Cerridwyn Tiponi's Musings & Meanderings

The Seagull

February 11, 2010 by Cerridwyn Tiponi

Gracefully gliding

The seagull spreads its wings wide

Soaring through the air

Posted in Haiku, Poems | Tagged flying, Haiku, Poetry, seagull | 2 Comments »

Clouds,
Ominous and grey
versus
Majestic and white
Engaged in a primal war dance.
Which one shall prove victorious?
Remnants of their fight
Rain down upon humankind
As snow and hail:
Cold and wet,
A trail of destruction in their wake.
Their onslaught continues across the sky
Playfully circling around the other
Each attempting to emerge supreme.

Posted in Poems, Verse | Tagged Battle, clouds, grey, Hail, Poetry, Rain, Sky, Verse, War, white | 14 Comments »

Clouds

February 10, 2010 by Cerridwyn Tiponi

Fluffy clouds glide by

Against a canvas of blue

Constantly changing

Posted in Haiku, Poems | Tagged blue, changing, clouds, Haiku, Poetry | Leave a Comment »

Breathe

February 10, 2010 by Cerridwyn Tiponi

The art of breathing

Is to inhale and exhale

Slowly and deeply

Posted in Haiku, Poems | Tagged breathe, Haiku, Poetry, yoga | Leave a Comment »

Reversal of Fortune

February 8, 2010 by Cerridwyn Tiponi

She lazily rolled over to her back and started rubbing her eyes. Although the curtains were still drawn, she knew by the light filtering through the sides it was morning, albeit a grey, cold morning. What a way to start a Monday morning! She pulled the duvet higher, almost under her chin, trying to stay warm. The bedside clock with its bright red number display read 8:30 a.m. Her partner had vacated his side of the bed several hours before, leaving it available for her to stretch out over the entire bed. As she lay there, her mind started ticking over, making numerous lists which rarely were completed. What was she going to do today? It was the same question she’d been asking herself every day for the last year.

She let her mind wandered to what life was like then. She’d had a great job working in the financial services industry. She’d worked her way up to her current position through sheer determination. Granted, she was no dumb cookie. Educated, talented and ambitious gave her every right to earn the six figure salary she had received. Sure, it was stressful most of the time, but it wasn’t anything she wasn’t accustomed. It was a job filled with deadlines and she knew how to meet them head on. She’d been with the firm for over 10 years, yet now she had nothing. It was gone in the blink of an eye. Riding high one day only to find she’d been thrown to the curb the next. She felt so low, lost and afraid. What was she to do? She was one of those women whose career defined them.

At first, she had loads of confidence in her ability to join the gainfully employed again. However, with each rejection, her self-esteem started to waver, and as each day rolled into the next, she started doubting herself even more. What a vicious cycle everything turned out to be? Was there no end? Hadn’t she hit the bottom yet and when would her life start turning around? Her partner kept assuring her she was highly talented and everyone was foolish if they didn’t hire her on the spot. She smiled at his enthusiasm, secretly worrying that he might be wrong. And here she was one year later, still unemployed with little to no prospects on the horizon. What now?

She’d settled her mind back to her original question…what was she going to do today? There was only so much dusting and shopping a person could do. She’d learned quickly to stagger chores or errands to ward off boredom, but even that never seemed to satisfy her. As she willed herself to crawl out of bed, the phone rang. She darted across the room and answered it.

“Hello?” she queried.

“Good Morning. This is Mary from the HR department at Burroughs & Keefe. I’m calling for Ms. Smyth.” the voice on the other end informed.

“This is she.” she replied, her heart beginning to beat fast.

“Congratulations. You have the job.”

She couldn’t believe it. She’d only interviewed last week with this firm. Maybe her partner was right, maybe she was that good. “Thank you. When do you need me to start?”

“We do need you to start tomorrow. I’m sorry about the short notice. However, would it be possible for you to stop in today to fill out some paperwork? This way you can jump right into the new position.” the caller stated.

“That’s perfectly fine. I could be there in an hour or so. See you then.” She was speechless. They wanted her to start the following day.

“Wonderful. I’m looking forward to meeting with you shortly. I’ll leave word at reception to expect you. Good bye.”

The call ended and she stood there looking at the phone for a moment. She couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened. It really was a reversal of fortune…again.

Posted in Short stories, Tales | Tagged fortune, job, Short stories, Tales, unemployed | Leave a Comment »

The Pear Tree

February 4, 2010 by Cerridwyn Tiponi

Growing up, my grandparents only lived several blocks from my house. It was a relatively easy walk, so my mom would take us there quite often during the summer months. My sister, Melanie and I would run all over Grandma’s yard playing with balls, hoola-hoops and jump ropes. We would dart between the sheets which were hanging on the clothesline, billowing in the warm summer breezes. When we would need to take a break, we would drop down on the swing with popsicles or lay at the base of one of the fruit trees in the yard. Grandma’s yard had two cherry trees and a pear tree, all of which were at the back, close to the garage. Mel, age 5, and I, age 6, were too small to reach up and pluck the juicy cherries from the tree. They looked so delicious and red. Rarely did we find any cherries on the ground. Oftentimes, we would only find pits lying around the trees because the birds or squirrels would have gotten to them first. Many times, Grandma would pick cherries for us. Either Mel or I would hold the bowl while she would reach up into the low-lying branches to gather enough cherries for both of us.

As much as we enjoyed the shade and the sweet fruit from the cherry trees, our favorite tree was the pear tree. The way the tree had grown, it was a perfect tree to climb, even for a young child of 5 or 6. The pears would have greenish gold skin when ripe. Their white flesh would be slightly sweet and extremely juicy. Biting into them, the juice would roll down our chins, making us sticky. I would like to get up into the tree to snatch a couple of succulent pears for Mel and me, and then scamper back down before I could get scolded by Mom or Grandma. Many times, Grandma would ask us to pick up and throw out the fallen pears from around the base of the tree. These were pears the squirrels attempted to snatch, yet because they were too ripe would fall to the ground, forgotten. Mel and I would pick up the pears, but instead of immediately throwing them in the trash, we would use them to draw all over the sidewalk. We would make rainbows, suns, and stars. We would write our names and numbers. We would even draw out a hopscotch frame so we could play. We would wile away the afternoon in Grandma’s yard; writing and drawing until we used up the last of the overripe pears. Excited at what we had accomplished, we would call Mom and Grandma’s attention to our creations. Grandma would chuckle at our creativity, while Mom would tell us what a good job we had done, yet, reminding us Grandpa would not be pleased when he would get home from work. Oftentimes, Mel and I would still be drawing with pears when Grandpa would walk into the yard. He would see what we had done and scold us for the mess we had made. He would grumble as he pulled out the hose, washing the sidewalks down so the flies and the bugs wouldn’t swarm to the sweet pear juice. After he finished cleaning the sidewalk, Grandpa would sit on the swing and motion to us to sit on his lap. Obviously, he wasn’t really angry with us, since he would swing with us until his dinner was ready or Mom would take us home.