The Wolverine

Gary Jules Mad World (Wolveriene’s version)

Lithium (Jean's Version)

 

It’s a mad world.  She took away their last form of communication.  Or I guess you could say it was him.  He was the one that went outside of the script.  How did he do this?  By telling the truth.  A small little truth… no more than a crack in a dam.  But by merely pointing it out the wall collapsed.  Don’t get me wrong the façade was beautiful.  But at the end of the day, it was nothing more than a façade that would erupt on its own anyway.  That’s right:  I’m talking about the Wolverine and Jean Grey.   

What started all this???  I watched a movie a few days back.  It helped to cement which one of the X-men I was.  Don’t worry.  He ran from his own clarification as well.

It was one of those X-men movies or I suppose a spin off.  Like the comics, it was filled with the good guys, the bad guys, and all those marvelous shades of gray.  For a little while I thought I could associate with Scott, or Cyclops.  He was smart, reserved, and was a man of controlled words… okay, so maybe I wasn’t Scott.  Well then maybe I was the professor.  That’s a possibility.  He was smart, urbane, a teacher.  Maybe it would fit.  But no… even he had to be saved.  He had to be saved by the Wolverine.

The movie I saw by the way was The Wolverine.  The Wolverine: a brute, a brawler, a tenacious bulldog who just would not quit.  Yeah, that’s all true.  But this latest movie really pointed out another odd fact.  Wolverine was a man haunted by a ghost.  The specter of Jean Grey.

Jean had focused the savage beast.  He would not hesitate to stand against anyone for her.  Always for her.  And she, gave all for him.  This caused her death the first time, but the second time she emerged confused.  More powerful than one could believe, he tried to help her but h only ended up killing her.  What???  Well he did it for her.  (Comic logic, see the movie if you have to.)  But like the sting of a bee, Jean never really left.  She continued to haunt his dreams.

 In his dream she would tease, she taunting promises.  He knew she was a dream, she knew she was a dream.  But  I suppose for him, a dream was all they had.  If he could not enjoy the pleasure of her, then I guess Wolverine felt he could at least enjoy the pain… it was all he had.  Would you live a life of hell for five minutes of heaven?  For Wolverine apparently the answer was yes.  He had tried to walk away.  Maybe it worked for a moment or two.  The thin skin that covered the wound however was very weak, ready to rupture at a moment’s notice.  But on the other hand, maybe it was this ghost that kept the Wolverine alive.  He had faced so much more than it seemed fair for any comic book character to take and loose.  Maybe it was only that memory of a fractured past that kept his present, no matter how askew in order: poor Wolverine.  But don’t worry, every morning, he would wake however and carry on.  Poor Wolverine.

 The thing that was hard for me to figure out, was when he knew it was a dream, why did he keep on doing it.  To tell you honestly I don’t know.  Maybe she had to stay in the fractured stasis.  He knew all the fractures… he said as much.  He longed from a howl from the other side that met his own hand reaching out in the darkness.  Maybe that’s asking too much from a movie.  Maybe if truth was brought in they would face the denial and collapse into the other, or maybe it would reveal that all of it was nothing more than a shifting game built upon a cracked foundation.  Revealed it would just cause them to collapse.  Ahh well, good thing Wolverine is indestructible.

The gift

"Excuse me."

So it was my second time in line.  I had been in line once before to buy an item, now I was going to build up some store credit with some books I had sold back to the store.  You see I was at Recycled books  It's a used bookstore up here in Denton.  The setting of this story however, may not be as important as what day it was... it was Christmas Eve.

My Christmas Eve caught up with me being in the domestic.  Doing the wash, deciding on the potential of two docs to create this upcoming semester, and the fun of making sure that my classes are able to make.  Too much distraction... I mean fun, yeah... that's what we will call it, and of course cleaning about the house.  In cleaning my house I had come across some books I wanted to trade in to a used bookstore:  Recycled Books.

Well in the torrent of things to do I went to Recycled.  As it was Christmas Eve, the store was pretty busy.  As a common  trait among many established used book stores, the store perfectly reflected the tomes it sold; a little well worn, signs of age are present, but the store, and its customers reflected only nurturing comfort.  At the purchasing area a short haired brunette brazened with the bandana of a Rosie the Riveter greeted me.  Through her black thick rimmed glasses one expects in a college town, she confidently began the shuffle.  "What is your first name again?", followed by the "Okay... it will be a little while."  All of this I was used to.  I knew I would go and loose myself in the trove.

"Excuse me."

The trick is the same at most retail.  You give the customers time to spend money at the store while they wait for the service. I had made my usual rounds.  I spent my time looking at books, then at people, all the while carrying out conversations in my head.  I found an item, waited in line, and sat to read while I waited for my credit to be ready.  When they called my name I went to go get it and got right back into line again.  This time, a new employee had stepped forward to the two operating registers.  I hadn't seen her in a long time.  As our conversations were always good, I hoped that I would get to be her customer.  I looked at the line, figured out that the odds seemed to be in my favor and smiled.  The line moved forward at a steady pace...

"Excuse me."

That is when I saw her.  Well actually heard her.  Looking down there she was.  A girl somewhere between the age of 9 and 10 holding out a flower that seemd so large in her tiny hand.  She held a bunch of similar flowers in her other hand and it obvious that she had picked them from the bush outside.  Yet her smile was so earnest.  So unblemished by any motive save to say: "Excuse me, but I wanted to give you a flower and tell you I hope you have a Merry Christmas tomorrow."  Her smile turned into an open grin as I reached down to take her gift from her.  "For me?Well thank you young lady.  Looking up, I saw her mother standing about 8 feet away holding a larger bouquet.  But looking back at the girl I saw her begin to laugh.  "Well you have a lot of flowers", I stated. "Yes, I am going to give one to every person in the store.  I want to make sure they have a Merry Christmas."  "Well that's a good idea," I replied.  "And I hope you have a Merry Christmas!" 

Her response to my announcement, merely displayed the unbridled joy of Christmas.  She laughed.  That unfettered laugh that comes so easily as a child, but sadly grows more difficult as we get older.  "It's not Christmas today!", she bellowed.  "It's not?", I replied," Well I want you to have a Merry Christmas both today and tomorrow."  This little bit of minor madness caused both her and her mother her to giggle.  "Thank you so much for your gift."  I told her.  "Now you better get going and deliver more."  It was now my turn at the front counter.  The sales attendant I hadn 't spoken to in a while was behind the register. 

"Excuse me." could be heard in the distance.  Out of my peripheral vision she was spreading joy to the world the best way she knew how, by giving all a simple, hand picked yellow flower.  Never forget, the power of one good act in a weary world.

"Excuse me."

Never hesitate to practice random acts of kindness.

"Excuse me."

I am only telling the readers to.... what?  Okay.  I will tell them.

Merry Christmas.        

   

Pick a memory of light

Madonna Ray of Light




Pick a memory of light
Any one
Her joy
Tiny feet chasing
Walking the rails
With the father
Finding
Treasure in discarded rags
That
He had placed
Though
She didn't know
Does it change the memory?

Pick a memory of light
Any one
In the racing
Chaotic scurry
Of the daily race
Like
Suffocating heat
Fieldhouse filled
Barbarian yawps
Diming in his ears
Focus on
Defying odds
Rising to the challenge
He knew
Victory merely waited
Do you chase the horizon?


Pick a memory of light
Her smile
A moments pause
The delight found
In accepting eyes open
Or
The desire found
In longing eyes closing
Before the moment
Burning contact
Passes
Does it change the moment?

Pick a memory of light
That hides in tomorrows sunrise
It's there you know
Flying
Waiting
Longing
For you to make it
For your capture
"Chase me"
Coo's its breathy whisper
Waiting
Will you pursue?

But the wisest of all
Fill the present
With light
So all can see
Back
Perhaps they burn
To defy the memories
Whose skeletal arms reach
To blind
That which
Might try to bind
And distract
Defeat
Complete
Those that try to
Pick a memory of light

Don't stop the music

Don't Stop Britney's Music (Robin Skouteris Mix)

Please
Stop
She
Thought
Feigning defiance
Against
The music's primal beat
Eyes close
As if
We could
Cancel the impossible
Forestall the
Inevitable
As
Rhythm surrounds
Pulsing waves
of the beat push
Pulsing waves
Of dancers
Drowning lost
In a sea
Tranquility
Please
Stop
Thought as
The focus of real
Pulls the blur
As fiction escapes
Swirling whisper whips
Caress your ear
Joining the movements
The flashing lights
Illumining delights
Lost in only a moment
Replaced
Repealed
As the real
Becomes the shadow
The echo
Threshes
Blending
In
Following heated presses
Heated trace touches
Intimate from darkness
Silent Ally
The drawing slide
Against
The press
For
The Beat
So
Smiling
Stop
Please
A killing retreat
Please
Stop
Pretending

Descending Zenith

Jennifer Lopez Vs Britney Spears Vs Rihanna - Against The Floor (Robin Skouteris Mix)

Descending Zenith
Sun's dying moments
Breathing fire into her eyes
Knowing it would live still
In her
Simmering Stare
To live
To burn
To grin
To laugh
All again
In her
Delicate dance
I listened
I observed
While the pressing through
Burned
Longing to taste
The smooth move
Of
Her dancing lips
Dripping
Curious to call
The kiss stolen
When it was a gift
Of life
So freely given
As the
Descending Zenith

Rises
Again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYseWvSFADA = Jennifer Lopez Vs Britney Spears Vs Rihanna - Against The Floor (Robin Skouteris Mix)

 

Your power

Robin Skouteris - Dirty Rockk (Evanescence, Limp Bizkit, Kevin Rudolf, Lil Wayne & more) MASHUP

 

Okay… really cool mashup.  The place that I started using for inspiration starts at 00:54.  Start there to read

In a world
Filled
With a dog eared deafening dogma
Replaces free thought
The false suffocating security of groupthink
Religious
Political
Social
Any group
Any side
All you have to do is conform
Without question
Sedate
You will be accepted
Maybe

But
To be true
To yourself
Knowing
Any truth
That cannot bear questioning
Doesn't deserve  to be called a truth
Every heart reverberates

Though
The nail that sticks out
Gets struck down the hardest
The nail knows
Revolutionaries are never loved
During the revolution
Make yourself
Your strongest ally
Run from the fear
Silence the old self
Who whispers doubt
So sweet
Effortlessly sapping
Your power
Makes you afraid
Your power
Til you embrace
You power
And realize
You are stronger
Than you ever believed
In a world
Filled
With a dog eared deafening dogma
 

The Blood of Eden

Peter Gabriel Blood of Eden

Never let it be forgot
Between the real
And the imagined
Lies the shadow

A shadow where
I have seen
My words
My heart
Cast
Degraded
Regarded
As little more
Than filthy
Menstrual rags crumpled

Thanks
Should I smile
At the one
Whose fear induced
Corner cowering
Hide her shame
In a house that knows no victory
Save passions
So vital
They are to remain hidden
In secret folders
Sparingly distributed
As they are
Sparingly diminished
To the David's killing Goliath's
The lovers grip grew loose
To the inspiration of Blakeswood
Caught him in a noose
Or your dance
Of delight
With Mike
-elangello
In Sistine chapel glow

Is that a dagger or a crucifix I see?
Or did I create?
While I wait
-ed for a moment
of Forgetting
A moment of bliss

Somewhere is an Eden
And never let it be forgot

That somewhere

Sometime

There was a Camelot

 

Complicated Rhythm

Peter Gabriel - Only Us

The gypsy moon dances
In
Complicated Rhythm
Like
Disjointed heartbeats
Keeping time
Always
Despite the discordant distance
As close as
Next to each other
Or as far as
The moon

Complicated Rhythm
The simple beauty
Diminutive peaks formed
At the corner of her smile
The delicate boundary
The dancing reveal
Of the supple curve
On the back of her thigh
Rising high
Flesh soft firm
That revealed other supple secrets
Higher
Where
Simmering heat built
Contagious energy erupted
From lips burning
Hips turning
In dancing circles slow turn
As he pulled her close
The knowing gypsy smiles

Complicated Rhythm
He thought of her
The way she walked and talked and loved
The way she told him things that seemed true
But were not
Her body could never lie
For he knew
Her mask was ungainly
So was his
He longed to smash the porcelain prisions
Ceramic cages separating
The contact
The Complicated
Rhythm
Revealed
Would seamlessly meld
In beat laden beauty

My gypsy moon

Play it again

Joe Jackson Slow Song

Play it again.

A slow song

Maybe
The masks
The fear
The points that draw us near
As fast
As they pull apart
Will be gone
Just for a moment
Just for a pause
I know you can't stay
Afraid you might say
The truth
It could slip out
So well hidden
Mating underbrush
In our secret garden
Fiction is the lie
That reveals the truth
Relity obscures

For at least there
I can stroke your hair
Draw my finger
Across your cheek
Stare
Into your almond eyes
To be
Complete
Just for a moment
But the reality
I see
That which obscures
And
Like a fool
A madman
I loved you
For yourself
Despite yourself
But mostly
Your
True
Self
Truly
So
In the end
I loved her
Bumbling
Striving
Perhaps awkward
But forever earnest
And sometimes

Sometimes

---I think

She loved me

Play it again.

Pretty Kitty

Christina Aguilera Vs. Mike Oldfield "Not Myself Tonight vs. Tubular Bells"


Night fell
On the day
Where the dead
Walk among us

And that is when
In
Defiance
She entered
My pretty kitty

Sleek stride stole
the air from the room
Sly smile dripped delight
Her lips leaked passion
Skin burning savage
Heated life erupted from her skin
Clad in outfit clung
Like a second skin
Mirroring her movements
Revealing enough
To inflame imagination
A beckoning invite
To gaze
To drink from
The loving cup
My pretty kitty
My hand slipped
Around her waist
So thin
So sleek
So svelte
So
Smoldering
in passion
Her sly smile
As she tilts her head
Is the momentary hold
Before both are consumed
With the inferno of the kiss
I long to hear
My pretty kitty
Purr

The Walk

Annie Lennox Backwards/Forwards mashup

 

He never turned his collar

Against the penetrating
Damp
London cold

Rhythmic footsteps
Beat

On the cobblestone
Street tattering told of

Dickens nightly walk

Hours pressing into dark
Despite

Acrid smoke
Pungent air

Striving

Not for inspiration

But rather

To keep the fiction alive

Despite the drain 

Man’s inhumanity

To man
Seen

The face of a soot covered starving urchin
Contrasting flash

Of the High Victorian Lady's
Flesh

Of an ankle
Escaping the filth of the street

As she knowingly smiled to get on a streetcar

The game of the indecent coquette
Bearing smile
All the while
For it is just a game
Despite
or
To spite?

His audience must know

He saw all

Should he revel in corpses

The rotting flesh trade?

Or turn

To that which made

Life worth living

He would ask himself

He would want
To turn
To... or from?

The breaking tension

Perhaps that’s what made his fiction so real

Without being too real

That line

That balance

That tightrope walk
Exhausting
But necessary

It had to be a good Christmas

Tiny Tim would walk

And no house

Would forever remain bleak

All he had to do

Was continue to walk

As night turns to day

Rihanna vs. Coldplay - We found Love vs. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

So simple
No need
To describe the night

Dark
Filled with
Whispered trace vapor holding
The mist of lies
Those told to others
Or the devestating
Deadly
Told to self
Though
Composed only of
Ghost of substance
Left us
Shivering
Waiting
For
The Brreaking

Twilight of the dawn
Golden light
Diffuse
Horizon reborn
My muse
Don't cry

We fell in love in a hopeless place

We believed we could take on the world
And we did
Defiant
Righteous
Our love would conquer all

And it did
For a moment

For our day

Cherish

The heat of our touch

The stolen laugh

The knowing grin

Or when

The burning flesh

That clung

One

To the other

Griping

So tight

It

Seared

Permanent

In its fusion

Hearts were made one

At least

For a moment

til

A new day had begun
Leaving
Our day
Regardless
In an eternal

Dawn

My Tomorrow

Ariana vs. Beyoncé vs. Demi - Break Free Like Drunk Neon Lights

My
Tomorrow

Knows
   now

Silent Slumber
On the horizon

Now
She slides
Evades
Thinking that
She makes
Peripheral Escape
While she looks
Longs
For that
For what
She scarified

Never knowing
That her most amazing
Side
Lives in the slide
Of the upturned smile
Her laugh unrestrained
Her barbaric yawp
Released
On the world
Life|
Unabashed
Undaunted challenge
A question
I wanted to spend
The rest of time
Answering
As
Souls made free
To dance
To embrace
To move
As the space
Separating grew
Small
Passion
Burning
Tear the finite
Transformed
To an infinate
World
Made only for the two
That would always
Reside in

My
Tomorrows
     Silent slumber
On the horizon

A life lesson

*the following is what I had prepared to be read at my Grandmothers funeral today.  I hope you draw inspiration.

Lorene Reynolds.  We are gathered today to mark the passing of a great lady.  In case you haven’t noticed the world is a bit dimmer as it has lost one of its shining lights.  Now you will please excuse me if I refer to Lorene as how I knew her… Grandma.  To be honest, I was caught by surprise when I heard the initial news and the rapid progression of Grandma over the weekend.  Though she had been blessed with many years, it was one of those things that humans do.  We always take for granted that she was going to be around for the next year regardless.  It was Grandma.  But when the final words were passed of her walking on, the first thing that came to my mind were fireflies.

It may sound silly, but chasing fireflies under the full moon of a Columbus, Indiana summer night was the first recollection I had as I heard of Grandma’s passing.  While Alex, my older brother carried the capture jar I was the hunter with the net.  We furiously ran about the yard as Grandma stood in the doorway watching us, softly sipping from her ever present coffee cup.  The beaming smile on her face reflected the joy she felt from watching the exuberance of her grandsons. 

She never hesitated to give her efforts, or her time.

Then the memories poured forth like a flood: a never ending supply of glass coke bottles by the garage door, canned vegetables from ages past,   I remember her sure and steady steps that always guided her movements around the kitchen each morning.  As she might bring a strange and exotic meal like pork tenderloin sandwiches or country gravy on Toast.  Whatever it was, to this Texas boy, it was great.  In almost all she did was motivated out of love.  Each birthday or holiday, I found a card from her.  Why did she do so much?

Well, ya see, Grandma came from a different generation.  It was a generation that didn’t tell you “I love you.”  No they actually had a crazy idea that instead of telling someone you loved them… you lived it.  She did all of this and so much more.  All of the cookies, the treats, the cards or conversations each hoping to find you “fine”, were her way of living her love.  She loved so passionately.  She nurtured all she came into contact with.  If you were in a group, you didn’t feel left out as she had an incredible ability to be able to show the individual that they were so beloved that the presence of others was not a threat.      

The last memory I will share is when it came time for the lady that I knew as “Grandma” to become known as “Great-Grandma,” to my boys.  When my oldest son Gabriel was born, the Reynolds were quick to arrive.  Although not the first grandchild… He was my first and also the first Grandson.  Though it was the next day, my ex-wife was still understandably exhausted from the birth.  The nurses allowed Gabriel to spend more time with us.  That is when Grandma entered the room.  The look of amazed joy on her face was exquisite.  We placed the child in Grandma’s arms and she so lovingly embraced the child.  Although Mary Ellen was anxious, as all new mothers are, I was amazed by Grandma’s tender cuddling of my child.  Remember, she didn’t tell people she loved them, she lived it.  I was amazed at the beauty of that my Grandmother poured out on my son.  When it was time to give him back to Mary Ellen, she almost didn’t want to let him go.  Indeed, she was so enraptured by Gabriel I had to say her name numerous times.  Why was she so caught up?  Simple.  She already loved him so. 

           So what should be a legacy for this great woman?  I challenge all to live as my Grandmother did.  Don’t worry, you can still tell people you love them, but more important: unceasingly and unhesitatingly live the love you have for others.   

Silent moon

U2 vs Zedd Vs Qulinez- Troll's Year Clarity

The moon is silent.
It's okay
For I have been silent too.
The wolf no longer rests outside the door
It savages my heart
Rips at my soul
My mind
A clamored chaotic whirlwind
Slipping into madness
Prevented by
Gripping
A single truth
Or
Sinking in quicksand reality
Desperately grasping
A fiction
Named hope

Either way

The fabric tears

The ruddy little boy

Mashup - Queen + U2 - The Seas Have No Name

You the people have the power.  

 It ever was.  

 It ever shall be.

But it begins with the one

In Hollywood its easy. 
Captain Kirk
Captain America
Or
The ruddy little boy
Plain
Powerless
Dirty shirt torn
Rises
Before the bully
Smug and sullen
The boy has had enough
Fists
Of scared knuckles torn
Clutching nothing more than the truth
Whatever smile existed
Turned to a sneer
Despite fear
Despite the pain
Despite times struck down in the past
Through gritted teeth
Clenched Fists
Is that all you got?
Stare assures
Freedom and beauty will exist
Knock me down
I shall rise again
And
I might take you down
For
With the arrival of the dawn
Fear will die

Movement
Silent
From the corners they come
Steps slow
Fearful
Yet
Emboldened by the bravery
The defiance of the one
Denied too long the light
They joined
And the strength of the one
Became the strength
Of the many
With a hand outstretched
Join the revolution

Gonzales: Come and Take It Fundraiser