Text Tuesdays – Prose – “Unrestrained (edited)” omitted from the manuscript Blue Lines

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2000, Atlanta, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Boy, California, Chapel Hill, college, Georgia, Girl, Key Yemaya Walker, manuscript, May, My Manuscript, North Carolina, Old, Original, poetry, Prose, Sacramento, UNC, UNC Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, writing, Young

“Unrestrained” omitted from Blue Lines
K.S. 5/20/2000

your eyes were the first thing I saw
slanted and your gaze hazed
braids and your continued stares intrigued me
then you pressed
death and pain left my heart chained
but you hid your pain
your soft voice and sudden stares
your heart became aware, but like that you were gone

you entered again
blind gazes took you past
until you realized who I was
the meaning I gave you
and the joy I brought your heart
we stood to talk for hours
black & mild within grasp
gone from my life was sorrow
for you I should take that chance

Blue Lines Blog – 1000th Post – Thank You and Blue Lines excerpt

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1000th Post, 1997, 1998, adidas, Adidas Shell Toe, Adidas Shell Toes, Adidas Superstar, Arboretum, Atlanta, Black & Mild, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Chapel Hill, Coker Arboretum, college, Fall, First Down Jacket, Franklin Street, Frappuccino, Good Day, hangover, Kenneth Suffern Jr, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia, Keypsiia Walker, Keypsiia Yemaya Walker, Love, manuscript, McCorkle Place, Morehead Planetarium, MW, My Manuscript, North Carolina, poetry, Prose, Sacramento, Shell toe, Shell Toe Adidas, shell toes, Smile, Starbucks, Summer, Thank You, UNC, UNC Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writing, Young

3/7/12
First I would like to say thank you for the support. I am still a ways off from publishing my work, but this conduit has be a fun piece in the cog, and when I stareted this blog in support of my manuscript Blue Lines in June of 2009, I did not see today, or the wealth of work and experiences I would gather along the way. As my humble thanks, I offer an excerpt of my work from Blue Lines: Thirteen: Beauty in Blue and White:

Blue Lines Blog – Best Of 2011 – Words Poem Project – “Automatic Devotion Redemption Masterpiece”

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3 Libras, A Perfect Circle, Automatic, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Brooklyn, California, Chicago, Devotion, Free write, Giants, Japan, Julia Nichole McGinnis, Key Yemaya Walker, Lake Lucerne, LES, Lower East Side, Mi Alma, MW, Myla Watson, N Lake Shore Drive, New York, New York Giants, NY Giants, Part 2, Poem, Prose, Redemption, The Smith, Tickets, Timothy O'Tooles Pub, W Lakeshore Hotel Chicago, Word Story Part 2, Word Story Part 4, Words, Words Story, Yo Luz Ro-De

“…he smiled at how two reckless kids whose paths kept crashing into each other, and other things after that too, had put together something beautiful…”

I was able to write more material than I had in quite some years during 2011. Though the focus is Blue Lines, it was a welcome and needed break from the editing process. I period that mixed both muse inspired writing and free writing on subjects that ranged from the past, to myself.
“Automatic, Devotion, Redemption, Masterpiece,” is a work that over four parts utilized the short story, and different types of poetry, to tell the story of young couple in works that are based on words supplied by friends on facebook. I wrote each piece of the story serial style that describes the evolution of their relationship over time, and during different periods.
“Automatic” is the first piece that begins with a change in their relationship, written as a simple straight forward short story.
“Devotion” is my favorite piece. This piece of prose written to sound as if it begins directly after “Automatic,” utilizing elements that are meant sound similar to the opening story. It is two poems weaved around each other to tell the story through two different voices, to culminate to a story eventually answers questions left in “Automatic.”
“Redemption,” continues their story utilizing a fragmented short story initially told from their different vantage points. It occurs much closer in time to “Devotion,” than the first two pieces. It answers some questions that the poem “Devotion,” could not explain.
“Masterpiece,” is a story, that I feel the picture in my head was not fully realized in the end result. It maintains the essential elements that I wanted to convey. Again, a short story that tricks the reader in to believing they are witnessing an event, that is actually something much different. In “Masterpiece,” the names of the characters are revealed.

“Automatic”

Walking through the threshold, he vaguely remembered the house. Something had led him to board the flight and fly to his hometown, and aimlessly return to his childhood home. The woman allowed him into her home, though slightly wary of this stranger. Gone were the trees hiding the house from the street. The kitchen had been renovated, and the wall that separated it from the dining room that ran the expanse on the entry floor, was removed to allow for a modern update with stainless steel appliances and tile walls. Wood floors replaced the linoleum that greeted at the entrance, during his childhood.
“You used to live here son,” she asked trying to look into his weary eyes. A slight pain was evident in his eyes, yet she noticed a calm that settled him.
“Yes,” he answered. “The kitchen was half this size,” he admitted as he waved off her offer of a drink. He did not know what brought him back to this house that he had not visited in over the 20 years since they had moved away. Glancing toward the den, he recognized the floor to ceiling windows as they still looked out to familiar trees and Lake Lucerne. He grimaced remembering the adventure he and his friends would have running through the woods surrounding his home. He remembered the cold winter day that they took old wood planks that they had found and wrapping them with grocery bags thought they could create a floating raft. Within seconds the sinking at the crest of the lake proved them wrong.

Blue Lines Blog – Love At First Sight – Blue Lines Chapter 12: Chance – Excerpt

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Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Blue Lines Chapter 12: Chance, Bridgeport, Buckhead, Bulls, California, Chance, Chapter 12, Chapter 12: Chance, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Christmas, Connecticut, excerpt, fiction, Gerald, Holiday, Kenneth A Suffern Jr, Kenneth Suffern Jr, Key Yemaya Walker, Keypsiia Walker, Keypsiia Yemaya Walker, Lenox Mall, Love, Main Street, Michael Jordan, Mitch Richmond, MW, N.B.A., National Basketball Association, NBA, North Carolina, Photography, Prose, Romance, Sacramento, Sacramento Kings, Scottie Pippen, Tar Heels, Trumbull Mall, UNC, UNC Chapel Hill, University Of Bridgeport, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Westfield Trumbull

This Blue Lines excerpt is from Chapter 12: Chance. The scene takes place as our protagonist Key Yemaya Walker happens upon the antagonist Blue Hurt while he writes on a bus headed to the local mall. Though Blue Lines takes place in Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina, the real life imagery starts with her chance meeting him on the bus, which was the public transit I and friends would take from the University of Bridgeport at the Main Street stop by our dorm Bodine Hall, to Trumbull Mall, now Westfield Trumbull. The mall used in the writing process was a amalgam of Trumbull Mall in Connecticut, and Lenox Mall in Atlanta, Georgia, or Buckhead rather.
As I always state, Blue Lines, is a piece of fiction that evolved from real events, places, and people, therefore elements of this selection, as well as the entire work contain real experiences, and events of the time period in which my manuscript takes place. I’ll be honest, looking over this selection, I may not leave it up, though the work is copywritten. Please enjoy, this early Christmas present.
Blue Lines Chapter 12: Chance

We got together, like, the first week of school and through this I have actually become accustomed to being alone. If he’s not at practice, he’s with his boys and the few times I see him, it’s always conversation about basketball or trying to get ass.”

“And the lack thereof doesn’t do anything for you two.”

“No,” she pursed her lips realizing that she had answered his latent question, “plus all the rumors,” she continued. “I confronted him and I know that he’s lying to me but I don’t care.”

“It seems like you keep mentioning that he isn’t around. Do you think that it would have been different if he was there and spent more time with you?”

Vid – KiD CuDi – “Maniac” Short Film Directed by Shia LaBeouf

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Cage, Chris Palko, Dot Da Genius, Jeff Balis, KiD CuDi, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, Maniac, Ragin4Dayz Production, Rhoades Rader, Scott Mescudi, Shia LaBeouf, T.J. Sakasegawa

Graphic & Mature content. Should have posted yesterday.


The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

Blue Lines Blog – Fiction – Another Rainy Day (And Night)

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Another Rainy Day, Atlanta, Blue Lines, college, Corinne Bailey Rae, fiction, Frappuccino, Friends, Headache, Kahlua, Key Yemaya Walker, Love, sex, Starbucks

Inspired by this Atlanta rain.

Waking up, his headache had subsided. The rain still rapped violently against his bedroom windows, as he awoke in the dimly lit apartment bedroom. He briefly glanced at the glowing clock that read 6:45pm, and wondered where the time had gone. He glanced at her, sleeping, through cloudy contacts lenses. She, in sleep had moved to the other pillow, eyes shut, head nestled with her arms folded under. He stared at her bare shoulders, and with his one unobstructed eye, watched her breathe, with thoughts of how buttercream soft, her supple flesh was in his grasp. He smiled as he wanted to touch her again.

He could hear the music still playing outside in the den, unsure of the song, but lay prone, not fully awake to go tend to it. Lifting his head, he noticed their still unfinished bottle of Starbucks Frappuccino, thinking they were drinking, earlier they had poured some of his father’s Kahlua into the bottle.

She stirred briefly, and turned to face him in her sleep. Her bright round face, framed by her dark hair, falling over her cheek, shined in the dim evening. He smiled at the sight of her furrowed nose, the structure of her angelic face, her full lips, he still tasted, and the thoughts of her sounds, her kiss, her moans. Satisfied, at least for now, he thought. But, looking at her sleep, he wanted more. He had tasted her, they released their angst together, and found something they had been looking for, if just for this moment.

Blue Lines Blog – Part 4 – Word Provided By Myla W. – “Masterpiece”

Tags

Automatic, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Brooklyn, California, Chicago, Devotion, Free write, Japan, Julia Nichole McGinnis, Key Yemaya Walker, Lake Lucerne, LES, Lower East Side, Mi Alma, MW, Myla Watson, N Lake Shore Drive, New York, Part 2, Poem, Prose, Redemption, The Smith, Timothy O'Tooles Pub, W Lakeshore Hotel Chicago, Word Story Part 2, Word Story Part 4, Words, Words Story, Yo Luz Ro-De

Part 4 of 4 you can read Parts 1 here, 2 here, and 3 here.

Thanks again to Yo, Julia, and Myla for providing the words, I just hope that I did them justice.
“Masterpiece”
Lynn reset herself, she had been around this before, and knew to let the experts do their jobs. The planner had everything set. The flowers were fine, the timeline was moving along, she had no worries. She glanced over as the photographers snapped away with impunity, a laugh settled in her stomach, but she chose not to voice it.
“Tonight will be everything we planned for,” she smiled widely.
“Are you okay,” Rosa burst into the room, baby in arms, surprised at Lynn’s calm demeanor.
“I’m perfect,” she responded holding Rosa’s hand in hers. “So is Elena, I’m just going to need you to be calm,” she smiled taking the child from her arms. “Maybe you need a glass of wine.”
Lynn, smiled, while thinking back those few years, reminiscing on the happy moments, the breakups, the arguments, her slight proposal, and his real proposal some time after. She marveled at New York, and their favorite haunt The Smith, and now the realization of everything they had wanted materialized before them. She sat back amazed. She and Anthony had succeeded she smiled again knowing that today was evidence of that.

Blue Lines Blog – Part 3 – Word Provided By Julia Nichole McGinnis – “Redemption”

Tags

Blue Lines, Brooklyn, Chicago, Devotion, Japan, Julia Nichole McGinnis, LES, Lower East Side, Mi Alma, MW, Myla Watson, Part 2, Poem, Prose, Redemption, The Smith, Word Story Part 2, Words Story, Yo Luz Ro-De

Part 3 you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Today’s piece continues the story’s 3rd part in a freely written piece of fiction.

The word used provided by CA friend Julia Nichole M. visit her blog here. Enjoy.

“Redemption”
“…you don’t, you don’t, you don’t see me
At all…”

The music played in the background, as she returned from upstate New York. She needed a break after the last few months feeling as if she had prove herself everyday to make him believe her. Although peaceful, she slowly began t realize that she knew so little of him. They spent time together, granted years off and on together, but he seldom spoke of himself or work.
Their previous relationship consisted of fights, her exasperation, and him questioning her. But the one constant was his interest in her, what she did, how her days went. Upon his return, and her happening across him at The Smith, he had been at peace. She still did not know why he had not called, or where he went. She glanced upon her finger, remembering the one night she had worn the ring. The dreary northern day did not agree with her disposition as she traversed back toward the city and her apartment. His ring tone came up and she answered.
“Hey,” half-heartedly, “how are you?”
“Fine,” he answered in a tone she found cold, “where are you?”
“Just took a drive, I’m on my way back now. I miss you,” she offered in a tone that she felt he did not believe. It was disconcerting to her to feel this way. His devotion to her was always evident. She knew she could do no wrong by him, in the past. Now he seemed so distant, like a stranger, yet so peaceful, and easy with her…non-committal.

Blue Lines Blog – Part 2 – Word Provided By Myla W. – “Devotion”

Tags

Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Brooklyn, Chicago, Devotion, Japan, Key Yemaya Walker, LES, Lower East Side, MW, Myla Watson, Part 2, Poem, Prose, The Smith, Word Story Part 2

Part 2, you can read Part 1 here and part 3 here.

Today’s piece continues the story in a freely written poem, that is framed by a separate poem detailing an intimate moment with the predominant female character of these pieces. The two poems wrap into each other, to hopefully progress the second act of this story. I had to add a line after initial save, because this line I kept singing, in a song that doesn’t exist was stuck in my head, and fit.

Part 2’s word was provided by my friend, Myla W. please enjoy.

“Devotion”
They still shone as bright as they did that first day,

She curled in the chair Sunday morning,
His old shirt wrapped her so,
Pulled down wrapping her legs, stretching,
Unseasonably warm rain rapped her balcony window,
Sipping her coffee,
She with eyes closed,
Glancing at the tickets lying on the floor,
She remembered, looked toward her bedroom door,

The setting surprised and amazed her, he, unaware that night,

The night, a faint memory this year and a half later,
He took her like he never had before,
And never would again, did he hate her,
Time allowed her to enjoy, but she knew,
She had finally been ready,
Her new place allowed freedom, something new
Their love right,
Silenced that night,

Blue Lines Blog – Part 1 – Word Provided By Yo Ro-De – “Automatic”

Tags

Automatic, Blue Lines, Brooklyn, Chicago, Free write, Key Yemaya Walker, Lake Lucerne, LES, Lower East Side, Mi Alma, N Lake Shore Drive, New York, The Smith, Timothy O'Tooles Pub, W Lakeshore Hotel Chicago, Words, Yo Luz Ro-De

Today, like other days, I made a normal request for a word to challenge me to write a new piece of something. I’ve taken a slight break, due to the growing workload, so upon a request, 3 friends provided 4 words for me to create new material from. Usually, I’d get 2 max and produce 2 days worth of work. With these words, I have tasked myself in creating a story using different mediums over a four day period to tell this tale.
My hope is to create something that you will like and enjoy.

The first word used provided by NY friend Yo Ro-De visit her blog here.

“Automatic”

Walking through the threshold, he vaguely remembered the house. Something had led him to board the flight and fly to his hometown, and aimlessly return to his childhood home. The woman allowed him into her home, though slightly wary of this stranger. Gone were the trees hiding the house from the street. The kitchen had been renovated, and the wall that separated it from the dining room that ran the expanse on the entry floor, was removed to allow for a modern update with stainless steel appliances and tile walls. Wood floors replaced the linoleum that greeted at the entrance, during his childhood.
“You used to live here son,” she asked trying to look into his weary eyes. A slight pain was evident in his eyes, yet she noticed a calm that settled him.
“Yes,” he answered. “The kitchen was half this size,” he admitted as he waved off her offer of a drink. He did not know what brought him back to this house that he had not visited in over the 20 years since they had moved away. Glancing toward the den, he recognized the floor to ceiling windows as they still looked out to familiar trees and Lake Lucerne. He grimaced remembering the adventure he and his friends would have running through the woods surrounding his home. He remembered the cold winter day that they took old wood planks that they had found and wrapping them with grocery bags thought they could create a floating raft. Within seconds the sinking at the crest of the lake proved them wrong.