Willfully Wild

Published on by Tosha Michelle45 Comments

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If your going to love,
love wilfully and wildly,
like a leaf on the wind
soaring out,
with abandonment.
Burn yourself through
for passion.
Make an altar of greater than.
Praise longing and
its insanity

Love bold men,
the ones like red umbrellas
with strong wooden
handles, and a fancy inscription,
big and deep, that makes you
feel like the daintiest
of ladies out for an
afternoon stroll,
his sheltering arms
keeping out the misty rain.

Let every idea you have
be love.
Study him like
you would the curve
of the horizon.
Follow your instinct,
lose the pattern.
Go where he goes.
Don’t let the sun disappear.
Let it swell
and put him first,
draw him closer,
until he believes in you
and the sky trembles
when you touch.

Fall
Fall
into his eyes, his thighs,
the pulse of his being.
Fall into ripeness, rightness,
until time is stripped away,
and your soul is cast in
forethought. Forethought
brushed in red and heat.
Never to be an afterthought.

If you’re going love, love
willfully and wildly until
you are spent, until the stars
shatter over the white tips
of pillowcase as two lovers
fall out of God’s mouth into
rapture.

-Tosha Michelle

My cover of The Eagles “Desperado” for Sunny Day

Reading the Dead

Published on by Tosha Michelle43 Comments

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I love my dead relatives

like I love the broken

spine of my favorite book

I love the bent back pages

and the sad dust cover

of ruin. I’ll never discard

it. I take it out often and

bookmark it in memories.

In the chapters, I want the

words to live again. No

matter how many times

I reread the text, there is

no next scene.

I hope it plays out in

another dimension.

I’d like to think some things

are like this.

The morning light casts a

glow upon the cover,

giving it an angelic gleam.

Who could not admire the

beauty of a well loved book?

Wreckage made by years of

reading favorite passages

over again, and who could

not mourn, the sudden shock

when the pages begin

to fade?

-Tosha Michelle

Psalms of October

Published on by Tosha Michelle39 Comments

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October is the month for praise;
the beauty before winter’s gray.

It blushes the clouds with pink,
and paints the leaves canary.
The air so crisp and busy,
still warm from summer’s memory.
The sun brush stroked in red
streaking through the trees,
before their abundance
is carried away.

October is the month for praise.
Before a somber dullness
takes over.
Turning the days into
unkind nights,
when every thought we have
is nostalgic

October is fall’s long
stem rose;
trying to right the
wrong of December’s chill,
and mother nature’s
stony stare.

The red rose rises up,
as if to make amends
for what will become
of the bees and ants,
and all of us who strive
to live harmoniously;
those condemned to ice
and Jack Frost’s
fixation with noses.

October is the month to praise,
so we offer up our apple
cider alleluias,
in the field of the great pumpkin,
and await winter’s bitter thud.

-Tosha Michelle

There’s NO Art in Small Talk.

Published on by Tosha Michelle52 Comments

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I hate small talk and how
it always leaves me
syllabically longing.
It’s tedious and exhausting.
It’s hard to get excited
about another conversation
attached to nothing.

I’d rather talk about rare books,
our literary gods,
elevator sex, Lexapro verses,
Wellbutrin,
the friendship between
Elizabeth Bishop
and Robert Lowell,
how sometimes in poetry
the pages weep,
the origins of the word
boeotian (I imagine it
stems from small talk),
how innocence can still thrive
underneath cynicism, and my
innate need to find trouble.

Conversation should be a Safari,
not a trip to the dentist.
It should be like champagne,
shaken and exploding
with bubbly decadence.
It shouldn’t make you feel bad
you haven’t died yet.
It should ravish you and leave you
feeling satiated, weeping
with ecstasy and profound knowledge.

So come sit beside me.
We can move the language
toward enlightenment and
starlight things that help
remind us why we are here.
Or we can beat our tongues
against monotony,
and discuss the weather.
If you choose the latter,
just know I am
dismembering you,
slowly and sadistically,
in my head
one syllable at a time.

-Tosha Michelle

Call. Don’t Answer.

Published on by Tosha Michelle35 Comments

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I sometimes long to be a

name no one answers, a

name that no longer

tolerates humanity. I yearn

to take the wintery chill

of my mind and go off by

myself, to live in a great

empty space, where

the breath of solitude can

falls on me like clouds,

-The only greeting needed

the green grass. I long

to belong to none, to be

elusive as residue.

The sun in my arms,

the only embrace I

need.

Then (as it always is)

Someone asked

“so how you been?”

How quickly the name

answers.

-Tosha Michelle

One Lovely Blog Award

Published on by Tosha Michelle35 Comments

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I was nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by Dustin, someone you should be following. Dustin’s blog is a wellspring of information on the ins and outs of writing fiction. In addition, Dustin is a lovely human being. You’ll find a link to his blog here.

On Plot.. – http://wp.me/p2DnEL-6V

And now for the OLBA

The rules for accepting the 2015 One Lovely Blog Award:

– Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.
– Share 7 things about yourself.
– Nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on their blogs to let them know.

7 facts about me

1. Outwardly, I appear to be this petite, perky, soft spoken, girly girl who brings out the protective side of people. Inwardly, I am mother f****** Hercules and I will mess you up. 😉

2. I have a recurring dream about a serial killer. The really bizarre thing, the killer is a pig.

3. I’m totally obsessed with my cat. It should be noted, my cat is a diva. He has his own bedroom, will only drink bottled water, and refuses to listen to anything other than Beethoven

4. I can be very melancholy and anti social. I feel things deeply. This intensity can wear me out. When I become exhausted from the emotions, I shut down (just for a bit)

5. My fantasy man would have Jon Stewart’s humor, Chet Baker’s swagger, Mark Kingwell’s mind, Proust’s literary prowess, Blake Shelton’s height, Bill Clinton’s charm, minus the smarm, Sylvain Reynard’s mystique and Aaron Eckhart ‘s good looks.

6. I’m a One Direction fan. Don’t judge me. My taste in music runs the spectrum from eclectic and cool to mainstream and crappy.

7. I’m known for my ‘I Love Lucy ” moments. My shenanigans always lead to trouble, but I am told it keeps life interesting

My thanks again to Dustin

I nominate the following people for the One Lovely Blog Award

Todd Lowe because he’s Todd (duh)
Rachel (Finding Rachel) because she’s a badass
Christan Marc because he’s cute and I’m shallow like that. No, really he’s a wonderful writer
Jane Rothman because she’ll never let me forget it if I don’t. Plus, her photographs are stunning.
DS Levy because she’s my blogging soul sister
Jennifer B. -she’s the queen
Michael Rios – because he’s always so helpful and kind
Ranting Crow- because he’s a crow and he rants.
Niles – because he’s a gentleman and the sweetest.
Rob (The V-Pub)- because I like his humor.
Theresa D.- because I really need some of her lasagna and tiramisu
Casey Michael Smith – he’s an amazing poet and he looks really distinguished in his glasses
Heather Culford- I’m hoping she’ll buy me donuts
A Curious Mind – his love of humanity is inspiring
Wendy- because she classy and stylish.

Wanderlust in Boots.

Published on by Tosha Michelle22 Comments

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In London, I finally

understood to be happy,

I can’ t regret. I can’t

be the ballerina in

a box waiting for

someone to turn

the key, trapped on

a platform of fear.

The key belongs to

me. I am the music.

I chose when I dance.

I discovered this while

navigating my way around

the city.

I became wanderlust in

leather boots, pleasantly,

disoriented by the

history. The city itself

a museum. On my own

for the first time. Alone,

with the wind of my mind.

I started to realize

that this “delicate” little

flower could survive

without water, that it

could grow anywhere.

I didn’t know it then

but my own history

was falling into place

as if Aristotle had flown

in from Greece (by way of

Great Beyond Air) to

help me make sense

of life.

It’s the little things

that change us,

that help us gain

knowledge of ourselves

the self that sometimes

needs to shatter.

Getting lost in

Greenwich Park

Sitting on a bench

unseen in the fog.

The bird that refused

my bread.
(The little bastard)

I swear I heard him chirping

stop trying to be responsible

for fixing everyone

Sitting in a cafe debating

the work of Turner after

visiting the Tate.

Just missing the

train for the airport.

Stopping by the gift

shop selling postcards

of London Bridge and

plastic keychains, making

me realizes I’ve had

enough of disposables.

Waltzing into pubs

and new situations.

Dizzy from dancing.

and finally believing

I knew the steps

Finally understanding

the beauty of missteps.

-Tosha Michelle

On The Clouds Eating His Shadow.

Published on by Tosha Michelle28 Comments

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The clouds drank in ravens

making the pines lucid.

His shadow fell beneath

the sky. If she listened

closely, she could hear

his melodic cadence

delivering soliloquies

adrift on the wind.

He as he was

She as she became

Awake. Aware.

Taking color and form.

Both somewhere between

what was there. What’s

not there. Someone you

remember and can’t

quite forget.

Lost mail on someone

else’s kitchen table.

The parenthesis enclosed.

Time takes away. Gone

in an instant particles

of the past.

She stays.
(She can’t stay)

Tired from this slow

burning off of yesterday.

That which was lost

will not become again.

She always thinks she

see gleams of him,

glimpsed and then gone.

The stem decimated but

drowning in rose petals.

No longer powerless

to the undertow.

His presence merely less,

but no longer wholly more.

His shadow falling,

falling into dust.

The only sound she

hears now is her

voice turning into

an early frost.

To every poem there is

a time and season.

Seasons that coagulate

into lost years.

In this one, she scourges

the past with lyrical ease

The wind no longer

contradicting itself.

Her pen drops ink

of flames, no longer

pointing to the sky.

Dr. Syntax gives her a

lollipop and a clean

bill of conscious.

-Tosha Michelle

The Gentleman Blogger

Published on by Tosha Michelle18 Comments

Shameless plugs Wednesdays. It is now a thing. I’d like to introduce you to my friend Niles. Niles is not officer, but he is a gentleman. Suddenly, it’s lame sentences Wednesdays.

But I digress. Niles is like a brother to me. I’ve known him for years. He’s a lovely human being and a wonderful writer. I know he would be honored, if you would drop by his blog and check out his work. I’ve provided a link below.

Thanks,

Tosha

Autobiography – http://wp.me/p1E0N3-e3

Barbed……….and………Wired

Published on by Tosha Michelle3 Comments

My friend Jane just started a photography blog. Her photos are magnificent. I really hope you will check out her work and follow. She’s a wonderfully complex person. Her photos reflect that. She has an eye for beauty and all things artistic.

Thank you kindly

jane's avatar Perceptions-Photography by Jane

While I was walking by, I thought to myself……….who is being kept in and who is being kept out.

wired

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