I was never really heaven’s favorite child.I failed to prove my obedience by asking “why” and “what if”.And heaven offers no salvation for dreamers unless they… Read More
Blog Directory > Books & Literature Blogs > Contemporary Blogs > http://kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com/ contemporary Blog >
Http://kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com/ Blog
1
A writing blog featuring short stories and poetry primarily from the fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror genres.
Sing a song of giantsin a land far, far away.Tell a tale of magicto keep despair at bay.Whistle an adventuring tune as you begin your trip. Wander an ancient desert. Try to give your shadow… Read More
This is the bleeding heart that shines the mirror begging you not to look away.This is the ramunafraid to challengeboth demon and angel,demanding a response.These are the handscramped from t… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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