January 31, 2012 Haiku #31

Black capped chickadee

Sitting on my window sill

Playing peek-a-boo.

January 30, 2012 Haiku #30

January 29, 2012 Haiku #29

The night starts to dawn:
Blueberry, cotton candy
melting behind trees.

January 28, 2012 Haiku #28

Soft, steady beating
Just beneath my fingertips
Skin smooth to the touch.

January 27, 2012 Haiku 27

Softening lamp light
Outside the rain drenched window
Glass cold to the touch.

January 26, 2012 Haiku 26

Soft beating of wings
Against the dark window pane
Trying to escape.

January 25, 2012 Haiku #25

January 24, 2012 Haiku #24

Honeysuckle fades
dies, wilts and withers away;
then flits off the vine.

January 23, 2012 Haiku #23

Little woodpecker
sitting on my suet feeder
trying to hold on.

January 22, 2012 Haiku #22

In the midnight blue
a flaming sun dies, crackling
Dust left in its wake.

January 21, 2012, Haiku 21

Sometimes I do wish
upon a star for space junk
to fall on your head.

January 20, 2012 Haiku #20

He gives her the bills
as she turns her face away
left eye dark with bruises.

January 19, 2012 Haiku #19

And the universe
keeps giving me all these signs...
I am not laughing.

January 18, 2012, Haiku #18

Vanilla ice ice--
No, I wasn't singing THAT.
Why are you asking?

Big Brother is Watching (And Labeling You a Terrorist)

I don’t know if all of you have noticed, but the United States is becoming a scary place these days. On New Year’s Eve, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, which basically gives the government the authority to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely, without due process or even a lawyer, if they are suspected of being a terrorist for ANY reason.

Meaning that seemingly innocuous things like having more than a week’s supply of food or investigating factory farms to write an article about animal abuse could get you into serious trouble because apparently those things are things that terrorists do.

Not scared yet?

Well, now consider the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) currently in the House of Representatives, and PIPA (Protect IP Act), currently in the Senate. The way these bills are worded will make it a crime for you to even LINK to a website that links to another website that may have material that is copyright-protected. In essence, this would enable the government to take down ANY website or content it deems in violation of these acts.

So you know that picture of your favorite actor or actress you just shared on Facebook? Or that fan-made video you made and uploaded to Youtube? They would be illegal if SOPA and PIPA pass. And because they were illegal, Facebook and Youtube could be shut down entirely. Same with any other site hosting such content. Or even any site simply linking to the site with such content.

Still not scared?

Combine the three of them.

Imagine, if you will, the FBI showing up on your doorstep because your family has a three week’s supply of food in your house, and they think you’re a terrorist. You’re immediately detained.

Now imagine someone else in your family writing a blog about what happened, and then having that blog shut down because they now have the ability to do that under the guise of “copyright infringement.” Even if there was no real copyright infringement. Then that relative is arrested, due to supporting your “terrorist activities.”

So now not only are you and your relative in holding indefinitely, but no one even hears about it because the government has shut down the internet so effectively that freedom of speech has been virtually eradicated.

Maybe it sounds “out there” but the implications of these laws are damn frightening if you ask me.

It’s not like it’s unheard of, after all.

January 17, 2012, Haiku #17

Trailing through the skies
A fiery burst of ice
Dazzles all below.

January 16, 2012, Haiku #16

So many bottles
Sugarplum, vanilla bean
You soften my skin.

Baby Blues Capture Young Aunt's Heart

by: Angela D.
Published in the Decatur Herald and Review’s ‘Prairie Talk’ column January 27, 1998

When I was in fifth grade, my sister Michelle came home from college one day and announced she was going to have a baby. I had never been so excited in my entire life. She moved back into our house so we could help her out. A few months into her pregnancy, her doctor performed an ultrasound and told her that she was going to have a six-pound baby girl.

Well, that made me even more excited. My sister was nine years older than I was, and I thought it would be pretty neat to have a little girl around the house. We could play dress-up, have tea parties, and play with all my old toys. My parents were becoming eager for the new baby’s arrival, as well. I knew they were looking forward to spending time with their first granddaughter.

Early on the morning of September 16, 1991, my mother came into my room and awakened me, saying that my sister’s water had broken. Of course, at that point in my life, I had no idea what she meant, but then she told me she had to drive my sister to the hospital because the baby was on her way into the world.

Unfortunately for me, I had to go to school that day. All day long, I fidgeted and jumped around anxiously, announcing to all the kids in the junior high that my sister was having a baby and that I was going to be an aunt. At the time, I thought I was really something because I was only eleven years old and I was going to have a little niece to look after. I called home twice from school that day to ask my dad if my niece had been born yet, and twice he told me that, no, she hadn’t.

When my father came to pick me up from school, I nearly died from excitement. I was sure he was going to take me straight to the hospital to see the new little girl. That’s when he informed me that my sister was still in labor. By this time, I was quite frustrated. Every time the phone rang that night, I was certain it was going to be my mom calling to tell us our new baby’s name and how much she weighed.

Mom never called. By ten that night, my dad reminded me I still had school the next day, and sent me off to bed.

I did so, disappointed as I was. At 11:30 that night, my father came into my room. “Angie,” he whispered. “Your sister had her baby.”

“What did she name her?” I asked, immediately awake.

“His name is Nicholas Maxwell. He’s nine pounds and one ounce.”

It took me a moment to comprehend what my father had just told me. I didn’t have a niece after all. Another boy in our family. I groaned, convinced the next several years of my life were completely ruined. I went back to sleep.

By morning, I was still certain that this new member of my family would not like me, and that I would not like him, either. However, that didn’t stop me from wishing that the school day would end so I could go take a look at this new kid. When the day ended, Dad picked me up from school and drove us immediately to the hospital. We went to the nursery and I pressed my nose up against the glass, scanning the names for the Williams’ baby.

Nicholas was wide-awake, but he wasn’t crying. He had lots of thick black hair and the most beautiful, enchanting blue eyes I’d ever seen. I remember the breath catching in my throat as I saw him for the first time.

At that moment, standing there, looking down at my nephew, I knew that I would love him as if he were my own child.

I still do.

January 15, 2012, Haiku #15

Just a real quick test
to see if this is working
the way that it should.

January 14, 2012 Haiku #14

Perfume makes me sneeze--
permeates and then tickles
I make Kleenex dance.

"The Zone."

I wonder exactly when I became my own worst enemy. Did it happen suddenly, or was it gradually, little wears and tears over time and space?

One minute I knew what I was doing. I was writing--all the time. Hours would pass as I sat at my computer, unaware of what was going on around me. Sometimes you hear writers talk about “the zone” or something to that effect, where they claim they are just vessels for the muse, simply typing what they are instructed to type.

I know that place. I used to go there a lot. It was my escape, my saving grace. Bored in economics class? No problem. I’d just pick up my pen and quit paying attention. Zoning out for me was a spiritual experience in a way. Hours would pass, and while I might get up and do other things at points--things my body demanded like eating lunch or drinking water or using the restroom, my mind was still in “the zone.” I was locked into the experience, swept away by the thrill and the sweet sensation of being connected to something that was clearly bigger than me; bigger even than my comprehension of it.

These days I can hardly remember what it was like. When I was younger, it came easily and I let it. Anymore, getting to “the zone” or any place remotely resembling it is a struggle. I struggle inwardly, mentally dodging demands of dreary every day tasks like laundry, and dishes, and cleaning, and rarely succeeding to actually sit down in a chair by myself, with no distractions from the outside world and attempt to connect to that place.

Even now, I am distracted. My inner editor is telling me that what I’m writing is terrible, that there are better, more productive ways to spend my time: there are things to be organized, dinner to be eaten, a movie to be watched with my family. Not to mention that I obviously need to check my Facebook, my Twitter feet, Tumblr, and return texts and phone calls to people.

I am not in “the zone.”

But I’m determined to figure out a way to get back there one day soon, because my soul demands it.

January 13, 2012, Haiku 13.

Inspiration flees





Like the bunny in the snow





When I step outside.

January 12, 2012, Haiku 12

Give me an idea;
inspire me, awaken me.
Always looking in.

January 11, 2012, Haiku 11

Downloading e-books
A new way to pass the time
Til Big Bang Theory.

January 10, 2012, Haiku 10

Searching for answers--
Are they the same as the Truth?
My soul wanders, lost.

January 9, 2012, Haiku #9

When winter arrives
we're all going to be freezing
to death until June.

January 8, 2012, Haiku #8

Two months since you left
It feels like just yesterday.
Yet...eternity.

January 7, 2012, Haiku 7

Almost out of time
Guess this one will have to rhyme;
Five minutes til twelve.

January 6, 2012, Haiku #6

Nothing like waiting
Til the very last moment
To write the day's lines.

January 5, 2012, Haiku #5

So what do you mean
by you've never had a dream?
You dream every night.

January 4, 2012, Haiku 4

Twenty-twelve galloped
riding a tall, darkened steed
how much more bad news?

January 3, 2012, Haiku #3

Just three lines a day
Should not be this difficult;
harder than it sounds.

January 2, 2012, Haiku #2

Fuzzy little flakes
Dancing in the midnight sky
Tickling my nose.

January 1, 2012, Haiku #1

Another year passed
Goodbye, Twenty Eleven
I will not miss you.