Saturday, June 24, 2006

Oops... ran low on energy—

and fell off the 30:30 bicycle on my third day.

Kept tinkering around with my story collaboration with Valerie yesterday. Writing poetry, in contrast, hasn't been as much fun. Or ticklish. We've reached 3000 words by now. Yay!

Here's an excerpt:
           Once in the house, Jim wouldn't even look at Carmen: "I'm going down to the corner for a drink."
           "Well, hurry back," she quipped while shrugging into a terry robe. There was something about running water that made her feel French, as if she'd managed to run for her life and actually escape the guillotine. The tub filled up and she filled it with bubbles.
           Alone at last with Richard in her bath. It lasted about two hours. Fish and wishes are connected, she mused. That was dogma to her. Like in Arabian Nights: talking fish swimming in endless lakes that existed only in the parallel universe of near sleep conversations.
           Such fancies got her in with the writers at her job in a publishing firm. She had to organize her reading habits around committees and publicity, but occasionally got to take an author or two out to lunch. That was how she met Richard. He was always there with a fork in her spaghetti meatballs, a finger in her chocolate pecan pie.

5th driving lesson:

Yikes. The only thing I can say is that I can't do a U-turn even if my life were to depend on it.

Additional self-prescribed requisites for the September driving exam:

• two hundred (200) tablets of Valium;
• seven (7) eye implants on crucial points of the head;
• one (1) lobotomy.

Today's queen of the jungle is Rachel's Angelina:


6 comments:

sam of the ten thousand things said...

Hope the story collaboration goes well, Arlene. I like the excerpt.

Sharon Hurlbut said...

Well, sorry to see you fall off the 30:30 wagon, Arlene, but your prose is sparkling!

And I LOVE the picture of Angelina - she DOES look like queen of the jungle.

michi said...

first you can't drive, and now you can't even ride a bike anymore! what's going on there with you, arielle?

the prose is cool though. as is the pic. rachel looks rather different in it though. kinda ... furry. *L*

x m

Rachel Mallino said...

Arlene,

Love it! Thank you, again. Lina should be home tomorrow and she is going to be one happy queen.

Liz said...

Arlene, sorry you have taken a tumble with 30:30 but WOW the prose certainly makes up for it.

And the pic is fab.

Liz-Anne
x

Arlene said...

thanks for dropping by everyone -- glad you all like the pic and prose.

michi honey, whoever told you i knew how to ride a bike? teehee. it's the truth: i don't.

a.