I am a Whitehouse/Westside Miscreant

Daily writing prompt
Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

Oh hell yeahI stayed one step ahead of the shoe shine, two steps away from the county line. Just trying to keep my customers satisfied. Satisfied.

*I have written about it throughout my blog* My writing is full of the truth. Confessional. That is why it is obscured. But it can be unearthed. You have to want to know.

*The photo is of my 1991 Toyota that I drive on Amelia Island, FL. Land of the rich and famous. One time sunny place for shady characters. Some consider keeping this rusted, mule of a vehicle, on the road – criminal. I have fun.

*Catch me if you can.

*Whitehouse/Westide is a part of Jacksonville FL – It is called Zone 4 – which is across the board, known as a heart rate zone. It is where I am from.

*whoops – I read the prompt wrong.

One Law

Daily writing prompt
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?

The law of averages. Who wants to be average?

*One of my scribbles.

Always From the Pulpit

Red for the church house door. Red doors of prosperity. Red door of “do I open this door.”

I recently went to a promotion for a book by a local author. It’s something I have been doing when I am at home in Florida. Participating in the local literary community. It’s current. It’s art.

I listened to the speaker. This was hosted by the Jacksonville Historical Society. The author of his twenty something book did a fair job. I bought the book.

As I waited to have my book signed, another author stood to my left and tried to engage the writer in a conversation. He asked questions? He mentioned his writing. The author was distracted, of course. He feigned interest and obviously had no idea what his peer was talking about. I took this all in.

Then I opened the book. The words were ……….. I mentioned to the lady standing next to me, “It looks like I am going to be living in my dictionary again.” I have a created habit of looking up every word I read that I am not familiar with. This book was full of them on every page. I complained. “Why do people do this? She replied, not verbatim, “the author wants to show his knowledge of language.” I would have to say he was successful on that plane of existence.

I said, “Why doesn’t anyone write like Flannery O’Conner anymore.” She looked at me and said do you mean like in layers and ………..

I replied, Yes.

As we move forward, dragging the past into the present. Flying it high in the south. A new Confederate flag. A trending political word power. Emotive and inciting.

Murder, drama, politics in words meant for …… A new National Enquirer.

I read and comment.

I challenge.

I am deleted.

Fly High – From the Pulpit – The New Improved Confederate Flag

Celeste

After a long and arduous walk across Costa Rica, Celeste finally laid eyes on the Caribbean. The town she arrived in was bleak, the ocean was overwhelmingly the ocean.

Celeste has been threatened all of her life. First is was the darkness of her home. Then it was socialization. She had to wear awful clothes, pray on her knees and talk to other children. It all seemed so pointless.

She swam at four. Rode a horse at three. She was born to be wild. Her mother introduced her to the beach. Things were good for a while. Then she left home at seventeen. Ill equipped. She suffered years of abuse from a violent, abusive husband. She was forced to live inland. Gulping in city air, burning her feet on asphalt and rubbing shoulders with hoodlums and creeps. Celeste maneuvered herself through life. She learned. Her internal life was one of question, always question. What the f*ck is going on?

Celeste’s external life was out of the box. She was called eccentric. She was smart, not dumb. She heard the walls call her an idiot. But she knew that was not true.

She died a while back and had crossed Costa Rica walking. She had to get herself across the border and into Panama. She could do it. Celeste could do anything. Anything she wanted.

Everyone else could go swim with the current. Bling Bling. Get yourself a red hot mortgage and burn yourself to the ground. But not Celeste. She believed in swimming against the current. Fuck the lifeguards. Fuck Apple. Fuck Facebook. But Instagram – she’ll keep Instagram.

With a bucket full of ocean water in one hand and a paint brush in the other, she began to create her new reality.

66 – Losses and Gain

This is my spot. It’s probably the last time I will get to stand here. To be on the beach enjoying the sunset. Here’s where I have fished for forty years. The island has been overrun by people who love the view, but are not beach people

God Bless them – each and every one.

66 – Scorpions

Please Allow Me To Sting Myself

I do and I have. One should never put their writing out there until it’s ready.

The Wild and the Weak

You belong to one category or the other. Which one are you?

I know where I stand.

Can you run ahead of the pack? Or are you in the dust?

Day 153

This is day 153 of the year 2022. There are 215 days left. And I am here in the moment. En Route 66…………….

“Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?” – Marcus Aurelius

Did Marcus Aurelius say that!?

En Route 66*

At some point, everyone must have a dream. A desire for something greater. If there is a point to death, it is to give life value, to do something with the meager time we have remaining.

Arthur Nersesian and Me

Unlubricated

Ocean Educated

My mother would drive us out of the swamp, to the ocean once a year. Then in 1966 she bought the beach house. – she kept one hand on an oak tree and the other on a palm – thank you Mama – Now I get to pass it on. It’s not for everybody. Thank God ~