The Most Beautiful Days

Puddles here and puddles there
Raindrops catching in my hair
Sparkle and glitter by my eye
As I gaze up to an overcast sky

Umbrella forgotten in the slippery road
I twirl around in the street, a wordless ode
To the beautiful clouds, so inky above
And the shower of joy that I so love

When clouds recede and puddles are dry
My last bow reaches across the sky
Glowing in all its radiant glory
And all the world in perfect harmony

Insecure

You are like the leaf
that trembles
and falls
at a breath of the wind
tumbling down
and landing perfectly
on the liquid mirror below.

Saturday Market

I take a deep breath
and a million scents
waft towards my open face:
Freshly baked breads,
savory meats,
light fragrant flowers,
sharply perfumed spices,
sweet kettle corn.
Colors whirl around me,
an oasis in the middle
of dark grey offices.
Vibrant reds, pulsing indigo,
radiant yellows, verdant emerald.
Tinkling charms
and trinkets
reach my ears,
hoarse voices calling out prices
and offers
with the upbeat guitar
and drums
to complete the melody.
Soft fabrics run through my palm
like a river through a valley.
A cold pendant rests
on my chest,
sending shivers up my spine
and down to my toes.
Young children splash
in the center of a fountain
crying out with adolescent joy.
I close my eyes,
and soak up all the motion
swirling around me,
lost in the beauty
of the marketplace.

Invisible Children

Recently, a four-day event took place in Los Angeles, California at the UCLA campus. This event was called Fourth Estate Summit. During this conference, 15,000 young adults attended to listen to several inspirational speakers such as Jay Naidoo, Jolly Grace O. Andruville, Maryam Elarbi, Jamie Tworkowski, Jason Russell, Jedidiah Jenkins, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and Dale Partridge. What was so inspirational? The organization entitled Invisible Children. This organization is dedicated to the eradication of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and bringing the LRA's leader, Joseph Kony, to justice for his crimes.
In 1986, a woman named Alice Lakwena of the Acholi tribe in northern Uganda gained support for an uprising against the government under Yoweri Musevini called the Holy Spirit Movement. However, when Lakwena was exiled, the HSM had no obvious leader. Joseph Kony, claiming to be a distant cousin of Lakwena's, claimed and enforced his leadership.
Soon after Kony came to power over the HSM, he changed the name to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). With little support of the LRA, Kony began to steal food and children from villages to supplement his army. These children who are abducted from their homes are forced to serve as child soldiers- trained to kill the enemy, no matter if friend or family- and the girls are used as sex slaves for Kony's officers. 
Because of the threat of Kony's abductions, the children are forced to leave their homes at night, when the abductors come, and flock towards cities and hospitals for safety. 
It was this world that Jason Russell, Laren Poole, and Bobby Bailey discovered when they went to Sudan to document the war and society. When they found out about the children having to leave their homes at night- night commuters- the three young college students interviewed them and promised to come back and stop the LRA's destructive practices.
Today, because of the combined efforts of the three young men, the organization Invisible Children has been able to hamper the LRA's progress and reunite the abducted children with their families. 
On March 5 of last year, Invisible Children launched a 30- minute video called Kony 2012 that caught the attention of the globe. because of it, there has been an increased desire and effort to bring Kony and his commanders to justice and free the women and children that have been displaced and abducted because of him.
Now, Invisible Children's new project is called #zeroLRA. Their goal is to have as many LRA defects as possible through radio broadcasts and dropping flyers in Central Africa. As of August 6 of this year, 96 members of congress signed on to #zeroLRA and committed to the eradication of the LRA.
"Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army have been abducting, killing, and displacing civilians in East and central Africa since 1987. We first encountered these atrocities in northern Uganda in 2003 when we met a boy named Jacob who feared for his life and a woman named Jolly who had a vision for a better future. Together, we promised Jacob that we would do whatever we could to stop Joseph Kony and the LRA. Invisible Children was founded in 2004 to fulfill that promise." ~ invisiblechildren.com
For more information on Joseph Kony and Invisible Children, go to http://invisiblechildren.com/. To donate to this cause, visit http://invisiblechildren.com/donate/. To help support #zeroLRA, go to http://zerolra.invisiblechildren.com/. 

A Puzzle

Life is a puzzle
made up of a thousand pieces.
Each piece unique
in shape
color
and texture.

Some pieces come together
perfectly
in an instant
others take a while
to find
and there is always that
odd piece
that doesn't seem
to fit in anywhere.

Some pieces fall
to the ground
and are temporarily lost
under the couch
or chair
or behind the lamp.

Eventually
these pieces are found
to discover that
these were just what
were needed.

And in the very end
all the pieces
come together
to create a beautiful
picture.

Yes, Another Interlude

So. Here, again, is another interlude between Parts Two and Three of Violet. As a matter of fact, I believe I will be discontinuing the Violet series. I misplaced the papers on which they had been written before this blog, and have many other things currently on my mind. So here I will leave it up to you to decide upon the fate of Violet, Gail, and their mutual acquaintances. Meanwhile, I will be posting more of my poetry, shorter stories, and general writings. I apologize to any of you who were hoping to read more about the adventures of Violet and Gail- they were fun to write, and maybe I will post more on them in the future. 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first sign was in the wind. It blew with unprecedented and sudden fierceness, casting away stray leaves and loose dirt to the side of its erratic path. The second sign was what followed. As if they had arisen out of the deepest, darkest natural pit, inky black clouds blotted out the previously clear sky and optimistic sunshine. The clouds were an enormous formidable chariot, the wind the legion of horses that pulled them across the sky.

Below, the small rodents and animals of the hills hid for cover in their individual holes and hideouts they called home. The plants steeled themselves for the onslaught of spear-like water droplets necessary for their survival. One lonely figure stood atop the tallest hill and waited for the clouds to break open. 

The sky continued to darken into a premature night. Thunder rolled. Lightning flashed in the near distance. Rabbits huddled in their families. The wind howled in curves around the green sea of hills. The long grasses bowed to the elements in a smooth rippling pattern.
When all the world was darkened, objects only visible with thin, weak, shafts of light that made it through the thick wall of clouds, there was a moment of peace and calm. The absence of the wind's howling made for an eerie silence, a dead tranquility.
And then it all shattered.
In unison, the thick veil above burst and pellets of water came down in furious waves. Within seconds, everything had become completely drenched. The hills quickly transformed into slippery mudslides, and all the excess water flowed down the sides into small creeks and rivers.
Lightning flashed brighter and closer, crackling an electric purple. Thunder clapped and echoed across the landscape.
Atop the tallest hill, the figure began to dance. 

A Second Interlude

So... Part Three is still in progress, and I'm afraid I've run out of ideas for where the story should go next. If any of you have ideas for the next part of Violet, feel free to comment below! However, while you wait, here is another short piece.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The day had just begun to cool down when the sun sank lower, the sky darkened, and the stars sparkled against the ever-deepening twilight. A cool breeze started up, and the meadow grasses whispered as they bent around two prone figures in the middle of the isolated park. Both Izel and Katana breathed in the fresh night air, grateful for the breeze after a sweltering day.
The two girls had been best friends since the time they had been three years old and their mothers had placed them in the same daycare. Throughout preschool, elementary school, junior high, and high school, the two had been absolutely inseparable. Now, both of them were applying to colleges and moving on with life's brisk pace. today had been the most difficult day of their lives.
Izel had chosen to go to a school out in California, where she had dreamed of living since she had been a little girl. She had a cousin who lived there and visited exactly once for a family reunion and couldn't wait to return to the sun, the beaches, the cities, and everything.
Katana, on the other hand, had elected to apply and was accepted to a college in Illinois. Most of her family resided there and the majority of her childhood and teenage summers had been spent there visiting her uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and other obscure relatives.
Today was the last day before each friend was leaving to go her separate way- the last day they had to spend in one another's company.
The entire sunlit hours had been spent out and about the city- downtown, to be specific. The two friends had gone into every store, ate lunch at a favorite restaurant, and enjoyed an outdoor concert. All through the day both girls had laughed and smiled as they usually did when they spent time together, avoiding the fact that they were not going to see each other again for many months while away at school. Now, at the conclusion of the day, by unspoken consent, the two friends had gone to the meadow, where the best memories of their lives had taken place.
The sky continued to dim and the stars continued to brighten and neither girl wanted to face the reality that would hit them in the face in the airport the next morning. Instead, they sighed, and wished for this moment to extend into eternity.