M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 114

By Candlelight

An evening in a cabin in the middle of nowhere is the perfect place for this loved up couple to be making some lasting memories.

This is NOT safe for work, just to warn you. For those of you who follow/have followed me elsewhere, you might recognise this story in another guise

Jesse knows, without a single doubt, that he is the luckiest man alive, and that luck has everything to do with the man he’s currently draped over, with no hurry for either of them to be anywhere but here.

There have b...

There Are Monsters

There are monsters.
They lurk in living room corners,
Down back aisles stacked with groceries,
Under car chassis,
And in window seats of our favourite coffee houses.

There are monsters.
They sit behind desks,
Hide behind bureaucracy,
Cause carnage with the single stroke of a pen,
Then cloak themselves in legalities
They make a mockery of.

There are monsters.
In our mirrors,
And our turned cheeks.
In our silences,
And on our tongues.
In our biases, and prejudice,
And blanket blame.

Because yes...

Never Told You

I never told you how seeing you made my heart stop pounding,
And that being in your company was like stepping through a soothing mist of calm.
I never tell you that when we talk there’s light at every nerve ending,
And that you give me the strength not to cause myself harm.
I never told you that you made me want to be a better person,
And that somehow, you made the best parts of me stick.
I never tell you that each time we meet there’s this ache that just worsens,
Or that when you leave, ther...

Clueless

Daniel should have known better than to think he had the answer for everything. Or anything, really. Life had proved to him beyond a doubt that he was, in fact, clueless about so many things.

Take Keith. Well yes, Daniel thought to himself, blatantly watching the pull of muscle beneath Keith’ shirt as he reached over to grab the ketchup as they indulged in the burgers they normally only met up for on Sundays mid-week; he would happily take Keith in every which way possible, and ways he hadn’t...

Unfurling

I once heard the words to Killing Me Softly,
And pondered the measure and meaning of its refrain
Were the words mere fiction and lyrical vision,
Or somewhere from the heart, a call out in pain?
The sentiment harrowing with recollection
Like someone has captured your every thought.
Or perhaps those feelings you thought so well hidden
Were not so, and you have revealed more than you ought.
Imagine my surprise, and thudding of heart strings
When tonight I hear my own story sang loud
Its every se...

Anchor up

There is no villain in this tale.
No final wound inflicted on this heart.
Just time to anchor up and and set sail.

This was a dream always doomed to fail
And flounder at the very end when we must part.
There is no villain in this tale.

There’s no pleading grip on this skin so pale,
No bleeding tears and no poisoned dart.
Just time to anchor up and and set sail.

The very air around our words has grown stale.
And though I dream of returning to the start,
There is no villain in this tale.

No las...

Coming Home

Debra had learned to hold on to her emotions. Keep them so tight to her chest that they festered there, sending cruel words spitting out her mouth that she could use to safely mask what she was really feeling.

Emily felt nothing but sadness every time she saw Debra reining her feelings in. She watched, helpless as Debra’s walls flew up and her words flew out, channelling the only emotion Debra allowed herself to feel, which wasn’t even an emotion at all: ‘doing the right thing’, because in as...

Heart Enough

I can only give you my heart.

My soul’s already been taken

By those times I’ve been mistaken

About what it is to love. It’s not something I can start

Over again. I gave too much

Of myself, my time, and my all,

Only to realise, all I have to offer is too small,

Not enough to be the only one you reach out and touch.

And so, I retreat.

You might think my life’s empty,

And that, I will not deny: but how else can I be,

When I am not enough? I am only me. And I am yet to meet

Anyone who thought oth...

The World Turns

Your head — spins

And your words — turn,

And all the things you never want to believe

Are those that will one day be hardest to scorn.

There is more to this world,

Than that narrow-minded,

Blinded,

Ignorant,

Uncaring,

Incorrigible view.

And when the world turns against

All the hatred that’s choking it,

What will hate-filled people like you do?

Daring To Be

There is a feeling, a draw, a pull that he can’t quite put a name to, an urge he doesn’t think he has the experience to understand.

It’s when he looks at him, when he sees him, when he knows him, like nobody else in his world ever has.

It’s when he touches him, soft, in passing, that discreet brush of fingers against his arm that roots him deep, grounds him like he’ll never need to fear again, yet sends him spinning off balance as though he has replaced his gravity with something different,...