M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales, page 18

Marxalene

She sits on a cold stone step.
Talking to herself because there’s no one else to hear.
Looking at a face in her compact that she doesn’t recognise, that no one sees –
And if no one sees, how could you ever disappear?
She wears a pink cable-knit sweater,
Tattered and frayed. Back to front, inside out.
But there’s no one there to tell her,
And no reason or occasion to care about.
She views the world behind pink-tinted sunglasses,
Bewildered eyes widening on all she sees.
When did she cease to ...

Letting Go to Start Over – Chapter 3

When Alan wakes, it doesn’t even take him a matter of seconds to know that something is different. The ceiling above him is not his own, the bed beneath his back is absolutely not memory foam, and the feel of the sheets between his fingers speaks of material far coarser than that of his own comforter.

Alan lifts his head, regrets it instantly, the room giving a violent lurch and reminding him a little of the previous night. He’d drank too much, far, far too much, had known exactly the point w...

Unseen

Could Have Been

It wasn’t so much that he dashed her hope against the rocks,
Or let her down with a bunch of forget-me-nots,
He didn’t make promises formed of smoke and mist,
Or seal false hopes with secret kiss.
He just made her feel that she was okay
Just as she was: no grand things to say.
No changes to make, no acts to put on,
No fearing that somehow she’d get something wrong.
And the moment hope decided to rear its meek head
The truth came out. Hope once again dead.
Sometimes, it’s harder to climb out
...

Letting Go to Start Over – Chapter 2

“Mornin’, Alan.”

Alan waves at his neighbor Wendy going in the opposite direction but doesn’t answer, concentrating instead on the final stretch of his ten-mile run. His limbs burn with the good kind of stretch of exertion, his head is clear, and the air is fresh as he sucks it into his lungs. He spares a glance for the pond to the side of the path he’s taking through the park, smiling as a fish breaks the surface for a moment, but otherwise notices nothing else.

Satisfaction seeps into hi...

Mournful Musing

If all I had to give you was myself

How long would it take for you to find a better path?

If all I had to offer was my heart

Would you blush? Roll your eyes? Look away? Laugh?

This is all I am. I’m not a shiny, gleaming thing

Nor something well-polished. Rounded like a cherish pebble on a beach.

But I am human. Flesh and bone. Spirit and song.

Willing to grow. Not asking you to change. Or me your lessons teach.

I cannot conquer what I feel for you.

So many days I t...

This Hill

This hill has seen storm, and star, and snow. It has been home to grass, and beast, for turns of centuries and blinks of eyes. This hill has been look-out, and shelter, and fortress for those choosing its vantage point for protection. It is final resting place for so many who have passed. This hill, whose own existence began elsewhere, drifted into position by glacial movement, knows cycle, and change, and growth. This hill knows its place in history, and present, and that its future is unkn...

Letting Go to Start Over – Chapter 1

Summary: Alan needs a start-over. A new job, in an unknown place, far away from an unrequited love that he needs to get over if he’s ever going to live his own life.

The freshness of the breeze, the crunch of dirt beneath his feet, the horizon dotted with a hundred twinkling lights; this is Alan’s home now. And though he does not have a particular base yet, has accepted a job offer without thinking of anything but starting over, being able to breathe deep and fill his lungs in true pe...

Picture

When you took your picture down,
You replaced it with a forest scene
In which I spent the night
Lost in my search for the you
I created in my mind.
A forest of familiar places and carpeted with feelings
That weren’t new to me,
But always have been a part of you.

When you took your picture down,
I could no longer take that secret peek
That made me feel like you were still here with me
Instead of where you’ve always belonged,
With her.
No matter how much I tell myself you’re wrong,
I’ve been staring at this...

In The Car

They have Josh’s younger brother staying with them for a long weekend, and in a surprising display of modesty, Grant had arrived home Friday night to a murmur from Josh about adjoining bedroom walls, barely able to contain a burst of laughter for Josh acting so out of character demure and only greeting him with a brief kiss on the cheek. But Josh’s comments about needing to keep their hands to themselves in Toby’s company, is apparently easier said than done for Josh. Because every spare sec...