Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

Thursday, March 24

Thoughts on My Mind: Mini-Rants

::Sigh::
... words are all i cling to, and when I need them most, I don't have any to give.

::Love is Complicated::
Love... I still want for it, but I wander if wanting for such an ideal is foolish. I'm learning the disappointment that comes from expectations of people when we're in love, and the confusion of what we want to do and what we actually do in love. I think Facebook should remove all other status options except "it's complicated" because anytime two people attach themselves together, it gets complicated. Even when they're perfectly happy, it's complicated. 

::I'm the Jealous Type::
Jealousy has been my weakness for many years. Though people say horoscopes aren't real, the portrayal of Scorpios as jealous creatures has my name written all over it. Years ago, I tried to deny that it was an issue, often blaming the jealousy on other principles or issues. But as I've gotten older, I find that it is only fair to let those who are close to me know what the deal really is. I get jealous when I know I have no position to be jealous. I get jealous about people even when they aren't a real threat. Hell, I get jealous of my friends becoming friends without me. Is it insecurity? A little--I'm grown enough to admit that about myself too. But my jealousy really comes from my knowledge that life doesn't run off of logic, but moreso instincts and uncontrollable variables. Ever heard of friends becoming lovers? Yeah, they didn't see that shit coming their damn selves. It also comes from the part of me that finds something great and unique in everybody, and the jealousy is just me wanting what they have. I don't know. I'm not proud of my jealousy, just aware of it. And I just really hope that the next person I'm with will work with me on it, and know that I'm trying to fix it. In return, I can promise them that I try to keep it at bay. I won't bring it up often, I don't go searching through your cell phone. But I will raise my eyebrows at too many chicks around you-- i wanna know who they are, how long they been around. But other than that, I'm pretty mild. But yes, I'm jealous. Even petty sometimes. So sue me.

::#TeamNoKids....Right Now::
I am deathly afraid of the thought of having kids right now. I notice how when I'm with my niece and she won't stop crying that I start to fall apart. Who knew that a toddler could make you feel so helpless? You can't talk to them, you can't rationalize with them, and fear doesn't even work with them. I'm always afraid that I won't be able to manage kids. Hell, I have a hard time managing myself. Can I really do that to another child? And what about the father? I declare, that if I somehow end up with some trifling baby-daddy situation, or a non-active paternal figure in my child's life, I'mma have to kidnap his ass and tie him to see-saw to play with his child. I ain't gonna lie and say I'm superwoman. I just told you what my niece does to my nerves! Girl or boy, my child  needs a daddy. Not that I'm having any of them any time soon.
No shade to the ladies handling it and holding it down with little ones right now, but that definitely wasn't in the plan for me. I don't have an anticipation for kids, except with the thought of a husband. Maybe my maternal biological clock is on snooze.

::About My Education::
Every time I tell people I'm majoring in English, they ask me am I going to be a teacher. NO. I wanna wear a sign that says, "English majors do more than teach." One girl went so far as to almost utter that an English degree is useless. Uhm...  the simple ass spelling errors all over Facebook profiles and in tweets by GROWN FOLKS seem to suggest some people should have considered the major. Why is it so hard for people to imagine that an English major would want to be a writer? Like, when you meet art majors, you don't ask them if they're gonna teach Art History, do you? Not knocking any one who does pursue these paths because we always need great teachers, but it's different when it's your passion. It's a totally different story when it is assumed upon you.
I'm an English major because if I'm gonna spend thousands of dollars over the course of years for a degree, it's going to be in something I love. And trust me, it's MY money i'm spending.

::Don't Ask Rhetorical Questions!::
It really bugs the mess out of me when people who claim they care about me never take the time to listen to my issues. Like, don't ask me how I'm doing and then start talking about yourself before I utter  a word. And don't say you want to get to know me if you don't wanna know about my random days, or my relationship with my family, or my favorite color, or even my crazy ass dream I had about you. If we can only talk about an us, or abstract intellectual conversations, and never divulge anything about our individual selves, we're just long-time strangers. That gets under my skin. And If I ask you about yourself, that's because I actually want to know. Don't ignore my question, unless you just wanna be ignored. We can work with that too...

Wednesday, May 19

New Poem: Love Me or Leave Me Alone

This poem was inspired by a venting session with my bestie and my Scorp. A mesh of fact and fiction, the hypothetical and the actual, people you know and people you never heard of. So you don't have to ask me who this is about :-)
Enjoy!


Love Me or Leave Me Alone
Love me or leave me alone
...didn't understand it until now
you taunting me with your new gf
Yet still keeping in touch with me...

Love me or leave me alone
Apologizing for falling out of touch
And still keeping yourself distanced
Helps nothing but my irritation and questions

Love me or leave me alone
Both simultaneously isn't an option
I've already proved my commitment
Honestly I'm tired of  trying and losing
Pulling me down this endless road
The fucked up part is-- I care so much
I'd just about let you, too.

Love me or leave me alone
You're holding up progress to my happiness
You can be a part of that picture or not;
Give me an answer before I snap...

Beating around the bush
Trying to have me and her
Popping up when your life's convenient.
Being a woman in a feeling
Doesn't obligate me to wait
And waiting ain't wising you up
So let me explicitly say:

Love Me or Leave Me Alone
   Hoping for the former
   Praying it ain't the latter
   Grateful for an answer
if you give me either.

Monday, April 12

How Do They Do It? [#cosign]

Was talking to one of my god-sisters tonight, and we somehow brought up the poem "Sex Without Love" by Sharon Olds. This is one of those poems that led to interesting conversation my summer at SWP (shoutouts to Carleton!) and that I still cling to. Mainly because it's opening question is one that I really want to have answered. Some people are capable of seperating the physical from the emotional, or so it seems. How do they do it? Or even better, is it possible to have sex without love? And if it isn't possible, doesn't that mean that the people who think it possible are lying to themselves?

Check out the poem. It's one of my favs:

Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds

How do they do it, the ones who make love
without love? Beautiful as dancers,
gliding over each other like ice-skaters
over the ice, fingers hooked
inside each other's bodies, faces
red as steak, wine, wet as the
children at birth whose mothers are going to
give them away. How do they come to the
come to the come to the God come to the
still waters, and not love
the one who came there with them, light
rising slowly as steam off their joined
skin? These are the true religious,
the purists, the pros, the ones who will not
accept a false Messiah, love the
priest instead of the God. They do not
mistake the lover for their own pleasure,
they are like great runners: they know they are alone
with the road surface, the cold, the wind,
the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardio-
vascular health--just factors, like the partner
in the bed, and not the truth, which is the
single body alone in the universe
against its own best time.

Mhmz.... food for thought. What side of the fence do you sit on?

Friday, February 5

This is a Poemtry :-)

This was so impromptu...tell how you feel about it....

Just Guessing
wind hits windowpanes
thoughts hit the brain
what-if's and maybes
tap on my imagination
don't have answers
just ungranted wishes
wind turns to rain
questions turn the same
it could be maybe
it could happen possibly
there is no certainty
just fog and blur
inside and outside
mhmz...i wonder...

♥ Shay

Sunday, December 6

As Promised, A Poem

Hello Loves!

For the rest of my college students, good luck with your finals! I know I'm drowning in them now!

Anywho, as promised, I have poem for you guys! Please, leave feedback and comments on it, as it all means a bunch to me. I performed this poem this past Friday at Open Mic at my school, and I loved the feedback I got there. I hope you guys enjoy!

Oh, P.S.-- if you see something interesting in the ad link boxes, don't be afraid to click on them! I promise they're not spam! Also, it helps me earns a little change in the process...so it's harmless for all involved....

♥ Shay

So Cliché


I used to think these poems were about you

And you still do, don't you?

Even when it’s you, these are still my feelings

It just needs to be known that iFeel

Still,


Not being able to get over you is embarrassing.

like spinach in your teeth

shower singing on live TV

like tripping UP the stairs

multiple times, no alcohol

like needing the ingredient list to Mac and cheese


Some things should be obvious and easily avoided but you

You linger.

like smoke in fabric

Newport’s in my sheets bugging me out of my sleep

like dust in the air

you linger like a hangover the next morning

or the squealing ring from last night's loud music

like people with nowhere else to be

all proof of When Pleasure takes a Sharp Left and becomes A Pain in the Ass...

also: like wallets of me and you from semi's and formals

like that teddy bear you gave me that my mom refuses to throw away

or all those poems I wrote when you weren't my pain in the ass


Damn, I wish you'd go away

like I wish away pimples

like I wish I wasn't a girl every 21-23 days

like I wish away st. louis rains and winds, bad little cousins,

nightmares, and headaches

like I wish away being broke, like I wish away my fear of trusting again,

like I wish away those damn papers I should be writing right now


These clichés are for a cliché topic you

as you were (oops) as you are

all talk not many actions

declarations of love acts of selfishness

all get no give

Still, you charming, better than subpar but far from being worthwhile

I be damned if we don't love the classics.


And the classics die hard:

you will be back again

before bell-bottoms return

before people stop praising all-things-Beyonce

before another dumb ass tries to single-handedly take over Russia

and you'll try to inch and squirm back to where you used to be

and be 'just friends' until you think I'm your only option left


honestly, a twinge of me guiltily enjoys you

like a second piece of cake

like reading somebody else's diary

like knowing the words to a Miley Cyrus or Gucci Mane song

(but just a little, so don't get crazy or all caught up in your emotions)

I'm just saying the dumb shit you do tickles me!


Typical like clichés everywhere I turn

and as annoying as you are, I can't get you

or these damn clichés

far away from me


Guess I just gotta suck it up and find a way to live with you

like bad ass drivers

like dumb smart people

like paying taxes

like my momma

like criminals

like red lipstick on cheeks left by old church ladies

like ParkMudd ice cream stealers

LIKE SMART DUMB PEOPLE

and etc.

Monday, November 30

Where's the poems?

I was talking with a friend of mine over Thanksgiving BREAK, and I realized...

I haven't posted any of my poetry in a while. And I concluded that it has much to do with my poetry writing class. The truth is, I'm writing more poetry now than ever before, but I'm just not publishing it anywhere. Also, the workshop sessions that we do--where about 12 other people (constructively) rip your work to pieces--does something to the ego. I'm not so anxious to deliver a poem here if I know it might suck. But I plan to change that. After finals are done (2 weeks!) I plan to get back in the habit of posting poems in search of some feedback. So be ready to give it!
To all the other college kids out there, good luck with finals, and hopefully I can give you all some tips in the next few days or so about how to stay calm in the midst of the storm.

♥ always
-Shay

Tuesday, August 4

Ugh. Writer's Block

I been really frustrated lately, in a writer's way.

I haven't written a good poem in ages....

I can't wait to get back to school, get back to Inklings and going to poetry slams. It's always good inspiration when you're inspired by other poets.

I have so many one-liners and broken pieces of poems of poems. But nothing sticks. It all fades lately.

I'll be taking Poetry Writing this semester. Hopefully I'll learn something...

As J. Ivy says..."I Need to Write"



♥ Shay

Saturday, July 18

Poetry Corner: Nikki Giovanni

My favorite poet is Nikki G. Period. Lol. And I ran upon this poem that fits my current sentiments to a tee. All I Gotta Do is wait lol

All I Gotta Do


all i gotta do
is sit and wait
sit and wait
and it's gonna find
me
all i gotta do
is sit and wait
if i can learn how


what i need to do
is sit and wait
cause i'm a woman
sit and wait
what i gotta do
is sit and wait
cause i'm a woman
it'll find me


you get yours
and i'll get mine
if i learn
to sit and wait
you got yours
i want mine
and i'm gonna get it
cause i gotta get it
cause i need to get it
if i learn how


thought about calling
for it on the phone
asked for a delivery
but they didn't have it
thought about going
to the store to get it
walked to the corner
but they didn't have it


called your name
in my sleep
sitting and waiting
thought you would awake me
called your name
lying in my bed
but you didn't have it
offered to go get it
but you didn't have it
so i'm sitting


all i know
is sitting and waiting
waiting and sitting
cause i'm a woman
all i know
is sitting and waiting
cause i gotta wait
wait for it to find
me

Written by Nikki Giovanni


Like it says...."it" will come to me. All I got to do is wait. As I learned from a very insightful cartoon show (lol)...Good things take some time.

♥ Shay

Monday, June 15

A Writer's Fear


Words don't fail me now,
Not when I have so much to say
Come easily, don't fight me
There is so much at stake

Fingers to keys
Take this stress away from me
Scrawl the pain from my heart
Suck the poison from my mind
My emotions have waged a war on me
Words, if you don't help
I'm sure I'll be defeated.

The excessive love in my system
Is too much pressure on my heart
It's causing pains and malfunctions
Threatening to rip apart my heart
Expel it from my system
Investigate it on paper
Save my life, words,
So I can live to tell the story

Words are all I need to get better
If only they cooperate
No drugs, no drinks, no cuts
Returns my smile like a good poem
-Written by Moi
Writing is my therapy, and I love to write. People give me compliments a lot about my writing abilities, but there is always a need, a want, to improve and get better.
But there's usually something else: doubt.

definition: doubt.
A fluctuation of mind arising from defect of knowledge or evidence; uncertainty of judgment or mind; unsettled state of opinion concerning the reality of an event, or the truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation.


Sometimes you can never be sure if you're making a difference with your writing. Many people read without giving feedback, and more often, people never get around to reading what you have to say at all.
Or you criticize yourself too much, wondering if you should have said it "that" way over the the way you actually expressed yourself. I don't know any writer who doesn't wonder that.

It's more than just writers though. Everyone has doubted themselves at points. Especially when the situation they're in dramatically contrasts with where they aspire to be.

An interesting quote to ponder:
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.
Kahlil Gibran
Letting go of doubt, and latching on to faith is a good move to make. I don't try to make anyone do anything they don't want to do, but there are my opinions and my suggestions.

Doubt and faith both feed off the same thing: the unknown. How you react to the unknown determines whether you doubt or if you have faith.
When you panic, worry, and let the fact that you don't know what the future holds scare you, you doubt.
When you have confidence, believe everything is going to be fine, and perceive your future as the product of doing your very best, you have faith.

(Yes, this epiphany just came to me as I wrote. Lol. Even though part of me knew this all along...)

So writing is my therapy and it makes me feel better. Someone (or some people) out there enjoys my writing, what I do.
Therefore, I won't stop. Won't let my doubt override my faith. I'mma do me.

I'm gonna write.
Hearts and Love