Asides

Inheritance

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 4 Comments

I hear their screams of silent disapproval

Feel their arms, clutching me, holding me back

“Don’t go out there. You’ll die. It’s not safe for us.”

My belly’s a stone

Ingested before I was born

I’ve tried to throw it up

Doesn’t budge, it’s mine now

I carry it with me

This inheritance

This heavy key to the past

This memorial to those before me

This museum housing their lives’ dreams and losses

Maybe it’s not something to pass

Like a kidney stone

Or to be removed like a cancerous growth

Perhaps I need only to lovingly lay it down

At the feet of those whose dreams I am now living

Perhaps their burdens are not mine to carry

But mine just to remember, and know

As I move forward into my own life’s dreams and losses

To be remembered, one day, and known

By those who come behind me

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: inheritance

Snooze Alarm

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 5 Comments

“In theory, I have a wonderful life,” she said to no one in particular, pulling the bedcover back over her head, unable to face yet another day.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Post: theory

A Fine Pour

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

There was an elegance to the way she poured coffee, a slight turn of her wrist that turned the stream just so as it finished filling the cup.

It was subtle – even she wasn’t aware of this remnant of her former life – and it did not register for most, but a discerning eye such as his now and then caught it.

And for the slightest of instants, the diner was transformed into a four star hotel, and the coffee, a fine Bordeaux.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: elegance

Awakening

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 5 Comments

And just like that, she felt something bubble up from her heart. It took a moment, but with astonishment she realized she actually felt jolly. She felt a laugh escape her that she hadn’t heard in years as a single, tiny tear of joy fell from her left eye.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: jolly

Color Guard

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“Don’t varnish the truth, darling,” she said to no one in particular as she resolutely declined to add more lipstick color to her lips. She could plainly see the little telltale lines above her upper lip and the way the bright red color she had favored in her youth now bled off into the tiny trenches, and with that, she was done with reds. It would be pinks and faint corals from now on, until the day when even those colors would need to be retired.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: varnish

Bingeworthy

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 2 Comments

I lay, spent, numb

My pain suspended in the discomfort

The known sedation of having gorged

More appealing than tolerating my escalating feelings

Too-full-ness better than emptiness

Physically weakening myself somehow feels like power

For an all-too-brief moment

I am calm, the fear and dread are quiet

And being alive in this body feels almost OK

Until it doesn’t, again

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: gorge

My Shoes Part 3

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

Today, walking along the street in the rain:

God, I love this life. It’s amazing being alive.

Two minutes later:

My life sucks. Why am I so miserable?

My Shoes Part 2

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

I felt excited to go out into the world.

Then I dreaded leaving my house.

I gave myself a stern lecture.

Then I sweet talked myself into getting ready.

Then I dreaded like holy hell leaving my house.

So I shoved myself out into the world.

Then I wanted to go home so badly.

Then I was glad to be out in the world.

Then I couldn’t wait to get home again.

I finally got home.

And I felt like I had missed something important.

My Shoes

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

First, I thought I was all that.

Then, I thought I was a piece of shit.

Then, I thought I was all that.

Then, I thought I was a piece of shit.

(This was just an hour ago.)