Along Walking Street, Pattaya, Thailand. 1983. Photo Credit: Will Pennington The crucial moment lay before us, quivering with anticipation, awaiting resolution. I was anxious. I had to see Sasi again, but kept putting it off. We spoke in the morning before I left for the airfield, exchanging little more than pleasantries, and again in the evening when I returned. I think she waited for my … Continue reading Honey Ko, Chapter 19. Thailand
Sunset. Yokohama Beach. Makaha, Hawaii. Photo Credit: Will Pennington Sasi’s condo loomed tall before me. The sound of breakers crashing on the cliff face below and the fragrant sea breeze mingling with coconut oil by the swimming pool brought a déjà vu moment to mind. Similarities between the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki and Sasi’s place abounded. The only thing missing was Don Ho. I … Continue reading Honey Ko, Chapter 18. Thailand
Seating the Wheel Bearing on the P-3 Orion Port Inboard Landing Gear Mainmount. Photo Credit: Will Pennington Exhausted after a heavy day of maintenance, we dropped our dirty coveralls in a bin and trudged to the van. A local woman would collect the work clothes and wash them. For a few dollars more, she would wash and press personal clothing, a bargain considering how much … Continue reading Honey Ko, Chapter 17. Thailand
Let your heart be the shutter Moxie Pond. The Forks, Maine. Photo Credit: Will Pennington If I ever see Michelangelo’s David or Pietà sculptures in person, I will, without shame, bawl my eyes out. Artistic beauty, those works created by the human hand, exert such a pull on my heart and mind that I cannot stop the flood of emotion that overwhelms me. This extends … Continue reading Shooting from the Heart
I’d like to cross over here. Kennebec River. The Forks, Maine. Photo Credit: Will Pennington What if we knew when we would die? I guess that’s everything. Are you sure? You haven’t forgotten anything? Let’s run through the checklist again. No. I’ve treble-checked it. If I have forgotten something, I won’t need it where I’m going. What if you get lost? Get lost? I hardly … Continue reading Time’s Up. Two Silver Coins for the Ferryman
The post below was written by a Navy buddy of mine, Ronnie Deschenes. We served together in VP-8 aboard NASB. He was an ABH while I was an AMS. We both enlisted as SRs and promoted to PO2 by the time we left the SQDN. He lives in MA now but still visits ME on occasion. Luv U Bro! SRSL!! (Show Ronnie Some Love!) “How … Continue reading Accronish? LOL 😂😂
My pulse raced as Frank walked away. I wanted to call him back, tell him I wanted to know him too, but I couldn’t. I was too proud to be the weak one. Too independent to seem dependent. I had been wrong about one thing, though. He wasn’t unlike other Sailors. He was unlike any man I had ever known. He was confident, but not … Continue reading Honey Ko (Sweetheart), Book 2, Chapter 10: Marie Taneo
Photo Credit: Pixabay Crisscrossing lines and frenzied edges web-faced leaves sap weak appendages fading glory amid crinkled sparkle cheeky gleam recalls the marvel of the sprouting when the seedling grew from dark moist soil nourished, renew anew another pass again among the rest and ring upon ring on ring ring on and on and the circle grew and grew and with the growth of bark … Continue reading The Fallen Spring Anew
Photo by Dominik Simecek The balut man’s quavering voice penetrated my sleep-filled head, and I squinted at the clock. My brain read zero-dark-early, but six a.m. glowed bright and cheery in the dark. He called out again as he wobbled away, pushing his creaking handcart. Baluuut. Baluuut. Aida peeked at me from behind the edge of the bedsheet. She scratched the side of her nose and … Continue reading Honey Ko (Sweetheart), Book 1, Chapter 2
Any port in a storm, but not this one Photo by Tahir Osman The work day fell into the history books as the swinging doors closed behind him. Their echo down the long, bare passageway rang in his ears like the tinnitus that would drive him to near madness years later when gray outran his youth. The cold of the passageway went bone deep despite the … Continue reading Portholes
Photo by Clark Young I don’t know that I answered the question why do I write. Why do I write? Do I write because I want people to “hear” what I have to say? Do I write to impress others? Do I write to impress others with my talent, gift, skill, knowledge, need, neuroses, desire? Why do I write? Why do you write, Will? Why? … Continue reading On Writing: Why Do You Write?
When I was thirteen or so, Dad told me to get off my derrière and earn some money. Up to that point my responsibilities consisted of emptying the household trash and helping dad maintain our gargantuan lawn I called Sandspur Central. I was productive in a minimalist way. So, understanding Dad ruled the roost and would probably begin taxing me soon for room & board, … Continue reading How I Maximized My Productivity
She outlived herself but seemed to die younger than her fifty-eight years. Which seems strange since she chased the worm from her teen years on. I’ve heard that drunks grow hard and worn before their livers give up, but she never looked that way; I guess I didn’t know her the way I thought. My second sister and the closest of four to my heart … Continue reading Marianne, Part I
On the Road with My Old Man Looking ahead beyond the highs and lows I just now realize I don’t have far to go Now that I know what to look for and see There ain’t much more can up and surprise me Rocks in my path have mostly crumbled away But nothing is smooth in this life anyway I’m taking my next step on … Continue reading On the Road with My Old Man
Riddled through with eyes Dogs my furtive footsteps Creeps my sweating skin Turns me round and around Though, unseen, I think, by any, Or, maybe seen, perhaps, Yet does my anxious mind See shadows in the dark Concealment is my friend My prison too, at that Hidden from prying eyes But nervous of surprise Too fearful to confront Lest give away the deed If blackmail … Continue reading Guilty
To-Be Am Then Time permeates me relentlessly in a stream rushing, babbling, trickling as the case may be I inhale you You inhale me We exhale us To Be, Am, Then flow through and out a stream of us tobeamthen Autumn is for sowing seed for growth that follows winter not every winter ends in spring but every autumn ends in winter … Continue reading Every Autumn Ends in Winter
A very rough draft of the opening chapter to Dancing with Orange Blossoms, the prequel to Honey Ko. I’m not sure I could write an entire novel this way, or if readers would enjoy it. Maybe I could bookend it this way but write the rest in the traditional manner.Thoughts? Is the italicized portion disconcerting? Is narration by a dead person too much. Finally, is … Continue reading Dancing with Orange Blossoms
I don’t fill the room I’m in, my presence slips quite thin between the walls, behind a chair, outside in the air; the vacuum I exist between pushes me both ways, to pop the empty bubble, to see what isn’t there. Is there a name for the space between two slabs of concrete block? That’s the way it’s always been, I’m a shadow drowned in … Continue reading I Don’t Fill The Room I’m In
Here’s a very rough draft of the opening chapter of my next novel, William Goodfellow. A tale of hope, self-discovery, disillusion, repentance, acceptance, and peace William Goodfellow 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 … Continue reading William Goodfellow, Farmer
A loud, noisy grateful shoutout to Ana P. Rose for the post idea. Thank you, Ana! 😊 My first foray into writing was a poem I wrote when I was 15. I still have it. English was my favorite class. I dedicated my first novel, Honey Ko, to my High School and College English teachers. Mr. Grundy told me I could write, Mr. Karlin taught … Continue reading Random Thoughts – Writing and Writers
❤️❤️❤️Honey Ko Update!❤️❤️❤️ The paperbacks are in and available on Amazon! If you’d like a signed copy please email me at: william.c.pennington@writersenvy.com Thank you all for your support! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086L5ZVB7 Continue reading ❤❤❤Honey Ko Update!❤❤❤
Writing a novel is easy. Marketing a novel is hard, especially when you’re not fond of selling yourself or trying to get a stranger to buy a product. It’s a special type of person who not only enjoys enticing people to buy their products, but who can also smile in the face of rejection. I disliked going door-to-door as a young boy and selling things. … Continue reading Self-Marketing a Self-Published Novel
I bared my heart When you closed yours I’d hoped to make amends For all the times I stood by you You stood apart from me For all the words You didn’t say I heard those words so plain For all the love You didn’t share I shared my heart alone It’s a curious way To be in love When love has passed you by … Continue reading It’s Curious
Walked I now upon concrete path in town, Crisscrossed here and there with poles of brown, Wires black, and stacks that belched like clowns; Buildings dark and squat gave good Earth an ugly frown; People passed, eyes avert, unsmiling, looking down; I felt no joy on the concrete path in town. Upon hard bench I sat, no music thrilled the air, No child’s laugh or … Continue reading The Frog and the Granite Shore, Part V
From windswept shore I climbed to rocky perch, Crowned like giant stairs to steepled church, Solid and immovable, no waver, without lurch; Pitching boat ‘mid rolling waves, fragile as the birch, I feared for frail men, how perilous the search; When calmed the wind, I climbed from rocky perch. Continue reading The Frog and the Granite Shore, Part IV
Away the wood, I walked on Granite Shore Pounding waves, like knuckles rapped upon a door Lobster boat, weather-worn in winds that tore And red-faced men, like fishermen of yore Whose raw ripped flesh labored evermore To work the sea that swept the granite shore Continue reading The Frog and the Granite Shore, Part III
I stopped to ponder my neighbor in green, Who, eyes near closed in dreamlike sheen, Lay ankles crossed and head on arm a’lean; He snorted, half asleep in his pastoral scene, Then snapped halfhearted at black fly on wing; I chuckled then and left my neighbor in green. Continue reading The Frog and the Granite Shore, Part II
I walked through a wood one summer’s day, Afternoon light dappled a forest glade; Lily pad in green-black pond and on it lay A frog whose languid croak appeared to say, As he scratched white belly in sun’s warm ray, I shall not move on this hot summer’s day. Continue reading The Frog and the Granite Shore, Part I
Hosannas Rose Into the Night Continue reading The Melody of Your Soul IV
No Interval Could Unpair Us Continue reading The Melody of Your Soul III
Each Movement Measured Note by Note Continue reading The Melody of Your Soul II
Deleting words I’ve written is heart-wrenching. Continue reading On Writing & Killing
Bright orb of night sky Drawing mind of man from birth Handmaid of our dreams Apollo 8 returned to Earth on this date in 1968. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders were the first humans to view Earth in her entirety from space, and see the dark side of the moon. They and the command module were recovered in the Pacific Ocean near … Continue reading Apollo 8
There are stages of love as well as grief. I suspect more people know the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Few people understand that love has stages as well: infatuation, passion, routine (or restless), partnership, companionship. If grief comes about through loss of loved one, where does love come in? Love comes with loss of self, meaning love causes self to become … Continue reading On Love and Self
Nighttime. Lights out. Darkened ship. Sitting on a bollard in the catwalk. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Miles below, ships of exploration and discovery, of war and peace, ships of commerce and pleasure, luxury and poverty, abandoned to the deep by the souls that manned them, destroyed by wind and wave and battle. Men and women, just like me, a’rest at sea. From tools of … Continue reading A’rest At Sea
The Sailor has a favorite bar, in every port of call, A favorite girl too, slender, stout, or tall; I’m no exception to the rule, immemorial in its time, Not so very particular, though her beauty be sublime; My favorite port of call, my favorite among the dozens, Rota Spain and sweet Susanna, and all her pretty cousins; Black hair my green-eyed beauty, and tiny … Continue reading A Sailor’s Favorite Bar
White Black Right Wrong Open Closed No shades No middle No question Authority Teacher Godhead Worship Easy target Unformed Uninformed Malleable Acolyte Foot soldier Abuse of trust Position Agenda Tyranny Infiltrate Calculate Indoctrinate Subjugate Annihilate Who teaches the eagle to fly? Continue reading Who Teaches the Eagle to Fly?
Lonely and alone You are seeking to atone For sin not yet borne Continue reading Mental
Pond grass bends in breeze, Contentment rippling water, Minnows nip my toes Web image from pexels.com Continue reading Peace
Touch me Touch me Thrill my soul Thrill my soul Sing a song upon my tongue Whisper words into my lungs Fill my longing heart with the romance of your dreams Sing the words you yearn to share Sing the words and take me to the place you cry your tears. Give me Give me Hear my plea Hear my plea Hum my song upon … Continue reading Tell Me
Even the Navy knows good grammar rules. I pulled this from the Navy Correspondence Manual at work. Continue reading Aaaaaargghhhh, Matey. Write Tight or I’ll Keelhaul Ye.
O, you winsome devil, you Grinning face turned skyward Round about your flaming head Laughing rays around you rise Seeding smiles in your eyes I cannot escape your sight Tho heaved my girth across the sky Your taunting likeness follows Aboil with rage and callow Berating heat upon your face You laugh and turn with me In coy defiance of my dread In darkness is … Continue reading O, You Winsome Devil You
I look for you in the white feather that floats from nowhere, the light footfalls that pause when I pause, the whisper over my shoulder while I read; I read your message in the flash across the night sky and breathe your orange blossom fragrance when the nearest orange blossoms are miles away; You hover in shadow, your face like the cover of The Beatles, … Continue reading Hide and Seek, A Poem by Will
I don’t have the pain of some I know, though Blood flows rather freely from my wounds; Piercing the blister releases the fluid inside as Pressure drains away and brings blessed Relief; no, I tread that rocky, winding path Atop the jagged, knife-edged mountain, the Path that shows me either side at once– Arid on one hand, thick lush vegetation on the Other; occasionally, I … Continue reading No Holds Barred; Poetry by Will
What began in fellowship of open arms, broad smiles and welcoming words soon fell into routine. The wonder of the inchworm’s humped-back crawl faded as attention drifted elsewhere. Like a prairie dog village, heads sank into oblivious existence as curiosity waned. \ I could not describe the Bavarian village, framed by towering Alpine mountains and last seen as a child, well-enough so you’d know it … Continue reading The Filing Cabinet. And a Poem
She’s a tough nut to crack, Nevertheless, I plug away, I plug away Though my key resists the lock no Matter which way I twist and turn and push. I consider the lock and whether my key is Round enough at the edges, if I am Thrilled enough to push on or if my Pocketful of keys is lackadaisical and Lacks the verve to ignore … Continue reading Poetry, O Poetry
Still, unmarred, nothing spoils the tension of its surface; no disturbance in graceful spreading waves, no waterbugs to dance, entrance, engage the eye, no underneath, no rules exactly scribed to guide the cutting shears; Perfect in shape and thickness, intended as a tool, aged in desperate need, useless as a fool; Spilled upon its surface then, in circles, cuts, and symbols, springs from mind, craving-driven … Continue reading Craving – Poetry by Will
Writers Envy 