Monday, June 30, 2014

A Game of Patience

Meredith Frampton, 'A Game of Patience' 1937
Take me back to the place where time stood still…

Would each one of us were able
to read the other’s thoughts so well—
            anticipate the other’s fate...
to lay our cards out on the table,
expose what’s guarded deep within.

How discomfiting to tell
what it is you feel inside…
            Might there be something left for me?

I never knew that when we fell
then stood again, a piece was lost…

And so compelled, I now confide
no poker face; my cards exposed...
(yet through the years you’ve never shared;
            nor have I, although I’ve tried)

constrained in limbo to remain 
            ever by another’s side.

© Ginny Brannan 2014

On concept of 'love's labours lost'

Sharing at Magpie Tales #226. Image provided by Tess Kincaid, she provides the image, we the story!

Friday, June 20, 2014

Cravings...

I long to be craved for
in the wee hours before
darkness melts into dawn;
I long to be the first thought
that enters your mind each day…
I long to be savored,
sweet and moist upon your lips
as morning rays slip the blinds
casting stripes on linen sheets.
I long to feel your soft breath
as you inhale the scent of me;
feel  your pulse quicken
as my warmth teases your tongue
I long to arouse your senses
satisfy your thirst…
I long to be …  

                     … coffee

© Ginny Brannan 2014











I also long to be 21 again too, but that aint working for me either!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Water Colors


a study in pastel
pollen drifts the surface
 to capture Monet 

© Ginny Brannan 2014

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Still Crazy After All These Years...

The Beatles introduced on Ed Sullivan February 9, 1964
We are the 'baby boomers' 
conceived in the 50’s when Elvis was King.
We are God fearing, hell-raising all-American kids, educated in a small town
taught to fear Jesus in a small town...
We survived the turbulent 60’s:
We saw the Cold War and the end of Camelot;
watched as Kennedy fended off the Soviets in Cuba,
working to find peaceful solutions abroad
and racial equality at home.
He fought a war on two fronts
                  ….and was gunned down.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of dreams;
of peace and tolerance, a better world for
our children, and our children’s children
                  … and was gunned down.
Bobby, our new hope, our golden boy
                  … he too, was gunned down.
Too young for the marches, the war surrounded us,
brought into our homes each night by the voice of Walter Cronkite
and like John, Martin and Bobby, we dreamed of peace.
We are the Beatles generation…embraced their music from moment we heard them.
We grew up with Opie and Lassie, Robin Hood and Superman.
No Kindles no tablets; give us a super hero comic book any day.
We listened to Dylan and Fogerty, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, Jethro Tull
We Bungled in the Jungle and sang songs of protest and antiwar;
We are the teenagers of the ‘70’s...
Hendrix and Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Kansas—
like Dust in the Wind, we kept  Dreamin’ On.’ 
We held our collective breath waiting for draft cards to arrive.
   Then, just like that, the war was over.
Our lives moved on, college , work, marriage, children, career…
we were the be-bop babies on a hard day’s night… and we danced
and we listened to the pop rock of the 80’s
that morphed into techno, and rap, a music evolution—
a revolution set in place by those four lads from Liverpool.
We cried over senseless murders of children; our classrooms no longer safe-havens.
We chose sides on gun control; yet all of our hearts mourn the innocents.
Yes, we’ve lived through the good, the bad and the ugly—
                  …and we are still going

Think about it— we’ve been around through JFK, RFK, MLK; Elvis, the Beatles, Dylan; war and peace, another war and so much more. We saw the fall of the Twin Towers, and the fall of the Iron Curtain. We were here for Roe v. Wade and Watergate, Star Trek  and Star Wars,  and the original ‘space race.’ We’ve seen innovations in medicine, and computers that fit in the palm of your hand. We have instant communication with anyone, anywhere in the world. We’ve ushered in the first black president, and may yet see the first female president. We are the computer techs and the mechanics, the greens-keepers and bakers, the poets and the dreamers.  In the more than 6 decades that we’ve been on this earth, we have seen history…lived history…made history…

We are the gray-haired 60-something tattooed rock 'n rollers— 
perhaps a little bit older and a lot less bolder than we used to be
…but hell yeah, we’re still here...
                        Here's to us!

© Ginny Brannan 2014




Who says you can't go back…looking back on the last 4 decades and beyond, on the occasion of my 40th class reunion. For my fellow classmates and my friends from BFUHS class of 1974, and all the other 'boomers who remember...  
Follow the lavender links to the music and the speeches, the real trip down memory lane.

Monday, June 2, 2014

A Writer’s Quandary

The warm June air calls me to play
to take advantage of the sun
so many things that must be done
and it’s too nice to waste the day

The flowering shrubs have passed their prime
and threat of cold is finally gone;
plant the annuals—mow the lawn,
trim back the bushes—now’s the time!

The weathered deck’s in need of stain,
as daylight stretches into eve—
there’s so much more than first perceived;
look forward to a day of rain…

So should you stop to see what’s new
and find my posts are rare at best
it’s because I needed rest
tomorrow there will be more to do.

But don’t give up, for write I will…
when time allows and ink flows free;
the summer’s brief; the winter–still,
and pen will call again to me.


© Ginny Brannan 2014

Image by author