Today she questioned the motives of another.
They replied with: “I’m living and learning”.
She pondered the statement and then, with a precious smile asked: “Are you living to learn, or learning to live”
I find that the implications of deciding which is more true is of great significance not only to the individual, but to all who may cross their path as well.
It took me awhile, but I’ve finally figured it out. I now know from whence those taunting whispers come. You ridicule my indecision and shove me toward a cornered space. You are that black light illuminating my every stain.
I watched the trades, burning soul for soul until the carapace crumbles to dust. I memorized the pattern, swirling anathema into the depths of ruin. I felt everything, suffocation beneath the weight of an invisible force.
It took me awhile, but I finally figured it out. My hell is you, and I want no more.
Written By: Hollie Barringer, 2015
Hunger drives the hunt, clawing and devouring like the carrion feast deep within the gorge. Cold commands a bitter bite and shoves the strongest into a slow deliberate end. The blaze of summer demands the source, a fount of cool liquid and place to rest while scavengers lurk. And when things become too uncertain, there is the instinct to run. Running is the race that only ends once all other needs have been met.
Written By: Hollie Barringer, 2015
Poisoned, my mind
Unyielding
Ruined intentions, and
Graceless admissions
Eruption, loose the demons.
Tantalizing, are these
Hellions and
Ephemeral dreams.
Toiling, is my
Enamored soul
Manipulating reason,
Preconditioned inevitability
Throwing the tide,
Assailed from all sides in this
Trivial pursuit
Ignorant of reason, I endure the
Onslaught of
Nightmare
Written By: Hollie Barringer, 2015
Awakened by the squabble of ravenous gulls, cries of laughter and ocean breeze, I find myself drawn to your window perch. In truth it’s only a sill now, empty with chipped paint and splintering seams.
As color sets over the western horizon I realize how long I’d slept, how much time I’d lost trying to remember you. It was only six months ago when you rode your bike past my beach-side loft, but lately it felt like time was standing still.
I’ll never forget when you stumbled onto my yard for the first time, with your aviator sunglasses and a Star Wars bag slung from one shoulder. You looked like trouble right from the start, but something about you already had me caught hook, line, and…
You’d wanted directions. I remember almost laughing aloud at that. You said you were looking for the Elton John concert, the gig not even two blocks down. All I did was point. I’ll likely never know what piqued your interest, but the next day you appeared on my doorstep again.
I caught myself smiling when I opened the door to find that it was you. “Lost?” I quipped smartly. “Not anymore.” You assured, matching wit for wit without the slightest hesitation. That was one of the things I loved most; you were so easy to talk to.
I had thought you a tourist, here for a week and gone the next. But it wasn’t for a few days that I became aware that you had family here, and that you’d be staying for the entire summer. It was just long enough to get to know you and short enough to leave me wanting.
We grew comfortable with one another and I welcomed your presence around my little place, a two-story loft with barely enough living space to accommodate one- but we made it work. I miss the mornings when I’d awaken to a soft tapping, open my eyes and see you perched on the sill of my window. “Hey you.”
When I was a young girl I had always imagined a happiness like that. A walk hand in hand, ice cream cones dripping into the sand. Jamming to red hot chili peppers on the drive to nowhere, stolen moments around corners and behind closed doors.
I often remember those days like a dream that may or may not have happened, a fond memory.
Written By: Hollie Barringer, 2015
Written By: Hollie Barringer
We built this up to tear it down, from crown to foundation
Our story ripe with good intention, spoilt by untamed desire
This was a creation of our devising, an existence seeking perfect synergy
You the heart, and I the blood flowing through
Neither whole without the other
We tore this down to build it up, from foundation to crown
Our story riddled with poor intention, held together by a greater power
This was a creation of His devising, an existence with true synergy
We the body, filled by the living soul
Neither whole without the other
Written By: Hollie Barringer
In the dark we drift.
Blissful moments punctuated by heavy breath,
Whispered promises suspended in creeping fog,
Needless of substance,
You intoxicate my mind with convoluted thought.
My senses carry into disarray.
Difficult to contain,
The restless ebb and flow
Resurgent energies lift me from the depths.
Somewhere unseen,
Hands [reaching to] find purchase in a stabilizing effort.
Water laps eagerly at the sides of this rocking boat as you move to me, like the moon pulls the tide.
Your eyes are alight, a glimmer of fire beneath the cool shade of night.
Deliver us upon sandy shores,
Walk the wind-swept roads.
Here we lie in the quiet hours,
Longing to feel that sweet serenity,
Peaceful lucidity.
Here, may we drift no more.
Writnitz 