2024-04-18 23:46
That last morning, you woke me up when the light from the alarm clock was brighter than the sky outside. It didn’t bother me because I knew the clock had been winding down since Januar… Read More
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Http://kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com/ Blog
kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com
A writing blog featuring short stories and poetry primarily from the fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror genres.
2024-03-22 01:11
I often think about the still-born spring, three years ago, when it seemed like nothing would ever grow again—not even in our woods. The woods were lost girl met lost girl, y… Read More
2024-03-09 14:51
The Libra moon doesn’t know her own strength —the gravitational pull of her sideways smiledrawing in strange and unasked for tides.But she will always shine for herself first. Ph… Read More
2024-02-08 13:00
An unburied breathcan remember its own nameeven in the witching hour.Dreams of my youth startle meby how bright and close they seem. Photo by Egor Vikhrev on UnsplashSong Choice: Breath… Read More
2024-01-17 12:40
My wish for you— Hope as sharp as lion’s teeth devouring all the concrete that buries you until you can unfurl yourself under the encouraging sun and make your own wishes fly far… Read More
2023-12-21 18:53
I greeted the Sun empty-handedworn out from too long nightsspent counting out collected griefsfrom near and far.The Sun gave me Her giftof the light I could not hide fromilluminating who I w… Read More
2023-11-23 16:45
If my words cannot hold water let them at least not act as tinder for those eager to stoke the flames.If I am struck silentat the scope of the horror,let my eyes at least bebrave enough to n… Read More
2023-10-06 00:54
I did not witness the first strikebut I had already seen the signs that came even before the ill-omened moonand understood the end was near.I did not have to measurethose deep and ancient fa… Read More
2023-09-15 00:44
My anger is a fast-moving planet.But when it eclipses fear,whole worlds can be re-ordered. Photo by Jongsun Lee on UnsplashSong Choice: Blaze of Glory by Bon JoviLiner Notes for this Groove:… Read More
2023-08-03 23:52
I have to kiss the world twice as hard now. I have to feel the weight of each leg of every butterfly that chooses to alight on my skin. I have to drench myself… Read More
2023-07-21 14:22
The pleasantly lazy feelingof stretching wideover not quite so crisp sheetsand feeling the sun gently tugging on my eyelashes,completely unbotheredby thoughtsof what comes next.Photo by… Read More
2023-06-26 17:47
I wanted to tell youhow I fell in love again with the sun on solstice morning. Her warmth pulled me back to myself and all the living I have yet to do. I miss you most in these moments, whe… Read More
2023-06-01 19:46
Aiming towards the sun,the hawk shows dedication.Cultivating gracein those who witness her flight.She shows the path to follow.Photo by Rachel McDermott on UnsplashSong Choice: Learnin… Read More
2023-05-19 22:02
All my blue sky dreamssurviving despite the rainstartle me. To thinkI almost let them witherfearing an endless winter.Photo by Ritam Baishya on UnsplashSong Choice: Can You Feel a Brand New… Read More
2023-04-28 11:24
My no isboth scythe and scalpel,cutting away diseased and dead bitsto make room for healing and growth.My no is a signshowing where respect endsand disrespect starts, saying, "Cross at… Read More
2023-04-13 21:46
Some memories
are sharp enough to cut
off your breath,
leaving you
gasping
like a fish
who just wants
her ocean
back.Photo by Joseph Barrientos on UnsplashSong Choice: Breaking Dow… Read More
2023-04-08 12:28
I have made a vowto be a knight, brave and true.And now all my vowscompel me towards the grail. I know there is no true healingfor some of the wounds I have taken.There are things beyondeven… Read More
2023-03-24 20:51
The thing about grief is it’s more than the moment of impact. It's also the shockwaves after the asteroid hits your world. It’s the cracking … Read More
2023-03-17 00:28
Spring insists on coming.Even though winter still gnawsat the edges of my world, spring will not stop coming, coaxinglife from the seedsI thoughtlessly planted, not understanding how fragile… Read More
2023-03-10 16:37
beautiful things growin unexpected places. you taught me thatthere is no wallno cement pavement thick enoughto keep what is meant to growfrom unabashedly blooming. at the end of every winter… Read More
2023-02-17 00:24
The sound of the rainfeels like a blanket of wordsI thought I'd forgotunder over-strained sunshine.Lost stories come home sometimes.Photo by reza shayestehpour on UnsplashSong Choice: Here C… Read More
2023-02-09 14:20
What's the use of wordswhen they aren’t really mine,just lines I'm expected to say? No one wants the real ones that have been prowling, thrashing their tails and hissing in the warm ca… Read More
2023-02-02 21:13
Rages buried,especially in unremarked graves,never rest easy. They clawout of their tombs,polite skin peeled awaymaking you confront the rot. They risebringing the deteriorationof the past t… Read More
2023-01-28 19:49
First, you have to listenfor the under-rhythm pulsingeverywherefrom the stars to the earthworms. This is where all true magic begins.Pay attention, to the ones that help younot only to find… Read More
2022-12-01 23:04
I told a story to the river about a mutual friend of oursand how she lovedthe way its scent would carry the storiesof what happenswhen the river meets the sea. The river said seeing meremind… Read More
2022-11-19 16:06
Ordinary isfeeling like an animated five-year-oldwhen the rising sun makes patterns through my curtainsthat feel like a secret message for me to decipher. Ordinary istasting the alchemy betw… Read More
2022-11-10 22:50
What story will I tell myself today?I wonder,smelling spring greenmixed into November leaf piles. Will this be the oneabout the dancing treeswith the tempo of their swaycommemorated in the b… Read More
2022-11-03 20:27
The first is pure reaction—a mallet for what passesas a kneecap to my psyche.The second is for holding,passing it from hand to handto check for knubs and hollows.(I might take some tim… Read More
2022-10-27 15:15
Speak to meof sweet inanities and bite-sized bland confections. Let us talk without the gravity of emotion to compensate for roots that were rarely watered.Let us stayhere, outside of the pl… Read More
2022-10-22 23:09
I did not ask for this distillation, but that is what grief does, inside me at least, condensing, sharpening, things cast off or at least buried. Some things taste brighterin the concentrati… Read More
2022-10-08 15:27
In the sonnet of the ceremonythis restless girlfinds her heartfloating in the momentwater touches tea.Photo by WELLSTUDIO on UnsplashSong Choice: Yume by KalaidoLiner Notes for this Gro… Read More
2022-09-25 01:24
I’m a caseof reverse conscription,told there was nothing to fight. My headaches from all the timesI’ve had to turn it fast enough to convince myselfthat the flesh and sinew at my… Read More
2022-09-10 12:38
Renouncing heaven was easyonce I heard they renounced you.A heaven that mandateswho and how I should love,a heaven that deems you unworthyhas no hold on me.The only hell I fearis eternity wi… Read More
2022-09-01 23:36
Even the dust seemed golden,caught in the rays from the windowsleading to the adult section of the library. Here was my Edenwith overflowing grovesof knowledge ready to harvest.Even then I d… Read More
2022-08-25 21:00
I thought I'd gotten used to the processof things getting broken— broken home, broken promises.Watching your brother's bones breakwhile screaming in the background is differe… Read More
2022-08-05 00:58
I am tired of the taste of ash,and numbness in my once audacious wings.Dear stars, give me the strength to burn.Remind me I’m more than my most recent crash,how it’s only in the… Read More
2022-07-28 21:56
I hope the way I love.There is nothing passive or bloodlessin how I express both.Maybe it comesfrom living too deeply, too long,in stories where someone said,“This could— &n&hell…Read More
2022-07-14 22:31
Have you ever gone on vacation and relaxed so much that your brain disavows any responsibility for anything more complex than deciding on the best spot to curl up with a good book? I spent t… Read More
2022-07-07 17:28
I’m not interested in your brandof freedom. A sick jokeyou shove at othersthat looks nothing liketrue choice.Even your so-called beliefsare just spray paint and spanglesover excrement… Read More
2022-07-01 12:22
My crisis beganyears ago, when I was madeinto a topiary girlwith well concealed rootsfalse flowers in placeof where real ones used to grow.There is no crisisin finally showingall my gnarls a… Read More
2022-06-17 16:29
What if you asked whyall front lawns should be only greenat minimum? Questionedwhy even the hint of shapeof dandelion leaves are unwelcome?What if you let that dandelion bloom?What if you di… Read More
2022-06-11 18:20
I hated my hairwhen I was little. Like you,I tried to daydream it awayalong with other awkward realities.Irrepressible Anne-girl, I too wasmore at home protected by fanciesspun from the scen… Read More
2022-06-02 22:03
Water from my kitchen faucet,heated in a kettle bought online,poured over loose leaves,brings the scent to my nose—there is no aestheticthat can make this moment more sacred than my st… Read More
2022-05-19 20:53
Staycurious, girl.Ask the questions,especially when only youanswer.Photo by Annie Spratt on UnsplashSong Choice: How Far I'll Go from MoanaLiner Notes for This Groove: This elfchen is linked… Read More
2022-05-05 21:30
Pomp and circumstance won’t feeda spirit raised to understandthat celebration can’t be experienced as mere ceremony, especially when existence providesa multitude of ways to be j… Read More
2022-04-29 15:42
I’ve always looked forwardto the pink petalled canopythat lines my street every birthday.This year it’s hard not to feelthe ache in the break of the blooming,marking the space le… Read More
2022-04-21 22:35
Feedmy hearton small delightsto starve the unfathomabledespair.Photo by Alaric Duan on UnsplashSong Choice: Little Wonders by Rob ThomasLiners Notes for this Groove: This elfchen was created… Read More
2022-04-15 01:14
I thought I had to waitfor an invitation from the windto test how far I could fly.Song Choice: You Learn by Alanis MorissetteLiner Notes for this Groove: This poem was created for the Friday… Read More
2022-04-08 22:22
Hyacinths and violets do their bestto remind me it’s springtime,but I am still grievingthe loss of the sakura treeand the way she inspired my blooming.Picture of the stump left behindf… Read More
2022-04-01 22:49
What could not survivewinter lies cracked and broken.Don’t be gentle, wind,bear away what will not bloomso that hope can plant its seeds.Photo by Saad Chaudhry on UnsplashSong Choice:… Read More
2022-03-25 14:17
You have a thousand enemies, little rabbit,all made the moment you came out from beneath the safety of the earth.How could you have knownabout old, innocent blood on a far-away field when yo… Read More
2022-03-18 22:06
I like itwhen electric purr becomes a roar,when shameless wails moanin time with insistent rhythms. I am not that complicated.I just needevery note stroking the emotionswaiting to rise to my… Read More
2022-03-11 17:17
Ceaseless wind scoursmy lips raw on this winter day.The sun does its bestto remind me warmth existsif my will is to seek it.Photo by Andy Holmes on UnsplashSong Choice: Pinch Me by Bare Nake… Read More
2022-02-26 11:26
I’ve sought escapein the magic of stories,only to find myselfmore sharply reflectedin every word.The Magician is my favorite tarot card and I fell in love with this version from M… Read More
2022-02-17 13:16
My monster must feedon heart-bloodied bitsof memorieswhen battles were chosenbecause honestly lovingdemanded no less.Photo by Neil Rosenstech on UnsplashSong Choice: Héroe by En… Read More
2022-02-10 23:32
I told the moon my story,knowing she'd heard a billion worse.If the storm feels free enough to give voice to its being,why should my tongue be stilled?Photo by Altınay Dinç… Read More
2022-02-03 23:11
A lifetime of loving and gatheringso many brilliant and subtle hues—yet I find my hand seeking for Picasso blue,reaching for the shadeto underline a year’s worth of words.Ph… Read More
2022-01-28 20:40
If I stand here long enoughI might see a crocus bloom.But I’d likely freeze to deathbefore that happened.Only my bones leftwhen the snow has melted to see the purple fingersof newborn… Read More
2022-01-21 14:31
I overhear my own wordsfrom the past wriggling throughmy multi-muffling and insulating layersand wonderwhat happenedto make me forgetI too could take comfortin their life-giving warmth?Photo… Read More
2022-01-13 13:17
this is what it means to be alive: coming in from an icy rain, too petulant to be proper snow you sit near a fire with plastic logs that never burn but are thankful for the warmth and… Read More
2022-01-06 15:27
to stop portioning my heartinto subsistence-sized mouthfuls only to achieve acceptable starvation.I resolve to honor its messy,bloody wholenessfilled with contradictions and dual realities… Read More
2021-12-16 14:52
This was the tower,all lightning struck and crumbling,only knowing I had fallenwhen the rubble broke bone.This was the color of sky fragmentedby the prism of a bloody setting sunthat I had m… Read More
2021-12-09 22:32
“Can I learn to sword fight?” Anna asked. “Sure!” “No.” “Why?” Yuuki asked. He looked at Ajani. Last week, Yuuki would have thought the… Read More
2021-11-27 15:17
Grief is an assassinwaiting for the pausebetween forgetting and rememberingto re-shatter your heart, leaving youattempting to find a wayto replace every needle-like shardwhile praying y… Read More
2021-11-20 10:57
Just before he enteredinto my house,he talked about a killerin the same tonespeople talk about a sunny day.In my house,I saw the quick double takewhen he saw I didn’t matchmy not-all-t… Read More
2021-11-13 16:02
Everything I love was born in an explosion-in the umaking of worldsdown to their atoms.I’ve been the final girlat the end of all my personal apocalypses,when all that’s left is t… Read More
2021-10-27 12:02
My lips were chapped,holding backwords I couldn’t know. But it didn’t matter, because my eyes still sawthat girl with a swordwho held the key to saving herself.The heroine of the… Read More
2021-10-19 14:14
I bless every knucklebloody from beating the wallscaging me, and every splinter earnedin repurposing wreckage,so that my children might never know this hollowness of beingunaware of yourself… Read More
2021-10-12 12:13
I’ve never been to Parisbut I’ve dreamedof her graceful curvingstreets. I always wanted to explore, those ruesfilled with eye-teasing beautyand promising something to entertain m… Read More
2021-10-05 11:00
People will always talkabout the pretty perfectionof falling leavesbut hushwhen conversation turnsto branches stripped bare.Photo by Shaojie on UnsplashSong Choice: Boulevard of Broken Dream… Read More
2021-09-29 19:48
My dog, Kit, strutson the last half blockof our walk.He was successfulin diverting me to the retirees’ homewhere belly rubs and bacon treats waited.A careless squirrelpassed within les… Read More
2021-09-21 22:55
Amid the soup of my innards,I am searching for hintsof what I may yet be.Nothing is familiarin these runny remainsof a life that no longer exists. Liquid eyes are blind.I must trust complete… Read More
2021-09-08 16:11
We are suited to each other,I think. She is patientwith my lack of experience,not minding the absence of greenin my thumb. Mint curls a tendril around me.“I will teach you,” she… Read More
2021-09-01 15:53
When asked what I was like as a child, my go-to answer is “pretty much your average paperweight.” Leave me in a spot with a book and there I’d stay until someone came to pu… Read More
2021-08-24 20:19
Valeria was alone. No one was here to see if she turned back. She flipped the switch on her sky skiff. The sail extended with a whoosh as the base lit up. The familiar hum told her eve… Read More
2021-08-18 01:15
The koi riseslike a splash of sunshinefrom behind clouds of murky water. The golden-orange flashdances though the pond in and out of branchestrailing at the pond’s edgeplaying in the r… Read More
2021-08-10 22:56
I’d like to declare a cease-fireagainst myself. I am donebeing tired all the timefrom fighting a warI don’t remember starting.I’d like to recallall the spies that burrowedi… Read More
2021-08-04 14:03
Everything the same, just as I left it,mostly.I didn’t plan on the saltwaterpuddle sitting on the desktop. My collection of figurinesstill stood, surprisingly dust free. I didn’t… Read More
2021-07-28 00:34
Two unexpectedseeds dropped.One on a winter eveningwhen it had the indecencyto rain instead of snow.One on a summer afternoonwhen sunshine pulled outeveryone from inside the house.Why go out… Read More
2021-07-21 01:41
It was never meant to be permanent. But as Madame Veritas said, few things were, notable exceptions aside. Sandra didn’t know how long she’d been at what the others called &ldquo&hell…Read More
2021-07-13 20:15
I embrace decay,trusting it to feed the seedstoo small for me to see now.Photo by JXST PIX on UnsplashSong Choice: Ordinary World by Duran DuranLiner Notes for This Groove: This senryu was c… Read More
2021-06-30 01:27
I will not allowmy heart to becomeyour blank slate upon which to carvesoothing stories for yourselfof a time and place that never was.No matter howyou reject or dismissits naturally audaciou… Read More
2021-06-22 21:30
The temptationof easy is always there,curling into curvesneeding to be filled. It drops breathy promisesinto ears already scarletat the thought of the thrillof how much more smoothlyI can gl… Read More
2021-06-16 01:32
I should have smiled lesswhen the playground monitor pulled meaway. My grin should not have grown as I was dragged through the halls,ahead of that boy. That boy who assumedI wouldn’t c… Read More
2021-06-08 11:00
Shayla had noticed Lisbet before the woman who ran the dairy farm told her to go mentor the new girl so she could learn how things were done. Shayla had apologized profusely when she realize… Read More
2021-06-02 01:35
Myuncanny heartis a lairfor several bloody unusualtales.Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on UnsplashSong Choice: Spellbound by Siouxsie and the BansheesThis poem was created for the Weekly Scribblin… Read More
2021-05-26 00:46
The moon had moved as far as the second highest branch of the oak tree. Melli sighed as she ruffled Gorgon’s fur. “Soon, baby,” she cooed at the beast. “Not soon eno… Read More
2021-05-18 11:38
Because though her boots and umbrella don’t match, they’re both cute in their own way and should be seen and used for splashing.Because even though yesterday was a wash day, she… Read More
2021-05-04 22:14
The creek at Peace Valley ParkMeet me at our usual place.You know, the one we found together.The sun is bright enoughtoday to paint glitter on the creek.Let’s both bring our lunch… Read More
2021-04-28 01:27
What magic to beincluded in the dancingof a sakura,from when it spun from its treeto the moment it lay still.Photo by Anders Jildén on UnsplashSong Choice: Mother Earth and Fathe… Read More
2021-04-20 11:30
April can be kind.April can be cruel.April isApril after all.April must beat home in Alice’s Wonderland—October’s petal frocked twin,hiding her teeth behind a teacup. April… Read More
2021-04-13 10:26
I pity the poor old birdwho didn’t value the strength of the treethat sheltered her from the storms, and instead spent her nightslamenting over anothertree that would not bendto cheris… Read More
2021-04-06 11:21
My dog was once kingof the elementary school bus stopevery morning.He was a fair monarch,granting belly rub privileges to allthe children before they started their school day. But the corner… Read More
2021-03-31 00:10
A seed dropped by chanceinside a high-walled gardenbecame a treewith impossibly deep rootswhose absence left a crater.Jeremy Bishop on UnsplashSong Choice: The Last Goodbye by Billy BoydThis… Read More
2021-03-23 22:23
She was no one’s angelbut her own. In lovewith loving and exploringunderappreciated beautywith every oneof her senses.She was a punk rock angeltoo in love with this worldto be interest… Read More
2021-03-16 21:07
Everyday there’s a new blue skywaiting for meto disturb all the earththrown upon methe day before,and see if I’ll come dancing.Everyday there's a new spark,either hidin… Read More
2021-03-02 17:14
I’m looking for a hard reset.Silence. Enoughto allow my gunpowder emotionstime to settle down from their fine mistand lay quietlyaway from incendiary sparks.I’m looking for space… Read More
2021-02-23 22:38
Well this looks like my lucky day, thought Adira as the room came into focus. She was in the sitting room of her ex-fiancé’s townhome. Lord Bradley sat in his favorite chair, si… Read More
2021-02-16 21:48
Here is my monstrousheart. I rememberwhen bile didn’t mix with bloodas it traveled throughun-gouged walls.I don’t trust itnot to alarm the unwarywith its feral beatand shadow roa… Read More
2021-02-09 13:06
The dung landed in front of me with a wet plop. I turned my head, and as expected, saw the sneering face of the urchin who had been following us for the last few days. Before I could stop he… Read More
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