The Story Of Three

Once upon a time there were three sisters. The eldest's name was Dawn, and she wanted to be Robin Hood when she grew up. The middle child's name was Mimi, and she wanted to be righteously angry. The youngest was Nan, and she didn't want to be anything or anyone at all. (When Nan entered school for the first time and the other children asked what her name was, she always replied, "I haven't got one," and stared at them somberly until they laughed or spit and ran away. Nan had a habit of never looking someone in the eye unless they deserved it. Otherwise she would focus on the bridge of their nose if she was required to speak at them.) These girls had the sort of parents the children in fantasy books do, which is to say, the absent yet loving kind. Which was precisely the kind suited to these particular sisters.

Dawn was the sort of girl who could've been queen someday if she had been born in a country of princesses and monarchies. She was the wisest girl anybody who met her had ever met. Sometimes that scared her, until she remembered her dreams, and that made her alright again. She grew up to be a con artist, and she was good at it. In fact, she was perfect at it, for no target ever even questioned that they were being conned. She became a benefactress and built houses for lost children and taught them the important things. Dawn was one of those once-in-a-century people, except like most once-in-a-century people, she didn't realize her specialness and neither did half of the people around her.

People liked to call Mimi the "troubled child," which made her laugh and stick knives into her bedroom walls. She taught herself knife-throwing and how to throw a punch when she was three years old, and when she was four she killed a crow with her BB gun the first time she ever aimed and fired. She was the only one of the sisters to ever fall in love, but she was only eight at the time and even though he asked her to marry him (the offer of a woven grass ring underneath the roof of the backyard fort) she declined, saying a broken heart would get her further in life than a man on one arm. Not many people ever understood Mimi, but then, she wasn't a very understandable girl. The only people she was ever not fierce to were old men and sailors, because she admired them. Old sailors were like gods to Mimi.

Nan was the least pretty of her sisters, but that wasn't the thing people remembered her as. When she was young, There's something wrong with Nan was a phrase that became as repeated as baseballs in a batting cage, mostly by teachers and neighbors. She was a rare sort of person; she didn't believe in being afraid and she didn't believe in existence. She liked mice and when career day came along during her later years of education, she wrote down old lady in a house overtaken by white and gray mice with closets filled with cross stitch and mothballs on the form when it asked what she wanted to do with her life. That is probably what happened to her, too, because these sisters weren't the types to not accomplish what they set out to do. It's hard to say, though, as she disappeared officially when she was 24 and hasn't been heard from since. Although there is a good possibility Dawn and Mimi are keeping information to themselves - loyalty was always the best trait of any of them.

Staring toward the location where the skin
stretches over the poking bones—
so tightly like plastic-wrap
over a bowl of yesterday's tuna—
feeling thin and skeletal.
I'm afraid you can see past it
to sense my erotic dampness,
lips curling when my breath hints at death.

Place me on a stage and I will fall.
Make out of me a light and I will flicker.
Call me an angel and my demons will arise.
Kiss my cheekbones and you will taste tears.
Sling a jewel round my neck and I will choke and bleed
as a gray fish longing for water's safe oxygen
on a salty white dock in November's frost.

I belong here, shameless in my visage.
Nose running. Braids torn. Ashes
in the shape of an X across my eyelids.
You may leave now, memorizing no guilt.
The reach of my breast does not extend
to your chest, its gaping cavity.

Everything in me is neither black, nor white,
but only cream and shadows.



_____
copyright Miss Erin McIntosh, 2010
please do not reprint without permission

Did you hear? About the girl?

They say she wanted to be Mary Poppins.

They say she was obsessed.

Only 23, so young.

They found her in her nightgown, I think it was aquamarine-colored? I read that somewhere.

No, it was, I saw the photo.

There's a photo?

Yeah, it was pretty sketch.

Damn.

I know, right?

I didn't even know it was possible to climb an evergreen, did you?

Ouch. That would hurt, wouldn't it? I wouldn't do it.

Ha, I know, she must've been kind of whacked in the head, if you know what I mean....

My mom said that's the only explanation. Who else would think an umbrella would actually make for a good flying floating whatever device?

The cloth part of it was all gone. I read about it. There was just metal frame left. Like a skeleton.

Woah, that's kind of...I mean, metaphorical, right? You know?

What'd they say her name was?

I don't know. It started with an E, maybe? Or an R? Something like that.

Was she from around here?

I can't remember. Somewhere by the lake area, I think, but I can't remember now.

Huh. Well that's really sad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So... did you hear about Emmie's boyfriend?

Oh my God, yes! They said he actually spit on the cop!

I KNOW! Can you believe it? What a badass.

Seriously. He's kind of hot, too.

Except his nose is kind of crooked.

Well, yeah. But compared to most of the other guys here.

Oh, I know. The guys here are total jokes.

I know, right, I mean seriously.

these are the things I imagine

Think for a moment what it would be like, if every time you left the house, you wondered about that stranger there, the one on the street corner, the one obscured beneath the black umbrella. Every time you had to wonder, what if you were to see her face and she were to have your eyes? And if they were green like yours, and if you found out this woman was your mother, what would you say then?

"I noticed the way you only seem to ask questions," I said to him.
He opened his mouth. And stopped. And said,
"Did you really think you were going to trick me into saying an answer?"
I forgave him because of his smile.

from a book by peter cameron

--someday this pain will be useful to you by peter cameron

piano and a dutch singer's voice in my ears

When you reach the place where you don't give a damn. It's nighttime, and you're making awful noises, and tears drop consistently from your eyes by the tens and twenties instead of singly. It's mostly anger and not knowing which way to call.

I'm really just in the mood to watch Girl, Interrupted again or go to the National Gallery or Kensington Gardens, or be someplace cold outside so I could have hot tea in bed and warm fresh sheets and just having showered and flannel pajamas and sweet dreams and buttered toast.

She cared, on the other side of the globe, and there's one thing that matters.

I'd give anything to be at one girl's house, on her rooftop, looking at stars and speaking. Said the kindred rebel, "I have a terrible sense of time." And I agreed, "Everything's so long ago, so short ago, so soon, so far away, so slow, so fast. Everything."


And as I talked with her,
the moment passed, and
things grew bearable again.

The Mooring: official trailer

The full-length trailer for the movie I'm in, The Mooring, was posted online today! Visit the official website to see the trailer as well as some photos.

I am so excited and happy. I started shaking the first time I watched it through.

i will not tell a lie.

written in chalk on
a squeaky black board
a rough cement parkway
wrinkled knees

if i repeat it enough,
it has to be true.

i will only speak the truth.

even when you squeeze
my throat for assurance
i used to give; blessings
i used to pour through
your hair

i cannot tell you lies.


_____
copyright Miss Erin McIntosh, 2010
please do not reprint without permission
Poetry Friday roundup at Author Amok

Holly Cupala: Blog Tour Finale!

A couple of weeks ago, Holly Cupala stopped by to answer some of my questions, as a part of her Tell Me a Secret blog tour. Today is the grand finale of that tour, and I'm here to share a couple of treats with you!

First of all, we have the book trailer for Tell Me a Secret:

Next, we have Party Prizes! Here’s what people can win:

Signed TMAS books! TMAS t-shirts! Fan-made bracelets by Hannah S! Music that inspired the book! Sneak Previews! Bookmarks and Handmade Magnets!

and...

A Tell Me a Secret handmade necklace made by Gypsy Wings!


HOW TO WIN? Share the Trailer Love!
1. Click here to go to YouTube, then click the Share button to send to your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or blog! 5 pts each
2. Click here to tell us where you posted and enter to win!

________

Plus Holly will be featured at readergirlz for the entire month of August, with a live Twitter chat coming up! Hope you enjoy the trailer, and thank you so much for being part of the virtual tour and party!