to the year of water off my back

i like how you tell about character through this poetic narration.

Trust…...one of the hardest things in the world to gain, and hold….fear and faith go together in too many people’s minds…..

sorry….tag surfing….

You have revealed a great deal with this short and sharp note, Bell. I wish you luck for letting that water flow in 2009!

Wonderful wordsmithery! I can totally empathise…... except I really like crumpets, especially with butter and honey!

xxx

You’ve taken many leaps I wish I’d been able to attempt, and no doubt there are some I’ve taken that you would allow to pass…..I think we’ve all tested ourselves many times, if we think hard enough…...one day I’d like to taste cherry beer…...

meanwhile I’ll keep surfing the tags, thank you:)

Oh wow, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) x x

oh beautiful bell. despite the thorns and barbs or the explorations of monsters in the dark, your writing always feels to me as though it is generally thrashing (in protest?!?) over an undercurrent of yes. even though your words spit and hiss with the wrath and venom of no, they lose their battle time and again at the omnipresence of certain girl of bells yes. when i think about the terrain you have crossed and distances you have travelled… to open your palm now and find the cherry red word of hope, i imagine you leaving a trail of downy feathers behind you as strut on into the new year. plus, being a duck gives you certified cause to waddle anytime you feel like it. so. get your duck on gorgeous girl. the crumpet part won’t be so hard xxxx

hmmm I see your point… I had never thought of them that way before…. thank you for opening my eyes to the foolishness of appreciating crumpets… I shall sneer at their hollowness I walk by them in the supermarket from now on!! x

ah needy food tastes better. Porridge is not exaclty brimming with independence either but how good is it on cold winter mornings….

amazing, a new years resolution type thing?

leaves you hanging until the last word…literally

I really know what you mean, it is a great journey to learn to harden yourself when its necessary and to choose one’s battles. As usual, wonderful writing!

I’m going to bake you crumpets…...sit and hold your hand while you eat them…

XOXOX

WOW. oh my, wow. Bella bella bell…this is simply stunning.

What similar universes you and I spun for ourselves across a stormy sea. I spit and I rage and, as I’ve often been told, am too opinionated and direct for my own damn good. I DETEST the color pink and things like country music and doilies give me the heeby jeebies (but then again, so do cockroaches, but that’s another story). This piece you’ve written here – it makes me shake with a desire to shed my own fear and loathing. Sooo let’s you and I drink a bottle of wine when you are here in the States and promise to discuss those intricate inner demons of doilies and crumpets.

For now, my gifted little writer half way around the world, you just tattoo that word YES on the inside of your mind and like some thrumming incantation, let it surround you in the utter…beautiful… infinite…possibilities of you.

Perfect.
A great piece to start the year. Wonderful.

I started saying yes last year…after years of perfecting the art of no. I ended up with a boyfriend
and a project creating a book of poetry with a lady who now has become my best friend. ‘yes’ is a path worth taking

Excellent!

beautiful piece, i look forward to following this new journey of yours, as it sounds like it will fill your belly with beautiful moments to pen

I used to be afraid to bend, scared I’d just break and then have to start picking up all the pieces of me. Again. So, it used to make me very angry when other people asked me to bend or, worse, willed me to bend. But the spine is meant to bend. I turned 30 this last year and sort of just shed my old skin, wasn’t even much of a concious decision.

I say to you: be like the duck when it’s right. Be like the snake when it’s right. But sometimes you have to be a bull. Or a pit bull.

Oh, ok: I have a control issue and I refuse to allow the actions or negative energies of other people ruin my day. Because, subconciously, that’s just what they’re trying to do. And I can’t have that: just throwing the game and letting them get their way.

(Besides, people just hate it when you stay calm and easy in the face of their anger. Of course, it comes with a price: they try to shake you up more often. But it’s worth it, when you’re lying in bed, considering the day and you get to say to yourself: “You didn’t let your temper flare up once today. Good for you.”)

*Are crumpets biscuits, basically? If so, I’m with you…they are needy.

oh there aren’t enough yes’s in the world, so true, lovely piece….crumpets deserted me years ago!

You’ve kicked off 09 with another inspired and intelligent piece of writing here Bell.
Love the narrative.. and you let a little light creep in on this one!
You know, if you keep raising the bar like this Bell you will need all the hope you can muster.
Brilliant*

I’ll stick to holding up the bar ;)

o crap. shit. mrrfffle sob ok ok. i’m with you. yes, its yes, indeed it is. dammit woman, why did you write that now? yes. the most fundamental all encompassing wondrous and scariest word in the english language (except perhaps crumpet :D

wonderful writing :¬)

trust the yes. always rivetting writing. xx

yes

oh mies yes…I MUST clarify. When I say country I mean…modern popular country as it exists here in the U.S. (faith hill, brad paisley, trace atkins, kenny chesney…yech blech and more BLECH!).

Bluegrass and old country is TOPS in my books – I just really loathe the country pop crapola…ya know??

Bend that spine now and then and allow the newness (often that which is feared) to seep in … this is a beautiful piece of writing, so succinct and visual xx

nothing feels better than free-falling blindfolded

here’s to a soft landing

Well, Duckie, does YES mean YES? I enjoyed the piece – a LOT. Surface flippancy; undercurrents of all sorts of things and those duck legs paddling furiously underwater/out of view! V successfully intriguing – that YES. Could be to so many possibilities. The relief at subject’s being able to lay down defences is palpable. I felt so tense for her! Thanx for the work.

gorgeous pensive writing.
i love your style.

me again – here for my evening fix. And fully fixed yet again by this one. So fiesty – so sensitive. (I notice Luke refers to ‘free-falling’. Is it possible you’re one of Barbara Turner’s freefallers?)

My friend Nadine mentioned you in one of my photos, yes the stilt one:) So am here too, reading your work, intriguing, thought provoking, and I too sit with my dictionairies but empty of written art. Great style like waves; and I find myself wanting to read to the end; it’s wonderful.

It is my pleasure. That’s really wonderful! And more to come I wish for you. Absolutely love my dictionaries and the hobby of looking up words:)