Stories (74)
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Fowl Language
Dew droplets on the highest branches shimmered in the rising sun, which soon evaporated into swirls of steam. As the western wind swept up the sand, the steam and wind circled in lazy funnels, disturbing nesting macaws and parrots. One pair of scarlet macaws, Indigo and Crimson, batted their eyelids against the sand.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Fiction
Floating Lanterns over the Great Salt Lake
As brine flies picked blue-green algae from Jenna’s toes, she floated on the Great Salt Lake. She kicked away the algae and it slid from her toes. The movement propelled her backward into a flock of seagulls, who cawed and flew away, except one seagull still pecking for brine flies.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Fiction
Some PTSD Sufferers Experience the Anniversary Effect
Several family members and my friends have served during the War on Terror. I've seen them return with severe PTSD to mild PTSD. The severity seemed linked to how much combat they experienced. I never thought of regular citizens having PTSD too until the #metoo movement when sexual assault survivors spoke about their trauma. I didn't think that I had trauma too, but I realized I had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which most of us probably have.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Psyche
Hackneyed Phrases: Common Sense and Professionalism
Humans are a funny species. As far as we know, we are the only species that construct abstract ideas. With this abstraction, some words and ideas become very subjective. We can’t concretely picture them or hold them. We just ruminate over the impossible.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Humans
Anger as a Secondary Emotion to Fear
For our family night in 2020, my husband, boys, and I were ordering snow cones on Main Street when my youngest son darted into the street. Time froze. I could only yell, “Damn you, kid.” My husband rushed into the street and grabbed our son. Our son squirmed in my husband’s arms for the next half-hour while we ate our snow cones.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Humans
Glass Shards
When I was 10 years old, I stepped on a broken beer bottle at a local reservoir. I bled from the semi-circle wound in my foot. My mom took me to the clinic where the doctor put in stitches. Someone’s addiction to alcohol (and littering) caused my injury. But there was also a way to heal that injury.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Poets
Voting Responsibly Improves Our Nation
The 2020 Presidential election yielded so much chaos partially because the last 21 years of elections are often split almost 50/50. Only local elections take place this year, but those are the elections that affect us the most. The US Congress and Senate races start next year. We can have a greater say by voting in our state primaries too.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in The Swamp
Eliza Doolittle Walks Like an Egyptian to Ring the Ghostbusters
Who doesn't love costumes, candy (except candy corn), trick-or-treating, and silly parties for Halloween? No one thinks you're weird when you dress like a superhero, ghost, or princess and then threaten pranks to con neighbors out of candy. Halloween is so awesome; we can twist with glee to songs like these:
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Beat
Unlike My Dog, My Toddler Pees On the Carpet
While writing and housekeeping, I am potty training my toddler with minor success. My husband says my son is potty-trained: he just refuses to go in the toilet. This week he has peed on the carpet only feet away from the potty chair. In August, my toddler stood on the toilet and refused to sit. Instead, he turned toward me and aimed. I yelled, "No!" Still standing on the toilet, he pivoted toward the door. He smirked while he peed on the bath rug.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Petlife
The Journey of Drawing a Rainbow through a Veil
Original Inspiration I hadn’t written poems for most of my high school senior year because I had been super busy. I studied poetic devices in greater depth in AP English literature and wanted to play with alliteration symbolizing wind. I envisioned a woman who asks the weeping willow tree about WW2 European battles. I wrote the poem "Weeping Willow" but hadn't illustrated anything until Spring 2021--a few willow branches with raindrops.
By Eileen Davis4 years ago in Lifehack
