Cheerleaders

You ever have one of those days when you have to give yourself a pep talk before you leave the house?? One of those days when you just need some words of encouragement to get you going?? Well, I’m here to tell you that I got some words of encouragement from the most interesting of places....the wrappers of my cough drops. But you know what?? I’ll take what I can get. I’ve also found a couple of fortune cookie papers that gave me some good words too. So since I had a couple of rough patches today, I looked to my little pack of pocket cheerleaders to keep me going. It said stuff like, “Conquer the day” and, “ You got this!!” Kind of sucks when life gives you a little squirt of lemon, but then out of nowhere, you get some salt and some tequila and, BOOM, everything’s alright!!So I want to give some words of encouragement to anyone out there who may be having a rough day, or maybe just feeling kinda down.
Worrying is not going to make things any better. Life will find a way to make it okay. Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end. So hang in there, you’ll be fine. Freak out and throw stuff if you have to (hopefully in an environment where it’s safe to do something like that), but know that it’s going to be okay. If you can do anything about your situation, get off your ass and do something about it!! If you can’t....why are you worrying about it?? Chuck that shit into the fuck-it bucket and move on to bigger and better things. Let life deal with the stuff you can’t do anything about.
Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and tell yourself these simple words: I’ve got this!!
And point to yourself. And believe it. Because it’s true. So get out there and do the damn thing!! Kick ass and take names!! You’ve been through tougher!! Hang in there!! You got this!! Go you!!

-Hop Along

Listening to The Greatest By Sia

Hot Off The Press!!!!

So I know I've been gone for...well far too long. Left my little bunnies to wander on their own. I’m sorry. But I’m back and I have some new rhyming words for you. Now, this is brand spanking new. I just woke up out of my sleep at 3am and wrote this. It’s now just after 4am and here’s you go. I call it “Broken”

“Someone 

Please, I need help”

I’m lying on the floor, 

hugging myself

My hair is a mess

There’s tears on my face

My clothes have been strewn 

All over the place

Gently, I’m rocking

And gasping for air

“Somebody ...please...”

But there’s nobody there

Every move I make is agony 

I feel like I’m covered in bruises

In every game ever played

Someone always loses

I try to get up

But my legs are too weak

And now my throat

Is too raw to speak

I collapse on the floor

And curl into a ball

What did I do 

To deserve this at all??

I lay my head down

My tears pool on the floor

And I whisper to myself,

“...I just can’t anymore”

My ribs feel like they’re broken

My lungs start to seize

My eyes are swollen, almost shut

But the tears flow with ease

My muscles are stiff and sore

From shivering and shaking 

No, I haven’t been assaulted

It’s just my heart is breaking 

Listening to Big Girls Cry by Sia

- Hop Along

Just One Day

So I saw this thing on tumblr and saved it, mostly just liking the sentiment of it. But then I actually started thinking about it.

I looked it up online and I saw some really messed up answers. Stuff that made you look and just think, "I think we have a psycho on our hands. Is there any way to alert the proper authorities??" I have been thinking about the answer all day. For a couple of days, really.
Well, this is what I came up with.


I would make you breakfast: pancakes, bacon and eggs with orange juice. Or maybe steak and and omelette. How do you like your eggs?? Do you like coffee??
We would spend the morning snuggled in a blanket either on the couch or the living room floor watching cartoons, Disney movies, or playing video games. I would start a tickle war. We could build a fort made of couch cushions and blankets. We would sit beneath its canopy, your head in my lap while I stroke your hair and we talk about silly things. We would lay down and make love in our couch cushion fort.
I would spend the day learning all I could about you. I would hold your hand, kiss your fingers, look into your eyes. We would take a blanket outside and have lunch in the yard. Or maybe in the park. We would lay on the blanket staring at the sky pointing out cloud formations: here, a dragon. There, a horse, and over there...do you see the wolf howling?? Or maybe it's a mountain. I would kiss your forehead, your eyelids, your lips.  I would whisper sweet nothings. I would notice the sun retreating from the sky.
We would make dinner together. Spaghetti or alfredo with a salad and wine. Or maybe we would order a pizza and pick up a six pack of beer.
We would watch the latest action flick. Or have a TV show or movie marathon on Netflix. We would laugh about funny videos on YouTube and shake our heads at the drama on Facebook. The moon and the sun would greet each other as they traded shifts. The stars would come and take their positions as though a great recital were about to begin.
I would look into your eyes and read your emotions. I would begin to miss you because I must soon return you to the world; our private oasis invaded by harsh reality.
I would hold your face in my hands, locking your gaze onto mine. I would peer into your soul through those shimmering portals and for a single moment of absolute clarity, I would know. 
I would wrap my arms around you and hold you close to me. Close enough that I can feel your heartbeat exchanging rhythm with mine and I could breathe deeply of your scent. Your closeness would make my heart skip a beat. And in that skipped beat, that millisecond of unaligned syncopation, would be  all the words that we didn't say. The words that didn't need to be spoken. In that moment, I would lean in and kiss you...Goodnight.


So there you go. I finally came up with that. I'm gonna go to bed tonight dreaming about this. About telling that special one how much he means to me. About what we would do if we just had one day.

~ Hop Along

How Poetic...

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Step right up and take a look!! This is a poem that I wrote a long time ago (most of the ones I post on here ARE...) And I was just reading over some of my old stuff, trying to get inspiration for new stuff...and this popped out, and so I decided that it was good enough to share. Hope you like it.

Soul's Dynamics

I had a beautiful dream one night

(for me dreamful nights are few)

I curled up in bed and fell asleep tight

And that's when I dreamed of you.

I thought of you before I went to bed

I'm glad it was you I did see

I guess thoughts of you were just stuck in my head

And I wished you were there with me.

Then all of a sudden, like a flash, you appeared

What a pleasant, unexpected surprise

My heart beat faster as you came near

And my temperature began to rise.

I longed so much for the warmth of your touch

The taste of your lips, so sweet

Hoping and wishing and praying and such

That one day our souls would meet.

Then out of nowhere, a melody played

Such a sweet and beautiful song

The tune played on as love was made

All day and all night long.

Slowly, our bodies rocked in time

Not sure from where the music came

I held your body close to mine 

And softly I whispered your name.

I held on tight, I just couldn't let go

As I felt my insides melt

I looked in your eyes and you let me know

You felt the same thing yourself.

Everything was so perfectly clear

And as tangible as it all seemed,

Your face I could see, your voice I could hear,

But it was only just a dream.

More to come soon!!!!! I'm working on something new right now. Promise.

- Hop Along

...I Make A Rhyme Every Time

Hey, here's another one!! Another old one (I haven't written anything new since "The Red House"...)  but it's a good one. It's also probably my shortest.
I have a poem that I'm debating about putting on here...It's a collaborative work. My first and only one of it's kind, for me.  I have to ask the coauthor if it would be alright to post.
In the mean time, and in-between time.... I give you this:


Drowning

For what seems no reason
Warm tears fall down my face.
For more than just one season
I've dwelled in this empty place.
I'm drowning in an ocean;
A far and distant sea.
From the deep waters of emotion
No one can rescue me.

Stay tuned for more.

- Hop Along

I'm A Poet And I Didn't Know It...

Hey everyone!! I'm back with another poem!!!!!

I wrote this a LONG time ago.  Like, 2002 or something. At the time I thought it was pretty damn good. I think it's still alright, but I'll let you decide.

A Moment In Time

Let me have a moment of your time

Just a moment for your eyes to look into mine

If that moment stretches into eternity, let it be

As long as it's a moment when you're here with me.

Let me have just one perfect chance

A second when we could be holding hands

If that second should turn into a night, that's alright

Don't let go, because it feels just right.

Let me make time stop forever

So I know that we'll always be together

Let us make time last and last

Until our future becomes our past.

Let me love you for a moment in time

I have no excuses, no reason, no rhyme

Let forever be always, and always be mine

Just for that moment, that moment in time.

More poetry to come soon...

- Hop Along

I Guess Now Is A Good Time...

Sometimes I think about things that I did wrong and I start to feel really bad about it. It's usually LONG after the fact, but the remorse is fresh. Today I had such a moment.
I had some time to allow my mind to wander. And as I got lost hopping down the bunny trail, I came across some things that I had previously only explored superficially. That is, there were some thoughts and feelings that I only thought and felt for a very short amount of time and then shut the door on that part of my thinking.  Well, I went ahead and opened the door, and entered the Wonderland that was this left-behind cache of mental and emotional refuse.
What I discovered in there was some unresolved feelings about a situation I was recently a part of.  To make a long story short, there was a guy I was kind of seeing and it didn't exactly work out, nor did it exactly end well. I will take partial responsibility for the way things ended, but I am not entirely at fault.   In his (slightly heated) farewell, he informed me that I could have told him that I was no longer interested in continuing  to have any encounters with him. (No, he didn't use THOSE words, I'm just...making it pretty.) He said that he had told me that he was approachable and that I could talk to him about anything.
What he said may have actually been true, but I have reason to doubt it. Because of the way things were going, he would have been crushed if I had somehow worked up the courage to broach the subject. But that's where my emotions (specifically anger) flared up. In my head, I began to have the conversation we could have had. I began to ask the questions that were burning in my head, longing to be asked.

Me: So, I could have come to you and told you?? Really?? And when would have been a good time to do that?? When you were telling me how crazy you were about me?? When you were telling me how drop-dead gorgeous I am?? When you were telling me how much you missed me and couldn't wait to see me?? I mean, really, there was never a good time to bring up the fact that things were not exactly working out for me. Any time I would have tried to bring it up would have made me look like a total ass hat.

Okay, I know that only hearing that part of the story makes me seem like an ass hat in the first place.  But in my defense, I did try to talk to him about it...once. I guess I didn't make myself clear at that time. I'm not very good at talking about feelings. I also don't really like confrontation. I know what you're thinking: "Hey, this guy sounded like a good guy. Seemed like he really liked you. I mean, he complimented you and all. What the hell is wrong with you??"
There's nothing wrong with me. It's just that I was under the impression that we were just going to SEE where things lead. Well, for me, things didn't go anywhere. Things just got kinda awkward for me. It was clear that he was really liking me, but I didn't feel the same and I didn't know how to tell him. And there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up. SO, I did what I thought was easier. It may not have been the best thing to do, but I thought he would pick up on the clues and see what was happening. He didn't...and that makes me feel even worse.
What I did...or rather what I didn't do was: I didn't call as much. I didn't text as much. I didn't spend as much time with him.
I know, I know...that in itself makes me an ass hat. Okay, whatever. I couldn't see any other way...
I don't think there would have been any better outcome anyway. No matter what path I chose, it would have ended on a sour note I think. I'll never know.

In any case, I find myself once again in the position to apologize. I kinda wish there was a way that I could tell him personally, but this will have to do since he wants nothing to do with me. So, in reference to a different individual, I say these words: To he who may never read this, I am sorry.

I'm going to forgive myself for being an ass hat, "acting like a child" (his words), and doing things the way I did. I'm not going to make excuses...well, I guess I already did...
In any case, I apologize. And now I'm going to close the door and lock it.

- Hop Along

Listening to "Apologize" by One Republic