Life is the daily privilege of new discoveries about who I am. I evolve into more roles as my life continues towards its inevitable end. Many admirable hats have been worn throughout my existence, and some have come to an end. I've been a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother, an aunt, a sister-in-law, a daughter-in-law, a paid worker in the capitalistic system in our world, a business person, and a volunteer for many worthy causes over the years. The current role of writer and author is hopefully not the last step in my journey that began as a blank slate. I'm currently residing in the middle of the United States.
With nothing to throwbetween us, I was hard-pressed to figure out how to give us the privacy we required at this time. Naturally, with our history, our sleeping arrangements felt awkward.
Regardless, our anxiety finally calmed, attaining a lull under the backdrop of a rising moon; we were both soon asleep in the space we had created.
But our slumber was interrupted by what sounded like an old victrola playing a scratchy, broken record, droning on loudly. However shaken we felt, we remained mute as we watched a shadow pass by us gracefully, totally in step with the music.
All the food and drink you could want in the backdrop of a tropical paradise. Yeah, I would call that a great getaway! And it was, except for a few things. While we didn’t encounter a hurricane this time, let me tell you, what an adventure…
The intention was to unplug and relax, and we did. I left my laptop at home, only bringing my Kindle to catch up on the many titles in my library. The goal was to read as many as possible, also jotting down thoughts to turn into reviews which I would post when I got back. I ended up reading nineteen books, so I think I nailed that goal!
While this vacation was definitely filled with much-needed downtime, who would have thought that we’d also have to deal with an ear infection, a frozen shoulder, and COVID. Yes, the dreaded COVID. We outran it for two years but finally succumbed to it. We’re okay, but I have to tell you, it sucks.
My husband dealt with mild symptoms, me – not so much. Due to my heart issues, my doc felt it best to be on Paxlovid. After three days of full-on flu symptoms, I finally started feeling a little better. Now, let’s just hope there are no other immediate aftermath complications or effects years down the road, which current research shows have the potentiality of becoming a reality.
Oh, and Paxlovid-mouth is a real thing. I’m looking forward to that nastiness leaving my tastebuds in the next couple of days. The pharmacist promised that it would eventually dissipate.
So, I’m back. A little battered, but ready to get back to the blog! While it wasn’t the idyllic ending to our time off, this past month has been somewhat restorative for me mentally.
The brilliant mass ascension, five hundred plus hot air and gas balloons, billowing a multitude of colors and shapes while gracefully lifting up to the morning sky, and removing all the air from the spectator’s lungs as they gaze upward in awe. The sunrise smiled and accepted the new friends.
Sharing a Meal with Strangers
Chance encounters, the prelude to an enchanted evening. Friends of friends, invitations warmly extended. Festivities are dotted with good food, good people, and good drink. A lifelong memory of the best of times with locals.
Going Down with the Sun
I watch from afar as the brave sail off a high cliff jutting sharply on the coastline, aiming their course directly towards the crescent of the sun. They hang in the air seemingly for an eternity until dipping too close to the turbulence of the ocean waves demands a return to the land. They ride out the last cushion of air to safety, and jubilant cheers from friends.
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Amee Redden started writing at a very young age, mostly stories from traveling with her family. Amee imagines she will one day retire in a place she has come across. This feature is her first on The Short of It.
Submissions are now closed but if you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future, click here for the submissions guidelines.
*From my research, I believe the original image (the right image) was created by the illustrator named. I’m not sure who did the flipped, black image and combined the two.
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It seems to me that when we find the right person or people, we should hold tight. Whether friend or lover, finding a safe harbor in this indiscriminate world gives us peace, comfort, and even strength.
Who are you that sees me so clear A voyeur who prowls my soul And drips between its layers Daring to divulge Secrets I did not know I had. How in so short a time Have you found what none has found in a lifetime When did you become the artist of my life story Deftly splodging my pain in patterns across the page Depicting my fears in adroit designs of nervous hues Smearing my dreams in lustrous colours and glossy paints
Are you a gift sent to make me whole A match meant to be Or are you a curse… Bait dangled by fate A taste of what will never be
Jude’s additional thoughts – While writing this, I kept asking myself;can a soulmate be merely a friend (be it a lifelong one), or is a soulmate meant to be a lover or partner?
I am the fire spirit risen from Aries, I have been riven, on the birthday of Artemis I was born of a stardust promise.
I am to be sought not bidden. From in a dark place hidden. On the cusp of the gloaming, I may be found the hillsides roaming.
Passion
Summer nights, running through forests of love Entwined like tree branches intimacy found. Lips kiss as if greedily taking in water. Bodies intermingled like vines, sought and received Wrapped in each other’s arms, passion sated.
First Born
In the November snowfall. Through the darkness of night. My courage in both hands. The hours drifted by. The pain was numbed by gas and air. Suddenly, you were there – belovéd firstborn.
Unequal
When one loves more than the other no good can come of it. The other cheats and tells lies A divorce follows.
Estrangement
the saddest thing is to be mourning the living, our estranged children
Eternity
October sorrows recalled memories – birth, death, awaiting rebirth our promised eternity free from human pain at last!
Relationships are complex, aren’t they? So, so good that we crave them when we are lonely and ready to add the next to the trash heap when we’ve had enough.
Once around the sun with no touch from anyone with no fun
Such a strange and lonely time in the history of this planet I dream of little moments like brushing past you on the stairs your aroma so sweet upon my senses your hair so finely spun between my fingers
Round and round but never close enough In my past life it might be weeks, sometimes could be months between those shivering connections molten to the core on fire, inside another But now I count in “years”…
Heaven knows, we cracked the code perpetual motion– Won’t do what we’re told can’t douse our passion Forget trying to explain it I need hands-on demonstrations You and me weren’t meant to be alone
It’s been too long since I worked the buttons loose on your jeans It’s so long… since I pulled your head to my bare chest let you listen to my heart Round and round yet never together Endless motion yet no connection
Now it’s once around the sun all these months without touch without caress without our fun
How I dream, how I burst for the memory of that breathless surrender eyes connecting and the quietly blinking pleasure as I shiver beside You bite my shoulder prolong the moment So many barren seasons, now O, I’ve been aching for you
My fingers (my nails), my fists (my wrists), sodissatisfied my arms (my sighs), my thighs (my hips), so prone Once around the sun so many months between without touch without caress without undress without breath O, an end must come…
My pain is nestled in these lyrics. Bringing back those days of hurt so acutely, so clearly. Wounded beyond repair, devastated by the despair. The US once my cure for loneliness, no more. Shattered in an instant. Unease in my core, life flickering out of my heart. Every moment of remembrance takes me back when you split US into two. I fear I’ll need a lifetime’s worth of healing to get back my equilibrium.
Clouds part Just to give us a little sun
There’s a limit to your love Like a waterfall in slow motion Like a map with no ocean There’s a limit to your love Your love, your love, your love
There’s a limit to your care So carelessly there Is it truth or dare? There’s a limit to your care
I love, I love, I love This dream of going upstream I love, I love, I love The trouble that you give me I know, I know, I know That only I can save me I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go Right down the road
There’s a limit to your love Like a waterfall in slow motion Like a map with no ocean There’s a limit to your love Your love, your love, your love
I can’t read your smile It should be written on your face I’m piecing it together There’s something out of place Oh
I love I love, I love This dream of going upstream I love, I love, I love The trouble that you give me I know, I know, I know That only I can save me I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go Out on the road Because there is no limit There’s no limit No limit, no limit, no limit Limit to my love
When you get older, plainer, saner When you remember all the danger we came from Burning like embers, falling, tender Long before the days of no surrender Years ago and well you know
Smoke ’em if you got ’em ‘Cause it’s going down All I ever wanted was you I’ll never get to heaven ‘Cause I don’t know how
Let’s raise a glass or two To all the things I’ve lost on you Oh oh Tell me are they lost on you? Oh oh Just that you could cut me loose Oh oh After everything I’ve lost on you Is that lost on you? Oh oh Is that lost on you? Oh oh Baby, is that lost on you? Is that lost on you?
Wishing I could see the machinations Understand the toil of expectations in your mind Hold me like you never lost your patience Tell me that you love me more than hate me all the time And you’re still mine
So smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em ‘Cause it’s going down All I ever wanted was you Let’s take a drink of heaven This can turn around
Let’s raise a glass or two To all the things I’ve lost on you Oh oh Tell me are they lost on you? Oh oh Just that you could cut me loose Oh oh After everything I’ve lost on you Is that lost on you? Oh oh Is that lost on you? Oh oh, oh oh Babe, is that lost on you? Is that lost on you?
Let’s raise a glass or two To all the things I’ve lost on you Oh oh Tell me are they lost on you? Oh oh Just that you cold cut me loose Oh oh After everything I’ve lost on you Is that lost on you? Is that lost on you?
The hills are alive with coyote chorus excited tipping of the young’uns rolling over prairies on the winds as full moon shines her silvery glow. This is their land too.
WINTER SUN
Clear cold days to wake the face: bright sun with no warmth shines of no mind for comfort as winter freezes on.
RED BLOOD
All have red blood, and pumping heart. All cry in pain or distress. Though varieties, life is united in simple ways – why can we not see these unities?
MEMORIES BE
Memories can change be overlaid, gain new meaning, become a friend they weren’t before, but effort, process, must be made.
OBEDIENT TO THE END
Daddy said he loved us with all his heart, and cried, then said to face the wall – quiet!
Then he brought the little ones and told them to stand too.
He went up the line one head at a time…
Explosions.
I ran!
WARNING SIGN
The sign warns: “Clean floors prevent accidents.”
Just as truly it can advise and mean:
and mean:
“Accidents prevent clean floors.” True too!
~~~
The work of Duane L. Herrmann has been published in print and online, in over a hundred journals, more than fifty anthologies, plus seven volumes of poetry, more chapbooks, a history, and a sci-fi novel; all despite a traumatic, abusive childhood embellished with dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, an anxiety disorder, and PTSD. Duane was first featured on June 19, 2020, and again on December 4, 2020. Some of his thoughts were also selected and published in The Sound of Brilliance. His latest feature was posted on June 24, 2022.
Submissions are now closed but if you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future, click here for the submissions guidelines.
I Write Her 