marlene kelly

  • What Comes After the End of Wanting?

    Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a crush on someone. Some scruffy-haired blonde boy, the quiet kind tall guy, the bad boy, the good guy with a girlfriend, the drummer, the alcoholic, the electrician, the chef, the poet–there’s always been a place for these dreamy, hope-filled feelings to land. Whether we dated or not,…

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  • Inside You Is an Ocean

    Everyone and everything has its purpose. No two people are on the exact same path. There are no accidents. If someone wants to self-destruct, No matter what you may try, You cannot stop this. Something deep inside is propelling their need. Something deep inside of you may see what it is that blocks them. But…

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  • I Don’t Want a Fairy Godmother But I Might Want to Be One

    “I wish I had some sort of fairy godmother. I think everyone who is suddenly dropped into an unlikely change of circumstance should get his or her own version of a fairy godmother.” – Natalie Taylor The traditional Cinderella-variety Fairy Godmother never appealed to the realist in me. I’m not a woman who has spent…

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  • My Dream of Boyfriends Past (Or Why I Think I Should Date a Hawk)

    Last week, my friend accidentally locked her keys and her purse inside her house. I helped her break in by adopting the familiar cheerleader forward knee bend pose. She put her foot on my thigh and 1-2-3 she was inside the window. When I was younger, I remember climbing out my bedroom window after an…

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  • The Geology of Change: A Poem for Rock

    You speak between the lines, A secret to decode. No sense of where to stand, But in between, there is something like love. The flint, the spark, the flame, Lava’s liquid sharpness, Igneous, formed from fire. You sweat, but we do not burn. Adrenaline buzzed with fever, I held you wet in my arms. Sick with…

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  • Why Food Is the New Rock ‘n’ Roll

    There’s a resurgence going on in America. Organic. Local-food culture. Farm-to-table.  Chefs are celebrities. Reality cooking and baking shows are on every cable channel. Food is the new rock ‘n’ roll. I am a rock chick at heart. I worked in record stores when they were still called record stores. I worked for a music…

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  • A New Lease on Life

    A New Lease on Life

    I didn’t even know how much I needed it until it arrived. (Well, that’s not exactly true.) I was crossing my fingers and toes that I would get good news, but I was preparing myself for the worst just in case. “Just in case” may feel like a denial of hope in a given situation.…

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  • I Was Blinded by Something That I Thought Was Love

    “Our sensory organs love to lead us astray, and eyes are the most deceptive of all. We rely too heavily upon them. We believe that we see the world around us, and yet it is only the surface that we perceive. We must learn to divine the true nature of things, their substance, and the…

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  • Finding the Power of Being Quiet

    “Our culture made a virtue of living only as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for a center. So we lost our center and have to find it again.” -Anais Nin While sitting alone in a little restaurant in Tivoli to finish reading Susan Cain’s book about introverts, my quiet afternoon was interrupted…

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  • The Shadow at My Feet

    The Shadow at My Feet

    Oh Sufi curled up sleeping next to me, You have filled my home With meows and yowls, And the patter of paws Running up and down the stairs. Shadow at my feet, In two short months, You have changed my life. Seven pounds purring on my shoulder, nibbling at my nose And licking my chin.…

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