Consider the Dragonfly

Happy New Year! 

In lieu of a Saturday Post, here is a New Years promise, kept and keeping.

You rarely hear dragonflies 

Coming or going

Resting or moving

Not unless they are very close

Intimately close

Their song

Scary as the portents of

a new year
a new choice
a new life

Amazing

And unapologetic

For being

Quiet OR beautiful

They don't talk mess about 

how bam is their glam

No need for marketing

They don't puff up

They just show up

fly

be beautiful 

As they are

Don't need a billboard

to label them

beautiful

Their wings

Don't need

a million

Social media fans

Don't need merch buying followers

to increase their value

or premium

make them relevant

make them stronger

Don't need to be anywhere

Because they are

In front

On the sides

Behind

Beneath

Holding it up

Holding it down

Loud as the truth is scary

With barely any sound at all

They are free

to be heard

or ignored

Have you ever?

Let's do the dang thing. It's 2016.​

Hearing the Voice of the Heart

Wishing you all the Happiest of Holidays, here's a Saturday Post!

I hate that man like the very gates of death who says one thing but hides another in his heart. - The Iliad

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks... - The Bible

The holiday season is a great time to consider the rain and the symbol of cleansing that comes with it. Let's consider expelling the poison that may be within us. Let's consider that we all are fragile in the snow with no cover. Let's consider we often pretend to be Hercules, when really we are Tiny Tim without the crutch.

"...She has them believing that poor old ape with the twisted foot is a satyr. Illusions, deceptions, mirages!" - The Last Unicorn

Considering the idea of authenticity, it makes me wonder how many people don't know what is actually in their own hearts. And because they don't investigate, they act contrary to their own soul on a detrimentally regular basis.

I was that person, I worked for and with that person. I dated that person. Once I punched that person in the gut - but I was nine, and have learned telling someone the truth can be WAY more fulfilling (or devastating) that physical violence.

This morning as I was preparing this post, I received an email from someone in high school. He wasn't my favorite person. But he said he saw in me a beautiful soul. I thought that (at that time in my life) I couldn't be my own self. I had to wear the multi-socks, the cross gear-- be this thing that really couldn't explain me or be explained by me. I, like him, did stupid things in that time, but don't we all?

His regret for who he was makes me think that he, sometime in the not too recent past, saw his heart (or maybe I'm just being an artistic chick about it). Referring to the first two quotes, my point is whether your heart is hidden by your performance of self or worn on your sleeve, it will speak. Will I hear it in the midst of my spinning? Will you listen when it says something? Will we do the work?

Peter Beagle via Schmendrick the magician said, "It is a rare man who is taken for what he truly is." I use to think he said, "It is a rare man mistaken for who he truly is." I don't know whose phrase I like better, haha.

Your cross is not mine to bear. Neither is mine yours. Love, when true, can hurt like the deepest torture dungeon in hell. It can also put gold in your wings and bear you up to the stars. It takes bravery to engage and begin. So (in my best Samuel L. Jackson voice) the question remains -

"What's in your [heart]?

I'm such a goofball.

Merry Christmas,
Tiffany V

Pme and Qme in conversation

P.S. Did you read the latest review for Ugly Drawers, Pretty Panties? If not click here!

Be sure to order your copies before Christmas so your friends can get their gifts on time!

Thank Rafiki

Hey y'all! Happy Saturday! Here's a post for ya.

How this...

© November 2015 - Thanks Rafiki

turned into this...

© November 2015 - That Turkey is Smokin'

tells me that God is real, and that the Lion King Turkey Blessing works!

Seriously, I thank you all for the amazing support and love throughout the year.

2015 has been a year of reaping. 

Some things bloomed beautiful,

some things passed on,

and many things went

into a new phase.

A word of caution,

and a promise

none of us gets out of this alive

So enjoy the turkey

and run this race to win

With words, song & prayer
Tiffany V

Grafting

It's Saturday! Here's your Saturday Post!

Cut it out to cut it in
For the abundant life
Of both old and new
Two old
Become one
Anew
Renewed
With cuts, deep, and painful
The shoot can not seed
It is not of its own
It is cut out
And then
Cut in
The rootstock is the life source
The scion its sub-part
Under authority
Living off of that authority
There is no such thing
As a independent scion
Inosculation
Asexual generation
Cut out
to be cut in
To produce
Some 30, some 60, some 100-fold
It always hurts
At first
Being cut
And it hurts sometimes after
At the point of joining
But the benefit
Is worth it
Cutting out to cut it in
Cutting it

With words, song and prayer
TiMo V

Brave Enough to Share

Workin' that work and sharing my Saturday Post! Enjoy!

My friend told me today that she and her husband sat together and read one of my poems. She said they cried together in the reading. I told her I just wanted to tell the truth. That's why I write.

They even made a comment about My Violin of an Armpit. I am going to read it this evening.

I was interviewed by A Word With You Press for the Author Spotlight and I'd like to share that with you today.

My book launch party is in a few hours, and I'm so busy getting ready for it, I can't even be nervous about it. But those feelings will come. And I may write about them. Sometimes it hurts to tell what I'm seeing, doing, learning, or becoming. But that is the work. And I am humbled by the people who are brave enough to share their words with me. They inspire me to do more. So thank you all (song writers, poets, rappers, friends, etc.) for giving me the strength to tell my own story.

With words, song & prayer,
TiMo

Yours Truly, Summer 2011
© Tiffany Monique

8-29-15 Book Launch Press Release

In lieu of Saturday post - here is the Press Release from the AWwYP (my publisher's) Website

‪#‎UDPPbook‬ ‪#‎booklaunchparty‬ ‪#‎workthatwork‬ ‪#‎HVP‬ ‪#‎AWordWithYouPress

The pun comes with the territory...

Dear Friends,

If you are anywhere in SoCal please join us Saturday, August 29th with our sponsor Highlight Video Productions, at 2575 Foothill Drive in Vista to help us celebrate the launch of Ugly Drawers, Pretty Panties, our darling Tiffany Vakilian’s first publication with us at the Towers that shine A Word with You Press flags.

This event will be a great chance to meet the author and kindred spirits, and to network with writing, media, publishing, and other professionals. It’ll also serve as a reunion of sorts for all North County writers, in particular the Meet-Up group Anti-Social Writers and Creative Misfits, of which Tiffany and I are members. She handed me the fiddle when the Oceanside towers burned.

(but it does make a good story. But definitely not a lire!) 

We expect more people than there are inappropriate puns at the Towers, so be sure to bring a lawn chair. Come enjoy a little live music and the camaraderie of fellow writers, artists, and friends. Tiffany will give a brief reading at sunset, and be on hand to sign copies of her book.

50% of the proceeds from her book launch sales that night will be donated to the Transformative Language Arts Network, promoting the use of spoken, written, sung, or embodied words to facilitate social change. And you get a woman’s ugly drawers and pretty panties to put under your pillow or sell on eBay.

In a perfect world, I would be flying in from Moscow for the event, but I’m on extended time out for bad behavior and locked in the Tower! But I will be there virtually, as will folks all over the orb.

AND we will announce the prize winner to our Beneath the Surface contest before the day is done. I do hope to see you and promise to be on my best misbehavior!

Fifteen bucks gets you a beer, a book and a burger.

With LOVE from the land of the double-entundra,His Moi-ness,The Thorntonator-in-chief​, thornificent, as ever

Coffee... Oh How I Love Thee

Hey Y'all! Here's your Saturday Post!

Yep... this about sums it up.

Punta Cana Coffee Love
August 2014 © Tiffany Monique

With words, song & prayer,

TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

How Much?

With much joy, here is this week's Saturday Post:

For Tony Vakilian 7/27/14 and 11/1/14

© Tiffany Monique

With words, song & prayer, TiMo
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Onward Looking

© Tiffany Monique February 2014

Strength To Fly Away

Good day to you! Here is this week's Saturday Post:

Geode Dfly Love

December 2013 © Tiffany Monique

Strength to Fly Away

I didn't want to leave you
Little loves
I didn't want to dream of you
Apart from me
But you killed me
Tiny murders every day
You encapsulated my dreams
And tried to swallow them like pills
Digest and discard
I didn't want to leave you
Little joys
I didn't want to imagine the feeling
The absence of you under my fingers
But you hardened my heart
Until I became a geode
With a dragonfly inside
A dragonfly that was never meant to
Be fossilized
Let alone fit inside a crystal rock
Even one as beautiful as yours
I didn't want to attend the funeral of us
Little ones
I didn't want to open my arms
To release you
But I was a lie until I let you go
And now I am true to me
Unashamed of my failure of us
I didn't want to bury you
Too young to understand my departure
It is a sacrifice to rebirth
The only way for me to live
Is for us to die
And I will mourn you
Even as I fly with metal wings
Wings you gave me

With words, song & prayer, TiMo
www.timobe.com
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Onward Looking

© Tiffany Monique February 2014

2.15.14 Saturday Post

PING

I thought I was just watching a movie.

Conflict

Resolution

New conflict

smaller conflict

plot and intrigue

And then a reveal

justification and forgiveness
PING

"I need you to forgive him"
She pulled off her wig

all was revealed
PING

Her cancer killing her body

His cancer killing his friendships

And I thought of my friend and his father

And I thought of myself and myself

PING

"I need you to forgive him"

Sailed home like an arrow shot

And I woke up

Conflict

Resolution
PING
The race is today

The marathon of refusal

The marathon of acceptance

Good morning

Gunshot

PING
Which race is being run today
Either way

Go!

© Tiffany Monique, 2008 Gwynn Oak, Maryland

With words, song & prayer,
TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Yours Truly, 2013

Autumn Jade

Autumn Jade at roughly 20hrs old, with her loving Auntie, Yours Truly
1/10/2014

I was unable to submit my Friday Poetry. Sorry about that.

My newborn niece, with arguably the COoOooOoooLEST name EVER, summoned me to regard and be regarded by her. So here is a poem to mark the occasion.

9-10-11

We say Happy New Year

It is

It really is a Happy New Year

For her

It really is a Happy New Year

For me

The duplicity of duplication

Her brand new eyes

My brand new eyes

What she sees is me

What I see is me

What she sees is new

What I see is new too

My family

My blood

So different

And the same

Her eyes

My eyes

Her perception

My reception

Autumn Jade

A beautiful jewel harvested

And a beloved harvest

A new life

And a new life

Dedicated to my niece, her mother and father, and to my growing family - stronger than ever by the grace of God.

With words, song & prayer, TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com



Friday Poetry 12.13.13

Impact Tremors

Not just the immediate metamorphosis
Not just the first seven layers of shifting skin
Something more is happening
Fathoms down
It's just too deep to see right now
But the water in the glass is moving
As it sits idle on the table
And I know it to be true
Something deep is moving
The smell of the air is affected
Flying things have shifted their patterns
Burrowing things have begun to move
Some rising to the surface
Others relocating
Where they are going, I don't know
It's just too deep to see right now
The occasional pebble does a gentle dance
Portents of the coming calamity
Or perhaps triumphant return of a deep truth
The crystallization within the geode
As it is beginning to break open
To shine forth
But I can't see it
Only I know it to be true
It's just too deep to see right now
But the certainty of it
Is humming low in the throat
In the chest
In the gut
In the crotch
In the knees
In the undersides of the feet
It's just too deep to see right now

Geode Dfly Love
December 2013 © Tiffany Monique

With words, song & prayer,

TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com



Friday Poetry 10.4.13

DC 2008 © Tiffany Monique

My Family

Beautifully awkward
Every joint supplies
Thumb, thigh, lip, hip
From the grave to the skies
Ugly drawers, pretty panties
That's my family

15 minutes of fame
Six to zero degrees
Elbows, spine, ears, hair
Lifted hands and bended knees
Ugly drawers, pretty panties
That's my family

I forgot I was loved
Lost it in a lie of fear
Wrist, chest, abs, calves
I've returned home and everyone is here
Ugly drawers, pretty panties
That's my family

My daughters are not lost
My sons are on their way
Ankle, knuckle, biceps, triceps
I loved you long before today
Ugly drawers, pretty panties
That's my family

Some by blood and some by blood
Adoption sacred and true
Palms, skull, thighs, eyes
I never let go of you
Ugly drawers, pretty panties
That's my family

Yes, I said it
No too many would
Heart, head, hand, land
What's mine is mine, and He made it good
Ugly drawers, pretty panties
That's my family

Hiking Shenandoah Mountains 2008 © Tiffany Monique

With words, song & prayer,
TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Yours Truly, Summer 2011
© Tiffany Monique

Friday Poetry 9.13.13

Writings from the desert...

It's flippin' dry!
I'm parched!
Need fluids!
Need to LIVE!
Well,
If I'm alive enough to complain
I'm ALIVE!
HECK NO it's not comfortable!
But there's something beautiful in it
Beauty in the pain of change
A strength stirring as I learn
I am in fact not dry
Or parched
Or in need of anything
As if I lay dying
Because all I've done
Is left my comfort zone
And I have to say...
I'm kinda diggin' the difference
Kinda

© Tiffany Monique 2013

For my home-girls

You make me crack up
It's because you are so you
Crazy as ever

With words, song & prayer,
TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Yours Truly, Summer 2011
© Tiffany Monique

Friday Poetry 8.2.13

As if on the wind
As if from a kiss
I smell the perfected seedling
I sense great harvest
Yes, it is coming, that time of year

The death of a seed
Is not for mourning
The coming fruit shows us
Seeds die for the turning
Yes, it is coming, that time of year

The music of change
The joy of root taken
Through groundbreaking growth pain
For sickle and staking
Yes, it is coming, that time of year

Call it a journey
Or perhaps a process
Life through morbid shift
Such metamorphosis
Yes, it is coming, that time of year

The cycle is certain
Of death breeding life
Skulls are not the stopping point
But a stanza in rhyme
Yes, it is coming, that time of year

The turn of phrase
From Summer to Fall
To glean what was planted
Great reward from seed small
Yes, it is indeed coming, that time of year

Worlds
There are so many different worlds around
I see how I am or am not a part
Each group, each grouping
It's amazing, our microcosms
Sometimes I just like standing from the outer atmosphere
Looking in
An alien
The world of the traveler at the airport
His uniform
Her gear
The world of the small town family
Her peace
His release
The world of the... insert your own
SO many worlds
All around us
So many different worlds
Like jewels
Like joys
So many worlds around

With words, song & prayer,
TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Yours Truly, Summer 2011