Another excerpt: Time Being just five days away!
Fur Babies and Heartbreak
For those who don’t know, it’s been a rough couple weeks in my household while dealing with pets. My cat, who has been sick for roughly a month, tested positive for feline leukemia last week, even though she was negative as a kitten and is completely indoors. Well, she’s been on antibiotics and steroids and things are looking up for her, thankfully. However, we were dealt a horrible blow two days ago when my sweet, valiant little Freddy, who was spending time in the backyard with our other dog, was bitten by a copperhead. He died about three hours later. I have this horrible, haunting, heartbreaking feeling that I somehow, unwittingly, traded the life of one beloved pet for another. I’m grateful for my cat’s recovery, but I miss my dog. So I wrote this for both of them.
For Freddy
By Michelle Garren Flye
The beauty that remains
Can’t take your place
Though she may try.
She can’t fill the dark shadow
Left by your absence.
She may comfort and help,
She may make me smile,
And her purrs may even delight.
I’m glad my beauty remains,
But my heart will always miss
The spot you once filled.
Time Being Excerpt
Time Being: The countdown begins!
What with sick cats and cars and failing computers and historic Senate appearances, I’ve nearly forgotten what’s really important (well…). Time Being emerges from its chrysalis on June 21! Book two of my Synchronicity series follows the adventures of Meti Queen Kaelyn and her Elf King Jack. And they’re joined by one of my favorite characters ever, Hunter Drake. He’s Kaelyn’s uncle. He’s an Elf sorcerer. He’s magical, mysterious and nobody’s sure what his motives are.
Are you intrigued yet?
My latest poem: “Twisting Hate” (for 45)
Twisting Hate
By Michelle Garren Flye
Twisting words to kick the wounded.
Twisting hate to bind us all.
Twisting rope into a noose.
Without love or truth, you maul.
We’re twisting in the wind,
Left to hang without liberty.
Twisting, hanging, longing…
For the return of sanity.
Poem: Don’t You See?: The Non-Power of “I Told You So”
Don’t You See?
By Michelle Garren Flye
Don’t you see no one wants to say,
“I told you it would happen this way.
I told you the rivers would run dry,
I told you the seas would rise,
I told you the wars would increase
And the world would see US as a beast.”
Don’t you understand we don’t want to fail,
But we see it coming as alarms begin to wail?
No wants to say, “I told you this would happen.”
So tell me…how else can we convince you to listen?
A Poem for My Daughter
When she was born, I finished the process of becoming a mother of three.
For My Daughter
By Michelle Garren Flye
You’re my heart and my soul,
You’re a star in my sky.
You made our family whole,
When the stork dropped you by.
You are loved, my firefly,
Never doubt your self-worth.
No one else could satisfy
Your place on this earth.
Live the Life You Love
I’m wearing my favorite t-shirt today. I bought it on sale somewhere. It’s a simple white t-shirt and it says “Live the Life You Love”.
I bought this t-shirt because it took me a LONG time to figure out the life I love is okay. I’m a homebody. I don’t like huge adventures. I’ll never go cliff diving. I don’t enjoy public speaking. In fact, some days I don’t like talking at all. I like people but sometimes I don’t want to be around them. Ideally I have a few hours completely to myself during the day. I almost never want to go to parties. It’s nerve-wracking to me being in large groups. I never know what to say. My family are the only people I want to see on a day-to-day basis. I’m an introvert.
I’m a 47-year-old introvert and it took me almost this long to figure out this is okay.
Yesterday I cried when I heard Chris Cornell committed suicide. Not because I’m a huge fan, but because suicide is so tragic and prevalent today. My heart aches for those who are driven to that extreme by our world, because, although I’ve never considered it, if I were growing up in today’s world, I believe I might have.
Today’s world treasures the extroverts much, much more than ever before. The Youtubers and “Influencers” and sports stars and beautiful people. To a young introvert growing up among so many bright and shining beings and so many who can (and do) emulate them, the world can make an introvert feel very small and worthless—even when you have talent and beauty of your own that you’re just not as comfortable sharing.
This is addressed to my fellow introverts, young and old. YOU are okay. Do the things you love, live your quiet life, but LIVE it. Don’t ever give up. You may not feel like you fit in, but—and please trust me on this—the puzzle pieces of the world will eventually move over and let you shape your own spot. Find the things you love to do and do them. Contribute to the world in your way and don’t let it make you what you’re not. Because then you’ll never find peace.
God bless us all, introverts and extroverts alike. I have a feeling we all need it.
Cover Reveal: Time Being
I’m thrilled today to be able to share with you the cover (designed by the fabulous Farah Evers Designs) of my upcoming novel, Time Being, the second book of my Synchronicity series (Out of Time, Book One; Strange Path, A Synchronicity Story). Time Being continues the adventures of Kaelyn and Jack from Out of Time and brings back Hunter Drake from “Strange Path”. I hope you’ll join me on the journey June 21st:
Can love survive when time and space are out of sync?
In the aftermath of the Battle of the Portal, Kaelyn and Jack are left to pick up the pieces. But now they face their greatest challenge yet. Locking the portal hasn’t provided the Meti with the safety they’d hoped for. Instead, it has wrenched the worlds of Eladi and Ayeli into worse alignment than before.
With time and space at war with each other, Jack and Kaelyn must endure more devastating loss in their search for answers for both worlds. They turn to Kaelyn’s Elf uncle Hunter Drake. Will his sorcery be the answer to their prayers…or bring more danger into their midst?
Mother’s Day Poem
Perhaps brought on by my “Bad Mommy” experience of last weekend, I’ve been thinking a lot about motherhood and what exactly it is.
I realized that if we’re lucky, we have a lot of mother figures in our lives. Just giving birth to kids doesn’t make you a mother. A mother is more than that. My own kids have me, two grandmothers, the wonderful lady who’s helped me with babysitting, laundry, housekeeping for eleven years, and several teachers, relatives and friends who’ve at one point or another provided guidance or help. A veritable village of mothers out there—I’m just the one who’s lucky enough to live with them on a day-to-day basis.
So I wrote a little poem for all the mothers out there, whether you gave birth or even live with your children. If you’ve ever supported a child in a time of need, this is for you.
What a Mother Does
By Michelle Garren Flye
Mothers may
Lend their bellies
To grow their infants
Or their arms
To hold them
Or their breasts
To feed them.
Mothers may do that.
Mothers do
Give their hearts
To love their children
And their spirits
To hold them up
And their lives
To help them grow.
Mothers always do that.
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 