Tag: writing

And We Write

Published on by Tosha Michelle60 Comments

Poetry is all about perception.
It’s what we perceive, not what
we see.

It’s all in the rhythm.
The arrangement of the poetic
notes.

It’s about loosening those
syllables until they roll off our pens
in a dance of self.

We release our whimper and watch
it turn into a roar on paper

We write for preservation.
We write to empty the emptiness.
We write like we eat, to live

We spend our nights out on a limb                                                      so we can fall into the melody of our craft

Our souls writing on.                                                                            Finding salvation in verse

-Tosha Michelle

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Grief and High Delight 

Published on by Tosha Michelle37 Comments

Hello lovelies. It’s a Salinger kind of day. Last night I rewatched a fairly good documentary that’s been out for more than a minute on the famed author. I’ve always been a little jealous of Salinger’s hermit lifestyle and his talent for prose and oddness. He was an enigma to be sure.

In the documentary, aptly titled Salinger filmmaker Shane Salerno examines the life and works of this strangely beautiful man. The film is compelling and inspiring. There’s also never before seen footage of Salinger. Like most of us he had his flaws and quirks. The documentary presents these complexity in a fair way. I’m not going to do a full review, as I’m writing a lot for my new job, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth a gander. I’ve also starting rereading his short stories RAISE HIGH THE ROOFBEAMS, CARPENTERS.

In honor of Salinger. I give you a few quotes, one of my infamous list and a tune.  There’s always a tune!

“Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.”

“I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.”

“People are always ruining things for you.”

“I wouldn’t exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out, though.”

And..


Which brings me to my list of likes and dislikes 

Likes…
Genuine people
Weird people
Nerdy people
Loyalty
deep conversations
Nature
Quiet
Hot showers
Sweater weather
big hugs
Long walks
dresses
being female
Mac lipstick
burgers
chocolate
Singing for any reason
This is Us
Nights in
Nights out
Holding hands
Cuddles
Kisses
Silliness
Music
Documentaries
Simple things
fancy things
sleep

Dislikes….
being treated like
you never mattered by
people who swore they would
never hurt you.
liars
Phoney people
Rude people
Selfish people
Fickle people
Big egos
blockheads
Mornings
Goodbyes
sleepless nights
Donald Trump
Math
Humidity
Loud nosies
Anxiety
injustices
Kale
Parties
Small talk
unsweeten tea
Waiting on anything 

What are some of your likes and dislikes? Which category would you place Salinger? How about me? 😜

And now….

Music y’all 

Delicate Decadence 

Published on by Tosha Michelle47 Comments


Poetry never visits me

dressed in lace

Sipping a colorful drink

Singing and swaying

to a happy tune.

Instead, poetry likes to weep

in my ear, turned out

in black with a bottle

of scotch

Miles Davis on replay.

There’s happiness in me

to be written, to be lived.

I’m never as melancholy

as my writing would suggest.

Joy is just waiting to be

unfolded like a love

note hidden in dresser

buried under layers of clothes.

One day I’ll give into

nostalgia and find solace

in the lyrical prose.

It’s just there so much art and beauty

in the exquisite feeling of

sadnes. My strictured soul

finds solace in its untamed

sweetness. Its bluesey notes

lnown to me, heard by me,

sung by me, felt by me.

The delicate decadence

-Tosha Michelle

Here, There is Pixie Dust

Published on by Tosha Michelle108 Comments

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Sometimes I am only interested in small things.

The chocolate bar, a hot bath.
The turned down corner of a book page, the beauty of the sky.

This is not unhappiness.
Yet, still I dress in layers
of sorrow.

I wrap a scarf around my heart like a tourniquet
to keep the darkness from bleeding out.

It’s winter inside of me,
but the frost has not yet taken over.
My soul still hints of blue birds,
jazz notes, Monet paintings.

My soul attuned to spring.
I hide it in the closet for later.

It’s always a balance regardless of the season.

There’s still daisies in need of planting, leaves in need of raking.

Tonight, restlessness breaks
like a coconut, open windowed,
near.

Where is serenity?
For weeks its been walks, poetry and Miles Davis.

I grow stranger with each passing year,
more sensitive, more aware.

I long to flame the wind
with a strike of a match
only it knows.

I long to praise the weeds, the wildflowers.
Who’s to say which is which?

I’m still seeking glitter, the pull of a sliver boned moon,
the litter of pixie dust.

Now before Neverland becomes never.
Now before life is tossed downriver,
spinning in time’s current.

My restless heart, wait to be taken away,
beyond the window, to starlight things.

To design a language I can dance to,
to find kismet in avoiding the side steps and serenity in the fall.

-Tosha Michelle

Lost Lines

Published on by Tosha Michelle18 Comments

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This is my elegy for those lost lines of poetry.
The ones that died in my mind,
when I was in the store, out on the town
or walking in the park.
Those times when pen and paper chose to stay
home and take a nap. My usually
fruitful memory-barren.

Go, little poem off to the land of word limbo,
out into nothingness.
The braids of forgotten syntax and out of sync time
will guide you. You’ll forever dwell with untold
stories, names unrecalled, and dreams unremembered.
What if and
what never was will comfort you.

I’ll mourn for you as I sit at my desk
staring at the unfulfilled pages, lonely,
for lines that came and died suddenly.
Erased between here and there.
Sentences that turned into ashes,
leaving only the residue of punctuation
and a memory of the moment
just before I forgot to remember.

-Tosha Michelle

Guest Blog Post by Stephanae McCoy.

Published on by Tosha Michelle15 Comments

 

 

I asked the lovely and inspirational Stephanae McCoy if she would be so gracious as to write a guest blog post She said yes almost immediately, because she’s lovely like that :). For those of you who don’t know this dynamic lady ” (Steph) McCoy is a successful businesswoman, style setter, blogger and abilities crusader who breaks the myth that “blind people can’t be fashionable.” As a blind woman who happens to love fashion and style, Ms. McCoy founded boldblindbeauty.com, a successful website that brings women together to share in the beauty of fashion and style, provides a community that encourages empowerment and camaraderie, and makes a connection between the sighted and non-sighted worlds eradicating misconceptions and long-held stereotypes about people with vision lost”. You can find out more here. Be sure to follow.She’s one of my heroes.

About Steph

And do check out the amazing things she’s doing through her on-line store Abigail Style.

From the site:

Breaking down barriers, and giving back are the most important messages of Abigail Style. Empowering blind women to love themselves through the promotion of self-confidence enables them to walk through life on their own terms.

Independent living is achieved through focusing on individual talents and abilities. By supporting Abigail Style’s mission of improving the world, you are also aiding the Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh (BVRS) as 10% of all profits are given to the Employment Services Division of the agency. BVRS, known for its outstanding programs, has served people from around the US.

Abigail Style

And now Stephanae’s inspiring piece.

“Shame was the reason I decided to describe myself as ‘blind’ versus ‘visually impaired’ because it was important for me to accept the word ‘blind’. Once I did this I was able to get a grip on my fear and move forward.”

I’m not sure why I felt shame when I lost my eyesight but I think it was closely tied to my personal biases and lack of understanding where blindness was concerned. In walking through the process of sight loss and facing my shame/fear head-on I was able to move forward.
Do you Face Everything And Run? Or Face Everything And Rise? Fear can motivate or repress and your response is a matter of choice.

Choosing To Rise:
The first step is doing an honest self-assessment. Like following a map, unless you know yourself, you will get lost.
The next step is to set short and long-term goals. Goals should always be written, periodically reviewed, revised and once they are met, new ones should be set.
The third and final step is to stay the course. When you get derailed, get back on track and keep pursuing your dreams. Do not let anyone, tell you that you cannot succeed.

When it gets down to it the choice is up to you. You decide how to navigate your path to success.

Sunshine Blogger Award

Published on by Tosha Michelle22 Comments

Thanks to Alex for the nomination. if you get a chance check out his blog and follow. He’s like the male version of me only British and much cooler
https://alexraphael.wordpress.com/2017/02/12/awardsnotifications-sunshine-blogger-award/


Rules

Post the award on your blog.
Thank the person who nominated you.
Answer the 11 questions they set you.
Pick another 11 bloggers.
Give them 11

1. Which literary character would you most like to be?

Anne Shirley, from Anne of Green Gables. It was one of my favorite books growing up. I really identified with the talkative, imaginative girl she was. i’m also a huge romantic and prone to mischief and bouts of insecurity

2. Which TV character do you find most inspiring?

Olivia Benson from Law and Order  SVU The character is tenacious, brave, principled and strong

3. If you could choose one specific drink to make healthy which would you choose?

chocolate mint milkshake

4. Which actor/actress did you think would become more famous but faded away?

Neve Campbell. She seemed to really be going places

5. What was the first album you bought/downloaded? When did you last listen to it?

Whitney Houston. It was a birthday gift. It was her first album. I remember listening to it religiously as a kid.  I haven’t listened to it in ages, but I should. Her voice was beyond amazing. It was truly devastating when she died

6. Which famous mystery do you wish you could know the answer to?

I’d like to know who the zodiac killer is

7. Have you ever had a film ruined by a bad cinema experience?

Not that I can recall

8. Which family member are you most like and why?

My mother. We are both beautifully complex. I also like to think I have her sense of humor and style. She’s always been ultra hip

9. What’s the most disappointed you’ve been with a film adaption from a book?

I really didn’t think the 50 shades movie truly captured the brilliance of the book. I’m kidding. Seriously, I didn’t like either adaptation of Wuthering Heights

10.Which famous person do you wish could live next door to you?

Jon Stewart. However, he would probably get a restraining order against me.  I’d be trying to hang out with him all the time 

11. What would your dream profession be?

Broadway star

My nominees
Eric
Casey
Niles
Tony, aka in love with Jersey
Charlie
Jane
Terry
Randy
Amanda
Jackie
Eachel

My questions

1. why did you start blogging?
2. what authors inspire you?
3. if you were a mixed drink, what would you be?
4. how would you describe yourself in three words?
5. if you or Alice in Wonderland, would you stay there or come back and tell the story?
6. are you more like fire or ice?
7. what’s your favorite quote?
8. milk chocolate or dark?
9. what’s your idea of a perfect day?
10. if you could live in any other country, where would you choose?
11. what’s your favorite movie? Why?

Choice

Published on by Tosha Michelle37 Comments

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His shirt is devoid of him.
My dress is much too
pretty to put on.
This day is an easy
choice. Tomorrow,
might not be.

The flames fan to
a jar of splinters
we chopped the
night before. The
fire takes what is
giving freely (without
thought)

I choose to take the
heat in his eyes. I step
out of the shower.
and notices the sexy
message he left
for me on the mirror,
Now the glass is
less full of clean
me.

We make our decisions
We become our choices
We become pleasure
We become pain.

Life with all it’s options.
Roads to choose.
Do we drift or stay
on course? Turn
forward? Turn back?

We make love and tea.
Pillows spill from the bed.
We roll around on the floor
wallowing in soot.
A mop is the only response

Dawn slivers through the
window and across our
bare skin.. The sun winks
at us through a wave of
white. The sky, tall and
blue, curtsies. Taunting
us through the window
pane. The sky and sun
knowing (of course) that
they are an easy choice.

-Tosha Michelle

Interview With Tosha Michelle

Published on by Tosha Michelle6 Comments

I was interviewed by the exceptional and talented Amanda from Mandibelle16 If you get a chance check it out. She really came up with a wonderful set of questions.

Amanda is also a gifted poet. Her poetry is full of depth and beauty. If you aren’t following her, you should be.

Mandibelle16

Happy Monday! Welcome to my bi-weekly interview series. I am happy to share with you September’s second interview: the fascinating, beautiful, and gifted poet,Tosha Michelle from the blog — Everything I Never Told You: Lucidly In Shadows, Poetry From A Hand That Writes Misty. 

Please take a look at her blog here: Everything I Never Told You

Tosha Michelle

1. Tell Us About Yourself Tosha? 

My name is Tosha Michelle and I hail from the land of grits and sweet tea. I’m a poet and author of two books — Confessions of a Reformed Southern Belle and Self Help toSelf Harm. The first is a chapbook and contains some of my earlier poems. The latter is my silly take on the self help genre. I’ve written things since I was a child but I didn’t take up blogging until about five-years-ago.I’m also an abolitionist and Academia addict. I’m…

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