Ending

 

Leaves of our humanity

fall silent on the ground

mark the end of man's existence

with not a single sound

We go without a protest

consumed by crippling fright

fading to obscurity

as day dissolves to night

A ripple in the pond of earth

a mere moment in time.

Our shortcomings are many

complacency our crime

Vital lessons never learned

our arrogance supreme

compassion's depths were never plumbed

humility ungleaned

As each leaf falls to quiet death

lies broken in the mass

Rain down a tear for all mankind

his time and chances past

Happy Birthday, Robert Frost

Robert Frost, born March 26, 1874,  has long been one of my most-loved poets.  One of my favorite things about his poems, other than the style, is the realism I've always seem in them.  The scenes and situations Frost chronicled always appeared very clearly in my mind, making me feel as though I were there.  

When I read "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", I can see the dark trunks and branches of the trees and the white of the snow against them, as well as feel the cold pressing around me.  That poem and "The Road Not Taken" were my introductions to Frost in a middle school English class, but the following poem is the one I love best.  My own poems tend to be full of questions and in this one verse, to me, Frost asks one of the ultimate questions.

A Question

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.

Be a Book Character! Really Cool Contest

Mostest Awesomest Contest

By shaydenfl
 

So, I wanted to come up with a KICKASS C ONTEST to celebrate my first book being out.

The problem is I didn’t want to be like everybody else. I know, go figure right? I’m kinda high maintenance like that. I don’t wanna be bigger or badder, just different. SO I thought to myself, “Self, how can we make this different.” Then I came up with an answer.

Give the People What They Want!

“But what do they want?” I thought to myself after my brilliant revelation.

Money? Fame? Power? Their father back, you sonofabitch?  (Sorry, Princess Bride moment.)

Well I don’t have any of those to offer. Trust me as soon as I do, I will be having some seriously foshizzle contests.

In the meantime I did figger out something to offer!

“Huh?” you say!

You get to be in a book! Do you get money from this? No

Do you get power? Only from your electric company.

Do you get fame? Quite possibly. I’ll let you know.

Do you get to be a kickfrigginass character in the third book of the Demonkin Series? You bet your ass you do! Not only that, but you get to  chose if you want your character to be one of the GOOD GUYS (boo) or one of the BAD GUYS (yay)!

Lovely assistant, please tell them what else they win!

A new ca…Nevermind, wrong gameshow. You get to choose your character! You could be a vampire, a werewolf, an elf. The possibilities are ENDLESS! WOO HOO.

Oh. There’s one more thing. You get to be in the DEDICATION!

I hereby dedicate this book to Insert name here, WINNER of the Demonkin Mostest Awesomest Contest!

“How do I enter?” you ask.

Simple! Click This cover. Buy the book. Wherever you buy the book, in the reviews section, post your favorite part and tell people why they should buy ORIGINS! Once you’ve done that, just comment here to let me know you entered!

Could I have made things any simpler? HAHAHA! I don’t think so!

So, Click the book and get started! The contest will run until April 15th, 2011. Have FUN!

Shel Silverstein on The Johnny Cash Show

Shel Silverstein has been a significant inspiration to me. I've read his books over and over again to my niece, Sarah, and, like all great books, I'll pick one up and re-read it myself when I need a spark to jump-start my writing. Likewise, Johnny Cash has been one of my favorite singers and musicians, with my dad playing his songs for my brothers, my sister and myself from the time we were born. I was delighted to find this clip on Youtube.