AKPCEP.comDiscussion forums, writing, poetry, prose and art.Scars by shaggy- (Found June 24, 2008 ) As he hid behind the debris, he took the moment to let all the emotions wash over him. They had been hidden for so long that they came stubbornly; what is hidden is not revealed easily. The death, the destruction, the betrayal... he rose it to his throat, and in a choked, silent, violent sob, it came out and he began to purge everything that he had kept inside. He could not be heard. And so as everything came out, it was hidden still. He had no voice, no means of expression, only mental..http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=951 Happiness by shaggy- (Found June 24, 2008 ) The difference between a smile and a frown is the difference of choice. However, that being said, the goal of the storyteller is to convince someone to smile or frown, to laugh or cry. But the goal is in itself doomed to failure because of the fact that people choose: they can walk into a movie in which the filmmakers have faught hard to make a film to make everyone in the audience smile, but never so much as chuckle. I could walk into a movie intending to make me weep for a lost innocence...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=941 "My father's fingers" by Andy- (Found June 24, 2008 ) My father's fingers thumb the pages of a paperback thriller. Their scarred, coarse tips are wet with spots of spit. His rough knuckles crack as he sinks further into the plush, brown sofa. A sigh escapes through his chapped, parted lips. Right now, he does not think about feeding sturdy sheets of plywood, two-by-fours, sixes, and eights, into the hungry maw of a table saw&151; the daily duties of a carpenter&151; but rather, about the round tub of macadamia nut ice...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=942 Who am I by shaggy- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Well, this will come as no surprise, but I recently settled on the undeniable fact that I have some sort of wicked mood disorder. I'm not terribly sure the extent, and my prescription coverage at work only kicks in about a month from now, so I'm hesitant to get diagnosed until that happens (what's the point of knowing what's wrong with me when I can't do much about it) but I often wonder... when I get into my moods (I call them having an "emotional poop"... makes it easier to get out of them...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=943 Smug by Duncan-O- (Found June 24, 2008 ) It's a Friday night, and I'm out howling at the moon. My phone rings, and the name on the screen brings my revelry to a jarring halt. What could she want Shantel wants a favor. She needs her cat's litterbox changed. And as my inebriated mind struggles with this irritating and ludicrous request, she pushes on ahead: "It's the toxoplasmosis...the doctor says it's very dangerous for my baby." All I can manage to say is "I didn't know you were pregnant." We had gotten to Fort Bragg at.http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=944 Wikipedia is Dangerous and Beautiful by The_Roach- (Found June 24, 2008 ) This piece was originally posted last week in a rare update to my blog, The Face of Adversity, but since nobody reads that, it might as well reside here where someone might actually see it. It's very early in the morning. I've had a fair bit to drink and smoked enough cigarettes to make my lungs ache from deep breath. I'm thinking about legend and myth, faces and heels, history, legacy, butterfly wings and ripples on ponds. Curiously enough, it has me remembering my grandfather, dead now...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=945 The Big Apple by shaggy- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Sirens going off at all hours of the night... some random dude trying to pick into the lock into my building with a card... and directions that include only four words: "up", "down", "left", "right", if not just simply pointing in one of these directions. Yes, that's right... I'm now a New Yorker. Which is cool in its own right. The city is bustling, there's always something to do, and its a lot safer than you'd think for a city that has its own CSI. A footlong sandwich costs three...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=946 Childish Charlie by shaggy- (Found June 24, 2008 ) "I can't do this again, Charles," said Jasmin, a member of New York's finest for the last three years of her life, two of which were almost constant contact with the infamous Childish Charlie. At first, Charlie was a bit of a joke. Often seen on Jasmin's route wandering with a wooden stick he called Excalibur. He got into a few scrapes, mostly without any injury. But, after awhile, as all things do, it started to escalate into a problem. Charles started showing up on the streets with...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=947 Reflections of a qualified teacher by Villager- (Found June 24, 2008 ) The past six weeks have been a first for me: six weeks of proper full-time work, with proper pay. The first time I have earned more than minimum wage, too. I have taken a job in Lincolnshire teaching English at an old secondary modern school. I've found success easier to come by than I had imagined, but it does come at a high cost to my time and energies. It is perhaps instructive that I am only truly discovering this at the age of 23, but I abhor the price that work demands from me. It...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=948 Tick, Tock by Villager- (Found June 24, 2008 ) I'm developing something of an aversion to clocks. They're deeply unsettling, with their incessant ticking and ceaseless tocking. Grim harbingers of mortality, milestones on the road to death flashing by, each one gone forever before the next has begun. I have achieved nothing. I have not sparkled, I have not shone, I have not excelled. I have barely begun contemplating where to begin. The clock is not sympathetic; it marches on, not stopping or slowing for pause or reflection. It's not so...http://www.akpcep.com/?pid=comment&id=940 |