Monday, August 13, 2007

Spinning....

"Stop talking and dance with me".....I fought it, hands perched on my hips....swaying to the music, because I just can't help it, but I wasnt' going to do it. I bit my bottom lip. We had done this a thousand times before....Bob Segar, Eric Clapton, unknown cover bands, Rolling Stones, The Eagles....

Hands perched on my hips..."I'm not doing it".......

But we went anyway, onto the dance floor, my arms crossed, business style, slow dancing with the crowd. Nothing special. Nothing fancy; might as well be another fly on the wall, because I couldn't do it our way, deep and low, throaty and all Aretha Frankliny, like we used to, because we aren't.....or because we just can't, even if we are.... things have changed.

And he so desperately wanted the last dance to be the perfect dance and it sucked and I told him so.....And he remembered our first dance and our first kiss and our first hello and he told me so...And I denied them all.

Because we never had a first date, a first kiss, a first dance...we had been there all along, the coming together all to familiar, homecoming for the soul... And how could we have a last dance, a public display of "The End" when we had no beginning that we could place a name to.....

And he agreed.

And we walked barefoot into the ocean.....out the double doors....into the tomorrows we keep trying on for size.

On Friday night, I pushed the double doors open, and stepped onto the dirty neon dancefloor....Christmas lights dangling from the ceiling beams, flickering on and off without rhythm. Their twisty green wires crooked like chicken bones strung together on a string. I took a deep breath. A long blink. My week-end smile started squiggling, sneaking onto my face. Arms reaching. Octopus arms. My friends... pulling me in. I heard the music in my chest, vibrating, waiting....

And when the gray haired handsome stranger with the Clint Eastwood voice, leaned in and asked me to dance....I muttered "Rolling Stones".....and he nodded. I danced up and down and in circles, in my own little rock and roll world, and smiled occassionally at his feet. "Do you swing?" he asked on the way off the floor, and I threw my head up and laughed at the green chicken bones dangling, sparkling, flashing over head "No!" I'm laughing, "Are you kidding me?" "The Rolling Stones Girl?" And he laughed..... and said....

"Come along for the ride...."

"I can't follow....
petulance creeping into my smile...

"Come along for the ride...."

And I did. Twirling, flying, swirling, dipping, diving, sliding, laughing, seat-belted in by his arms....

Sometimes.
at the fair,
you have to dance with strangers..

142 comments:

eric1313 said...

Another reminder of just how much fun things can be, if only we let go.

But you still need to be careful with strangers, Sing, even if your judge of character is worlds better than mine.

Maybe I need to let go more often, spin the circle, guide a stranger in the steps of the song I'm hearing, different than the one being played. Maybe...

Talk to you soon, friend. Relax a little and be proud of yourself.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Lol...Yes! Everyone is a stranger first & you only get to try a new dance once, after that it's something you have done before... but rumor has it that the fair always holds the tried & true as well as the exciting & new....
ISLYSS

singleton said...

Eric... Music and the ocean.... they both lure me, cure me, find me..... Our little bar is a circle, a bonfire party. Everyone there is a friend of a friend of a friend. It's like dancing in the kitchen, only the music is live!

Spin the circle, Eric, it's a golden hoola-hoop filled with mardis gras prizes!

SLB...ILYSVVM and wish I was there! You are so very very right! Rock on, little rumors, rock on~

Lola Starr said...

More of letting go-this is a theme in my life right now in more ways than one. I used to let go like this all the time though-drum circles and dancing underneath the stars....

JustRun said...

I love this! And apparently I need to get down to the fair. :)

SpongyBones said...

Sometimes angels come to us in the form of strangers. Let the adventure begin over and over and over again!

Rachelle said...

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean...
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens...
I hope you dance~~~~
I hope you da-a-ance~~~~~
my favorite song
Clinks~
Rachelle

eric1313 said...

Wish I was there...
Talk to you later, I hope to write more soon.
Clink!

eric1313 said...

btw
Is that a Gravitron in that pic?
lolololol.....
we used to call it the Puke-o-tron... in a nutshell.

I love unstrapping from the seat while the ride is in full tilt, and walking on the walls sideways. Reminds me of the porch party line, "climbing up the walls", that was some wild stuff blowing on the breeze. Words still needing a home.

Peace out, friend.

Acquaintance said...

Music is hypnotic, takes to you own realm of your life then persuades you into a spiral of movement.

Glad you love music and to dance! :D

I haven't been music listening as much as writing recently.


Take care

mavin

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Ooooh, you BAD, bad girl, you! (grin)

skinnylittleblonde said...

Am home sister. Kimbies phone is busy. Talkt to Mom. All went well... wore my special Lucky Peace shirt from Dear Courage & will have to send her special thanks later. ILYSVFM&SMY!

singleton said...

karma.....let the drums roll.... and the letting-go parade begin.... peace, girl

justrun...Oh, there's nothing like a good ole fashioned fair, the lights, the sounds, the smell... the neon memories!

spongy....Ahhh, man, you hit it! And it's the adventure I'm addicted to...lights, action,laughter!

rachelle....yes, great hopes... Right now, I'm in the house of doors, peeping behind them all, darting from one to the next, and everytime I turn around, the one I closed has creaked open just wide enough for us to crawl back through....Door number one, door number two, door number three.....
peace~love

singleton said...

eric....I don't know what round-a-bout is in the pic! But I felt like I was dancing with the Graviton! We were flying and spinning so fast, you know how your neck hurts from trying to hold your head on when you're riding the himalaya or some other crazy ride? Well, it was like that!

Plenty of unpainted walls my friend....just keep buildin' 'em!

mavin...totally hypnotic, like sometimes I think I just wander into another state of consciousness all together! Waves do that to me too! Glad you're writing, though, that is good for the soul as well.....Take care, and keep spilling the words....

shrink....wink!

SLB....She must have known.....I am so so glad all went well, been tinking you home safe all afternoon, my love! Sleep, rest, dream of rivers, and doors, and tomorrows! ILYSVVFM!

eric1313 said...

Used to love sitting with someone special in the himalaya and keep trying as hard as we could to make out even as it goes faster and faster, listening to Robert Plant sing "it's been a long time, been a long time, been a one lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time".

Love the Himalaya!

singleton said...

eric...my all time favorite....I can still see the whitecaps painted on the walls.....cha..ching! clink! Ting!

eric1313 said...

I loved those white caps being lit up by a rainbow of colored flashing lights, and the opperator of the ride would sometimes yell over the speakers, 'faster and faster we go out of control'. At least, that was the craziness I knew. Probably alot like your own.

--
What's up?

eric1313 said...

clink! ting.....!nice

singleton said...

And we would yell faster and faster back, scrunching, squishing into the corner of the seat, arms stretching, trying so hard to hang on

singleton said...

And drunken with dizziness when the ride slowed down, laughing, arm in arm, winding down the wooden ramp.....
to stand in line again

eric1313 said...

to each other and ourselves, sliding on the wooden bench and into each other.

We were never as crazy as when we were one
together
in the whitecaped domes
pretending to be on top of the world
and so we were.

singleton said...

pink ticket in our hands

eric1313 said...

and soon we'd just run past the booth
they had no choice...
we hijacked the himalaya

singleton said...

a ticker tape of free rides wadded up in our pockets....
waiting to go again
and again
until we were spent
and
the lights went out
and the
parking lot
was endless
full of
keys in the doors
and headlights
nodding on

singleton said...

and sometimes we would just scrunch down
hide in the floorboards
giggling
hoping
the fat-faced kid didn't point us out,
waiting for the music to start
again
hoping for the one
real ride
the free ride

eric1313 said...

the shadows playing at the edges of the lonely light above,
the moon, she looked like that
alone but glowing
she was only a street light

the cars filed out
one by one
until we were alone
with our memeories
and hands and eyes
and dirty bare feet

singleton said...

and cotton candy in the air
and cotton candy
in my hair

eric1313 said...

it was perfect like that
we new what it was like
to be young
and unafraid of bright lights
and sounds
so think the were colored

singleton said...

and not afraid of speed
or heights
or strangers
in line

eric1313 said...

so thick they had
their own color
the spychadelic lights
shone in our eyes
long after
the window closed

eric1313 said...

We were strangers in line
too
we invented names for them all
and so we knew them all

singleton said...

and the windows were covered in
finger prints
ours were there too
tattoos

eric1313 said...

evryhing was ours
the cotton candy
in your hair
smelled like the night felt
like the air tatsed
like a
kiss
as the lights go out
on top of the world

singleton said...

and the made-up lives of
the people behind us
were fairytales
and B-rated films
and we gasped in
horror
and
made faces
at their soap opera stories
and kept
our secret....
standing in line....

singleton said...

the candied apple

eric1313 said...

waiting for our turn
at the turnstyle
clicking it a thousand times

why not?
this was our rocket
we rode it
out of the known world
the faces left behind
their stories following them home
and we were off to the races
we flew
we so flew

singleton said...

And the man with no teeth
could guess your weight
and guess
my age
and we would go home
with a saw dust stuffed
poodle
and a hundred
years later
it would still
smell like the fair
and be crooked
and dusty
and
worth
the pink ticket

eric1313 said...

candied apples
elephant ears
carmel crisps
and cold beer

nothing tastes quite like
tangerine lip gloss
and a marlboro

singleton said...

higher and higher
the
music grinding
from the engine
below
sneakers heavy
untied
ready to kick them
off
send them flying
into the crowd

eric1313 said...

nothing tastes
like cotton candy
in your hair

eric1313 said...

nothing
is as bright
as the lights
spinning round
the himalaya
was the center
of our universe

singleton said...

and our cigarettes
are bent
your back pocket shape
crooked and damp
we sat in the beer

singleton said...

spinning
in the himalaya....
under the whitecaps

eric1313 said...

because this world is fleeting
the beer
isn't the ocean
and we know the sea
and the change
that it brings

pennies at a time
to fill heaven with

eric1313 said...

(we're waiting
for each other)

eric1313 said...

the circle...

singleton said...

damn computer locked up on me
never been the same since
struck

eric1313 said...

I knew to wait around

singleton said...

she tried to break the circle

eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...

Wouldn't bend
or break

never

the circle is forever
rule
hearts
laws

these break easily
compared to what we know
to be greatest among all truths

singleton said...

I was at the fair
laughing
the music
and the fastness
breathing
like
york peppermint patties
down my throat
dirty feet and all
and
the lights
went out
and the ride
lumbered
in the dark
crickety
crankety
one plank at a time
to the end
and we

singleton said...

pushed it with our
tired arms
and
tippy toes
until
the
lights came on again

eric1313 said...

knew how
the fall would go
ready to roll
as the music was over
the lights went out
and everything
was revealed to contain
beauty

singleton said...

and
they gave us
free passes
because
we didn't cuss
we laughed
and they
let us
ride again

eric1313 said...

everybody needs the light*

singleton said...

because I had cotton candy in my hair
and you had
bent cigarettes
and we
were out
of tickets
and money
and time
but we
yelled
faster and
faster
and
he heard us

eric1313 said...

until the free pink tickets
were all gone to the hither
and wild wind

the parks close
and we rule the night
like children rule
the love
of their makers

singleton said...

and friday nights are free
because
we said so

singleton said...

and
friday nights and fairs
believe in
fools like us

eric1313 said...

free
and faster we go
and nothing
will stop
us from riding
this train
the H train

eric1313 said...

our ride into the night
free
to all
who care
for the fools that they love

singleton said...

even in the dark

eric1313 said...

we know
that there is light
in the touch...

in a quite eye
in the night

singleton said...

So nice to find you on the porch again, my friend, how's the house, peace, school thing going?

eric1313 said...

we laugh until the sound
is that
of the waves on the sea

eric1313 said...

good!

eric1313 said...

kidding
OK. I'm paid up in school, but if I start another semester in this house, it would be maddness

singleton said...

Oh I so hope "good" was the answer to my question and not the end of our poem, or actually, both....
clink!

singleton said...

Next semester starts soon....is there a plan brewing here?

eric1313 said...

Things are OK

Great tonight!
clink!

But I don't knoe exactly what I'm going to do. I just want to write!

eric1313 said...

I can sign up, but the unreasonable nature of certain people around here is what gets me.

singleton said...

Then write, my friend, I soooooo understand that! Sometimes I just want to color, to draw, to scribble, and somedays that's all that gets me through.....I look back on the pages and see my saving grace, my sanity, sprawled out in different faces...

eric1313 said...

I have a plan, but if things don't pan out, I have to find another plan that will work.

singleton said...

And sign up, too, in the ever wise words of our friend, Orhan Khan, "stay in school"....

eric1313 said...

Your work and mine are much the same.

We heal ourselves, and other's find heling and beauty, too.

eric1313 said...

yes, Orhan is wise.

eric1313 said...

Glad for your company. I feel connected and get a mental, emotional poetic workout, all in the same actions.

singleton said...

He really is. I didn't do it. Took the endless summer off. And never regretted it. But now I realize no matter what i did with my life, no matter where I went, if I took that little piece of paper with me, they would have paid me more....And I don't much care for money, or for extras, or want or need that much, but.....stay in school....there are days when it would save me or those I care about or save those who care about me from having to save me....living on a shoestring...

singleton said...

You're talented Eric, so very much so, and school will take you where you can share it the best....teaching, writing, reaching....

eric1313 said...

I know it. I'm on one now, but I have a chance.

That's what doesn't make sense with the madness at home. When I finish, I'm gone! win win win, right?

eric1313 said...

but nobody has patiience. A lot of people tell me I'm wasting my time, have said so for years. I'm damn good at ignoring them, have for years, but it used to get to me.

eric1313 said...

psst.... peace!

singleton said...

We're all gone, when we're finished. Dig through SLBs archives and read the words again...the best revenge is success itself, do what you do, and do it good, do it for yourself....and maybe one day you'll wake up and thank God for the madness that sent you there...driven to do it

singleton said...

I've been told I'm wasting my time for years....silly little hippie always tauting peace, scribbling nonsensical things on perfectly good walls, believing in make-believe.....
While they are watching sitcoms.....

eric1313 said...

Yes, but if I'm kicked out of my house in the middle of the nigth, as happens with el drunko and me frm time to time, then the madness gets put on me. I'm then the one sitting in a car waitng for sunrise on the side of a road to sneak home just to shower and try to pick up. One night or two a month, i can deal with, but any time I feel good, that is when things go bad. That's what I mean by madness.

eric1313 said...

You aren't silly, and we both do create so wonderfully. I know your value; you're incomparable, really.

I feel the same way. If I broke down and started just doing electrical work, I'll die bitter.

singleton said...

we all have madness. For some people it's a broken nail, internet off-line, dead battery in the car, for others it is hell.... These are my chantras
"This too shall pass"
"At this exact moment, this is meant to be"
"If I've done everything I can, I can't change this, if I haven't, I can..."
"in the end, peace wins"

eric1313 said...

I mean... I can do anything and write, but the degree lends authority to my already sharp words. That's the value of education.

I used to belive it wa just a stupid piece of paper, too.

We are so the same.

eric1313 said...

This too shall pass...

I need to make it pass. If I am here anylonger, I fear for my permanent sanity. I don't want to be a jailhouse writer. America has a tradition of those.

It will pass, but I'll have to make it happen, and that is probably by leaving this house. Everyone meant well, but in practice, it's not good at all.

singleton said...

Eric....I have spent a zillion hours painting for pay and then when Justgivemepeace was born, it was a revolution, I quit. I no longer take consignments for murals, for ballet sets, for advertisements, newsletter graphics, logos...I quit. I do what I want to do, and I don't give a crap what $ it brings, I send them all to SLB and she lets them fly, into welcome arms, and for the first time....I know. I'm not doing piece work. I'm doing me-work. Like it, love it, or hate it. It's mine. I'm broke, but I'm free....

eric1313 said...

Love my mom, but she married a lunatic. I didn't want to move in in the first place, but I did. Now I know why.

singleton said...

yes, sometimes we have to make it happen.

eric1313 said...

YOu are ding the right thing, too. I see improvement in your work! It's getting better. Your works, lately have been outstanding and imaginative...

You did the right thing.

singleton said...

And I know from my own children, that I so want to help them and that by the very act of thinking I am enabling them with opportunity, I am disabling them, sometimes we have to make it happen for ourselves.....

eric1313 said...

I hate to sound like I do. I feel better, but I need to do something for myself and get out of here. It's not helping me.

I'd write for free, but bills have to get paid, too. You know how that is, so I'm not complaining. I'll still write for free, but I do have to find work, and that is not happening around here, either. There's forty people wanting every job around here.

singleton said...

No eric, you can do this...you can publish....and you should....get yourself a damn writers's digest and submit, take a chance , push it, and follow Orhans lead, stay in school.....

eric1313 said...

Right you are. I feel the same way, that's why I didn't want to move back. But school wasn't happening then, and now, it's half done, so there is something to say for it. But things have changed...

I need to do for myself, just like you say. I knew that! When I was booted out before, i was going in that direction--my mom kept talking me into moving back in. But she can't control how her husband acts.

Neither one will even read a thing I've writen, nor do I expect that to happen anymore.

singleton said...

when I say I don't regret it, I'm not leading you astray, I can't look back on my life and regret even a moment of it, it's the butterfly effect, but I want my children to have more...my friends to have more....It ain't a cup of tea to be broke forever more. We have never ever been poor, but always struggled, and thats BS, that lined paper could have changed it, not just for me, but for them.....

eric1313 said...

Yes, I need to publish SO bad. I need to send these in and get grants and awards. I can do that, too.

Thanks, Sing

singleton said...

Infinate words of wisdon I read as a teenager from an obscure book that I can't remember the title of, that my Father repeated to me.....
"You can't be disappointed in other's actions, but merely in your own expectations of them".....

It took me a long time to understand that, but I do now. I can't expect other people to live up to my expectations and then be disappointed in them if they dont, they're my expectations......not theres, not now, never were....how could they possibly know?

eric1313 said...

YOu speak the truth. My mom echoes your words so often. That's why she is does encourage me to do the same.

But I need somewhere that if I'm doing homework, I won't get told to leave and not come back for days, then fight about it, even if I got up o leave without a fight.

That kind of madness will only waste my money and time. I'd rather sleep in a dumpster--but not really--you know what I mean, friend. This is what I need to do. Go to school, get fine tuned, meet connections.

I'm there. You know it. But right now, things are still day to day.

Thanks for listening, Singleton
You're an inspiration
and a friend

singleton said...

Yes, you need to send them in. Everywhere. Often. All the time. My daughter is in her 3rd year of college. Full, 100% scholarships. Not at her feet. Not knocking down our doors. Sending them in.

eric1313 said...

I've got to find some balance.

The blinders I wore to get this far don't stop the voices from the very walls of this house. After a while, you feel worn down.

It's hard to explain

singleton said...

I so understand. The only other chantra I have to offer is
"wage your battles well"
old and cliche'd....
but so very,very true...
i believe in peace, and oh, the ladders we have to build to get there....
the breaths we have to take
the patience
the knowledge
of when to tuck tail and hide
when to sit cat quiet waiting to strike
when to walk away
when fight like hell...
wage your battles well......

in the end, peace wins, no matter how you get there....

eric1313 said...

I'll get there, friend. Thank you so much for this blessing.

eric1313 said...

goin to bed soon?

singleton said...

You're welcome sweet friend, I know it...
I believe...
night...

eric1313 said...

night
peace~love

singleton said...

peace~love

Bardouble29 said...

I love to swing dance. Its is SOOO much fun...but then again I love to just dance to ANYTHING!

Momentary Madness said...

I dance with strangers
in my dreams
strangers that once were real
but because of wander-lust
became echoes in the night
that pass
like all things
to a waking dawn
of memory. Paddy

SHE said...

great read! -sometimes i plug it in my head on a monday morning

-say yes. just say yes-

and for the whole week ahead, whatever invites, opportunities come my way; i say yes

and there always seems to be a little reward for taking the risk

"to dancing with strangers"

singleton said...

bardouble....I second you on that! :)

paddy.....
well sweetie....
This time, you could
have written the last
nine lines of my post....
simply beautiful
and
true.....
peace, my friend

she....
you've danced into our lives in ways you may never know.....your thoughts and courage followed us everywhere on Tuesday....
yes,to dancing with strangers....
peace, love my friend

david mcmahon said...

True, but there is a discerning art to working out which strangers can be trusted entirely.

Enjoyed the post .... as always

eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...

She Said Her Name Is Peace
E1313

Lady Blue oceans boiling
red, orange, yellow and green
with the psychadelic sun falling
low enough to touch us if we were
to ever get to the horizon.

Lady Blue cut-offs painted on,
the love beads--they're real;
ballerina in mid pirrouette
on so many stages
and yet just this one.

Your menagerie
of crystaline thoughts
are raindrops on the page;
each bubble
a looking glass
a diamond prism
the world gleaming
in your eyes at night
with neon electric fire--
a controlled substance
if ever there was such a thing
allowed to flicker wildly,
delighting and soothing
beasts and everyone else
who knows you,
spinning and dazed
behind you--

Islands,
yet no man is supposed
to be an island,

Yet there they are
pearls strewn across the floor
confetti forgotten the day after
lost in your wake--
a long V rippling
across the water.

You love that symbolism
good thing, too,
since it follows you everywhere
whispering sweet everythings,
but you only listen for the
one word you really love,
the one word
you know to be true.

eric1313 said...

The 'petulance creeped into my smile' part jumped out at me tonight. This is really good, and I liked it before, too.

It goes with the dialogue we had last night. I'm feeling pretty damn petulant lately, I don't like the song. But if I don't dance here, it's adifferent song elsewhere. I need to hang in there and get the girl at the dance who I know will be spiking the punch at midnight: My BA and Masters in English. They will set me free, freer than I am now, and I'm pretty free. Then I can get paid for typing wild ideas. In theory... Probably get paid for writing articles... teaching... maybe finding a way to run an online classroom/workshop, maybe even have mandatory twice a month porch party classes, in addition to reading and writing assignments... You never know. People actually might do it if it was a poetry focused workshop that had as its goal a better understanding of the form, how it's different than essay form, or short fiction form, and show how it's also really the same, to tell a story or transmit an idea or an emotion so that everyone can pick it up, and yet be subtle.

You know all this; in dreams and stories you know it, you breathe it, and roll with it and dance with it. The craft comes from your artist's vision, as well. I'm just rambling. I love to do that.

Peace out, Singleton
clink!

(capn's spiced rum and vanilla coke, one third Cappy, two tirds coke, it's a lethal one in a big round fishbowl tip jar margaurita glass.)

Saynora, Lady Cyan Oceanmaiden
one more clink!

singleton said...

David...You are absolutely right. Stranger Danger is everywhere. But then again, everyone is a stranger until they're not. Some of the best gifts in my life have arrived by fate or chance....and if someone didn't lean in, say that first hello, "nice to meet you"....We would have missed it all!

Eric....OMG~waking up to that poem is like finding the lost treasures of the sea in the bottom of the cracker jack box, simply beautiful! You rock, my friend.
" a controlled substance
if ever there was such a thing
allowed to flicker wildly,"
Unbelievable!
And on and on and on....

And you're going to do it! You have to. For you, for them, for the ones that will follow your lead. There are folks that go straight there, stopping at nothing, some that hitchhike around the world to get where they were going in the first place, wanderers and transients that end up where ever the sun or the moon or the good times or bad lead them, and those of us with every good intention, kicked in the side every now and then, but skinny and fast and full of belief, that just keep going.....it's out there, we just have to get there.....
Chase it! Clink it! Go there! The whole world is waiting!

kj said...

oh jeez singleton. your writing is just incredible.

this piece made me sad because love that doesn;t work even though it's still love always makes me sad. it's only one of two things that make me cry.

then comes your hopeful new dance...

kj said...

oh yes: you and eric have written something magical. i haven't read it all but i want to.

singleton said...

kj...Don't cry sweetie, we've done all of that, and it's the best love, the good stuff....and we were so blessed. Over and over again, but not for forever, and we knew it. And the new dance is just an exercise in surviving and smiling at the same time! One foot in front of the other.... Thank you for knowing all along, this was the one....

eric1313 said...

Sing! are you home? You rock, too.

You know
that I know
that everything's gonna be alright
in the end
peace wins~friend...

eric1313 said...

"an exercise in surviving and smiling at the same time."

That's strong stuff, friend.

Make mine a double!

Clink! Clink!

singleton said...

eric...I should practice harder! I'm having a blue day outa nowhere for no known reason, but maybe the word "Cry" which had been hiding behind my eyeballs was beckoned out and
if I get going .....
my blue mascara will run...
I loved your post by the way my friend, even in building blocks I loved it....

eric1313 said...

Thanks for the compliments, friend, they are so welcome.

And sorry to hear about your day. You have reasons to cry, I know, but you usually don't because you are strong and learned well to display it gracefully.

I understand what it's like. Right now, I'm dealing with everything as best as possible. Thank you for your help, singleton.
clink!

eric1313 said...

Wish I had red roses for a blue lady...

But words help. Hope you liked the scribbling from last night.

That poem is yours.

singleton said...

Thank you sweet friend. You know I know.....Bittersweet wine these times....And I am blessed. In ten thousand ways. I don't know why my eyes are raining....

eric1313 said...

Your blessing is mine, too. You have helped me so much. Gone out of the way to do it, too.

eric1313 said...

God is really close to you. When you pick up the lowest members of the flock, you do the lord's work. Any person who eases the burden of another is the true shepherd, or shepherdess, as it were...
=D
Smile big--I don't usually type smiles, preffering to let my words do th smiling or frowning for me.

singleton said...

Eric....Sometimes we have no idea, and then suddenly we know....writing on these walls has gotten me through more than one sleepless night....SLB, too....it was all meant to be....a circle....ever growing, glowing, meant to be.....
The boys just backed up in the drive-way, my army of good folks, ready to build the barn and sip some beers, gotta tote 2 x 4's and wipe this blue mascara off my face. Peace~love my late night friend, profound, prophetic, thank you!

eric1313 said...

trully it does smile...
;)
clink!

singleton said...

eric....jsyk, I caught that smile. These giant boys, someone's babies, pulled up, hot and tired and sweaty, long day behind 'em, long evening ahead, and unloaded yet more scavenged, begged, gifted supplies...and they smiled. These fellas donating time and energy, but most importantly spirit, to a stranger. Yes, I caught that smile! Truly, it does smile!
Clink~

eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...

Wild aces high
hold'em my love

crazy eights
and nines and one night
in the lights--
we're melting
to the floor.

by chance...

or fate...

what is meant to be--
or
what was never meant to be
more than a happy accident,
a smile and release manuever
in the dark.

Chance knows this,
throws his dice
for sevens and elevens.

He's lucky.

Fate smiles--
a rainbow stuck in her teeth
a fishbowl drink in hand
whirling around all our heads
smiling like the endless horizon

If it's meant to be
it will be done

If it's not meant to be
it should be tried
once--
just in case.

Chance throws the dice,
sevens and snake eyes

he can't win them all
but he fakes it and tries

fate smiles a quiet
prism gleaming on her lips;
none know her mind
but wish

for one more lucky night
one more lucky throw

sixes and nines

chance and fate
courage--
the Ace in the hole
alone on a chance;
alone
on a fateful roll

singleton said...

eric...
mmmmmm, in my world that's heavy.

"alone on a chance,
alone
on a fateful roll"

yup, that's the way it is....

Thank you sweet poet

eric1313 said...

you're welcome friend. I felt like I could write nothing more tonight or a while, then a few long letters to good friends, and boom, I'm back.

It's a lot to me, too. And yes, I was thinking of your fate and chance tag you put at the bottom of your posts sometimes. I thought about the difference between the two, how chance can just be a lucky incident, a chance encounter. Or how fate was something that was meant to be--or something meant to be for a reason. Or something not meant to be....

You inspired it again. And Skinny with her "have courage, get lucky" mantra that I saw tonight. I loved that so much. It made me feel really good, the whole story did. She's more than just a rambler. And your more than an artist, and I'm more than a poet. We're all lucky

and were hippies
in spirit
and
flesh

and drink!
clink!

singleton said...

Yes,
and we're hippies
in spirit
and
flesh,
by fate
or chance....

Clink to y, my friend!

karoline in the morning said...

you meet who you need to meet when the time is right for you to meet them...and.........they meet who they need to meet when they need to meet them... i luv discombobulations...

not a moment too soon, nor a moment too late

time is particular about wayward moments, misunderstood chances and midnite advances...

oh would you like to swing on a star...

;)
k

Me said...

That was so self-visually sweet.

singleton said...

karoline....Oh, I love to swing on stars....
And every word you've etched here, is so very, very true....
clink! to the meant-to-bes, to the moments in between, and the mystical, magical butterfly effect!
peace, love, wisdom, my friend

orhan.....;)And you always make me smile.....