Jessica McHugh's Blog, page 21

Wound Down (NaPoWriMo #3)

Wound Down

How far away is sleep,

From empty cans and shitty bands?

I can dream better than this place.

But it started sweet,

As it always does.

Now I'm lagging

In the effect of the cause.

How far away is sleep,

With fold-out beds and reefer heads?

I can't dream better than that place.

But it's on repeat,

As it always is.

Now I'm longing

For slumber's calming kiss.

Blow, Moon,

And welcome the sun,

In appropriate doses.

Bundle joys and moroses,

And tell me how close is

Sleep.

CHALLENGE (NaPoWriMo #2)

Challenge

Coveted item.

Bring on the frog suit for the

2nd World Sand Leap.

CHALLENGE

Challenge

Coveted item.

Bring on the frog suit for the

2nd World Sand Leap.

LADY DANGER (NaPoWriMo #1)

Lady Danger

 

Friday tries to reel me in,

The old days: the Lady's grin.

Wooing me at every pass

From every wine-filled water glass.

She says "Kiss my lips and hold on tight.

I want you to knock walls tonight.

In the morning, you'll be alright

And the ink you spilled will justify."

 

These aren't the old days, not even close.

Not even with the drink and smoke.

Not with sunrise on the prowl

Or stories that are cat toys now.

The Lady takes my reluctant hand,

Saying, "This used to be your promised land.

Remember when you took your stand,

Declaring 'Awful drunk is awful grand'?"

 

I shake my head, lay down my pen.

The old days will not rise again.

Still, it's hard not to sup

From such an honest Lady's cup.

She pours the wine, I drink it up.

She's the wolf and I'm the pup,

Begging for a drop of blood

Or a taste of Riding Hood.

A little bad, a little good,

A momentary "Perhaps I should…"

The old days have come and gone.

Where I thrived, now I yawn.

I gave them all I had to give.

But Lady Danger still knows where I live.

PARADISE CITY

PARADISE CITY 

 

"Are you in much pain?" he asked.

 

I suddenly realized I wasn't. During the screams and shattering glass, pain was all I felt, but now…nothing.

 

I expected an ivory world, but it was ecru. I expected harps, but I heard Axl Rose. The angel opposite me wasn't like I expected either. He looked like you. Like me. Like it all might be a dream. Like the dirty floor of Heaven was just the dirty floor of Tommy's Tavern.

#FridayFlash

Rhyme Time...or not....rhyme...time....

I'm officially jumping on board with NAPOWRIMO 2011! I don't really consider myself much of a poet; I just had my first poem published last month in Red Fez and a second is appearing in the April issue of Literary Lunes. Still, "poet" or not, maybe some rad things will come of my scribblings.

I will be posting my poems daily, so feel free to read and comment. :)

...THINK IN INK...

In Lieu of Flowers, Send First Aid

In Lieu of Flowers, Send First Aid

by Jessica McHugh

 

(52|250, March 4th 2011)

 

To his family, every word she said was a lie. Her denouncement was either rambling grief or an attempt to convince the world that Roland had faults. As if he ever could.

"You must believe me!"

She was difficult to reel in, even by the sturdier parishioners, but they couldn't reel in her truth. It continued to blast as they hauled her down the aisle, and Roland's precious family continued to call her "that madwoman". Variations of "I knew that madwoman would be the end of him" were hurled at her in chunks, and she felt each one like they were his fists. Yes, they were his fists. She could never mistake a single knuckle. She could nearly smell the Jack Daniels. But not his family. They could never smell it over the aroma of the prize posies he'd planted all those years ago. Those flowers had long since withered, but they never saw it. Just how they never saw Roland withering away. Just how they never saw his poor wife withering in his shadow.

The men threw her to the pavement, but she was no stranger to those sorts of scrapes. She kept Bactine in her back pocket. Too bad she was wearing a dress.

"Need some?"

She looked up to see a bottle of first aid spray and the sweet face of the woman holding it.

"Thanks. Did you know Roland?"

"Why do you think I have the spray?"

Her scratches burned, but she smiled. Finally: there was someone to believe her.

An Ocean Affair

An Ocean Affair

No one dreams of dying on the beach. At least, not like this. If they do, it is a dream flanked by happy memories: days and nights of salty kisses and footsteps that follow them home to embed grains of reminiscence in the carpet. No one dreams of crimson clumps or wondering whether you'll be able to wriggle free before high tide washes the ability to wonder away.

While I wait for the clock of anima to run out, I'll dream I'm dying elsewhere: in my bed, many years from now, with him curled around me and not a clump of crimson to be found. I'll dream of a life in which I hadn't been so careless, so impulsive, so…deserving of this. I never meant to hurt him. All I wanted was love in my life, and now I don't have love or life. Unless…

The waves lick adoringly and the soft sands cradle me like never before. The ocean seems to whisper "Love you, love you, love you. Come with me to the depths, and we'll dance forever. No one has asked you to dance before, have they? They must have known you were waiting for me."

The crimson clumps look like valentines now.

I believe in those wing'd purposes

For those of you who haven't heard already....Fools call it Fate: a story of sex, coincidence, and an electronic cigarette was chosen by the Mobtown Players/ Playwrights Group for a full production this summer!! I am still in shock, although not so much that I can't enjoy how ecstatic I am. :D FCIF was the first play I've written and I did it in less than two months time, so I figured I had no chance of being picked for the staged reading. When it was chosen for 1 of 3 out of 50, I was over the moon, and now that it won the full production, I'm over the...milky way? Universe? Either way, I'm so happy. I can't wait to see what the director does with it.

 

In other news, my flash fiction In Lieu of Flowers, Send First Aid is going to be on 52|250 (http://52250flash.wordpress.com/) in a few weeks. I'll make sure to post the link on Facebook...like I'd ever forget. Another flash fiction, Make Mine a Double, will also be on Short, Fast, and Deadly in a few weeks (http://www.shortfastanddeadly.com/).

 

And as if I didn't have enough scheduled after I'm finish the revisions for the Dominhydor series, I've added another project to the list. It will be a YA series...a candid YA series...centered around a 5th grader named Darla Decker as she progressed from elementary school to high school. I will be using an outline I did several years back when I was toying with the idea of writing a YA novel, as well as all of my childhood diaries. I want to write Judy Blume-esque series with a lot more of the gritty truth. I probably won't get around to writing the 1st book until 2012-2013, but the tentative title is Darla Decker Hates to Wait. Each subsequent book will also have a Darla Decker...blahblahblah... title.

That's all for now, dear readers. Fair thee well! :)

The smallest sprout shows there is really no death.

It's been quite a while since I wrote a blog entry, so here's a long overdue update:

The first two books in my TALES OF DOMINHYDOR series are now available at http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/. MALADRID is available in ebook and print (at Lulu.com) and as of now, YVEN is only available in ebook...but print may be coming soon.

 

RABBITS IN THE GARDEN was accepted and (promptly) published by Post Mortem Press. It's on Kindle at Amazon.com and the paperback is available at www.PostMortem-Press.com

I'm still waiting to hear if FOOLS CALL IT FATE will be chosen for a full production at Mobtown Theatre, so if anyone has a second to jump over to the Mobtown Players Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Mobtown-Players/131982224935), there's still time to tell them you want to see FOOLS CALL IT FATE again!

 

I have a couple of short stories still out for submission, but two of my <420 character stories were accepted by Short, Fast, and Deadly. CRY OUT can be seen now in Issue 63 (http://www.shortfastanddeadly.com/) and MAKE MINE A DOUBLE will be appearing in Issue 66.

I finished rewriting PALAPLIA and am currently hard at work revising every thing I rewrote. Once that's finished, I'll be revising TELINHE. Following that, I will be turning my attention to revising VERSES OF VILLAINY, and after that, I'll finally be able to get back to writing PINS!!

 

Oh, and I still have a full time job. Did I mention that? Yeh, I'd like to quit that as soon as possible, so start buying Jessica McHugh books!! ;) Of course, I'm kidding...kind of. I would appreciate any recommendations to friends and reviews you could give me though.

That's about all for now, oh my brothers.

THINK IN INK!!!