"You have to brand yourself!"

I don't want to 'BRAND' myself.
I am not cattle to be bought, sold, and slaughtered.
And neither is my art.

~magick~
Meliss

Ps: You don't have to brand yourself or your art either. They do not determine what success is for you, you do. (btw, that's the first secret to success - you determining what that word means to you.)

The Gateway to LissaDoll-House Land

Get into bed,
snuggle deeply into the pillow,
tuck the blanket all around you,
and I'll tell you a story.......
about the day I found The Gateway to LissaDoll-House Land.....


It was a day.
I woke early.
The woods were snowed covered
& misty
& calling my name.
I walked
& soon became lost in the liquid filled atmosphere
which clung to the trees
& surrounded my senses
bewildering my directional wisdom.
In Life, to lose one's bearings can cause death,
or worse,
you may end up a sniffer at the old shoe factory.
But in the woods,
behind my house,
well, that's exactly the kind of place where a story would begin,
if it hadn't already begun with me in bed.


but back in the woods,
I turned around and around,
dizzying my already confused state,
which only served to further my mess.
It was about then when I saw,
what looked like,
a tiny pink hut,
with a tiny winged girl standing inside it,
peering back at me.


She waved,
I walked.
She spoke,
I tried not to choke.

"Miss, it's so wonderfull to see you." Her voice small, but lovely and filled with genuine excitement.

"It is?" My face contorted, my nose wrinkled like I smelled a cat fart.

"Well, yes, of course!"

"You know me?" Surprise saturated me on many levels.

"Everyone in LissaDoll-House Land does. Why, many of our residents wouldn't even have housing without the generosity of your creative nature. They would be outside at this very moment freezing their doll butts off."


With a shrug of the shoulders, I replied, "I am glad to be of service."

"Indubitably. I am the Guardian of The Gateway of LissaDoll-House Land." She completed her introduction with a curtsy.

"Gateway?" I questioned, my confusion reborn, for I recognized in our midst no gate and no way. As a matter of fact, there was nothing at all to indicate an entrance to anything, let alone a land of dollhouses.


She only smiled, then answered, "The Gateway may not appear like much of a gateway nor I like much of a guard of it, but the impact of each could and would set new worlds a-spinning, I a-sure you. This is why we both seem so unimportant, so valueless. You see, no one fights for what seems worthless and a gateway can be anything, anywhere, like between two trees in the middle of the woods behind your house. Magick isn't found in what a thing looks like, it is found in what a thing Is. We've just found it easier this way. Besides, it keeps the riff-raff out."

We both laughed.

"Makes sense," I replied, but still something inside felt unsure. Life has many quirky qualities that astound even the most studied, and although I am no scholar, it wasn't the fact that a seemingly small and empty space between these two trees could hold a whole entire world that I didn't believe, it was the fact that I didn't know it existed, yet they knew me.

"You seem lost in thoughts."

"I am. I cannot get over the fact that I am known in this wondrous land."

She nodded, her head tilted, her hand on her chin, her eyes to the sky, and then spoke, "I understand only as best I can, never having had your particular experience. Perhaps one day, when I am relieved of my post, I will embark upon an epic journey and find a place where I am known too and then I will write you a letter and say, "I so totally get it!"

Her smile warmed and comforted me.

"Well, tell me, what would happen if I walked through?"

"Dimensional, Transportational, Velocity,"

"Sounds technical."

"Very, minus the math."

"When can I go?"

"As soon as you do."

I stood, contemplating the ramifications, the rhymes, the reasons, but in the end I knew I knew all along, who wouldn't want to see a land of dollhouses? No one I want to know.

I smiled and thanked her.

I stepped forth......


~magick~
Meliss

Ps: Dream Palace by Troika

Christmas Miracles

It's still dark out
yet I am awake
not really wanting to
but getting out of bed

although frost covers the ground
i put on my bathing suit

i grab my towel, music
slip on my flip flops
open the door
and walk past the place where in December
the flowers are still blooming


i get into the pool
on a full moon morning
(not me, i already said i put on a bathing suit
not that anyone could really see me if i didn't)
and work-out

that's the kind of dedication
that results in bent metal baby
because i've become super hero strong

and when I make cookies for the neighbors
and the mixer tries to eat my arm
all the way up to my elbow,
i will be protected
and no harm will come to me
now, that's a Christmas Miracle
the mixer didn't do as well
(RIP old mixer)

And when i'm stuck artistically
gripped by ridiculous fears given to me by 'Them'
i'll just draw a scribble on the page
and find magickal Christmas villages awaiting me

and be filled with bravery
and i'll get into that La-boratory
and work

i will create skeletons
and then take those skeletons
and change them into Beauties
Christmas Miracle.

And then for no reason at all
on the Winter Solstice
i'll walk past the windows
and have a thought,
"I'm going to see something wonderful out these windows today."

that's when uncommon, wary birds from my past show up
to peck their way into my present
(Pileated Woodpecker)

so, i take a peek into The Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews
and find out -
new dimensions are opening up for me

Huh,
haven't i been praying to have my imagination opened up?
yeah.
cool.
Christmas Miracle.

At some point,
i found my La-boratory
looking like this
and knowing Santa is bringing me an actual desk
after a lifetime on the floor
i had to clean up
and figure out how to make room where there was none
i contemplated moving my fireplace into the extra bedroom while i moved

i came across a pile of fabric and scarves
where can I put all this?
i'll stuff them in a bag
yeah,
a bag full of costumes
that sounds cool
yeah it does

somehow, shortly after
i opened The Bodacious Book of Succulence by SARK
on page 15 and found this,

"We've stopped counting fireflies at dusk, standing naked in the rain, finger painting with our feet and stuffing a bag full of costumes and making our "Poet's Corner" in the backyard, with lanterns and tents made out of chenille bedspreads."

that's when I decided
YES, I WILL move the fireplace and it will be my "Poet's Corner"
where i will write poetry, journal, sketch, and read!
creating plenty of room in my La-boratory for future endeavors
Christmas Miracle.

does that mean the Turkey Vultures aren't still hanging around?
Nope, they're still around
sitting
and waiting
and watching
and wondering
but they can fly up at any moment
to snatch those Christmas Miracles away
if we don't pay attention to our attitude

Did I ever tell you that i'm married to a Christmas baby
who at 35 years old
is still complaining about the fact that he was born on Christmas
and how people react to it
and the fact that people call him a Christmas baby
even though he's a 35 year old man
i told him he's acting like a Christmas baby.
:) ha
well, it was a funny to us
He's my all time favorite Christmas Miracle.

I wish you a day full of everything you love best
but mostly,
I hope Santa leaves you lots of Magick under the tree.

~Merry Christmas~
Meliss

Baker, dollmaker,......toilet cleaner?

I have not been taught to be any certain thing.

(from back: White-Throated Sparrow and female Bluebird)

Freedom wafts into the open door of my day

(Solitary Vireo - Rockey Mountain Race)

I'd greet it with tea,
if i could remember to.

(Brown Thrasher)

& we'd both be warmed,
from the in~side out.

(Hermit Thrush?)

& Full

(a bunch of kooky cats)

& Fat

(Slate Colored Junco)

& Happy

(I had to save the male Bluebird for happy)

& oh so delight~fully engorged with YES!


While the birds of the dead wait

(do you see them? 3 dark spots)

to carry off
our carri-on.

(Turkey Vulture)

You can hide under a blanket

(Doctor Bob)

or in shelters made by an October snow,


But the fact is that we cannot wait until we're almost dead
to realize the worth and value of right now
if we dare to make something important from our living.


We must use it up!
WASTE IT if we have to!
but MOVE!
& Do Something!


and if you really don't know what to do,
well then LOOK,
in every hole you can find.

(Common Flicker - Yellow Shafted race)

Make serious use of every thing you see today,
even if you have only one eye to see it all with.
Rowan does.

The view will change,
even if you really, really love it.
If you need something to count on,
count on that.

and when you're done with all that,

take a nap,
on the floor by the heater,
on the bed,
doesn't matter,
just sleep.....

if you don't sleep,
you can't dream,
if you can't dream
you won't be able to make s##t.


just don't forget the happy part.

~magick~
Meliss

ps: if you need something dreamy to listen to, try "Jaden Maiden" by Andreas Vollenweider