Aili Barker
Bio
Author of Kingdom Come & Endless Fragment Of Time
Poet, Wanderer, Photographer
Stories (6/0)
You're Like Music
You’re like music; rain beating down on a summer day, sudden and unstoppable. You’re the heat of the sun and the cool sensation of bare feet on shady grass. I had a feeling. And it grew as tall as the trees you climb, as swift as the seasons change. The skin that you’re in is something of a vision. And I’m sure all the way through is beautiful too. The pools of your eyes, deepness impending, start to take over. I’m unable to keep afloat, but that’s alright and it shows. The ocean you make up is vast and unknown. And although I try and try, not a single drop stays in my cupped hands. I build a sand castle each day to show you how I view this form of serendipity, and each night you wash it away. And when I wake to find you retreating again,
By Aili Barker7 years ago in Poets
How To Self Publish as an Indie Author
So, you’ve finally finished writing your book, awesome! But now what? If you’re anything like me, the fear and uncertainty of what to do next will cause you to develop chronic procrastination and self-doubt. I spent countless hours searching the internet with dry, tired eyes, lost in the world of literature and publication as a new author. There were so many things to consider! Finding an agent, searching for editors, and contacting publishers—it was very overwhelming. And oh my goodness! The cost of these options was nothing if not disheartening. Even so, a part of me didn’t want anyone else touching my work. I’ve heard horror stories of authors who have submitted their work to editors only to have their story torn apart and changed completely. How could I avoid losing the authenticity of my story while still finding a way to publish my book to a large audience? These thoughts ate away at me until I almost gave up the hope of doing anything with my work.
By Aili Barker7 years ago in Journal
H e r o
It’s amazing how artistic we get when our hearts are wounded. Like our souls override reason and speak to us with such intensity it dominates our very being. Fate simpers at me and I huddle alone with the murmurings of dissent within, clawing at my walls and I desperately try to hold myself up because the only hero around is me. But the darkness of the future and onslaught of rain is deceiving enough to throw me back two hundred steps in the past. This altercation of voices in my head drowns out reason, and I think of you always. My distress is less than evident, although I radiate apprehension. You were so commandeering with your easy smile and feathery touch. Your endearing nervousness was simply a ploy to capture me, just to throw me away like the others. Though undefined, the drive towards you was all consuming, and due to the questionable strategizing by my inane self, I fooled myself into believing I had stolen your unattainable heart. The inexorable truth is what broke my chest; lungs collapsed into themselves when I woke up to nothing but bare walls and cold sheets. Inside my bedroom the resonance of your laughter is endless and it kills me. You are elsewhere and I am here. I struggle to determine the difference between solitude and loneliness, but I will emerge from adversity, scathed yet victorious.
By Aili Barker7 years ago in Poets
And Then Some
I loved him fiercely, with every fiber of my being. He was my night and day, the electricity lighting up my dark skies. I loved him through every tear that fell, every smile that broke, every promise that evaporated quietly. Every love song was about him, every stolen moment will forever live inside of me. He is a missing puzzle piece, discarded somewhere underneath the couch, hiding. Without him something in me is incomplete. To say he changed me is such an injustice to his memory. Such a trivial word to describe his love. Because every skin cell on my body has been altered to feel more. To love more, to be more. He is my forever even though he is mine no more, and has never really been mine.
By Aili Barker7 years ago in Poets
Eulogy for Yesterday
This poem is not about you. It is not about the way the sunshine sparkles in your eyes. It is not about the velvety way you say things. It is absolutely not about the way it feels to have your hair curl around my finger as we lay beneath the stars. This poem is not a reflection of how you've changed my life completely, nor is it a constellation of confusing memories we've shared. It is not a poem of the way you stare. It is not a hopeful wish for our own fleeting story to continue. It is not a dark memory of your feeble attempts to scare me away, hidden somewhere in the back of my mind. This is not me yearning for our something to unbreak.
By Aili Barker7 years ago in Poets
C o n c l u s i o n
The smell of you leaks into the atmosphere and even though it’s been raining for days you still manage to find me after all this way. I’ve kept the pictures of that perfect day but in a sudden cloudy haze they tore into each other until nothing was left save for shredded memories.
By Aili Barker7 years ago in Poets