Nicole Tasker Woods

Mist is thick
Rolling over the ocean shore
It reaches towards us
As we drive along the coast

Wall of fog to the left
No water in sight down below
Mountain cliffs to the right
No sky visible up above

Road stretches, winds and turns
Satellite radio drops in and out
Sun struggles to show its face
Air outside slowly warms

Break for a waterfall in Big Sur
Flowing into untouched beaches
Blue-green waves crashing below
As blue birds eat out of tourist hands

Driving through sun and clouds
Million dollar homes line cliffs and beaches
A spectacular view from every front porch
Carmel for lunch then boutique shopping

As we close in on the Bay area
Clouds subside, clearing the way
For the last two hours of this drive
Along the coast

Copyright © 2010 N.E. Tasker

I will wave my arm and hand in the air and smile at my mother when she comes to pick me up from the Manchester airport.

I will hug her and smell her momma smell and let her arms wrap around my soul.

In late August as we exit the air conditioned indoors, I will no doubt be smacked in the face by the thickest of humid air.

My eyes will feast on the New Hampshire surroundings, taking in all the lush greenery as we drive towards Northwood.

I will delight in seeing my childhood home in the distance.

We will swiftly approach the outdoor cage enclosing a Black Lab and larger-than-life-horse-sized-Chesapeake Bay retriever.

Their tails will wag and their barks will bite the air.

Hopefully silence will fill the air as I exit the car and approach the pups while calling their names.

In 6 weeks, I will be taking a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Manchester.

Probably have a couple hours layover in a U.S. city along the way.

I will be tired from trying (and failing) to get sleep on the plane.

I will be smelly from walking around multiple airports over a span of 12 hours in the same clothes.

I will be restless in an aisle seat, waiting for my planes to take off and land.

I will be anxious in the stuffy shared air as my fellow passengers and I tap our fingers and our feet in anticipation.

We will politely push and shove each other out of our way like cattle out of a cage.

Take this evil feeling

And that disgusting look

Right. Off. Your. Face.

Bleach tie-dyed wishes

Wash them from his brain

You can not fake

This polish

This paint

Or make it want to glitter

Cuticles will not recede

Ratty hangnails pull and puff

Legs: no shave

Brows: no wax

Popping knuckles, dislocated

Joints cannot bend

Take out the trash

Take your medication

Your vitamins

Your turn

Your chance

Make a decision

To chance

To change

To jelly rolls

Gliding over recyclable

Lines

Words

Rhymes cluttered

Over creamy, spiral-bound pages

Copyright © 2010 N.E. Tasker

DISCLAIMER: The information in this blog post may not be suitable for children under the age of 17. Please proceed reading at your own risk.

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Turn over in warm sheets
Cali groans out a complaint to the
WAKE UP morning buzz

Numbly apply clothing
Tie shoelaces and plod to the rhythm of a
WAKE UP morning buzz

Over-cream my coffee
In a call-your-mother mug drinking
WAKE UP morning buzz

Copyright © 2010 N.E. Tasker

Suck on unsound thorns and brandish rosy heads over me…

Five hundred bloody petals dance and quiver over me.

Arms stretch out and I spin to lift up towards the timid sun,

Spiral to Heaven, broken pencils hover over me.

Open hands cup and paddle through stars and milky way dark,

Knees bend and snap to feather kick the earth up over me.

Reeling up to the rising, toes drown in liquid crescent…

Dreaming through Beta blue, week-old fish bowls try to ground me.

Wish I could fall away, lose myself in timeless rapture,

Look up long enough to taste the rumors blushing over me.

Copyright © 2010 N.E. Tasker

Oh my  snowy New Englanders

I am envious of your snowy New Englander plans

As you are heading to snowy New England towns

For a snowy New England Christmas

Copyright © 2009 N.E. Tasker

It was left to dry
On the front door’s balcony
But an unexpected midnight storm
Of rain and rushing winds
Lifted it up and over the side
Violently thrashing as it flew
Through murky skies
Falling hard on the bushes below
Left soaking long enough
For snails to make their home
In the damp folds of water repellent fabric

Copyright © 2009 N.E. Tasker

Limited by worth and unconnected to this world

Related to nothing but the seed of purpose

Forget the rules and social initiations

Be yourself, be willing to grow

Expand

Find one thing that will not name you

Revel in it – whatever it is – do not fear it

Do not buy into acceptance

Approval is overrated, eccentricity is a lifelong staple

Revive

Breathe in criticism and spit out insurgence

Societal structures are mundane – step away

Go to introductory club meetings but strive not to fit in

Skip the buffet of what you should do

Curiosity

Find your expression, give it unbroken interest

Pull the bag off your shoulder full of missing needs

You never considered necessary and plunge your open hand

Wrap your fingers around who you were

Squeeze

Release the pulp of who you want to be

Invest in the sparks of unlikely inspiration

Refuse judgment and leave the looks behind

Honor your artist within and embrace the unlimited

Untamed

Copyright © 2009 N.E. Tasker

A lost parade of chances, marching in

To save the lefties, virgins all in red;

Untying timeless trials they can’t win,

Until estranged and socially unwed.

Distorted webs of lucid dreams stay trapped

In pot-luck buffets and one unlocked day:

Set free to taste the peace of nerves unsnapped;

To revel over high school years that stray.

A dangerous divorce from happy past,

Unbearable for future calls to home;

With peers, alliances aren’t meant to last—

And when deterred by friends, you’re on your own.

When breaking ties that mean to bind for life,

You’re bound to die choking on dated strife.

Copyright © 2009 N.E. Tasker

Is it wrong to say I deserve this and mean it?

Is it unethically insane to take something that you believe

Belongs to you, but in the eyes of the world

It isn’t rightfully yours?

Is it immoral to disagree with the law because your own rules

Seem more logical than those established by society?

It may not be yours, but you have to take it—regardless!

Wrap your eyes around temptation and swallowed it whole

So the sourness can fester inside.

Copyright © 2009 N.E. Tasker