The House We Built

*This piece, whatever it may become, is based off of an album of pictures from Laura Hetzel Photography. My friend Jordan is the subject along with an old abandoned house. Lovely stuff.

**Think it's done

This house that we built, if you want to call it a house anymore, still stands. It stands exactly where it has always stood. Between the two oak trees, set off from the road. My life has revolved around this house. I can remember when I would play around those trees as a young girl. Before the house came. I can remember lying beneath the branches, watching the shadows of the leaves dance across your face. Do you remember that day? The day we began building our lives? The day we began building our house?
It started as a blueprint in our hearts. As our lives grew more entwined the plans became more elaborate. Soon the white lines matched my gown as I walked the aisle. You looked at me from the end of the long carpet, with eyes filled with tears. Where are those tears now? Mine are all gone, I have none left. Not after all these years.
The walls went up first. We lined them with beautiful cypress, sanded smooth by the salty winds of the marsh. Some days I could only sit and watch you and our fathers work. Our little one was relentless. So I would sit under those trees, singing softly to my baby. Hoping that she would look just like you.
She was even more beautiful than I think either of us ever imagined. Her big brown eyes, always opened wide, staring at everything around her. We named her Estelle, after your mother and she grew up in this house. Even while we were picking out the color of her room she was exploring her new world. Remember when we had to put all the paint buckets on stools so she wouldn't take a dip in them? Our baby girl grew up in this house, running through the hallway and hiding under the quilts on our bed.
There are too many painful memories in this house. Memories of my sweet girl, and of you. You my strong, tall man. The oven still stands where it has always stood, in the kitchen against the long wall. Everything else in here is gone. Forever. Isn't it ironic... that the thing that took everything away from me is still here. It is the only thing I have left, except the walls. The black walls. Once blue, and yellow, and green.
My sweet little girl...
I can no longer weep. Please don't think badly of me for it. I just have nothing left to offer. You took my heart when you were born, and you took my soul when you left.

Curse my heart and all the flames in it.
They singe and burn holes
in the tender, en-flamed muscle
Curse my heart and all the flames in it.
They boil my blood
causing my whole body to writhe.
Curse my heart and all the flames in it.
My passion and compassion
eat me alive
Curse my heart and all the flames in it.
While my the rest of my body
is struggling to survive
Curse my heart and all the flames in it.
I need to douse them
with the water of affection.
Else the frozen nitrogen of an extinguisher
will need to be used.
For my mind is racing
and my body won't start
I need some relief
from my fiery heart.

I turned in that poem \/ down there to Godshall the other day. She called it a scroll ^^

It takes an Olympian effort
to climb a tree of Olympus
Zeus blessed this great redwood
with the gift of height
and of strength
for a reason
Niches and holes
in the rough bark
make a home for nymphs
and fawns.
As strong as Antaeus
my tree holds tight to the ground
drawing strength
from mother Gaea
The serpents living
in the roots are
ever trying to destroy
my Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
tree of life
holder of worlds
I am trying to conquer it
My squirrley brothers and I
set out to climb our Mt. Olympus
our Yggdrasil
I look above me
into the great tangle
branches and leaves
and wonder what worlds I will discover
what new mythical creatures
are scurrying around
my Goliath
Perhaps David himself
is living here
hiding
for 2000 years
in the giant's warm embrace
We prepare for our treacherous climb
double check the harnesses
and lifelines
Strap on my helmet
it fits like a turtle shell
over my skull
Hopefully
protecting my mind
from becoming turtle soup
We start the climb
hand
over
hand
step
by
step
we climb
up
and
up
and
up
meeting birds
and branches
along the way
Rest for a spell
on a branch the size
of a tree itself
Eating peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches
we sit
with our feet dangling
high above ground
Looking down
from the middle of Olympus
is daunting
If you fall
you fall
and fall
all the way to
Hades
to visit Persephone
For hours we climb
hauling ourselves
upwards
until Finally
our quest is complete
Standing on a mountain
of a tree
above all other things
my eyes take in it all
The blue sky
The green tree tops
The purple mountains in the distance
I am on top of Olympus
I am a God.

Stone

My stone
My rock
As black as obsidian
As cold as Pluto
Inside my geometric shape
The wind blows soft
moaning and rolling
The sun is always at twilight
The gray grass is coated
with soft dew
It sways gently.
The world around me
turning and turning.
I am alone, in my quiet world.
Listen to the wind
it whispers secrets to the
rolling hills of grass.
I lay on the fertile land
and see the visions of the clouds
turning and turning.
My eyes close of their own accord
and the wind sings me to sleep.
The grass folds over my slumbering form
protecting me, holding me gently.
The world is still dim
The wind still blows
The grass bends gently with it's dew
I see the clouds once again
I stretch my arms
stand slowly
taking in the twilight world that is my stone.
But outside my stone
my rock
my geometric shape
The world is
turning and turning.


Poem I wrote for Godshall, I think it turned out well ^^