picture it & write; Decisions

Which one should I choose? A couple dozen keys were littered out in front of me. The elderly woman with gnarled hands and a crooked nose spread them out. This couldn’t be real. Surely it was just hocus pocus. But, what if it wasn’t? The woman stared at me intently, waiting for my choice. “All I want is a new start,” I sighed. These keys wouldn’t help that journey. The woman responded in a hoarse voice, “What do you value most, young man?” Dreams, love, heart, memory, life, wealth, health… and countless more keys glistened. I wanted to grab them all. Which one should I choose?

– Ermisenda Alvarez

http://ermiliablog.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/2952/

Free Write Friday; Cash in a Box

You are cleaning out your attic when you find an old dusty box you’ve never noticed before. You open it to find stacks of hundred dollar bills and a note that says, “Here’s your cut, see you in Mexico”. There is no signature. Start writing whatever floods your mind at this thought and tell me a story…

Oh, Aunt Sadie
what have you done?

Is this the reason
that you had run?

What is it now
I’m supposed to do?

Who is it coming
to look for you?

What do I say
when they arrive?

Was there a story
you did contrive?

How could you ever
do this to me?

This money didn’t come
to you for free

And now I’m left
holding the bag

While into your mess
others you drag

Without a thought
but for yourself alone

Well guess what
I’m taking it for my own!

Teresa Marie 2/3/12 © 

http://kellieelmore.com/2012/02/03/free-write-friday-cash-in-a-box/

Chicken Dinner

In view of the economy
it is so refreshing to me

Just at some point to see
the things in this world for free

A sense of humor seems to be
alive and well in this country

And we can laugh ’cause it’s funny
even though it has to do with money

When in the land of milk and honey
things have not been alway sunny

So allow me now to say
that somewhere down along the way

I hope that you find here one day
something to laugh your stress away

For outside the door it just may
be a world in shades of gray

Inside my home does always stay
a rainbow of colors to brighten the day!!

Teresa Marie  12/30/11 ©

Life is a Battlefield

Life is a battlefield
that awaits us all

From the day we’re born
’til unto death we fall

Whatever is that lies
there in the between

May only day-to-day
by anyone be seen

Whether in a skirmish
or a full-out war

We are all fighting
to gain a little more

More money, more cars
more homes, more land

With wealth and prestige
comes the upper hand

Yes, life is a battlefield
that if we don’t win

‘Tis the time that may
our hell on earth begin

For the ultimate goal of
war is land and money

Fought over piles of dirt
and all the bees honey 

 This is how our society
from sea to shining sea

Has always been taught
is the way to be

But I must truly say
I’ve thrown my greedy lots

Trying to bridge the gap
between the have’s and have-nots

When I found myself
worse off than before

For money’s not the thing
that someone should adore

The battles that we fight
one into another blur

Until our life is gone
and I think you may concur

If we put that effort
rather into family and friend

We’ll actually be the richest
of all in the end!

Teresa Marie  12/29/11  © 

Mother of Time

(image source: latoro.com)

The mother of time

with her patience sublime

Just sits and waits

as every person skates

At break necked speed

her warnings without heed

Rushing through their life

ducking pain and strife

As they bob and weave

and plans for success conceive

It’s the driving force

how they set course

To go sailing on

until their time’s gone

Coming to their end

no longer can pretend

They have all the time

to learn reason’s rhyme

And what they find

is those left behind

Have no stories to tell

 how they spent life well 

For in their pursuit

of all evil’s root

‘Twas greed for more

they wasted their time for.

Teresa Marie  12/22/11  ©

 

Scent of Almond

My aunt placed the tea on the table before exiting. These family reunions were always uncomfortable. The conversations grew hot quickly from the grinding friction of personalities. I counted the hours until I would be home again. Instead of fiddling with the hem of my shirt I decided to drink the tea my aunt had offered me. She had a fascination with buying ornate plates, cutlery and cups. The intricate, golden design winked at me. What disconcerted me was the content. Blood-red tea reflected my anxious expression. I took the teacup and rested the cool ceramic against my bottom lip. I was only being paranoid. This was normal tea. The sickly sweet liquid broke past the seal of my lips. I convinced myself the blood-red tea was a fitting choice. After all, wasn’t it blood that had forced us to converse this evening? Somebody had to inherit our grandparent’s money.

– Ermisenda Alvarez

That blood’s thicker than water
is what people do say
when opposite personalities will
often a friendship decay

Even though my aunt had
truly hated my mother
’twas only her and I
no other sister or brother

And so the bloody color
of this particular tea
just seemed as appropriate
as it could ever be

Right before I sipped
the liquid from my cup
over the delicate rim
I stopped to glance up

My aunt began staring
with wide opened eyes
and a look showing
an element of surprise

The faintest smile then
spread across my lips
as I raised the cup
and took a couple sips

She had placed hers
back on the table
beginning to stand up
but found herself unable

Glaring now at me
almond sent filled the air
while there was no sympathy
for her would I spare

And right before she died
I really do believe
that she drank the arsenic
her mind did conceive

Her head hit the table
as I kept my seat
for I had switched cups
to her own defeat!

Teresa Marie  12/3/11

 

__picture it & write by Ermilia

The Proposal

As mother was speaking to me all I could hear was the roaring in my ears, “No, no, no!”  Why wouldn’t she leave me alone?  She just had to keep pushing and pushing this and the day has arrived that she’s been wanting and waiting for, but not me!  He finally had approached my father with his proposal.

All my mother could think of was the prestige and money that would come from a marriage between me and Armand.  How it would put her in the higher echelon of society, if that’s all that matters in life then I’d rather die and get it over with.  I just wanted to scream in her face that love was more important to me than money ever could be and run out of the room, away from him! 

Armand made my skin crawl.  The thought of a marriage with him was absurd.  Mother kept saying that I would learn to love him and that love was highly overrated anyway.  Overrated!  That’s how she may see it but not me, never me!!  I knew that they were going to try to force me into doing this, I just didn’t know that it would be tonight.  I wasn’t ready for it, what about Adrian? 

I am already in love with someone else.  He is a good man, decent and honest, not like this slick snake oil salesman standing a few paces away from me.  Looking at him made me tremble and not with desire!  I just couldn’t imagine being his wife and being forced to sleep with him.  The thought was so repulsive that I was actually getting sick to my stomach.  Armand was looking at me like I was something he wanted to eat, as a wolf looks at a lamb!  Dear God, help me!!

What am I going to do?  How will I escape this fate that my parents have planned for me?  Don’t they care about my happiness?  No, of course they do.  Their only problem is they believe that money buys it. 

Oh God, oh God!  What do I say to get them to change their minds?  If the agreement is made, I’ll have no choice.  All my plans that I’ve made with Adrian will be gone with the wind!  My Adrian, sweet and gentle Adrian, my love, what’s going to happen to us?

“Money is the root of all evil…” is what the Bible says, don’t they remember that?  Mother is the one who read it to me, doesn’t she see that she’s doing exactly what it was talking about?  Doesn’t she realize that she is about to sell her daughter?  And to him, the devil himself!

To be continued…

Teresa Marie   11/20/11

Give You The World

I’ll give you the world
right here in my hand
with all of its riches
in both sea and land

You need only to follow
and walk in my way
for it to be yours
right from this very day

I know you want it
what’s God given to you?
You live like a pauper
do you really want to?

You’ll have it now
just think of everything
that the whole world
will to you bring

You need only to
just say the word
and it is yours
soon as I’ve heard

Give me your soul
I’ll take in trade
it is a small price
for it to be paid!

Teresa Marie  8/25/11

So Poor

Some people are so poor they only have money!

Ivor Powell

Some people are so poor
because of what they adore

And put that love into
everything they say and do

By desire of silver and gold
they grow calloused and cold

For they pursue after money
as their land of milk and honey

Blinded by greed for wealth
they only do fail themself

When it does last for eternity
to forfiet your soul to the enemy.

Teresa Marie   7/1/11