deepfoam.com

From where you are
By J. Keys

He caught her eyes peering at him above the gloss black rim of her computer screen as he was deep in his own world of thoughts and questions. It was a stare somewhere between recognition, surprise and want. If it were possible to escape that look it wouldn’t matter… who would want to?

He had seen her here many times before. They had spoken and even knew each others names. But for some reason this instance was oddly shaped, connected somehow and more powerful than before. She had this face that was… it was difficult to pin the particular word, but you couldn’t miss it –ever. In a sea of a thousand people you wouldn’t just be able to find her… you simply wouldn’t see anyone else but her. The thought alone was enough to make him smile.

Her situation always seemed like that feeling you get when you sigh in that way and moment when you become resigned to the cliché’ “it is what it is”. She wasn’t trapped but she wasn’t free, either. He guessed that circumstances can make for some high walls in this life, it would seem. Not that anything was impossible or given up… just more like the harsh wisdom of observing someone else’s fight, knowing that it is certainly and indeed, righteously, not yours. Nevertheless that didn’t take away the potential or the possibilities that almost oozed out of her every move, desire and word… and it never took away from those eyes or that stare.

That smile
By J. Keys

I have to say, I do love to see her smile. You don’t even have to see it directly, really, you can even just catch it slightly from the side and it lights up the room and everyone around it. Hard to get enough of it, though…

When she’s gone, you notice. It’s never a topic of conversation but it’s there, in the back of your mind, like the name of someone famous you can’t remember but that sits on the tip of your tongue. It rests on your sleeve as the colder winds of the night rush over you while you wait for the sun to come back up again. Nevertheless, it’s all worth the wait.

Like the warmth from that thing we take for granted all the time, it’s hard to understand why she doesn’t already know… know that such a thing is needed, waited on and wanted. What does it take, I wonder, to convince a star that its core is the masterpiece of its life and not the bright light it produces? Perhaps if she could just get the word out, right? Either way she’s not as stuck as she thinks she is.

I know, it sounds crazy… but she gets it. Does anyone knock? Yeah, I bet they do. Does she hear it or is she just expecting the door to be knocked down? I don’t know. But aside from that or even getting to know, I have to say, I do love to see her smile.

Her Smile
By J. Keys

Caleb sat and watched, as always. Among the crowd made of both sewage and serenity there was nothing not worth observing. Such a thing is a power, not an act or function of the senses. To see something is to simply notice it; to observe it is an attempt to pierce it with understanding and prowess. It was her smile that paved the way…

She had a look that was cutting but a way that was conversely comfortable; like layers of warm blankets and pillows among the cold but precise beauty of white snow and freezing wind. To discover one suddenly complimented the other –no matter what the order.

She’s not difficult but to say she’s easy would be an insult. The parts that reside deeper aren’t hidden or locked but they require the seeker to never look back if they choose to go forward. It is in this manner that exposes the honorable and unworthy without the need for guards or towers. A manner that is alien to Caleb which, among other things, is partly what makes her so… to him.

Most people either sway or move in this life of rain and sunshine but she just flowed. Most of us in this place have to dodge the bullet –she just smiled and waved as they passed by; a smile that, indeed, paves the way…

From This Place
By J. Keys

Caleb sat with his elbows on his knees and read the screen with his fingers steepled, pressed against his lips… a fitful smile cracking from the corner of his mouth as he read her retort to him -her summation of the situation. His eyes squinted like a tiger reviewing and in thought as a song played behind him… he knew that she got it but he wondered about how she showed it knowing, regardless if she was aware of it, that she was getting there –and quickly.

Caleb knew his ways… the demands, the force, and every expectation he called from others or simply waited to see in their own actions which was the essential key to knowing what to expect and when to be dissatisfied. Without those lines he knew you became less than a tool of others -you became their doormat and the key to it all was timing and some degree of learning flexibility within that.

He has known this his whole life but within those limits and lines of time, waiting and patience he also knew that he must push, poke, stir…. and strike with words even if they merely serve as provocators. What came from them, how they were reacted to… meant so much more than the target would ever know. Their unwitting answer or retaliation cased them whether they knew it or not… and the true stood above the false -always.

Of satin, silk and lace… he smiled with a witting reverence because of the connection; what a great connection. The meaning WE bring to the table of our lives by simply paying attention and connecting the dots… indeed, throw the rest away. In simple moments at times like these he did not simply glance at the wish of things to be now and less complicated but also knew that later, again, is many times more important than now and he would wait… fingers steepled, eyes squinting, a smile at her words and a gracious hope… for more.

Leaning Into Tomorrow
By J. Keys

Heading home I chase the daylight
The sun high and far away from me
But as the path begins to crest
I reach to insure my view
And she waves to me from over there

I just smile and sometimes laugh
Either way I glide and turn
As if no one else occupies the road ahead
My race is the next moment
The next rise met with hope again