Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Random Thoughts by BJ Neblett

Hello again and thanks for clicking in. Enjoy these random thoughts and quotes. And then click over to my writer's blog (the link is on the right) for some updates on my books and stories.Thanks.
Peace,
BJ

“I am just a roadside attraction on your journey down life’s highway, a place you stop briefly before moving on. Years from now, in a long forgotten box of memories, you’ll come across one of my souvenirs and think of me. And maybe you’ll smile.”
                        BJ Neblett (8-2016)

“Every journey must proceed at its own pace, each step following the other in its proper order. For that is the way of life.”
                        Planet Alt-Sete-Nine by BJ Neblett (7-2016)

“It’s not what you see, but what you believe. It’s not what you fear, but what you trust. It’s not what you love, but the love you give.”
                        Princess Haylee from Princess Haylee by BJ Neblett (7-2016)

“It’s not what is said, it’s how it is spoken; it’s not what you write, it’s how it is written; it’s not what’s implied, it’s what’s inferred.”
                        BJ Neblett (from the essay Flash Fiction)

“You’ve got to have ice cream to write good romance.”
                        BJ Neblett

“The half empty container of warm beer in my hand was the perfect metaphor for our relationship.”
                        From Beer And Broken Dreams by BJ Neblett

“Some of my best writing has come at the hands of heartache and frustration. Being totally crazy about someone you cannot have is great food for inspiration.”
                        From Beer And Broken Dreams by BJ Neblett

“The two greatest assets a writer can have are an unbridled imagination and to have lived an unabashed life.”
                        From All The Wrong Places by BJ Neblett

“Where exactly lays that fine line between hopeless romantic and helpless fool?”
                        From Beer And Broken Dreams by  BJ Neblett

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Living, Learning and Reaching by BJ Neblett

“…a man’s reach should exceed his grasp.”
                                    Robert Browning

            I’ve been grasping for what lies just beyond my reach all of my life.
            It has led me afar and on many adventures. Yet my hand remains empty.
            The trick is to keep reaching…
                        But stop running…
                                    And it will come to you.
                                                            BJ Neblett



Thanks to Ibrahim Abdulbaqi for the beautiful and inspiring photography.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Sorry from BJ Neblett

As my new romance story Tulips is released today in July's issue of Romance Magazine (Vol 2 No 6, click the image to the right), here is something to ponder, a bit different, but oh, so powerful, by way of my friend Clancy Tucker. For more of Clancy's wisdoms click here: Clancy Tucker's Blog


If you still don't understand contact me. In the mean time be sure to link, like and comment.
Peace,
BJ
.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Outside The Wire by BJ Neblett

I taught Creative Writing, Poetry and ESL for a while to inmates in several federal prisons. While I like to believe my efforts touched and helped my students, I was the recipient of a very eye opening education. I came away from the experience with several new poems, material for more short stories, and a decidedly different outlook. Here is one of several poems I wrote from an insider's view point. If it frightens you... good! Be sure to like, link and comment.
Peace and love,
BJ

Outside The Wire
BJ Neblett
© 2007, 2014

Outside the wire
Sun shines warmer
Wind blows cooler
Air smells fresher
Life tastes sweeter

Outside the wire
Rivers sing
Flowers dance
Children wish
Mothers pray

Beyond the wire
A blood red sun
crosshatched with chain link
and razor wire
surrenders to an indifferent world
while a bloodied fourteen year old
pot marked with scars and tracks
and tags and tears
surrenders to the blue crush
of cold steel and sequestered dreams.

Beyond the wire
idealism is the commodity
compassion the cost

Folsom
Huntsville
Attica
Eastern State
Dachau

Inside the wire
Smiles are painted
Eyes are tainted
Minds are gelid
Hearts are hardened

Inside the wire
the velvet carpet of night
swallows Sodom’s towers
retching out filth
and waste
mean streets and mean thoughts
a ribbon of highway
a smugglers agenda
life exists between
the ticks of the clock
the beats of the heart
in the darkness of souls
in the shadows of reality

Beyond the wire
amidst the myopic madden masses
the blind man leads

Jail
Prison
Lock up
Slammer
Death camp

Outside the wire
Birds sing
Grass grows
Bees sting
Snowflakes kiss

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Looking Back by BJ Neblett

Looking Back
BJ Neblett
© 1967, 1970, 2013, 2014
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
                                                                F. Scott Fitzgerald
                                                                The Great Gatsby 
As one of my all time  favorite books concludes, I am again reminded of how desperately we sometimes cling to the past. And of how simple life can really be if we could only:
                                                                 Learn from the past
                                                                 Live for the present
                                                                 Look to the future.
                                                                           BJ Neblett
Enjoy these two poems from a different time, a different place and a (somewhat) different BJ.

Untitled
BJ Neblett
© 1967, 2013

I thought you said you loved me
When you asked me my name
I thought of how an hour from now
Would it still feel the same
But all that mattered was your laughter
It hid your last goodbye
Disguised as rain clouds in the air
And taught me how to cry


Untitled
BJ Neblett
© 1970, 2013

I wonder if you’ll ever think of me
Somewhere within your castle mind
Of crowded rooms
And sweeping halls
And ivory towers
And crumbling walls
That
            t
              u
                m
                   b
                     l
                      e
Through the caverns of time
You’ve set aside to live within
And the world
A microscopic toy to you
To play with as you will
Or destroy as you please


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Charlie Brown On Love

"Love is being happy just knowing she's happy... but that isn't so easy."

Growing up I suffered from un-diagnosed dyslexia. A Peanuts coloring book helped me learn to read. Later I discovered good ole Charlie Brown had a lot more to teach me about life and about love. So for Valentine's Day here are some of the lessons I learned, and a few I probably should have learned from Charlie about love.

"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."

"Love is not giving up on someone when they don't love you back."
"Love is a baseball."
"Love is standing in a doorway just to see her if she comes walking by."
"Love is visiting a sick friend."
"Love is being able to spot her clear across the playground among four hundred other kids."
"Love is wishing you had enough nerve to go over and talk with that little red haired girl."
"Love is getting someone a glass of water in the middle of the night."

Thanks Charlie.
For more on love from the Peanuts gang.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

I'm Just A Guy

Some poetry comes from the mind; some comes from life. And some just stand and speak for themselves.

I’m Just A Guy
BJ Neblett
© 2014

I am just a guy
I laugh I hurt
I smile and cry

I won’t apologize

Hopeless romantic
Foolish some say
You can take your pick

I won’t apologize

No one at my side
Dancing through life
With my stubborn pride

I won’t apologize

Just like everyone
Here all alone
Looking for someone

I won’t apologize

Accept what you can
Who I may be
Whatever I am

I won’t apologize

Look deeper to see
What beats inside
Notice the real me

I won’t apologize

My heart on my sleeve
Prayer on my lips
Just trust and believe

I won’t apologize

I am just a guy
I laugh I hurt
I smile and cry


I won’t apologize

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Life by BJ Neblett

Life
by BJ Neblett
© 2009, 2013

Eyes that open
            See
            Wonder
            Eyes that are searching
Eyes that question
            Plead
            Demand
            Eyes that are misunderstood
Eyes that spark
            Flash
            Burn
            Eyes that are jaded
Eyes that pry
            Scold
            Accuse
            Eyes that are troubled
Eyes that speak
            Curse
            Lie
            Eyes that are lost
Eyes that long
            Hope
            Hurt
            Eyes that are ignored
Eyes that fear
            Hide
            Pray
            Eyes that are forgotten
Eyes that remember
            Cry
            Dim
            Eyes that are closed

Sunday, May 19, 2013

The User by BJ Neblett


The User
by BJ Neblett
© 2013

Once I was a child
Childish games I did play
Carelessly
Ignoring waning days

Once I stood in manhood
Confident strong and blind
Foolishly
Leaving innocence behind

Once I was a lover
Roaming wild and free
Thoughtlessly
Hurting those who loved me

Once I was a pilgrim
My days I did wander
Squandering
All that life did offer

Once I was a dreamer
Now I just remember
Recalling
The things that never were

Once I was somebody         
Now I’m just nobody
Realizing
I never was…


                                                            Seattle, WA
                                                            May, 2013