THE CORNER 4 WOMEN

Thursday 9 May 2024

WHAT IF by Becky Hemsley

"WHAT IF"
by Becky Hemsley

What if the mermaids are all of the women

Cast overboard ‘cause of old superstition

Drowning beneath the waves, gasping for breath

Then forging a tail with the strength they have left?

And what if the dragons, with their breath ablaze

Were once little lizards all thrown to the flames

Choking on smoke and then swallowing flares

Then rising up, claiming that power as theirs?

And maybe the vampires favour the night

‘Cause they’ve been kept in the dark most of their lives

Starved of companions, affection and love

‘Til they have no choice but to feed on our blood

Yes, what if these creatures of magic and myth

Are those who’ve known darkness but chosen to live

Chosen to breathe and to rise and survive

To harness adversity, hoping they’ll thrive?

And what if you too have been thrown to the waves,

Befriended the night and encountered the flames

And so you’ve assumed that you’re destined to burn,

To drown in the darkness -

But what if you learned…

That maybe your story is not over yet

That there are still pages that need to be read

Pages of oceans that you’re yet to swim,

Fiery chapters for you to breathe in

Lines built on words that are so full of light

Of such warmth and strength, they inspire you to write

And what if you choose now to pick up a pen

And write through the night ‘til you come to the end?

And what if you read it back?

Well, then you’ll find

That your story has always held magic inside

*********

Becky Hemsley 2022

https://www.facebook.com/talkingtothewild

Beautiful artwork by

‘What if?’ is from What the Wild Replied https://a.co/d/5L8rtGJ

Brought to you by https://thecorner4women.com together with our sister website http://www.nicheebookcollections.com and our growing e-book library available FREE, through our Newsletter sign up page here:-

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

WHEN YOU HAVE A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR MOTHER by Becky Hemsley

"WHEN YOU HAVE A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR MOTHER"

by Becky Hemsley 2023

From the moment we start to grow, we are connected to our mothers.

Joined by a cord - a lifeline - that nourishes us, grows us, nurtures us.

And then we come into this world and the cord is cut, replaced by an unbreakable bond of love between mother and child that continues to nourish and nurture and help us grow.

But what happens if that bond is broken? What happens if it never really forms?

What happens if your mother could not or would not love you in the way you needed and deserved to be loved? The way you realise now you should have been loved.

Well… you grieve.

You grieve in a way that is hard to explain and painful to articulate.

You grieve for someone who is still here.

You grieve for the bond you wish you’d known.

You grieve for the times you were starved of affection or hungry for love.

You grieve whilst clinging to the end of that rope, that cord, that bond which should have been unbreakable. But wasn’t.

And now you are left holding a broken piece of your inner child. Of your heart and of your soul.

The most complicated losses to bear are the whispers of what

should have,

could have

been.

The echoes of

the unfinished,

the unresolved.

So yes, you grieve.

But you also break the cycle.

You build unbreakable bonds with those you love.

You nurture them and you nourish them.

You feed their hearts and souls with love.

And in doing so,

you begin to feed you own soul too.

You learn how it feels to be loved without expectation. Without transaction. Without stipulations and provisos and conditions.

And slowly, you start to heal that child within.

And you start to realise that, whilst it is not what should have been,

this loss is now what has to be.

It is a loss you have to bear,

a loss you have to grieve,

in order to learn how to love yourself

To love yourself the way you always should have been loved,

right from the beginning.

Unconditionally.

******

Words Becky Hemsley 2023

https://www.facebook.com/talkingtothewild

Poignant artwork by Robert Dowling Jr.

Ahead of Mother's Day in the USA - for all those that need this.

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

Wednesday 8 May 2024

Death Asked Me to Join Him For Dinner by Gina Puorro

"Death Asked Me to Join Him For Dinner" by Gina Puorro

So, I slipped into my favourite black dress

that I had been saving for a special occasion

and let him walk me to our candlelit tryst.

He ordered a ribeye, extra rare

I ordered two desserts and red wine

and then I sipped

and wondered

why he looked so familiar

and smelled like earth and memory.

He felt like a place both faraway

and deep within my body

A place that whispers to me

on the crisp autumn breeze

along the liminal edges of dusk and dawn

somewhere between dancing

and stillness.

He looked at me

with the endless night sky in his eyes

and asked

‘Did you live your life, my love?’

As I swirled my wine in its glass

I wondered If I understood the thread I wove into the greater fabric

If I loved in a way that was deep and freeing

If I let pain and grief carve me into something more grateful

If I made enough space to be in awe that flowers exist

and take the time to watch the honeybees

drink their sweet nectar

I wondered what the riddles of regret and longing

had taught me

and if I realized just how

beautiful and insignificant and monstrous and small we are

for the brief moment that we are here

before we all melt back down

into ancestors of the land.

Death watched me lick buttercream from my fingers

As he leaned in close and said

‘My darling, it’s time.’

So I slipped my hand into his

as he slowly walked me home.

I took a deep breath as he leaned in close

for the long kiss goodnight

and I felt a soft laugh leave my lips

as his mouth met mine

because I never could resist a man

with the lust for my soul in his eyes

and a kiss that makes my heart stop. ********

~ Gina Puorro: www.ginapuorro.com

Author's note: A playful love poem to Death, because I want to remember to relate to it as a part of life, and in ways that exist outside of violence and brutality.

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

THE FIGHT by Becky Hemsley

"THE FIGHT"
by Becky Hemsley

They’d heard she was a warrior.

And so they pictured her fresh from the fight - with flowing hair and dirt etched on her face. With fitted armour and a sword in her hand.

What they hadn’t realised was that she looked like the woman stood next to them in the supermarket. With messy hair and hurt etched on her face. With creased jeans and a coffee in her hand.

Because she’d been fighting a battle they knew nothing about. And even though it didn’t look like much of a victory to them, it really was.

That she was there. She was fighting. She was strong.

And no matter what she, or the battle, or the victory might have looked like to anyone else,

the fact remained…

She was a warrior.

******

Words Becky Hemsley 2023

https://www.facebook.com/talkingtothewild

Beautiful artwork from a piece by Ksenia Kondyleva (@humid_peach on Instagram)

'The Fight' is from my fourth collection here: https://a.co/d/iuz9E5M

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

Tuesday 7 May 2024

DATE NIGHT by Becky Hemsley

"DATE NIGHT"
by Becky Hemsley

I met the moon for coffee

It was Friday night I think

When she watched me hardly sleeping

And invited me for drinks

We found ourselves a table

In the middle of the night

And the constellations twinkled

Like a thousand fairy lights

She asked me how I’d been

As she poured coffee from a pot

For she said she’d watched me

Waking up at midnight quite a lot

I said my brain was far too full

My mind was always on

And when I woke it felt as if

I was the only one

The only one who lay awake

Whilst I sat on my bed

With thoughts that raced at lightning speed

Around my busy head

The only one who watched the clock

Tick one and two and three

Who laid awake and worried

Whilst the world was fast asleep

My thoughts were stuck in orbit

And I couldn’t pull them back

As they preferred to swim against

A sky so vast and black

The moon said simply nothing

But she opened up a book

And I saw it was a diary

So I took a closer look

And listed there were names of people

All around the world

And all the thoughts and worries

That the moon had overheard

Just then, my eyes were drawn towards

The name that was my own

And that was when the moon said

“See, you shouldn’t feel alone”

And then she pulled me close

Using the night sky as a blanket

And said “I know you sometimes feel

So lonely on this planet

But when you cannot sleep,

Get up and watch me from your room

And you’ll see so many others

Having coffee with the moon”

******

Becky Hemsley 2022

https://www.facebook.com/talkingtothewild

Stunning artwork by Sabrina Alvar (sabrinaalvar.de)

"Date Night" is from my second collection https://a.co/d/eXEdgYT (and there are also prints of it on my Etsy store)

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

MY DOGS LIVE HERE

"MY DOGS LIVE HERE"
(author unknown)

My dogs live here, they're here to stay.

You don't like pets? Be on your way

They share my home, my food, my space

This is their home, this is their place.

You will find dog hair on the floor,

They will alert you're at the door.

They may request a little pat,

A simple 'NO' will settle that.

It gripes me when I hear you say,

Just how is it you live this way?

They smell, they shed, they're in the way.

WHO ASKED YOU? is all I can say.

They love me more than anyone.

My voice is like the rising sun,

They merely have to hear me say,

'C'mon, time to go and play."

Then tails wag and faces grin,

They bounce and hop and make a din,

They never say, 'No time for you,

They're always there, to GO and DO.

And if I'm sad, they're by my side.

And if I'm mad, they circle wide.

And if I laugh, they laugh with me.

They understand, they always see.

So, once again, I say to you,

'Come visit me,' but know this too..

My dogs live here, they're here to stay.

You don't like pets? Be on your way.

They share my home, my food, my space

This is their home, this is their place.

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html

AN ANGEL ON THE SHORE by Joanne Boyle

"AN ANGEL ON THE SHORE"
by Joanne Boyle

There was stories of an angel

seen with a shining light,

on the sandy shores

in the darkness of the night.

Some people went and sat,

in the hope that she'd appear,

but the angel only came

when no one else was near.

Those that sat and waited,

all left feeling strange.

They really didn't know,

their lives were about to change.

Each of them was drawn

to the hope it was their love.

Each of them believed

she had been sent from above.

Each of them had cried

and shouted many names.

Lost in their own grief

their worlds were up in flames.

Some had sat for weeks.

Some just came and went

but no one ever saw the angel

that the Lord had sent.

The light that she came with

was there for all to see

but their visions were so clouded

by a heart-breaking memory.

It wasn't until they left

that the visions would be clear.

and they realised that their angels

and their lights were always near. ********

Author Joanne Boyle Heartfelt

art by Steffi Krenzek

https://tc4women.nicheebookcollections.com/NEWSLETTER-EBOOK-LIBRARY-SIGNUP.html We now have over 1700 e-books on our library shelves for your reading pleasure, so do come along and check us out.

More articles by Su DeNyme (our resident writer) & John A Elliott are available here: https://www.nicheebookcollections.com/TC4W/ARTICLES.html