Elusive Deliverance

We fear what we do not know
What we do not understand
What we do not comprehend.

But

Who knows why darkness
Claims the light?
Who understands why
Friends are taken?
Who comprehends
The cruelty of fate?

All that is certain
Is that darkness feeds.

On fear.
On desolation.
On despair.
On hurt.
On anger.
On pain.

How do we
Cast aside the darkness?

If we fortify the fortress
If we poison the moat

If we let no one else in

Will we salvage
The remaining light?

Or be left
Alone in the tower
Adrift at sea
Lost in the night?

BRAT: Publishing Idea

Well here I go again, putting the cart before the horse. I've found a website where I can turn my future compilation into an actual book, which I'm sure Papa will appreciate. I'm saving the link here for future reference.

http://www.lulu.com

BRAT: Introduction

So I've come up with yet another lamebrained writing goal, and, as always, I'm crossing fingers hope I could actually achieve this one. To write a series of anecdotes about growing up as an army daughter.

The plan is to work on it for the next few months, hopefully with one to two "chapters" per week, to post them in this blog as soon as I accomplish one(1), and to make a compilation out of them by the time Papa retires in November . Imagine The General's Daughter(2) meets the social media age sans murder and mystery plus(3) family dramedy(4) sans my typical dramatic drivel because this isn't really about me. Just ~kinda~ about me.

I'm calling this (hopeful) series "BRAT" as homage to our growing up as military brats.

Writing begins this weekend because I have a work deadline in a few hours. My head is rapidly being filled with ideas and I'm just hoping I can hang on until the weekend.

In other news, Yaya's second death anniversary is tomorrow. I miss her dearly, but I keep soldiering on(5).


P.S. I had to make a footnotes section, otherwise I would have filled this post with all these side comments contained in parentheses:

1. #PostForAccountability because the only other alternative would be to tell my mother about this project before I have something to show for it.
2. Nelson Demille was brilliant in that novel. Hail Demille!
3. I tried to look for the old English antonym of "sans" but all I got from the internet was that "com" is the Latin opposite of "sine", the root word of sans. Ah, well, you learn something new everyday.
4. Family drama comedy. It gets juicy sometimes, I swear.
5. Soldiering on. Military brat. Get it? Please laugh. Thanks.

Surround Yourself with Goodness and Light

Surround yourself with goodness and light
For beauty is treacherous
And kindness a trap

Surround yourself with goodness and light

Goodness that's guarded

And light dimly bright

Surround yourself with goodness and light
For the real battle
Has yet to begin

Surround yourself with goodness and light
For no single victor
Can conquer the demons

Surround yourself with goodness and light

For there are demons
Lurking within

Surround yourself with goodness and light
Guard yourself against
Emptiness, sorrow, despair

Surround yourself with goodness and light
For in the darkness
Demons play

Surround yourself with goodness and light
For the demons within
Are yearning to win

Surround yourself with goodness and light
Though the goodness be hidden
Though the light be dimly bright

Surround yourself with goodness and light
For life is hard
And the world unjust

Surround yourself with goodness and light
We need a little kindness
To conquer the dusk

Baker Dream

She woke up frazzled and dazed and dashed to the kitchen. Facing the oven, she froze and slapped her forehead. "I don't bake," she said. "What the hell was that dream about?"

She dreamed that she was a baker, a law school drop out who realized that she could just as easily make the world a better place by feeding hungry mouths and starved souls as by drafting contracts and settling disputes. 

Now that she's awake, she realized that her dream was the was simply based on part of a movie she had seen a week earlier, a movie she felt strongly about because of the female the two supporting female characters -- one, a writer, the other, a law school dropout turned baker. One profession, she dreamed of ultimately having, the other, she greatly feared.

"My life is so catatonic I dream in movie plots. And they're not even original." She sighed and exited the kitchen, desperately trying to erase the memory of another fear slowly brewing at the back of her mind.

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Based on a real-life dream and the events that followed.

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Draft created in Rough Draft. I'm liking this app so far, I just might get the premium version.