Wrestling with Seduction

By Lee Barbara Connally

To wrestle: to engage in a determined struggle. Seduction: a temptation to fulfill a desire one might otherwise wish to resist; an act to charm and persuade.

Wrestling with Seduction, a collection of modern prose and poetry, takes the reader on a journey that progresses over terrain each of us likely has trod at one time or another. From the time we first experience falling in love, we also encounter along the way loves fraternal and evil twin --- the blues. Then there are the other nuances of seduction: the seduction of what we see every day and covet for ourselves; the seduction of memory; the seductive forces of family and community beliefs, mores, and traditions; the seduction of time. On top of all that is the treachery and desperation of the heart, so that it usually is pretty untrustworthy. By middle age, we all probably know something about seduction --- the good and the bad and the in-between. The trouble is that giving in to it --- the falling --- feels so doggone good, whether one is young or old. But surviving the fall and telling about it later, with a laugh even, is a whole other story. This collection of personal offerings speaks not only about falling in love, but also about childhood and family and life and death and work and play and a lot of things which we may not always recognize as seductive. But they are. Herein, the struggle has a beginning, middle and something of a resolution, if thats what one may wish to call it. This writer, at least, is enjoying this period of denouement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 23, 2003
• ISBN: 9781469117263

Lee Barbara Connally

Lee Barbara Connally, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, still lives and works in the “City of Seven Hills”. In the face of comments about Cincinnati’s conservatism, she would fiercely defend her hometown for its relatively safe environment; the beautiful hills; the lovely winding Ohio River; the city’s history as a safe haven for slaves braving the Underground Railroad to “freedom”; and ironically, the city’s warm Southern flavor. This Cincinnatian has been writing since she was about seven years old and says, “I’d jot down little stories about my family and playmates on anything I could find to write on! Old brown paper grocery sacks, the white card stock separating the pairs of nylon stockings in my mother’s lingerie drawer, the backs of discarded wrapping paper --- any blank paper space!” And that’s been her habit since the early 1950’s, to the extent that her home, her car, and every old purse and briefcase hold scraps of paper bearing storylines, poems, and book titles. Prior to this collection, her most recent projects include a novel, “Is There A Panther in the House” (1998) , and a collection of short stories, “Tales from Ms. Baby” (2001) --- the former now “languishing on the shelf” and the latter still awaiting publication.

Book preview

Wrestling

With Seduction

Lee Barbara Connally

Copyright © 2003 by Lee Barbara Connally.

Library of Congress Number:   2003095808

ISBN:   Hardcover   1-4134-2668-9

ISBN:   Softcover                 1-4134-2667-0

ISBN:   Ebook                 978-1-4691-1726-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information

storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing

from the copyright owner.

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Contents

Author Biography

Book Summary

Book Description

Trouble

and

Blues Downtown

This Road I’m On

She

adulteress

Geisha Clown Girl

poem written during a flight from new york to london while suffering from a case of shingles

Geisha

snakes in her hair

red shoes

Destination

Getting Fixed

She-Pirates

I, Olivia

freddie mae

Getaway

The Lovers

Kiss

elegant

Cry!

losing our way

prayer

It’s On!

man on the take

Too Much

Baptismal Pool

A Progression: I, II, III

One Kiss

Jazzy Summer

Coming Up From Sleep

As I Wait

War and Peace

10 Poems About

His Smile

Haiku For A Wife

A Resurrected Mind

a panther in the house

soft

buzz

Don’t Go

Stop Sign

Some Haiku (sort of)

Haiku-esque

in the dark

Regrets

lingering

Hello Like Before

Addicted

Don’t Say It

Earth (the remix)

Wind

Fire

Rain

Tell Me A Story

Starry Eyes

blues piece en rouge

Drop Down, Rock Back

Hot Damn!

Speak Low

her words

Zoom! Zoom!

Red Light!

Butwhaddasistaknow?

What-What?

Untitled: One

Fresh Peaches

Moon Song

the seduction of memory

inside a lonely tear

suicide note

on loneliness

now

untitled: two

wishing

stranger at my gate

gone

b.m. blues

sometimes

untitled: three

In the War Room

Night in Berlin,

1943 . . . Afternoon in

Manhattan, 2003

Sleep Talking

Influences

the late/early hours

train trip morning (1952)

Summer 1967

his face

Candy (A 1950s Soldier’s Story)

Cousin Dickey

drummer boy:

the alley oop

As Letitia Grieves (Considering

Monsters Ball)

letitia’s blues (a reprise)

A Winter Memory

Scene at

Rockefeller Center

Requiem Haiku for a Dead Girl Child

Crazy for Coconut Cake: a 1950s Memory

of Home

For Regina

For Mai Luna

among the living

hag: somebody’s mother

dissolution

talkin’ ‘bout

some reparations

nine again

A Child in Prison

Packing

norwegian black boy

Ju-Ju for Jo-Jo

Also Untitled

Uncle Chester’s Funeral

caesarian birth:

a penny for Caesar

When I Was a Girl

at seventeen

Wedding

amsterdam morning

in V movements

amsterdam: a night on

the leidensplein

Some Bavarian

Euro-Pub Haiku

Survival . . . Becoming

faggot

his tenderness

(notes on a drag queen)

Witness See

A Wide Road

struggle

Know Mercy

Visual Artist: A Painter’s Truth

stream of conscience pastoral

a necessary metamorphosis

a nice clean poem

figuring the

whole thing out

schedule

Scene At the Airport

Dr. John

on contemplating hospital convalescence

Sunday, Sunday

Some Prose for Me

Dedication

This collection of poems and prose is for anyone in the

midst of the struggle, and especially for my dear and

precious friends. Remember,—struggle is a good thing.

Author Biography

Lee Barbara Connally, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio,

still lives and works in the City of Seven Hills. In the face of comments about Cincinnati’s conservatism, she would fiercely defend her hometown for its relatively safe environment; the beautiful hills; the lovely winding Ohio River; the city’s history as a safe haven for slaves braving the Underground Railroad to freedom; and ironically, the city’s warm Southern flavor. This Cincinnatian has been writing since she was about seven years old and says, I’d jot down little stories about my family and playmates on anything I could find to write on! Old brown paper grocery sacks, the white card stock separating the pairs of nylon stockings in my mother’s lingerie drawer, the backs of discarded wrapping paper—any blank paper space! And that’s been her habit since the early 1950’s, to the extent that her home, her car, and every old purse and briefcase hold scraps of paper bearing storylines, poems, and book titles. I just can’t help it, she says with a laugh, I’m just a natural storyteller who loves to talk more than just about anything. I never run out of things to tell . . . to write! And that’s a good thing.

Barbara—fondly called Kuji and KuKu and Bella and Coco and Dearie and Khan and El Kabong—mostly has published manuscripts of a technical nature in medical research journals. A scientist for more than 18 years in Epidemiology and Risk Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), she has spent most of her left brain power writing research reports. Hence, her right brain efforts have had to take a back seat over the years. She has, nonetheless, had some creative projects to her credit as a freelance writer, public radio broadcaster, and nightclub chanteuse during the 70’s and early 80’s. Prior to this collection, her most recent projects include a novel, Is There A Panther in the House (1998), and a collection of short stories, Tales from Ms. Baby (2001)—the former now languishing on the shelf and the latter still awaiting publication.

Book Summary

Towrestle: to engage in a determined struggle.

Seduction: a temptation to fulfill a desire one might otherwise wish to resist; an act to charm and persuade.

Wrestling with Seduction, a collection of modern prose and poetry, takes the reader on a journey that progresses over terrain each of us likely has trod at one time or another. From the time we first experience falling in love, we also encounter along the way love’s fraternal and evil twin—the blues. Then there are the other nuances of seduction: the seduction of what we see every day and covet for ourselves; the seduction of memory; the seductive forces of family and community beliefs, mores, and traditions; the seduction of time. On top of all that is the treachery and desperation of the heart, so that it usually is pretty untrustworthy. By middle age, we all probably know something about seduction—the good and the bad and the in-between. The trouble is that giving in to it—the falling—feels so doggone good, whether one is young or old. But surviving the fall and telling about it later, with a laugh even, is a whole other story.

This collection of personal offerings speaks not only about falling in love, but also about childhood and family and life and death and work and play and a lot of things which we may not always recognize as seductive. But they are. Herein, the struggle has a beginning, middle and something of a resolution, if that’s what one may wish to call it. This writer, at least, is enjoying this period of denouement.

Book Description

To wrestle: to engage in a determined struggle.

Seduction: a temptation to fulfill a desire one might otherwise wish to resist; an act to charm and persuade.

Wrestling with Seduction, a collection of modern prose and poetry, takes the reader on a journey that progresses over terrain each of us likely has trod at one time or another. From the time we first experience falling in love, we also encounter along the way love’s fraternal and evil twin—the blues. Then there are the other nuances of seduction: the seduction of what we see every day and covet for ourselves; the seduction of memory; the seductive forces of family and community beliefs, mores, and traditions; the seduction of time. On top of all that is the treachery and