Thursday, May 28, 2009

Poetry Friday: Lighter than Air


Lighter than air
by Ray Veen

Very soon I will let go, and sail away
like a wooden ship on ocean swells.
My hands are small flesh, the bark is rough.
It stitches my fingers to the limb.

A slow breeze tussles my hair, flutters my
eyelashes, the cool soaks my skin.
It makes my shoelaces quiver
in the empty space, and we all sway.
Above me, below me, on every side,
the leaves are rustling and I listen.

Everything sways and I hang and feel and listen.
To the low rush, the whisper that swells,
like the slow-motion crash of the surf.

Somewhere, down beyond my feet,
there are green ferns vibrant.
Beneath that, white sticks dry
and brown leaves dead.
Far below, but it doesn’t matter.

When I let go I will come nowhere near them.
I will throw myself towards the moon –
I will swim through soupy skies.

Very soon now.
Gravity will no longer be my master.


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A barn. Behind my house. Then rain.


No, I'm not going soft. Sheesh. I just love the rain, and I like writing love poetry for my wife. You do know I drink beer, right?

Friday, May 22, 2009

Poetry Friday

First a contest announcement: click your way over to my buddy, Ms. KM Walton, for a chance to win free, original, personalized, super-creative business cards (or invitations, or what-have-you) from Uniquely Noted. Of course, you'll be competing against me, so, if you can handle that kind of heat -- better bring your A-game.

This contest just happens to perfectly coincide with my first ever crack at 'Poetry Friday', a creative phenomenon that's sweeping the blogosphere like a California brush fire. Thank you, Kelly, for spilling a little gasoline on me, (and then casually discarding a cigarette butt.*) When I figure out where you can find this week's host of Poetry Friday, this here sentence will become an actual link.

A few things you should know:

1. My wonderful little wife has gone out of town for three days
2. I miss her when she's gone.
3. So my first poem is kind of a love thing, which I writed.
4. If you make fun me, I will spam your blog with links to Viagra advertisements.
5. Did I mention my poetry's not all that good?

Disclaimer: It's true. I'm not much of a poet. In fact, I keep all of my poetry hidden. Because of the almost certain death-blow which shall swiftly descend upon my already flagging 'street-cred'.


All right. Enough with the apologetic preambles. Here it is: a love poem from a doofus.

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Waiting to Sleep
by Ray Veen


It is dim and I am waiting
for you to come to bed.
I see you in the bright
brushing, foaming spitting,
hair pulled back strict, looking
at your reflection through thick glasses,
seeing no makeup, seeing a tired face,
seeing what I cherish.

In the bedroom.

You unhook your bra but keep your t-shirt and panties on.
A toned abdomen beneath sagging skin that reminds me
of my treasured ones.

‘Have I told her yet today, how beautiful she is?’

You slip in and press close
as if desperate, but you are simply tired.
There is half a bed beyond you.
And sometimes I complain about that.

Secretly I adore it.

Our bodies welded lengthwise in nothing more spectacular than imminent rest but
we are one in it – as in all things.

I trace your shape.
Like I always do.
Firm and smooth then a bony knob.
A soft dip.
Then, ribs.
And then I stop.
Because I know you hate to be tickled.

I cup you.
Strap you in iron.
I press our minds side-to-side
unwinding, ready to sleep.
Comfort swells
from beneath and beyond and within

and we can sleep.

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*Ms. Polark's tobacco use and/or nicotine addiction can neither be confirmed nor denied.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Ten Worthy Young Adult Books

I just posted this in Amazon's feedback forum. The full title of the thread was "Ten Worthy Young Adult Books by Authors Not Named J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer".

I read that, and instantly thought of you: my blog-buddies. Would y'all like some input?


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Mr. Veen says:


I love a fast paced-adventure, I love to be bowled over by breathtaking, creative concepts, and I LOVE surprises. I am addicted to those moments when you say, "Whoa... I didn't see that coming!" The books I've listed here are pretty much all well-known best-sellers, but they have those moments. They meet my criteria for great YA. And even though most of them have already been mentioned, I'm adding my vote to kind of reinforce how good they are.

*Note: I love YA fantasy, but NOT Potter and Twilight, so this thread is perfect for me.

Fablehaven is my favorite series right now -- simply blowing me away.
Abhorsen Trilogy -- My second favorite. Love this, loathe Keys to the Kingdom. Sorry Mr. Nix.
Pendragon Chronicles -- I've been biting my nails through nine thick books to find out what the heck is really going on.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series -- It's everything good fiction should be, except without a cool title.
Warrior Heir, Wizard Heir, Dragon Heir -- great concept, high adventure
Tithe series -- dark and beautiful and haunting
Dreamhunter -- The Dreamhunter Duet: a wonderful two book series. Little known, but very very unique and compelling -- highly recommended (author: Elizabeth Knox)
Ender's Game -- One of my all time favorite books, in any genre. I'm very sorry I couldn't get into any of the sequels. They just didn't have the same feel.
Howl's Moving Castle -- Quirky and fun. Super creative, lots of surprises.
Maximum Ride -- I LOVED these books. But somehow, somewhere near the middle of the third one, the magic seemed to fizzle. Big time. I swear you can almost feel the exact moment when James Patterson gets tired of writing them.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mainly for my co-workers


Congratulations Elyssa! Your co-workers want you to know that we had a great time at your wedding and reception, and that you looked really pretty, and that we think Josh is maybe slightly weird (okay, that last part's from me).

So here's a link to the full album -- all the pictures from the camera that Jaymi stole from our table. Hope you like them. Especially all the shots of the cleav... er, I mean -- the ones where Jaymi wanted to show off everybody's outfits. Can you guess whose are whose?



(is my wife not incredibly hot?)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The only writing I got done today

This here post falls into all three categories: writing and family AND whatnot.

I came home from work last night and found a series of colorful notes and pictures on the counter. They were all from the youngest Veenie Baby, Paige.

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Dear Dad,

I want you to put this in one of your books. This picture is about a girl who made friends with a alien. But the girl use to fight with all the aliens. Please put it in your book. Thank you.

From: Paige Elaine (#1 God – #2 Dad)


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I don’t know if that last bit represents some kind of scorecard between me and God or what, but I decided to save everything regardless. To tell the truth, I wasn’t really planning on writing a story about a girl who makes friends with aliens, but I changed my mind this morning when Paige woke up with strep throat.

She was so miserable, curled up on my lap, listing all of her aches and symptoms in a despondent voice. I wanted to take her mind off it, so I asked her to tell me more about her story. That’s when she insisted I boot up my teeny-tiny computer and start typing it immediately.

She can be like that sometimes (okay, most of the time).

So yeah, It was kind of hard to type with her in my lap. Her constant editorial criticisms made it even harder, but we got ‘er done, and here it is. Tell us what you think.

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Friends
By Paige Elaine Veen (and ghostwriter)


Once upon a time, a girl named Tiffany was sleeping in her bed. Suddenly her room filled up with light and she woke up and said, “What’s going on?”

She saw the light was coming from outside her window, so she looked out and saw something floating in the air over her yard. It was pink and black, and at first she thought it was a cool looking Frisbee. But then the light sort of grabbed hold of her and pulled her out into the night sky. She was really scared, but she didn’t cry, even though the light was pulling her up into the big, floating disc.

Tiffany drifted in through an opening in the side, and found herself in a little room surrounded by green aliens. They came towards her and put metal cuffs around her ankles. She was still scared, but she had the courage to ask, “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you look so weird and different.” Their leader answered. Then he sent her down to the prison and the aliens locked her up in a cage.

It was still night, and Tiffany was still tired, so even though she was terribly frightened, she eventually fell asleep. When she woke up, she didn’t feel so good. There had been a guard watching her, and when he noticed her sickness, he sent for the alien nurse, Tressia.

The nurse checked the girl over and decided that she had the flu. She gave her some alien medicine, and Tiffany started to feel better, but Tressia felt bad for her. That night, when all the other aliens were asleep, Tressia snuck back into the prison and led Tiffany back to the door in the spaceship.

“What are you doing?” Tiffany asked.

“I’m helping you,” the nurse answered. “I think it’s wrong to kidnap people because they look different, and so I’ve landed the spaceship near your house.”

“But I thought you couldn’t help me, don’t all the aliens hate me?”

Tressia smiled. “Well I’m a nurse. Nurses are supposed to be nice. Right?”

“Well you’re an alien, you’re different from me.”

Tressia just stood there and opened the outside door. Tiffany looked out and could see her yard. “Go,” the nurse said, “you should be with your family.”

Tiffany was so grateful, she gave the alien nurse a big hug. And so they were friends.

The little girl got off the spaceship, and walked up her yard towards her house. As the spaceship flew away, Tiffany couldn’t help but think that no matter how different two people were – they could still be friends.

The end.



Paige, Dad, and Brooke from the Daddy/Daughter Dance from a few weeks back. Brooke wants to get in on the story action, so expect another very similar post in the near future.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

YA question

Just kinda thinking out loud here (figuratively) -- I'm about 100 pages into my MS, and I'm about to start a section of my story where my two main characters steal a motorcycle from the bad guys and take off on a cross country adventure. I picture them on the motorcycle -- two dudes -- and it just doesn't gel for me.

Then I had a thought: "Hey, why not make the bad boy into a bad girl?"

The advantage: it would add a tantalizing new dimension to this character, not to mention bolster some authenticity issues I'm having with their relationship.

The problem: the 'new dimension' would look something like sexual tension.

I know it's supposed to be okay to be gritty and real. Teenagers deal with this kind of stuff everyday. I'm just not that comfortable writing about it cuz I can't get past the idea that it's akin to encouraging it. But on the other hand, I can feel it in the artsy/writey part of my heart -- it's what's right for this story.

Thoughts anybody?