We are all under scrutiny
there’s no place to hide
Social media is the culprit
it reeks of hatred worldwide

People like to try to judge
They will hold a grudge
Into lives they spy and pry
with an eagle eye
You shouldn’t have to be blind to be kind
or to look upon each face with grace
What is up with controversy
can’t we show each other mercy

The key to tolerance
is to fight ignorance
The key to humanity
is international amity

5min-Pipe
Cold, solid, gray metal or white plastic. A vessel for water or waste to travel through. Easily clogged. When, blocked, product or bleach must be poured in to remove the sludge. Smells of algae and feces. On the other hand, pipe cleaners, are cute, colorful, fuzzy instruments, which children often use to make arts and crafts. The antennae or legs of a bug, all squiggly. Soft short hairs, surrounding on center of twisted wire. Pointy to the touch on the ends. The smell of glue and glitter and gold fish snacks at the arts & crafts table of the preschool.

10min-Hurricane
Glad this one was 10 min, I could have written about this subject for hours, about the MREs we ate (meals ready to eat), syphoning gas out of totaled cars, finding a giant snapping turtle along with my grand piano in the deep end of our swimming pool…

Growing up in south Mississippi, with a house on the beach, hurricanes were something I always was aware of. Each summer we had to watch the weather closely, in case anything, even a tropical storm were to form in the Gulf or Pacific. Often preparing our house with hurricane shutters on the windows, taping glass, & packing up our most important belongings to travel away with. Eleven years ago yesterday, however, my life shook with the force of 174 mph winds. My house on the beach washed away by a near 30 ft storm surge. Luckily my family & I got out with most of our important possessions, and we were lucky enough to own another residence in north Mississippi to retreat to. We left in the middle of the night after the storm hit to attempt the return home before ALL of the roads were closed. We were able to make it to the coast, however, not able to drive down the streets to our house. Luckily our larger boat had been parked up the river & survived the storm, on this boat I lived for the first few days following the storm. Thankfully we had enough gas to run the engine a few hours a day for air conditioning. However, I was very ill during this time & the heat of south Mississippi summer was no help at all. My cousin set up a hammock & slept on the slab of my house to protect it. While many others spray painted threatening signs that said “You loot, we shoot.” The smell was unbearable. Mississippi mud & Sludge dug up from the depths. I can still remember that smell today 11 years later. School was out for months. We had no belongings. Merely a few pairs of undergarments.

10min-Placemat
Hand-painted holiday placemats that always seem to stick to the table. Rectangular, with chopped off corners. Year round, outside of holidays, they had flowers. They remind me of home cooked meals. We never eat at home anymore. The kitchen went out of commission long ago! Today placemats are cloth, because there is no food to spill on them. While the other ones wiped off easily. Placemats and table settings. Fashionably designed name plates. Turkeys and pilgrims at Thanksgiving. The Annieglass chargers and dinner plates of the finest china. Sparkling cutlery and crystal water goblets. A pitcher full of sweet tea sits in the middle of the table along with the butter and gravy. Each place delicately marked so that not one feels left out. Places chosen strategically. The smell of green bean casserole and dressing fills the air. & for dessert, a red velvet cake, or grandma’s homemade sweet rolls-or both. Fresh rolls on the table swaddled in a cloth laying in a basket. Placemats to protect the white table cloth covering the oblong table.

90sec-Belly Ring
Cold, shiny piece of metal. Half moon shaped with a jewel on one end, a charm dangling from the other. Rusty blood from the piercing fresh and new.

10min-Ticket
Charlie got the last golden ticket. A moment that would change his life forever. It took him to the land of chocolate, where EVERYTHING was made of candy. You could even eat the flowers & the grass. Smell of sugar swirls & cocoa powder. Sour gum balls & everlasting gobstoppers. Children also received golden tickets in The Polar Express. These tickets allowed them to board a train for a journey to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Once again, a little boy’s life was changed by a golden ticket when he met Santa & received the first gift of Christmas. After that he was an eternal believer in the spirit of Christmas. Golden tickets are not just golden color, they are made of magic & transport children to wondrous lands filled with the unknown. These journeys stay with the children for the rest of their lives. Keeping the children young. The feeling of joy bubbling inside until it overflows onto the people surrounding them. As a wise elf once said, “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” You must have faith in something. & these children’s obedience & faith are what led them to the precious prizes. Gifts they received that would last a lifetime. The chocolate factory for Charlie, & the bell from Santa’s sleigh for the little hero boy. A bell that he could hear as long as he still believed, which he always did. Magic is out there, but it takes a pure heart to find it & keep it alive within them. One doesn’t need a ticket to find it, just the lucky ones

5min-Foam
Foam light and fluffy. Colors galore. Lots of fun for children in store. A great tub activity, foam soap to play with. Easy way to convince a child to take a bath. Little girls like to make mermaid bikinis with the thicker foam. Lathers easily into soapy suds and rinses away quickly. My mom always buys anti bacterial Dial foam soap. The soft pink peach colored kind. In a slightly triangular bottle. Smells fresh and clean. Childrens bathtub foam often comes in aluminum cans like spray pant or old school gillette shaving cream, but skinnier. The children’s kind smells fruity.

10min-Siren
Loud, blaring, deafening noise. Red lights, blue lights flashing in your face. The lights’ intensity equals the sirens volume. Cops are coming, better run & hide. An ambulance is coming better slow down & move to the side. Mythical creatures who lure you in with song. Deadly tantalizing. Beautiful women. Sirens signaling death or trouble. A red fire truck comes flying by, ignoring the traffic light to fight flames burning high. The smell of fire, and leaking gasoline. A mangled mess, and a body yet to be seen. The jaws of life swoop in to cut the man out. As police block the traffic. Lanes of automobiles merge into one, and all crane their neck to get a glimpse of the wreck. “What happened?” they wonder as they drive on by. Was it an accident or on purpose as only one car was involved. Not even raining so how did he swerve off the road? The flashing lights mix colors, the red & the blue. Purple blinking sky above, with a bright new star. Now that the emergency vehicles have arrived on the scene, they silence their sirens. You can hear the trapped man scream. Fighting for life.

10min-Sunlight
Sunlight creeps through the slits in the thick white blinds. It pours into the dining room from the large bay windows. The cat slumbers silently in the warm puddle of yellow. Fresh cookies are baking, it’s three in the afternoon and the children are almost home from school. The smell of rising sugar and burnt up crumbs wafting throughout the house. Sunlight on a hot day outside beaming down on the Earth. Taking no pity on it’s prisoners, laboring away in the fields. Sunlight hidden behind clouds. Peaking through just enough to shed wide bands like flashlight beams down, the hem of God’s garment I call it. The smell of fresh mown grass and summer rain on the ground, only just starting to dry in the sunlight strolling out from behind the clouds. Sunlight smells of childhood memories. These days it always seems to rain. To describe sunlight to a blind person I would say it is warm. Smells like coconuts and suntan lotion, possibly banana scented. But it also smells like the cookies I mentioned fresh baked by mom each afternoon post school, prior to extra curricular activities like dancing and piano. Sunlight warms the cold tile floor in winter. A natural heat, that costs no money, now used to power things-solar power-for cheaper.

90sec-Earthworm
Creepy, crawly, slimy creature. Long and thin, slithering about all agile. Silent, quieter than a mouse. Molding to it’s surroundings to overcome every obstacle. Slow but steady, inching forward. Seeing what lies forward and behind.

10min-Laugh
Contagious. Happy, a smile on everyone’s face. A frown turned upside down. A fantastic ab workout. Laughter makes the world go round. Like music, it is a universal language. Even more so, because every country laughs the same. People, however, don’t. Each laugh as unique as the individual itself. No two alike, even twins it sets apart. Laughter heals the soul. It stitches it back together again. It mends emotional wounds. Laughing a jokes till you roll on the ground in tears. Intimate moments you share with one glance at your best friend. Forced chuckles at you’re bosses lame comments to stay in his good graces. Laughing is healthy! It produces endorphins. The opposite of strife. Bringing people together. Unifying through a common interest. Laughing can be mean though. Laughing at a persons’ insecurities, weakness, or failures will never be okay! Laugh with, not at. Laughing tastes like sunshine & rainbows. It smells of burning leaves, fresh baked cookies. It sounds like a rainstorm with thunder and lightening. Even dogs laugh with their tails. Laughing is for all ages, it keeps you young! It tenses up then relaxes the muscles. Laugh til you cry, until the day that you die. It pays to be happy. You are more content when you can learn to laugh at yourself.

Section with assonance rhyme & contrast:

Burning dried up Christmas trees
An annual bonfire by the sea
It happens every New Years Eve
There’s lots of delicious food to eat

We kiss our partner at midnight
As we cuddle up by the toasty fire
As we hang out we laugh some cry
Underneath the starry sky

New Years Eve
Turns New Years Day
A time for new
Old goes away

OBJECT WRITINGS FOR THE WEEK

5min-BRIEFCASE
Hard, smooth briefcase with a small hinged handle. A light yellow-brown color. Smells of fresh leather. With a three digit code to pop the locks on either side. When open, crushed velvet inside. Soft to the touch. With netted straps to hold papers in place. Moving forward in time to a soft briefcase. Still leather, only this one is darker. With a strap to hang over the shoulder. Many pockets, it will stretch out. Filled with his first laptop and charging cable. A flap on one side to cover the pouches. Strolling through the airport, like a true business man. Guiding his family just as fast as he can, with children in tow. Hoping they don’t miss their flight to Disney World.

90sec-PILL BOTTLE
An odd orangish color, small and cylindrical. With a white safety cap, upon which directions stand in red to show adults the proper way to open it. Writing on the side of the description, doctor, and dosage. Medicine tastes icky when it is a chalky pill

10min-Freeze
Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 degrees Celsius, and 273.15 degrees Kelvin. Other objects can freeze at different temperatures. So why do we judge the temperature of “freezing” by the simple molecule made up of Hydrogen & Oxygen? To freeze isn’t just to be cold. It is to be stopped in time. When objects are frozen they are preserved for later. Take food for example, when frozen it remains as is until thawed to be consumed at a later date. Many ancient artifacts were discovered by being frozen in time. Freezing halts the aging process and preserves an items currents characteristics. This is why kids play “freeze” tag. Once tagged, the person must remain still where they are unflinching. A camera also freezes time as it captures an moment in one image. The memory preserved in a photograph for all eternity, or until the picture is deleted or destroyed. I lost my favorite childhood portrait in Katrina, but the picture is preserved in my mind until it rots out of my head. Frozen water doesn’t have a distinct smell, it turns a clear substance to a chalky white color. As if a clear glass window is glazed over by morning dew. Like smoke in the clear sky, barely showing what is behind, a hazy image. It tastes like nothing, as it melts to water in your mouth. Refreshing it is, however.

5min-Knee
The knee is a mobile joint that takes a pounding as you run. The cartilage thinning over time & the bones grinding together. Athletes know this better than anyone. People like gymnasts who drill their legs into the ground landing each vault or flip. The knee is, however, useful. It allows you to bend your legs. Good for picking up objects, helps your lower back to be able to squat down and pick something up while keeping your back erect. The knee is one of the most complex body parts with all of it’s muscles, ligaments, tendons, & what have you. Easily injured, often bruised and scraped up by little kids (or adults as I can attest to). Little kids cry over their booboos, while the mother acts strong, even though inside she is dying a little bit her heart hurts for her offspring. knee skin is scarred

90sec-Shoe
Shoes, protectors of the feet. The soles of the body. Leading the way. Keeping out gravel & shards of broken glass. Every color of the rainbow! Many smell like fresh leather!

5min-Roast
A delicious meal at my memaw’s house. Soft and tender meat that falls apart easily. Drenched in dressing, all thick any juicy. Smells of holidays. Or cooked in soup with vegetables. Roasting marshmallows over the fire. The smell brings me back to childhood weekends at camp. Some like to catch their snow white marshmallows fully on fire and burn the outside to a black crunchy crisp. I just like to warm mine enough to melt in the mouth. Perfect for adhering chocolate to graham crackers. The smell of burning leaves. Roasting my frozen body, thawing it out on a cold New Years Eve, the annual Christmas tree burning on vacant lots after Katrina.

10min-Wedding Ring
A symbol of eternity, no beginning or end. A unifying bond between more than friends. Yellow gold, rose gold, white gold or platinum. Some guys like tungsten as it’s strong dark & manly. The ring is a status symbol, worn proudly. Signifying you are taken, and have no interest in pursuing another. When taken off, outside of shower or bedtime, is a possible warning sign of dishonesty. One hides it to get with another, dishonoring the current commitment. Some wear it around their neck on a chain, some wear it on their left finger. Different than a flashy engagement ring, although you typically wear both once married. A gift exchanged at wedding ceremonies, pronouncing one’s true love. Often carried by a small, young ring bearer. Following a tiny girl sprinkling rose petals before the procession of bridesmaids, groomsmen, & bride-wife to be. Hard & cold, til placed on the finger it warms up with body heat. A soft clinking noise it makes when it taps it’s partner due to clasped hands. Smooth and round, it should never touch the ground. Treated with care, like the relationship

I bought a kitty cat
because pretty she sat

She’s a devine feline
& when I recline
to drink red wine
she is inclined
to resign and unwind

I bought a kitty cat
because pretty she sat
Gypsy is her name
and not one is the same

I did not have to spend
too much money to buy my new friend
I adopted her for her birthday in July
after seven months I guess that’s why

She’s blacker than midnight
an insomniac that never sleeps
a miniature panther
that only halfway sees

In the day
she likes to lay
& watch butterflies
fly by in the blue sky

I bought a kitty cat
because pretty she sat
Gypsy is her name
and not one is the same

8/5 Object Writing-Migraine

Aches searing from my skull, alternating between fiery flames & the throbbing like the beating on a kettle drum. It feels like my brain is going to explode even though I know this is not true, it is not my brain that is in pain, it is projected pain. All light is too bright, must sleep in the dark. Cold rag over my forehead, and below my neck a warm pillow. The world seems to be swirling, all of the colors run together, never dealt with motion sickness before, yet this throws my equilibrium off and I get there. Screw Advil, or Aleve, or Tylenol, or Motrin, Ibuprofen… These trivial remedies do nothing to relieve the pounding. Would a head massage help? No! Don’t touch me! Don’t speak, no noise is okay! Yet there is a ringing in my ears caused by the deafening silence. All smells make me sick, like a pregnant woman in her first trimester. The house won’t get cleaned today, no work will get done. Only my soft sheets will I touch and nothing but the taste of cotton mouth, feeling dehydrated, eating nothing.