Alan Carson Writing

Please check out my website alancarsonwriting.com for more work and to read the first chapter of my novel

[alancarsonwriting-blog]

Treading Water

Another wave crashes against my back, breaking and buffeting me, but my body creates a barrier and the wave moves around her, I breathe in the salt water and almost choke, spitting it out just as she is able to gasp in the sweet air

She's not the best swimmer, and my legs ache as I tread water, pain coursing through my nerves before the numbness sets in

There's a brief lull and I feel the current dragging us out, knowing another wave will crash soon

This one soars over my head, I dip underwater for a moment, enveloped in the darkness, before I break through again, sun on my skin

I see that water splashed on her face, and I curse myself for not stopping it all, for letting even one drop hit her, for letting even the smallest grain of sand get caught in her eye, and as the salt stings at the corner I see a tear roll down

I kick up harder, holding her above the water, pushing my body even higher so the next wave will hit me instead of her

Better, I have to be better

In my hands is a treasure, lost at sea for so long, so precious, so perfect

Better than chests filled with Spanish gold, or diamonds and gems lost to the depths, more valuable than all the pearls pulled from the bottom, more wonderful than all the treasures that drove men to lead a life of piracy on the seas, far more beautiful than the crowns and jewels worn by those that commanded privateers to do the same

She is my love, and I will carry her to shore, and cherish her for the rest of my days

[alancarsonwriting-blog]

Every Story is Slowly Unfolding

Every story is slowly unfolding, words flying into the air, like rain in reverse

Tales of triumph and songs of struggle intertwining

Everyone is a book

Page after page sewed together, bound into a collection

I love to read

I picked up her book, flipping to a random page, a miracle I should stumble across it

Every word envelops me, wrapping me in a trance, I lose myself in the story, tearing madly through, desperate to memorize every line

It's filled with sadness, and beauty, and cruelty, and light

I turn back to the beginning, wanting to learn more, mad at myself for missing those chapters

I can't put it down, every time I get a chance I steal away to a corner, eager to read more, to study, become a scholar

For the book isn't finished, and I turn to the blank pages and press my pen to paper to try to write a happy ending

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Battle Cries

I feel the beat in the city streets

Hearts pressing against their chest, rattling the walls, prying open prison bars, joining the pounding of feet

Steady steps marching to the drum, grabbing bayonets and torches, crying out for any left

Whispers rise into battle cries just trying to drown out the screams

Crowns don’t stay long on tyrants heads

While mothers cry and the streets run red

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Fingers Stained Black with Ink

My fingers are stained black with ink, constantly pressing against the pages, moving back and forth madly, word after words spills out, shot from the pen, like a whip of black flame, consuming the page

Books are piled behind me, thousands of them, filled with my mad ramblings

Beautiful, wonderful, awe inspiring, like the moon, my puzzle piece, words and words and words, I lose myself in them, just like i lose myself in her

I’m trying, I’m dying, I’m struggling, my hands ache from dragging the pen back and forth, like a mad dance

Poems, songs, novels, stories, tales, everything you could think of, I’ve tried it all

But i still can’t capture her, still can’t put her onto the page, surrounded by a million words and she leaves me speechless

[alancarsonwriting-blog]

Unexpected Treasures

Withering away, stuck in the middle of nowhere, down on my luck and losing the will to care

I'm wilting, not like a flower, weak and fleeting, but like a mighty oak, years and years of storms and fears and I'm broken

I'm dying of thirst, my lips cracking and my voice breaking as my throat dries from the inside, and I can't scream for help

Till that unexpected treasure

A girl across a room, a seat open and a mind open too

A laugh like a million diamonds

A smile like clouds in the sky

Eyes like the sea, not the dull ocean but the sparkling seas

A mind like a maze, twists and turns but a wonder around every corner

Hair like gold, until she dyes it to reflect her unique soul

A love so fierce it makes me tremble

Hours and hours spent together, lost in each other

All those unexpected treasures, they saved me

[alancarsonwriting-blog]

I Sat Among The Books

I sat among the books and the shelves rattled and shook

The covers flying open as the words wrestled their way out, shattering the air with a collective shout,

Settling down into a song the words took shape, rising and falling each one struggling to find it's space

The melody began, drifting, dancing

Lazily the tune took me like a stream each turn and bend showing me a new dream

The harmony joined in, as I looked upon the banks and saw the rolling hills and fields ready to be filled with whatever my mind could make

The stronger words decided to have their turn, as the stream gained strength and a river was born

Dropping me down in frigid waters, and the song was gone and the only sound was the chatter of my teeth

Then I burst through again, and drawing breath, riding the crest of the wave, I found myself at the sea and knew I could stay afloat

As the sun warmed my skin, I heard the sweet hymn once more, and looked out and saw forever stretched across the shore