Checkmate in Hell

Image credit: Dyakova Yulia/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Dyakova Yulia/Shutterstock.com

They put you in checkmate in hell
The floor beneath your penitent feet
Seems to smirk and whisper
Too late, too late!
You played your games
Feeling immortal as only
Foolish mortals might
And when no fires greeted you
For moment thought
You’d won the game
Beaten the odds
A god of your own making indeed

But strategies are hidden
In these desolate deceiving realms
You are coaxed into contentment
As each deadly piece advances
Across the checkered floor
You must always pay the Piper
Not a soul may be immune
And you will be as broken as the kingdom
You sought to grasp
On mother earth
As you plunge
Finally knowing
Into the grinning mawl
Of the silvery abyss

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Mystery

Image credit: Zolotareva Elina/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Zolotareva Elina/Shutterstock.com

I could not capture
the mystery
It was too deeply etched
on a face too hidden from full view
Those days we often laughed
and dreamt wild dreams
that only youth would dare to dream
And in those days I saw her
because only then would courage allow
a momentary glimpse
of the truly strange

I never knew if deep within
that mystery lay promise or fear
beauty or bestiality
I only saw that life was stranger
than my lessons had allowed
She may have been a sprite
or a trickster playing games
but whatever she was
I could not know her true

Years on but a memory
and one so ephemeral at times
I would believe if you told me
she was but a dream and I
a strange and fanciful child
had simply wanted to believe
But then I see her memory waft
up to an older and more cautious mind
and feel a primal fear
little recognised in youth
but which makes me shudder
in age

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Someday I Will Fly Away….

Image credit: NikoNomad/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: NikoNomad/Shutterstock.com

Someday I will fly away
Into unknown horizons
The gentle breeze on my back
A guiding, loving force
I’ll see your face
In moons of distant stars
And search alien deserts
For a trace of your smile

Someday I will fly away
Balloon bright against azure skies
Freedom a small token
Of endless calming love
And on foreign shores
I’ll find your voice
And finally know you true
In your embrace

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tuesday Anything Possible – Pre-Order Our Justice the Final Book in the John J. Cannon Trilogy

The latest from John Howell is available for pre-order! Woo hoo! Can’t wit to read what happens next! 🙂 🙂

John W. Howell's avatarFiction Favorites

Introducing the third book in the John J. Cannon Trilogy – Our Justice

Our Justice

The terrorist leader and financier Matt Jacobs figured out a way to eliminate the President. He is relying on John Cannon’s stature as a hero to help him carry it off. John finds himself walking the fine line of pretending to help Matt while trying to figure out a countermeasure to the plan.

The action begins with John fearing for his life. Clearly, whoever is trying to get him has a mission to accomplish and the elimination of John is at the top of the to-do list. The quest to survive takes John and his love, Stephanie from the beaches of Port Aransas to West Virginia and finally to Matt Jacob’s corporate headquarters at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. There John finally understands what he needs to do to protect both he and Stephanie from further mayhem.

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Posted in Poetry | 1 Comment

Naked Alliances up for Eversion Pre-Order and Paperback is Published

Woo hoo! New book by S.K Nicholls – sounds like a hoot! Get your copy now! 🙂 🙂

S.K. Nicholls's avatarS.K. Nicholls

As you may have noticed, I’ve been off social media for a while. There were too many things on my mind and loads of work to get done. I’m packing to go to Michigan to see my new grandbaby…my first born’s first born. Really excited about that.

We also have a book. Naked Alliances is now available in paperback only and the eversion is up for pre-order. Yay!!!

4

Had to go this route this time. The publicist package we won at Sleuthfest came with a publicist who insists we have a book before she begins her marketing campaign. (I personally believe in a lot of pre-marketing, but she needed ARCs for reviewers and this is the only way to get them with CreateSpace.)

Mayglenn McCombs, the publicist, will be doing a blog tour, but I’d also like to set one up on my own. Anyone willing to help, let me…

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On the Water

Image credit: Alexandria Lande/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Alexandria Lande/Shutterstock.com

See her dance upon the water
Just a nymph
The ocean’s daughter
See it sparkle
With her laughter

Soulful siren as she turns
And she dips
We watchers burn
See us tremble
As we learn

See her swaying, dancing soul
Just a myth
Memory made whole
All our joys
She here extols

See her dance upon the water
Just a nymph
The ocean’s daughter
See it sparkle
With her laughter

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Early Morning

Image credit: AntGor/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: AntGor/Shutterstock.com

Early morning is the purest
and most peaceful time
Soft sunlight dips its rays across
A welcoming, soft toned sky
The moon has vanished
Waiting on her time
And life surrenders to the warmth
All around

Early morning holds the promise
of the burgeoning new day
Dappled leaves and branches
In a morning breeze softly sway
And what stretches before us
None can say

Early morning wakes us with a kiss
The quietest affection
Like a lover just out of reach
Each breath we take so simple
There is nothing left to say
Early morning
With its secrets for the day

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Muse (Micropoetry)

Image credit: Weerachair Khamfu/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Weerachair Khamfu/Shutterstock.com

Sweetest muse
Flaming my soul
Rendering all resistance
Lost on barren floors
As my soul is scored
By marks of divinity sublime
Sweetest muse is mine

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Caverns Deep

Image credit: RussieseO/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: RussieseO/Shutterstock.com

In caverns deep the purest water flowed
From mother earth’s veins
Sustenance of life
Where the weary kneel and go
to pray for futures so far out of sight

In caves we sheltered from oncoming storms
Embraced by rock as old as time itself
We shivered, praying on the shelf
for providence to find us in our plight

Emerging from the darkness into light
Umbilical chord broken
With open blinking eyes
We prayed for all such splendour in our midst
To heal our souls and let us yet alight

In caverns deep the purest water flowed
We tasted of such nectar
The world has never known
And innocent, rising to the light
We prayed to see our future out of sight

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toast

Image credit: nuttavot sammongkol/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: nuttavot sammongkol/Shutterstock.com

We shall drink to the days gone by
Toast the memories washing over us
Those we embrace
And those we deny
We shall drink to the days gone by

We shall sing till our hearts can live
Toast to the sentiments we apply
Those we can accept
Those we can’t forgive
We shall sing till our heart can live

And even our ghosts may cry
For all that our destinies give
Toast to the earth
Toast to the sky
And even our ghosts may cry

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

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