Early Release for A Heart Made of Tissue Paper

 

“Warm hand on my cheek. Soft lips press against my own. You taste of cherries.”  ― Richelle E. Goodrich, A Heart Made of Tissue Paper

Early Release      Well, I did it again.        My latest book, A Heart Made of Tissue Paper, was scheduled to be released on September 16th, 2023, but due to a minor mistake made in the Amazon publishing process, the book was released early on August 14th, 2023. (I need to remember which buttons not to push!) Luckily, the formatting, editing, illustrations, and poetry were complete, so this early release poses no problem. It simply means readers have access to my new book sooner than planned. Yay, you!

What to Expect

What can you expect from my first complete book of poetry? Eighty-six original poems penned by me. Experience heartfelt verses relatable on a deep level as well as poetry meant simply to make you smile. This book is divided into seven chapters, each one touching on a specific emotion felt by the human heart. For example, the chapter titled TO LOVE includes a dozen poems about the emotions dealing with aspects of love. The chapter titled TO LOATH includes poetry touching on harsher experiences. Every chapter includes a variety of poetic styles from sonnets and free verse to cinquains, haikus, and other formats. It is poetry for the whole of humanity.        A Heart Made of Tissue Paper is now available to order on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle formats. Look for my book of poetry online at Barnes & Noble too.        I hope you get a chance to read and enjoy the variety of verses I compiled in this book. If you do... please, leave a positive rating and a short review on Amazon and Goodreads. It truly does help sell more copies. Thank you in advance! There is a woman named Sage Rosemary Who works her green thumb at the nursery. Her older brother, Forest, Became a retail florist. Their sister, Holly, owns a fernery.

What am I working on now?      I am writing a few short stories for another book similar to Smile Anyway. It includes 365 original quotes, poems, and short stories for every day of the year. I am considering ideas for the cover art of this book, which will be titled Hope Evermore.

Recent Reads

I read this book in high school as an English class assignment, but this time around the book held deeper meaning for me. The fictional societal conditions created by Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 are highly effective in suggesting what tragedies might exist at the far end of any road that promises to eliminate hard work and thinking in exchange for an easy, painless existence. It certainly gives good reasons to appreciate the richness of culture, the depth of knowledge, the creative and imaginative growth that books afford us. It would be a tragedy to lose what we have gained from the past, vital lessons recorded in the pages of books.

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A Moonless Knight

I wished upon the moon one night, bewitched by how it shone so white.  While staring up with some excite my eyes beheld a wondrous sight!  The moon, so lustrous and white, transformed into an armored knight who caused me just a moments fright when he jumped down from such a height.  No more a soft celestial light, he was my lover, day and night. 

This caused the world a serious plight.  How harsh a sting and deep the bite inflicted on the world, alright, to lose their blackest-hour light. 

And so I've come to set things right, to offer up without a fight my lover wished for one clear night.  I hold him close.  He hugs me tight, then climbs again to heaven's height to glow a bluer shade of bright.  I stare at my beloved knight, not wanting to be impolite, and in my heart with all my might I wish a wish that isn't right. 

Now and then the world still spites a shadowless and moonless night when we steal softly out of sight to hold each other 'til daylight and share in lovers’ true delight.

Contemplating Crazy Things

I contemplate a lot of things,

Like why the sky's a shade of green,

And how it is that lions fly

While birds with wings refuse to try.

It's strange how snowmen never melt,

And sweaty feet are sweetly smelt,

And how so commonly we see

Young hippos nesting in a tree.

I wonder how they get up there,

And why the world is mostly square,

And how huge every nose would be

If we had only one, not three.

I cannot guess why hills are flat,

Nor can I say why twigs are fat.

I do not know how mud keeps clean,

Or why small kittens act so mean.

And while I'm thinking all this stuff,

Consider black marshmallow fluff,

And how the rainbows twist and coil

Around the clouds down to the soil

Imagine if our teeth were white

I'd want to keep them out of site!

It's crazy stuff I see in dreams,

To contemplate so many things.

― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes

Copyright 2015 Richelle E. Goodrich

Happiness Found Me Alone

Happiness found me alone one day and took me by the hand.
He showed me how the sun gave out its warmth across the land.
Sadness found me content and smiling upward at the sun.
He talked of droughts and blindness and what burning rays had done.

Happiness found me alone again and pointed to the sky.
He showed me how the storms created rainbows way up high.
Sadness found me intrigued and took me to the rainbow’s end.
He showed me how it disappeared to ne’er return again.

Happiness found me alone and taught me how to sing a song.
He sang a dozen melodies as I chirped right along.
Sadness found me singing out and covered up his ears.
He said the noise was deafening, and wished he couldn’t hear.

Happiness found me alone and gave me seven coins of gold.
He showed me many fancy things that merchants often sold.
Sadness found me admiring the pretty things I’d bought.
He pointed out my empty purse and money I had not.

Happiness found me alone and helped me talk to someone new.
He called the boy my friend and said that I was his friend too.
Sadness found me together with my kind, attentive friend.
He whispered of betrayal and how broken hearts don’t mend.

Happiness found me alone and held me tight in his embrace.
He whispered kindness in my ear and kissed me on the face.
Sadness found me with Happiness but before he spoke at all,
I told him he’d have better luck at talking to the wall.
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes

The Jealous Sun

"The sunlight whispers in my ear, his breath a warm, sultry tease.  I shrink and duck beneath a tree.  My eyes squint to scan the horizon for a glimpse of the wind, but there are no ashen ribbons or golden waves in sight.  He is missing. 

Trickling, tinkling notes reflect loudly off a chandelier of glimmering droplets.  The rain sings to me, and I shield my eyes, admiring the song.  Far off in my western view I expect to see snow, but the sun grows hot with jealousy, knowing this.  He refuses my snowman a place to set. 

My sight drops to search for the man in the moon.  Normally he rises dripping wet from out of the lake, often pale and naked, supple and soft to my caressing gaze.  On rare occasions he dons a pumpkin robe as luminous as fire.  Today he is draped in silks of the saddest blue.  My heart weeps as he steals up and away. 

An army of stars in shining armor come to my aid, and they force the sun into the ground—a temporary grave.  I am fed with a billion bubbles of laughter until I feel I will burst.  But the stars will not stop giving, and I will not stop taking. 

A kiss brands my cheek, and I turn abruptly to find my snowman.  He landed safely in the dark.  We hide from the man in the moon behind a curtain of flurries to dance on polished rainbows and feast on stars until I hear a fire-red growl.  The sun claws its way out of the soil, and everyone scatters."

― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes

Copyright 2015 Richelle E. Goodrich

The Devil's Rose

You would never take a rose from a beast. If his callous hand were to hold out a scarlet flower, his grip unaffected by pricking thorns, you would shrink from the gift and refuse it. I know that is what you would do.

But the cunning beast will have his beauty.

He hunts not in hopeless pursuit, for fear would have you sprint all the day long. Thus, he turns toward the shadows and clutches the rosebud, crunching and twisting until every delicate petal is detached. One falls not far from your feet, and you notice the red spot in the snow. 

The color sparkles in the sunlight, catching your curious eye. No beast stands in sight; there is nothing to fear, so you dare retrieve the lone petal. The touch of temptation is velvet against your thumb. It carries a scent you bring to your nose, and both eyes close to float on a cloud of perfume.

As your lashes lift, another scarlet drop stains the snow at a near distance. A glance around perceives no danger, and so your footprints scar the snowflakes to retrieve another rosy leaflet as soft and sweet as the first. Your eye shine with flecks of golden greed at the discovery of more discarded petals, and you blame the wind for scattering them mere footprints apart. All you want is a few, so you step and snatch, step and snatch, step and snatch.

Soon, there is enough velvet to rub against your cheek like a silken kerchief. Your collection of one-plus-one-more reeks of floral essence.

Distracted, you jump at the sight of the beast in your path. He stands before his lair, grinning without love. His callous hands grip at thorns on a single naked stem, and you look down at your own hands that now cup his rose. But how can it be? You would never take a rose from a beast. You would shrink from the gift and refuse it. 

He knows that is what you would do.

― Richelle E. Goodrich 

Copyright 2015 Richelle E. Goodrich 

Today―A Poem

Does this ever happen to you? 

You're in the bathroom getting ready for the day when a poem starts chanting in your head and you have to grab a pen to write it down because it just keeps repeating itself? Yeah―thought so. These words wouldn't leave me alone this morning; I thought I'd share them...


TODAY

"Today is the day that good things come your way and then bad things to suck all the fun from your play.

Today is the day that you stub every toe, blow your nose on a sleeve thinking no one will know.

Today is the day the sun bursts from the clouds and then sunbeams rain down as you smile and sing loud.

Today is the day that you meet someone new. You'll tickle his fancy―he'll tickle yours too.

Today you spend beaming, you'll sigh with a frown. You'll buoy up all happy and cry when let down.

Today is the day you will figure things out, 'cause today is called life and that's what life's about.”

― Richelle E. Goodrich