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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Flash Fiction Friday #13 - Still Here

Sorry I didn't post last week. My life has been full of medical tests, doctors, and exhaustion. It's been an eventful week and we think we found at least one reason for how I've been feeling. The test will be to see if the medication works on controlling my symptoms. My thanks to those who have been sending me positive thoughts, healing energy, and love. I'm so appreciative!

I wasn't sure I'd even be up to writing a flash for this week's prompt. However, the picture reminded me of my life lately and of a real incident that occurred recently. I knew I had to participate. 

It's my 13th Flash Fiction Friday with the Flashers writing group!!! The group is growing and it's awesome.

 Enjoy and please feel free to comment. Thanks! 




Flash Fiction Friday - Writing challenge based on a picture prompt. One picture to inspire one hundred words (no more, no less).

Still Here

He lay her gently on the bed. “What do I do now? Call 9-1-1?” He knew she had a history of fainting episodes, but never witnessed one until today. One minute she'd been hugging him goodbye, the next he heard a thud - out cold on the floor, face ghost-white. “Baby?”

Glazed eyes opened.“It's okay. Remember I told you about this?”

“I know. Yes, yes you did. But what can I do?” He felt helpless. “Want a snack and drink?”

Her hand rested on her heaving breast as she nodded,“y-you're still here,” voice trembling with emotion.

~~~~~ 

 Love is: When they stay.


You can find the other participating fabulous writers of Flash Fiction Friday and show them some love here:

All Flavors and Styles:

Flash Fiction Friday Blog


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Selkies and Shifters


 


I'm sorry I neglected to put up a little background on Selkies on my previous Flash Fiction.  


I'll just borrow from Benjamin Russell's comment: "Selkies are able to become human by taking off their seal skins, and can return to seal form by putting it back on. Stories concerning selkies are generally romantic tragedies. Sometimes the human will not know that their lover is a selkie, and wakes to find them gone."


I'll also add that the lore can be found in Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, and other islands nearby. It is said to have originated in Scotland: Orkney and Shetland Isles.  The word "selkie" means seal in the dialect of the Orkney Isles. Nowadays, they are often lumped together with Fairy races.





Sometimes, as is often the case of the selkie-women and other creature/"shapeshifter" tales (like the "Swan maiden") - the human who falls in love and lust with the mythical creature cannot bear to be parted and will purloin their hide/feathers/pelt, etc and secret it away - causing such sorrow and longing in the creature (who usually ends up marrying the thief) that, in the end, the mythical one finds it and returns from whence they came (leaving their husband and own children behind or taking the children with them).






Selkie-men were notorious for seducing women (unwed and wed) and luring them into the sea to live with them. This was a common (and handy) explanation for when a village girl went missing.





These are the typical scenarios that occur from a selkie encounter...but not always!

I have a passion and fascination for mythology and folklore, mythic creatures, but especially those who can manipulate form and become something else: shapeshifters, shape-changers, skinwalkers, were-creatures, etc... 


I have some wonderful resources on them, including metaphysical and spiritual sources and have even had personal experience with shifter energy. This energy was the inspiration for my own romantica story, "Shifting Illuminations." 


When I am more clear-headed, I will share some of that story.  I am currently working on editing it to submit to a publisher.  I will also share my own take on a shapeshifter myth/fairytale that I wrote in college for a writing assignment. I chose the Swan Maiden tale and gave it an elemental spin. 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Selkie on-line Sources:



http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/selkiefolk/
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Selkie
http://echoes.devin.com/selkie/selkie.html
http://mythsandtales.com/id9.html



Thursday, January 26, 2012

Flash Fiction Friday #12 - Trust

Woohoo! It's my 12th Flash Fiction Friday with the Flashers writing group!!! The group is growing and it's awesome.

 Enjoy and please feel free to comment. Thanks! 





Flash Fiction Friday - Writing challenge based on a picture prompt. One picture to inspire one hundred words (no more, no less).



 Trust
Sliding her hands carefully along mottled fur, Gianna brought the gray hide up to her nose. The scent of sea assaulted her senses as a plaintiff whimper mewled from the table. Startled coal eyes met her gaze.

“Ah, you're awake.” Lifting the hide, she surveyed the naked man before her, reaching out. His body shuddered at her touch, hardness stirring to life. Gia licked her lip, trailing her fingers down the slope of his sleek back.

“This what you want?” she taunted.

“I trusted you,” his lilting voice accused.

“Mine.” She triumphed as the selkie keened.

~~~~
 
You can find the other participating fabulous writers of Flash Fiction Friday and show them some love here:
All Flavors and Styles:

Flash Fiction Friday Blog  


Monday, January 23, 2012

Fae Songs

In honor of my latest Flash Fiction - Welcome - I'd like to share some faery-inspirations with you in the next few posts: music, lyrics, words, and some of my poetry. You decide what faces Sage when she is spirited away Behind the Veil.


It only seems appropriate to start with one of my favorites, "The Fairy Ring." Gary Stadler's faery music has fueled my imagination and nourished my muses since I was a teenager.

Let the magic of the Fae spirit you away with inspiration.


"The Fairy Ring"

Twas a longing came into my heart
I could not sense a name
It tore me from my sheltered hearth
Then swift to nature came
The beauty of the soft green hills
The singing of the trees
They left my soul more empty still
I could not find a peace
I could not find a peace
I saw the shining fairy ring
Myself within its heart
And I found a lonely comfort
Though its magic touched me not
Its magic touched me not
I wandered by a running stream
And touched its stones for strength
Then I sat underneath a great old tree
Then drifted into sleep
It lifted me with gentle powers
And took me far away
When I awoke the darkest night
Had chased away the day
I lay within a fairy ring
Myself within its heart
And I found a lonely comfort
Yet the magic touched me not
The magic touched me not
My mind a whirl of clouded dreams
I knew not where I dwelled
Yet in that shining fairy ring
A calming word I felt
Oh thrice I called unto the Fey
And thrice about this turned
I fell upon living earth
And in that moment learned
For there that night I felt a touch
And in that moment knew
The fairy magic had rebuilt
My hearts desire true
For in that touch I felt such love
And in that moment knew
That I did touch a perfect love
My heart's desire true
My heart's desire true
I lay within a fairy ring
Myself within its heart
And I found a loving comfort there
The love that I had sought
The love that I had sought
My words at once are stilled within
My heart has felt so much
I oft returned to the magic ring
To feel the fairy touch
Oh now when 'ere the moon is full
I bid my cares depart
And kneel within the shining ring
To touch the fairies heart
To touch the fairies heart
To touch the fairies heart
~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Fairy Night Songs"
By: Gary Stadler and Stephannie

Dancing a spiral we sing unaware
On faery night wings our songs fill the air
Making a circle of magic and light
Watched silently by the fay of the night

Our hearts full of love and our arms open wide
We hold the key to the faeries delight
Song in our hearts belong in the air
The words of our wisdom we bring forth to share

The songs in the night
As we dance 'round the flame
The Fairy Nightsongs are never the same
The words from our lips as we sing for the night
Impart to the Fay our hearts truest sight

Sounds of the forest in sweet harmony
We give the gift of our song to the faery
Dancing a spiral we sing unaware
The faery night wings our song fill the air

The songs in the night
As we dance 'round the flame
The Fairy Nightsongs are never the same
The words from our lips as we sing for the night
Impart to the Fay our hearts truest sight

Ahh.....

Dancing a spiral we sing unaware
On faery night wings our songs fill the air
Making a circle of magic and light
Watched silently by the fay of the night

The songs in the night
As we dance 'round the flame
The Fairy Nightsongs are never the same
The words from our lips as we sing for the night
Impart to the Fay our hearts truest sight

Our hearts full of love and our arms open wide
We hold the key to the faeries delight
Song in our hearts belong in the air
The words of our wisdom we bring forth to share

The songs in the night
As we dance 'round the flame
The Fairy Nightsongs are never the same
The words from our lips as we sing for the night
Impart to the Fay our hearts truest sight

Sounds of the forest in sweet harmony
We give the gift of our song to the faery
Dancing a spiral we sing unaware
The faery night wings our song fill the air.
~~~~~

Or perhaps Sage is returning Home and being welcomed by her Kin... Or could Elphame/Land of Faerie be the origin of her soul and have her recent recurring dreams unlocked Past Life memories of times gone by...


"Veil of Elphame"


I've searched the mountains
forest and sea
seeking the homeland
of my memories

Haunted by visions
Longing like the sea
time passes by me
and still I am not free

Lift the veil of Elphame
Let me see the light
Lift the veil of the Faerie
guide me home tonight.

How can I soar alone
when my wings are at rest?
I yearn to be there
In the land of the blss'd

So light me a candle
watch the dark shadows fade
And I must journey on
For the choice I have made

Lift the veil of Elphame
let me see the Light
Lift the veil of the Faerie
Take me home tonight

My lone heart guides me
brings me home through the night
Carries me onward
And into the light

To wander the shadows
to see the truth from afar
to sigh in the moonlight
dancing magic of stars

Lift the Veil of Elphame
let me see the light
lift the veil of faerie
guide me home tonight 
~~~~

Will Sage fall under the spell of Faerie and be haunted by the "Wild Faeries Dance" (Gary Stadler and Wendy Rule)?


~~~


Or maybe Sage will find peace in her heart at last:

 "Garden of Dreams"
By: Gary Stadler and Stephannie

~~~~~~~~~

~Fade With Me~

Image: "The Snow Queen" By: David Delamare


~Fade With Me~
By: LEA/FM
© 2000

like moonbeams

dancing across

the pristine snow

like stars in the

blanket of midnight

we'll know

we'll fly on wings

of lover's dreams

our hearts afire

flaming with desire

like children

as they play

we'll be free

in every way

symphonies

of birds will sing

and whispers

of the trees

waltzing

in the breeze

dizzying love

arms wide open

gaze up above

come dance

with me

come fade away

and lose yourself

in my touch

~~~~

Not writing lately has given me the chance to take a poet's meandering walk through words written of yesteryear.

~Snowful Wish~

Image: "Winter Fairy" by: Cocodrillo



~Snowful Wish~
By: LEA/FM
© 2000


The soft glow of the moon
shimmers down with
large white flakes
like diamonds mixed
with white lace
A picture-esque,
winter-wonderland scene
if only I could
hold onto this dream
my mind and imagination
frolick and play
making angels and
snowmen and riding
on a sleigh
while my body holds
me captive and my
pain keeps me inside
my brain is confuzzled
thoughts caught in a fog
I silently cry
A mug of hot cocoa
topped with whipped-cream
the fire blazing
and a book in hand
my gaze wanders to
the crystallized
icicle-laden window
I smile at the children
as they fight in the snow
I yearn to join in their fun
but after all I remember
what happened last time
I dearly paid
for that one day in the
snow that I played
Now content as I can be
I sit with my book on my lap
pen in hand, writing
this Snowful Wish.

~~~~

This was written during a typical winter for me. I remind myself that just getting outside and making a snow angel with wee pixie this weekend is more than I'd been able to do in years past. I should look at that and not look at the running, jumping, sledding, and playing I did in the snow with my grown siblings when we were snowbound last year during the Holidays. And the inspiration such moments ignite.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Update and ~Frail Dreams~

I'm sorry my blog has been lacking lately. With the exception of the Flash Fiction Fridays (thank goodness for those), I have been unable to write much.  I most likely won't be entering this year's Valentine's Day contest, unless I can stop this merry-go-round I have been on for the past few months. I have been having some health issues which have impeded my focus and concentration. As many who follow me on social media or read my stories might know, I have Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which stemmed from Lyme Disease as a preteen). I was in a three-year remission brought on by the pregnancy of my little one, but have since had a major relapse. I feel like a newbie to it again and it's not sitting well with me!


The debilitating symptoms of dizziness, vertigo, heart palpitations, and nausea have the doctors puzzled. Every diagnostic test has been negative, and there have been a slew of them; EKG, MRI, Holter Monitor, lab work, VNG, positional vertigo maneuvers.  I am waiting to hear the results of a brain/brain stem/inner ear MRI and inner ear/balance test: VNG -- tomorrow. My intuition tells me that the dental infection/issues and root canal I had a few months ago not only flared up the Fibromyalgia, but also disrupted something in my inner ear. 


So tomorrow I'll find out. I don't want them to tell me I have something even more complicated, but chances are they are going to give me the non-answer of, "It's the fibromyalgia." That's not a helpful answer because there isn't much to be done. My doctor did refer me to a local Fibromyalgia Clinic which might offer me some help. In a couple of weeks I will have a four-hour assessment and they will tailor a treatment (non-medical) plan to help me readjust my life again and manage the symptoms better.


With that said, I think I'll share some of my Fibro poetry from the past. Please keep in mind these were written by a hurting teenager/college student. I'll begin with one of longing for a gentle touch, an understanding ear, and hope. 


~Frail Dreams~ is dedicated to chronic pain and fatigue sufferers. 






~Frail Dreams~
By: LEA/FM
© 2000

Although we are the
frail maidens of the world
we may seem fragile
and like porcelain dolls
who lack the sunshine
and sparkle in our eyes
the damsels in distress
we may need to be tended to
and loved and cared for more
than the average damsel
we need your time and your
hearts and your ears and
tender touches, just like
the others ladies of the land
we need secure embraces
and reassuring words
we seek your valor
chivalry and hero-like
intentions, but we know
that you can not slay
our dragons or tame
the beasts that haunt us
and yet our eyes shimmer
with silent tears
our arms yearn
and our souls
call out to your own
Knights and princes
look past the frailness
look past the paleness
look past the lack-luster eyes
reach past our everyday pain
chisel gently and patiently away
at the walls that protect us
and see into our hearts
see the strength that
even we don't realize
we carry inside
hold our dreams within
your hands
and realize the
woman longing
to be free
of her chains.



Sometimes you can't
hold us within your arms
but forever hold us
within your hearts.
~~~~