of giving one’s self unreservedly to another; that the giving of love is also the receiving of love, and that the spiritual renewal from the physical act is possible only after the giving up of self to one another.” “I love you, William.” “I love you, Susanna.” Continue reading Love is….
Sam and Susanna Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam They say you don’t hear the bullet that kills you. How could anyone know that? Because, they also say, bullets move faster than the speed of sound. By the time you hear the sound of the bullet in your back, you’re dead. What if you’re only wounded; you’d hear that bullet, wouldn’t you? Well, you’re not dead, are … Continue reading Invocation
I’m not too keen on today’s technology. I love having the library at my fingertips, the history of Rock and Roll on my iPod, and The Great Masters’ masterpieces as my background. Sometimes, though, I feel technology advances too fast, too fast for people to keep up. Technology has made us run when we should walk, look down when we should look up, ignore others … Continue reading Superman
Many summers ago, I went to a church picnic at Rowlette Park in Tampa. I was about thirteen or so. We played softball while the burgers and dogs were cooking. I was a pretty good baseball player and played little league throughout my youth. I wasn’t a pitcher, but a first baseman and centerfielder. I played catcher once when Robbie Ochs was sick, but didn’t … Continue reading Duck
“I think I fell in love with you this morning, dear lady.” “You think you did? You are not sure? Perhaps we should try again. Shall we meet for an apple in the morning?” “I had already planned to meet you for an apple tomorrow. And the next day, and the next, and the next, and every day until….” “Every day until what?” “Every day … Continue reading Susanna Avila
We have been encouraged from our youth to lead from the front, or, in Navy terms, to “take charge and carry out the plan of the day.” It is also phrased “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” I agree, for the most part. The best reason to lead from the front is to achieve a goal, whether a personal goal, a corporate goal, … Continue reading Leave The Pack
“To thine own self be true.” William Shakespeare. If you are not true to yourself, you cannot be true to others. You are only serving them. Do not let others be your master. Continue reading Self
“We had each other, yes, but even that doesn’t describe what we had. We didn’t choose each other, Frank. We found each other. It’s hard to explain.” Sam leaned forward in his seat. He stared at the floor. His hands were clasped, and he trembled. “There could only be one Susanna, Frank. My life began when I met her.” He fell silent as he collected … Continue reading Dream, Love.
I Love you, you love me not. Continue reading Heartbreak
I’ve had it with Facebook. It’s become a forum for posting garbage that nobody gives a damn about. For every decent post and photo my friends post, I have to sift through dozens of other posts that carry the message “I hate you and what you stand for.” I’m tired of photos of women wearing body parts costumes; I’m tired of posts that reinforce the hypocrisy … Continue reading I’ve Had It With Facebook
I don’t often listen to music while I write. I find it distracting. It isn’t that I don’t like music, indeed, I love music and have rather eclectic tastes. I enjoy most genres. My music of choice while writing though, is silence. Silence has its own sound. The sound of the story taking shape in my mind. When I write and enter “the zone,” I … Continue reading Writing Music, or, Music to Write By
William? Yes, Susanna? Why are people so angry? Why are people so angry? Yes. Why are people so angry? Why do you ask, Susanna? Because, William, I see angry people everywhere, and it hurts me. How does it hurt you? Anger hurts my heart. Why does it hurt your heart? Because anger gets in the way of love, William. It does, Susanna? Yes, William. How … Continue reading Susanna Avila VII
I long for intimate conversation Two people, Leaning over cups of coffee. A small table in the coffee house Around the corner. Eyes only for each other, Oblivious to the buzz of life surrounding them. She smiles. I love the way her lips curl, The delicate filigree of her ear, Revealed when she brushes her hair back, The fragrant puff of breath as she laughs … Continue reading The Coffee House Around the Corner
There are times when writing is like a drug. I’m focused. I’m in the zone. The story pours from my mind in a waterfall made of words. I tremble from excitement as I step into the scene. I become the character, I smell the air, hear the traffic, touch her skin, hear her voice. Magic. The spell consumes me. I’m so happy I shed tears. Continue reading The Spell
Why do you love me, William? Because you’re beautiful, Susanna. Is that the only reason? Because you’re a perfect fit in my arms. What else? Because I can carry you as I run. Oh? You weigh less than a feather, Susanna. Oh. Because you’re a wonderful cook. Yes? Because you meet me at the door when I come home from work. Because you sing when … Continue reading Susanna Avila V
The Writings of William C. Pennington 