Wednesday 30 April 2014

The Favorite

~I wrote this while reminiscing about my childhood and how painful it was to grow up. I wrote the whole thing from the prospective of my stuffed toy dog.  I hope you enjoy and can relate to my story~
I was the favorite.  Although Beatrice never said it out, I knew I was her favorite stuffed animal because I was the one who got to sit on the bed.  Me and Beatrice always had so much fun together when we would play and she would tell me everything.  I remember her first day of kindergarten, it was late at night and she cried and she cried loudly.  Her mother came in and hugged her and told her it would be alright and Beatrice squished me against her face.  Her mother always read her fantastic stories as we cuddled.  At eight thirty sharp her lights would be off and we would sleep under the glow in the dark stars on her ceiling.
She went to school and then she would come home and we would play games where her room turned into jungles.  My favorite game was when we would open a hotel and toys from far and wide would come to stay at our glamorous institution.  Beatrice had an endless imagination and was always coming up with a new situation for us to play out.
When she was gone I would lay and talk with the other stuffed animals who had to live in the basket even though they prefered the bed.  We would talk about Beatrice and all the things she had said to us about school.  We were happy.
Beatrice would come home with more and more homework every day and there was often very little time for a game.  When she came back from school she was always so tired and weak and she began forgetting us for the numbing television.  Soon there were more books and less toys and one by one my friends were disappearing and we hadn’t played a game in years and the hotel became dusty and our jungle was cut down.  Beatrice was changing and her eyes always looked swollen and her bed was never made.
Me and the remaining stuffed animals would talk when she was gone, which was becoming more and more often, about how we could help her.  It seemed like her imagination was being drained from her heart.  We wanted her to play again and smile with us and not always be flipping those big glossy books from page to page.  She didn't talk to us anymore but we heard her cracking voice when she talked about grades and friends and classes and I couldn't understand any of it.
Sometimes I would hear her cry at night from the foot of her bed.  But now her cry was soft and muffled and no one came to comfort her and she was all alone.  She went to bed quite late now and she came hunched over her glowing computer and she didn't even look at us.  She would eventually turn her own lights off with no story at twelve thirty sharp.  Her stars didn't glow anymore and we slept in darkness.
One day I was accidentally pushed off her bed and ended up underneath it but I was patient and waited for her to come get me.  She didn't.  Weeks past and then months and I was still under her bed getting wrinkly and cold.  I had not seen my friends in so long and I was beginning to think I would die here.
Then spring came and Beatrice was picking up all the stuff that had accumulated on her floor.  She began to shift through all the things under her bed and I held my breath with excitement.  Then she saw me and for a second I feared she would not even recognize me and throw me in her trash bag along with all the other junk but she didn't.  She gently picked me up and stared into my eyes and I stared into hers once again.  She held me tightly and laid down on her bed, her arms were far longer than I remember.  We stayed like that for a while and I was happy again.
That was the last time I felt her touch. Now she is gone and only comes back on holidays and I heard her mother says she was going to move us to garage.  My fur is not the same color as it used to be and I am sad and alone.  I cry loudly but still no one comes to comfort me.

The Rope Swing

~ Yesterday my kids, my husband and I, were taking a drive up to Wales to visit Alfonzo's mother and they were asking me for the millionth time about my childhood.  I suppose since they have never been out of Europe they have a lot of questions about life in the United States.  So I told them this story~

When I was eleven years old I met a girl named Lula at a summer camp.  We soon realized we were neighbors and after camp I would visit her frequently.  She had the most amazing house complete with a beautiful back yard.  I sent all my weekday afternoons playing in that backyard.  I would call it The Secret Garden because I always felt so inclosed.  Their yard was encircled with grand willow trees, protecting us from the outside world.  It wasn't a traditional backyard, they had bridges over a moving steams and trees taller than skyscrapers.  Everything was so green and bright and we felt alive.  Yet the absolute best part about her yard was the rope swing.  It was a good hundred feet long hanging from an extremely high branch.  To ride the rope properly, we would step way back and climb onto a smooth boulder. From there you had to muster up the courage to jump, just barely getting on to that small wooden seat.  And then you were soaring like a bird and you can feel the wind running by your hair and your teeth when you laugh.  The fear from that first leap is replaced with the exhilaration of flying and you never want to touch the earth again.  We would do this again and again until it got dark.

One day I came over and Lula's parents weren't home but I could see Lula sitting in the backyard on her blue lawn chair.  So we started our rope swing routine and as always Lula went first.  She always went so high, thrusting her feet into infinity.  I thought she was very brave. I was watching her swing to the tips of trees when suddenly her hands froze in mid air and the everything stopped except the rope that fell between her knees. She was no longer defying gravity and she it the ground like a meteor.  She was screaming so loudly and there was blood everywhere.  I stood there in shock when I saw her white bones sticking straight out of her elbows.  I felt like throwing up but then I got scared that she would die so I ran inside and I called all the numbers I could possibly think of then I went outside and dragged Lula to her lawn chair and told her everything was going to be alright.  Finally her parents and an ambulance came and took her away.  The next week I saw her with two enormous casts on her arms but she was okay.  I was the first one to sign her cast since I saved her life and all.

Ode to Complaining


~I wrote this poem when I was in high school about my love of complaining. It is pretty snarky and sarcastic which perfectly describes my high school self. The poem was based on the idea that complaining is often seen as a bad thing when really it can bring us together and make things better. Although I am older now and see I shouldn't waste my time complaining, I still understand how good it feels to complain~



Oh how I love to complain!
It gives me such power
The words sizzling on my lips
when I tell my mother
that the chicken is just too dry

There is nothing more pleasing
than when I slouch in my chair
and explain how painful it will be to have to take out the garbage

The collective sigh of the class
when a teacher assigns any sort of work
fills me with a bubbly feeling

The snarky comments of my friends
when we have to run the mile in PE
brings us together in a beautiful way

A devilish sentation overcomes me
knowing I been just the slightest bit more difficult

There are just so many awful things to complain about!
Crappy erasers, Smelly bathrooms
Barking dogs, Stale chips

I know I shouldn’t
because there are starving children in Africa
and no one has to leave the couch to change the channel anymore
But isn't it wonderful to gripe
about your sister eating the last cookie?

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Houses


~ My first poem! In this poem I am comparing two vastly different people by looking at them as houses. This idea came to me one night strolling the peaceful streets of London and admiring the pleasant homes. I thought, "People are a lot like houses" and the idea was born! I hope you enjoy this poem!~


Houses


If you were a house

I suppose you’d be a grand mansion

With countless rooms, all empty at a glimpse

A once glistening chandelier in the great dining hall
Your golden wall paper peeling at the corners
Gloomy beds naked of sheets
The grim stairwell groaning with sickness
Like a gross dying man
Your gruesome windows shattered, your giant doors boarded
People don't come near in fear of your ghosts

If I were a home
I’d be rather small
and overgrown with lilies
I’d have a lovely little porch lit by lanterns
My long walls painted lavender
A plump love seat inside, scented with the perfume of lust
A record player would hum lullabies into the halls
Like the light of angels
Smoke would lift from my chimney
My lonely mailbox remaining empty

Monday 21 April 2014

About me



      My name is Beatrice, I am a thirty five year old woman who lives in London with my five adopted children.  As an occupation I work in a yarn factory as head manager.  I am happily married to my darling husband, Alfonzo.  Although I currently live in the UK, I was born in California.  When I was twelve, my family moved to Alaska and I spent most of my teen years hunting seals with the Eskimos. I absolutely love to write and my life is full of adventure so I have lots to say!  I started this blog to share with the world all my stories and poems, for that is my true passion. I hope you enjoy my "yarn spinning" (it's funny because I work at a yarn factory) and poetic verses.  Please leave comments!