Thursday, January 26, 2012

Inner Dreamer

Dreams. We all have one. Maybe you can’t think of it right away, but if you close your eyes and talk to your younger self  you’ll remember it.

It feels like yesterday. Eyes closed, laying on my back, a blanket of green fresh grass beneath me, tickling my summer skin. Above me, the clear blue sky was filled with puffy white clouds. I’d lay there for hours watching the myriad of shapes drift past. Dragons, bunnies, dolphins, turtles, genies, angels. Each shape unlocked a mysterious world in my young imagination. The depths of the ocean beckoned to be explored. A plan formulated in the blind innocence of youth. I would become an oceanographer, traveling the depths of world like Jacques Cousteau. In my extensive travels, I would write about everything I saw. Expanding into archeology, and of course dabbling in the fine arts along the way. 

Needless to say, that hasn’t happened yet. Yes I said yet. Watching my prodigies grow, I’ve discovered,  that dreamer is still very much alive and kicking in the back of my  feet planted firmly on the ground adult mind. Then I wander through my daily grind. Observing the generations now past in their “Golden” years. I still see their inner dreamers. That wild eyed child stuck in a withering body, begging for one last, grand adventure. So I seek the improbable. Not impossible. Improbable. 

Nothing in life is impossible, a lot is improbable. Luck, stubborn ignorance, and sheer will power can over come the odds. I happen to posses all of the above. (Yeah I was laughing when I wrote that) But it’s true. If a person is never told what they are supposed to be the only limits they posses are those they impose upon themselves. One of my favorite lines is “Can’t is an imaginary word” . 
It is simply a limitation imposed out of convenience or sometimes laziness.  Sure there are a lot of things a person will never be, but if you want it bad enough, you will find a way to make it work. And the point of this little rant? 

Tell me what you dream of. When you close your eyes and let that inner child out, what does it tell you to do? 

Follow your dreams

2012 is going to be the year my dreams started to come true. What about you? Have you thought about it? Tell you what, I’ll share a few of mine with you. My dreams have changed a little with age. I realized somewhere along the way I probably wouldn’t invent a dolphin suit so I could swim next to them but…you never know.  The list for 2012 ……


1.) The release of Witan Vid Book 1 The Green Man’s Curse.
          This one is actually closing in!!!! March 2012 and secretly I’m both excited and terrified.
2.) Fly to Mexico, buy a big floppy hat , and explore some ancient ruins
             Passport orderedJ
3.) Surrender to the irresponsible side and actually gamble for one weekend in Vegas, watch Cirque Du Soile live, and  hit every ride on the Stratosphere.
                 I will post pics when I get there.
4.) Publish one complete book of poetry, prose, and lyrics.
                     On my pile of in progress.
5.) Finish and submit two screen plays.
                        On the Pile.
6.) Enter my Photography in a contest.
                            Need to borrow a pair of Cahonas for this one. Anyone willing to help the cowardly?
7.) Eat pasta in Italy  of course followed by  a glass of wine, float on a Gondola, visit to the Gallerria degali Uffizi, The Accademia, pretty much just explore and absorb everything!
                    It will happen.
8.) Take my daughter to New York and watch a real Broadway Musical .
                 Sometimes filling someone else’s dream is worth giving up one of your own.

9.) Buy property close to the ocean. Still trying to pick a coast, but by the end of the year……

10.) Let go of the past. Completely. We all have baggage, my load is getting lighter My goal is to carry only the positive things I’ve learned and leave all rest behind.

Well that’s what is on my agenda for this year. Who knows, maybe I’ll swap one out for something else. Or maybe I’ll accomplish everything by July and be able to tack on another ten, or twenty, or……..My inner dreamer is a very busy critter. What about yours?
 R.M. Brandon 2012

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Where I walk.
What do you see?

Friday, January 13, 2012

Midnight Crow


 Light fades
dawn deaths day
Midnight crow
Calls the hallowed
harvest moon
Ebony strands 
shimmer purple in the night
blue eyes flicker in the dashboard light
Death rides
Long, lean across the land
Flames, ash 
Evidence of his hand
Fire
She chases him
Bending to his will
A thousand souls she will take
Dancing in his wake
Following  
love consumes
that which will never be attained
Mesmerized
steel blue eyes lead her on
captivated by the heat of passion
A trail of ash marks their dance
Desert to sea
She pleads notice me
He guides her through the night
Midnight Crow
Pursued by the flame of lost love's sorrow


~(c) R.M.Brandon 2012~












Friday, December 30, 2011

Goodbye 2011 Hello Possibility

Wow! 2011 is finally over! It has been one hellzzzz of a year for this writer. Personal, professional, endless changes. While a few of the memories I will carry of this year are good, the majority are just learning experiences. Not complaining. If not for the tears I've shed, I wouldn't understand the how special a smile is. If not for hunger, I wouldn't be able to savor the succulent taste of steak. In short 2011 has taught me to cherish the bad moments as well as the good because without the bitter there would be no sweet. Well that's about enough of that. Short and sweet , I have learned alot.


Most recently, I was honored by the presence of a very beautiful elderly couple.  How many people in this crazy world take the time to stop and listen to the experiences of the elderly? How many just stop and watch? Beneath their warn and wrinkled skin, the tattered remnants of youth have blossomed into a deep, quiet wisdom. In retrospect what I saw with this one couple isn't as rare as I originally thought. He looks at her. eyes filled with awe and concern. A warm tenderness beneath the rough exterior of age. Although his body has become racked by disease, he notices less his own needs as he caters to hers.


She looks up to him, her legs withered in the chair by which she is carried. Eyes filled with adoration and awe. A gentle worry creases her wrinkled brow when his step falters towards her. The glint of pain flashes briefly in face then dwindles when his gaze meets hers. It has been years since she spoke more then two words to him. Time, disease, stole her voice. Yet the speak to each other. Subtle looks, tender gestures. On inquiry I learned they had met during the Second World War. A time when life was far darker then my generation could possibly imagine. Out of that dark time, how many of these precious couples were formed? The men who hold doors, confident and strong even under the duress of age. The women, graceful, confident, silently reassuring, with a strength to match that of the men. Together they have withstood war, famine, distance, loss. Yet, they stood together. Complementing the weakness of the other with strength.


These couples are hidden everywhere. Sit back and watch. In the mall, the man sitting on the bench waiting with a smile on his lips. Ask him why he's smiling. In the grocery store parking lot, the car blocking two lanes of traffic while the little white haired lady slowly makes her way to the door. Behind the wheel, there is a quietly smiling man who will have to walk far longer then his feet would like. In a hospital room behind a drawn curtain. They are everywhere, yet as you look at the younger couples something is missing. Maybe its time. Maybe its experience.


As the New Year turns, I will be looking for them more. Why? Because they are real. Beyond time, skin, strife, and struggle, they are true. That is what I strive for this year and every year to come. To always look beyond the surface and stay true to things in life that last beyond. Happy New Year to you all. I'll see you on the other side of the countdown.


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Flip The Scene

Flip the Scene


Severed heads stare blankly on the floor
Blood splattered ceiling to door
What was the cause
The beginning of this carnage
Love
The greatest killer of all
For love of money
Love of land
Love of what is in another's hand
Every day it runs rampant a curse upon the land
As by and by
Everyone falls to loves hand

Will it be bloody
Or peacefully brought
That is the challenge when love has you caught
Run from the word
The lies
Deceit
Severed heads roll across the floor
Flip the world
Take a look once more

Lovers smile
Across the room
A mistress
The stunning bridegroom
Tender embraces
Stolen kisses
A story of passion behind closed doors
Friends no more

Severed heads roll across the floor
Flip the scene look once more

Broken hearts
Promises torn
Into the fire
Cast loves first born
When friends became lovers
Never seeing what it was doing to another
Selfish
Selfish is the love
Love upon this land
consuming burning
Taking
Hurting
When the flames
Cleanse
Upon the floor
The severed heads
Stare at the opened door
Love moves on 
(c) 2011 R.M. Brandon