#redoleander

[jbmgardens]

Red Oleander

The Red Oleander is an evergreen, fast growing, and weather tolerant shrub that produces bright red, five petal flowers during summer.

It’s stems are covered in an abundance of narrow dark green leaves, which provide a lovely contrast.

It does well in full sun to partial shade, and likes moist, well drained soil.

Ours is currently thriving in this Melbourne weather.

[nikisterner]

son of adam, daughter of eve (2007)

"You're bleeding all over my sheets," you said. My blood was running in rivers down my skin over your bed, soaking through the mattress and pooling at my sides.  "Maybe I'm making the cuts too deep." Slowly, blood filled the back of my throat and I drifted away as you kissed the crook in my collarbone where my crucifix laid. Walking down the alley way where we met, people I passed would shiver, and dogs would bark. Children would giggle as I made faces at them and their parents would look around, perturbed.  I liked to hide in closets and move things around other people's houses. Sometimes I'd sneak into my old history teachers room and moan until he sat up, panting, with the chills. Serves him right for that "D" on my mid-term in high school. I liked to follow you around, too. Keep an eye on you. Who else were you kidnapping and cutting up? Sometimes my skin would hurt when I remembered.

[nikisterner]

VIOLET SUNSET (2008)

Fragmented memories of a dancer with black hair swirled in my memory like a ghost. I woke up in a puddle of sweat and confusion. I drank it away with an aspirin and a cup of coffee. Reality crept back in like a festering wound.

Shoes shined, suit pressed.

The smell of violets surrounded me like a fog, tainting my memories as I tried to work. Papers melted into ice cream, the computer screen glowed like a talisman. My eyes adjusted to this fantasy world and I drifted away... Her voice like honey in my ear, hummingbirds swimming through the fragranced air like syrup. I reached up to touch her face and she melted away...icicles dripping into my hand like illusionary psalms being sung to a god of spun sugar and stardust. I awoke to the taste of candy in my mouth and a headache. Seems all I do these days is sleep.

Dreams or nightmares? What distinguishes the two? Alone in my apartment, the glowing of the television kept me company as I tried to stay awake. Hallucinations whispered novels into my brain as the faces on the screen all morphed into the woman with black hair. Licorice tendons screaming my name through a wall of cotton candy.

Mutable signs, Aquarius rising.

I went to the pharmacy and bought myself some caffeine pills. Tomorrow I had work that needed to be accomplished; I couldn't be dozing off and playing mental Candy Land. I fell asleep that night to the love letters of a black haired woman being read into my eardrums. Ghosts of past lovers grabbed onto my coat as I walked to work the next morning; their screams of torment fell on dead ears as I walked through the violet scented fog that surrounded me. The wounds on my wrists bled out past my coat jacket and I licked the blood from my skin.

Metallic candy in mouths of sinners. I took the entire box of pills throughout the course of the day, my hands shaking and my face drained. People stared at me and whispered; but I paid no mind. The black haired woman followed me and sang reassurances to me. Her hands felt like satin and her lips were of silk. I couldn't sleep that night, jittery and alert. The scent of violets began to suffocate me, so I stepped outside. On the roof, all I could see was a violet sunset at midnight. I stepped onto the ledge and walked towards it, enveloped into the arms of my black haired dancer.

Blood tastes like candy when you hit the cement.