My Cardboard Balcony

So, yeah. Kind of a rough week for me. I've dealt with a lot of trial and error with my job. There's a lot I need to work on and a lot I need to learn. But you know what? I'm fine with that. And as long as I'm succeeding in one way or another, I'm happy. I've been told that I have displayed consistent growth in my teaching. Being a twenty-three-year-old who was kind of thrown into this whole literacy with barely any back-up with the official program people, I've had to work with my supervisor and my co-workers sort of in the dark. We've all been working hard to match the expectations of everyone around, and I think we'll be okay. Anyway, seeing as the week has been pretty tumultuous, especially job-wise, I am obviously exhausted. So I'll leave you with the usual quotation and give y'all an update on my NaNoWriMo novel tomorrow. Cool? Cool. Writer's Quotation of the Night: Write drunk; edit sober. - Ernest Hemingway Have a great...

Lover's Game by Belinda Roddie When I found him, he was barely breathing But his heart was raging in a mad symphony And his hand was out as if he were reaching Toward the moon upstaging his silhouette in the grass I lifted him carefully, as if he were made of glass And moved to save him from his mind’s cacophony While he slept, I perused his gentle features And I was reminded of what pervaded his senses How could it be, in such a man I called my teacher, A beast resided in what used to be good dreams And silently, but with wrath, ripped them at the seams? So I moved to answer and resolve the question But alas, the beast could not be easily tamed I was not the chosen conductor for this elegy So for the rest of the night, I let him sleep And his mind play the foolish lover’s game As he woke, I retained a modest distance For, though I did lead him to his recovery, I felt it not in my place to touch, but listen As ears could gently heed ...

"You see, these special institutions should not be challenged by an egregious counter-culture movement that inflicts turmoil upon our beautiful socie - " "Shut up." Governor Regan whirled his head upon the reporters. It took a moment for him to realize that the comment had come from his own wife, standing next to him for the press conference. "Excuse me?" "You heard me. Shut up."

June Struck Me Like A Drum by Belinda Roddie June struck me like a drum, hard, and I bowled over, feet kicking upward, scrambling to regain balance. She tried to hit me yet again, but I moved far too quickly. You stood by the kitchen, frozen, jaw half-dropped, as the aggression, warped against her flesh, propelled June forward in her great assault against me, for the sake of "recompense." I didn't want to strike her back. I could not do it. She was far too gone to see what violence she was now succumbing to, how much she was severely hurting me. I was the percussion until I ran from her, the pain and time turning to sand.

There were three employees being considered for the monthly title, which to me proved to be entirely insignificant save for the 10% discount they would receive on anything they bought for themselves in the store. But none of the workers at this place ever wanted to shop here. We had grown tired of the same products, plastic-coated trinkets, and random sports-themed souvenirs. I even made it a point not to buy a DVD from the place.

Napkin Engagement Ring by Belinda Roddie Feeling so tender, when a man pushes steel around your knuckle, asks you to love him, and later, he'll get you a "real" ring, made of crystalline constructs of human whims and madness whenever something along the lines of "shiny" pops up in a wisp of imagination.

After we measured out the cocoa and butter and flour and sugar, we took a break because I inconceivably twisted my wrist while pulling the egg whisk out of the cramped drawer of cooking tools and utensils. Now Sadie was sidled up to me at the dining room table, as I applied a bag of frozen meatballs against my arm where the muscle was turning black and blue. "You can say you were in a great cooking accident," she declared with amusement.