I write poetry now? WTF? (Shakespeare might be proud..)

Exactly, Mel.

The love interest in Wheeler, Graham Atherton, is a British actor – a poet at heart, inspired by Shakespeare.  I could tell you where the inspiration(s) for this character came from, but then I’d be murdering a whole lot of people, so I’ll keep it to myself.

Anyroad, I’ve read every single word The Bard has written. In English-English, in American English thanks to SparkNotes’ No Fear Shakespeare and the Complete Works compiled by Jeremy Hylton, an alum at MIT.

Seriously. I dug deep.

There’s the familiar: ‘This above all: to thine own self be true’ from Hamlet and ’But soft, what light through yonder window breaks‘ from Romeo & Juliet to the obscure stuff, ‘Beshrew your eyes, they have o’erlooked me and divided me‘ from The Merchant of Venice,  ‘I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle‘ in Henry V and ’One fire burns out another’s burning. One pain is lessen’d by another’s anguish’ from Romeo & Juliet.

Admittedly, I’ve run out of lines.

In the story, since Loren and Graham spend a good amount of time apart (waah), often with a 9 hour time difference (he’s in Cali, she’s in Europe) there are a lot of late night emails. Now, you know what happens when you’re in love, it’s late and the object of your desire is out of reach. You ruminate. You reveal things about yourself you might never say in person – gee, kind of like writing a blog! HA. Such is the way with our modern society, but I digress.

I am not a poet. My brain doesn’t work that way… or so I thought. Enter Pinterest and it’s many wonderfully amazing beautiful poets. Then this happened. 

I struggle with the contradiction of wanting you to see me, to love me, yet I am paralyzed by the fear that you will look at the destruction and turn away.
But you already know the darkness that hides in the corners of my soul.
You have seen the wasteland of my spirit.
You have touched the broken pieces of my heart with your gentle hands.
In spite of all that you have seen in me,
you have uncovered the still burning embers of my heart.
You have breathed upon them, tended to the spark and turned it
into an inferno that consumes me.
You, bright Apollo, have melted my heart of ice, and have set me ablaze.

See, Loren’s known as “The Ice Queen” in the peloton and Graham was Apollo in his last movie… sigh. You have to read the book.

 AND THIS!

Every day we spend apart is a day I do not feel the sun on my face.
Hearing your voice and seeing your smile is as a balm to the ache.
Knowing I will soon hold you in my arms, feel your soft skin under my hands,
Your tender lips against mine, steels me from the longing of my soul.

AND THIS?! (Sonnet 28 – Who reads ALL the sonnets anyway? Oh wait, I did.)

Mon étoile brillante :
‘But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer, and night doth nightly make grief’s length seem stronger.’
If it were really possible to bend time and space, I would risk all to be near you tonight. I hold you close in my mind, and I see your smile in my dreams.
In Cleveland.

They have this thing about Cleveland…it’s hard to explain unless you read the book.