Saturday February 21 A Month Of Love from BJ Neblett & A Poem from CA Griffin

Hope you are enjoying this month's postings on love and romance. Tomorrow I will have a new romance story posted to my writer's blog... you can click the link to the right. But for now please enjoy another offering from my friend, writer Carol Griffin. You can follow Carol's writings by clicking the links below.

CA Griffin:
Facebook
Twitter is @mammacee
Books and writings
Blog

Love is multifaceted...

Girl you are to me/

All that a woman should be/

And I dedicate my life to you always/

                                                                     Photo unattributed

"Always" Atlantic Starr

(Click the title for the YouTube link)

By CA Griffin

We are lovely in our pain

Individually sparkling like diamonds hewn by pressure

Capturing light and glowing

Glistening with the dew of our tears

Beautiful in our despair

Raw and open

Passionate and honest

Ah the purity of truth as revealed in conflict

How revealing it is

Sloughing the detritus

Removing the shell

Exposing what we feel

And growing

There is no value in only joy

Endless sun scorches the flesh

And evolving

There is no value in only pain

Swirling waters drown the body

But in balance

We welcome who we are meant to be

CAG 2/5/15

Thursday February 12 A Month Of Love from BJ Neblett

Just two days away, why not make Valentine's Day every day for that certain someone? Enjoy today's love posting, then click my writer's blog to the right for this week's romance story.

Love knows no boundaries... seeks no guidance... obeys no rules... 

If a man could be in two places at one time/

I'd be with you/

Tomorrow and today/

Beside you all the way/

                                                                       Photo unattributed

"If" by Bread 1971

(Click the title for the YouTube link)

Said Spring To Winter

BJ Neblett

© 2013, 2014

                                 Said Spring to Winter            Said Winter to Spring

                                      In silence we meet              Don’t ask me my name

                                  Specter of my dreams                   I am just a man

                                The future in your eyes            Do not seek tomorrow

                                    Uncertain but true                   And it will be yours

                                    How am I to know                  Ask me no questions

                                 What truths will I find                 I’ll tell you no lies

                                        Your gift to me                          Take all I offer

                                        Afraid to open                        As long as it lasts

                                   The longings inside             Don’t question your heart

                                Untouched and frozen                And love will be ours

                                                                                                            For Kristin

Wednesday February 4 A Month Of Love from BJ Neblett

Enjoy today's very special moment of love. Then click the writer's blog on the right for this week's romance story.

Love can come in a moment...

You had me from hello/

I felt love start to grow/

The moment that I looked into your eyes/

You owned me

Third Base Dugout photo by BJ Neblett

"You Had Me From Hello" Kenny Chesney 1999

(Click the title for the YouTube link)

"It lies not in our power to love or hate

For will in us is overruled by fate"

                           Christopher Marlowe

Autumn Scene by BJ Neblett

It's been a while. I want to thank all for the concern and well wishes while my face repairs itself. Still some swelling and pain but all is going well! I am looking forward to getting back on the mound next season! In the mean time a bit of housecleaning and updating. You can now access all of my stories in Romance and eFiction magazines as well as my books by clicking the picture to the right. They are also available at Barnes & Noble. For those without Kindles or Nooks, they are available through the publisher at fictionmagazines.com.
Also, just in time for Halloween, I have posted one of my most popular and scary horror stories, Satan's Blood to my author blog for a free read. Just click the link to the right and enjoy. I suggest with the lights on!
Finally, here is a recent poem to get you into the season. Enjoy, and be sure to link, like, comment and share the love.
BJ

Autumn Scene

BJ Neblett

© 2008, 2013

October enters wearing a jacket

Knit tasseled cap and rosy freckled cheeks

With harvests of plenty farmers delight

World Series, State Fairs and pumpkin delights

Hunter’s moon simpers down with gibbous cheeks

Aquilo’s sharp breath toys at your jacket

Candied trick or treats, children’s apple cheeks

Grid iron reunions, Thanksgiving delights

Homecoming Queen in letterman’s jacket

Frosty cheeks glow

Windswept leaves delight in a final dance

Before the sullen earth is shrouded

Beneath an ivoty jacket

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.

Peripheral Vision by BJ Neblett

New day; new beginning; new poem. Starting over is never easy no matter where or from what you are starting again. (Didn't I write a poem about that?) Anyway, enjoy this new poem as you enjoy your own fresh start, even if it is just a fresh new day. And please be sure to check out my latest blog, the link is to the right, and my new story Ponytail - Never Say Uncle in the new issue of Romance Magazine. Just click the image on the right. Please like, link, comment and share the love.
BJ

Peripheral Vision

BJ Neblett

© 2014

Gone from my sight

Not from my mind

Memories remain

I hear your voice

I feel your heat

I taste your tears

A blind man stumbling

Amorphous visions

Whisper to my ear

Tell me you’re near

Tease and torment

Bitter and sweet

Memories remain

Gone from my sight

Not from my heart

                        Seattle, WA

                        July, 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

Graduation by BJ Neblett

Proms, graduation and memories... it's that time of year again. Here is an oldie especially for the season. Enjoy and be sure to like, link, comment and share the love. And thanks to all for making last week's post on my author blog so popular. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do so. It is another random chapter from my forthcoming memoir A Change Is Gonna Come.
BJ

Graduation

BJ Neblett

© 1970, 2014

Out of darken corners

Of beauty and of light

We send you forth our battles

To fight with guns of knowledge

To defend your wisdom walls

Built upon books of learning

Mortared by trials and falls

Of ideas seeking ideas

Of thoughts seeking minds

To plant the seed of knowledge

To seek and yet to find

The war not nearly over

The battle’s just begun

And heroes being made of those

Who dare to think as one

For Barb

                                    Broomall, PA

                                    May, 1970

Easter Sunday 2014 by BJ Neblett

A beautiful sunny Sunday can do wonders for the spirit and the muse and the memory. As you enjoy this Easter Sunday, please enjoy this special new poem.
Peace,
BJ

Easter Sunday, 2014

BJ Neblett

© 2014

I bought a bouquet

of tulips yesterday.

They reminded me of you.

The farmer’s market

where I bought them

was busy with people.

But the man selling the

tiny donuts you loved

wasn’t there.

So I had a bagel

with my Sunday paper

at Starbucks.

I placed the flowers in a vase

next to the picture

of you at the tulip

festival last year.

It made me smile.

When I returned home

from shopping

I thought you were here.

But it was just the scent

of the flowers.

It made me dream

of you again.

The pillow where

you lay your head

remained cold and barren.

I bought a bouquet

of tulips yesterday.

They reminded me of you.

Today I threw them

in the trash.

                 Seattle, WA

                 April, 2014

Heart and Soul by BJ Neblett

"The past is a hotel. You can check in any time, enjoy the view. But you can't live there, the cost is too high."
                                                          Elysian Dreams by BJ Neblett
Change is never easy, be it moving across country or moving through the loss of a loved one. I have had my share of moving as well as a loss. You never fully get over either, you just keep going. Here are a couple of poems: an oldie for the heart and a more recent one for the soul.

Untitled

By BJ Neblett

© 1984, 2013

             A single tear

            Washes away

            Water colored lies

            Slain by the guilt

            Of promises broken

            Tomorrow dies

             For Robin

Encore

by BJ Neblett

© 2009, 2013

Starting over

                        again

Tired old city tired old faces

Tired old friends

Been there and done that

Like a stuck record

                                    repeat           repeat

                                                repeat           repeat

Tired old questions tired old answers

Tired old fears

Starting over

                        again

Different city different faces

Different friends

Carousel of time

Ticket paid with tears

                                                        around

                                       around                   around 

                                                        around

Different questions different answers

Different fears

Starting over

                        again

Greeting challenges seeking horizons

Facing new days

Awaken dreamer

Everest to climb

                                                                        higher

                                                            higher

                                                higher

                                    higher

Answering new questions reaching new horizons

Facing new fears

Starting over

                        no more

Ernest Hemingway On Love

As Valentine's Day approaches, I have come across this quote from one of my favorite authors. Known more for his realistic and gritty depictions of the human condition and spirit, Hemingway was also quite the philosopher when it came to love. Many of his private writings and letters reflect a softer and more contemplative side, as evidenced by this quote taken from a personal letter. It touches my heart every time I read it over, and I hope it does the same for you.
To someone who has touched my heart: Happy Valentine's Day!
Love to all,
BJ

"I guess the true extent of one's problems is measured by the capacity of your heart to love anything when your head knows there is no good end to it."
                                                     Ernest Hemingway

The Gift by BJ Neblett

The Gift

BJ Neblett

© 2014

Once I was a lover

Through youthful eyes I saw

The world a brightly wrapped package

Each dawn Christmas day

My heart I sent before me

Its glow lit my path

The girls who did abide me

I loved them everyone

With poems wise and tender

With songs both sweet and sad

My love boxed gay and brightly

A gift of the pilgrim soul

Many a heart would tarry

Many a breast would sing

Each gentle touch a promise

And every kiss a lie

Each moon would enrapture

Each sun revealed the truth

The package prized and desired

The gift inside ignored

And so my soul did wander

Cold years marked my path

Unopened and unwanted

My gift inside to die

Love’s song but a memory

Heart’s glow a flickering light

Through dimming eyes I saw you

A rose against the snow

My gift all but forgotten

The wrappings torn and brown

You took the love within me

Unquestioned for your own

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

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