© "——"

Two sullen boys carry a stretcher, bearing an angel dressed in white. The angel’s wing has been wounded and her eyes are covered with a bandage. The painting does not tell us what has happened. Perhaps this is how Hugo Simberg meant it to be. When he first displayed this work in the annual exhibition of the Finnish Art Society, there was simply a dash where there should have been a title. Was this the artist’s way of saying that no single, correct interpretation exists? That each viewer creates the meaning of the work for him/herself, interpreting it in a personal way?

My poem also has a dash where there should be a title. Your interpretation of the poem will be correct.

Make a promise to yourself not to tarry with or let your
heart roost on the promises
from someone who wreaks sour
mathematics on your soul.
You are too good to waste a fraction
on anyone who makes you feel less than whole.

by Mimi Wolske
All Rights Reserved, jan '16

(painting: The Wounded Angel, 1903, by Hugo Simberg)

©Back In The Saddle

David Carradine said, “If you cannot be the poet, be the poem.”

I’ve also heard it said the thing that breaks you are the words caught in your throat. 

Well, I have years of words (and thoughts) never uttered but living silently in notebooks or tucked on crumpled pieces of paper in the pockets of my coat, and some hidden in my heart—kept there safely and secretly because they are for the one I love—and sometimes I guess it does feel as though I’m choking by not letting any of them into the world.

But, sometimes I do share because I feel like the poem as well as the poet, the inspiration and the creator of something worth sharing.

Footsteps and cell phones,

as I walk the country roads,

remind me I am never alone.

Still, life is smarter here

compared to the city where

people talked night and day

having nothing to say.

Mimi Wolske

Jan ’16, All Rights Reserved

(the quote is by David Carradine, the photo is the property of the owner, the poetic words are mine)

WORDS

When we write, we want to show how lovers are when they are together, how they feel, how they speak to each other. We want readers to forget they are reading mere words and experience the emotional moment. And yet words are the most powerful form of communication in the world when it comes time to play on a reader's emotions. 

Don't feel you need write your characters into eroticism just because that sub-genre is what many authors are working in and publishers are demanding these days. Let the scene, your characters, and your comfort zone dictate where a love scene ends and where the reader's imagination begins. But, even before your characters fall into bed, they should be in love (even if they don't realize it yet). So, begin with romance — but only if it fits with the story line.

Also, no matter the length and focus of your story, there are different ways you can pull the romance to the forefront by remembering no matter how independent the heroine is, the reader wants the hero to be the one who provides and protects. The heroine needs to see the hero in action; so does the reader. That's universal. Also, emotional conflict (the staple of a good romance): conflicting loyalties or control  or both, fear, and trust. In a romance, you must decide, or let your character decide, what beliefs will be surrendered, what principles they must relinquish/agree to, or what beliefs must be given up for the romance to grow stronger and endure.

Below is a brief example of how words can show a great deal about your characters, their romance, and how they love. Yes, they are sexually attracted to each other, but they are also in love; or, they are falling in love. The prose is how characters recognize there is a burgeoning romance and how each expresses that.

He never felt like this about a woman before and the fear of losing her plagued his sleepless nights. He was going to lose her unless he was willing to give up his roguish lifestyle. His lips brushed hers and explored her face the way a blind man would explore it with fingers. He explored her face as though it was the first time he saw her, as if it would be the last. 

She remained quiet for as long as possible. When she realized her breathing was more labored, she backed away. "You are sweet temptation with your lips whispering unspoken words on my naked cheek. Your words are more than flirtation; it's as if they are writing a dissertation over my mouth with every caressing breath. You are a luring fascination and I loved you as a friend before I realized I was in love with you."

Poems are another way to express a love from the heart; in poetry, try using affirmation, apology, or declaration for example.

I Can't Help It

Ohhh, I can't help it,

you make me happy

and I become your

Venus of poetry

writing words of

love

I am a feather

carried by the wind

whirling and happy

because each of your

words dances in my

heart

I swirl among stars

entwining the two

of us together...

heaven's blessing touches

you and me, my

love

Whether or not the romance works out depends on you, on your characters, and on how much time you want to spend showing the readers the "why". What we want to remember, as writers, is that a romance begins with"once upon a time" and ends with, hopefully, "happily ever after". We can show this to our readers by letting the romance come full circle, by by setting up a similarity between the image we create and the language from the words we use at the beginning as well as at the end.

I Can't Help It Intellectual Property Rights:© 1999 – 2016 Mimi Wolske/Mona Arizona™. All rights reserved.

(art: Kiss by Ron Hicks)

Renaissance Woman

"Do you want to be a small fish in a big pond?
Or, a large fish in a small pond?" he asked.
She needed time to phrase her answer right before she would respond.
She had an answer for the question left unasked.

She wouldn't let herself be manipulated
Or intimidated by this self-proclaimed spokes fish
That would try to wrap it's philosophies fated
Around terms like "equality" or "choice" or hellish

PC words like "tolerance" and "diversity"
She understood she'd been created for times like this
And she'd embrace her destiny as a challenge, anti
Curse, no matter personal circumstances; with a hiss

She fixed her gaze on him and turned the question
On him. "Why have you limited my world of choice?
I'm a winner, not a whiner," came her reply only just begun
"A leader, not a follower; victor, not victim," she did voice.

"I'll set my own agenda for personal achievement."
She'd been in the school long enough to realize
She wanted to change the paradigm from a movement
Of the fishes that had served to marginalize

And ridicule fish that didn't follow the collective agenda.
She picked up the mantel of leadership courageously.
"I choose to be human, create my own vedanta."
She did not give her reply spontaneously.

His vision squared on her; he'd never received such a request
Only one in a billion had ever asked; he took it as an omen.
With a fish-smile, he granted her wish without protest
And declared her to be Today's Renaissance Woman!

from the published archives --
Mimi Wolske (November 2010)
All Rights Reserved

(art by Brian M. Viveros)