Burnt Sienna Sky

By Jackie Smith

Burnt Sienna Sky explores the passage of time, and how it shapes one’s existence.
It’s about acceptance and being comfortable in your own skin.
But most of all Burnt Sienna Sky is about finding the courage of resilience and speaking
up when you think something needs to change, even if you think no one will listen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Publishers / ASPG
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781922792778

Jackie Smith

Jackie Smith nació en Tegucigalpa, Honduras, el 1ero. de octubre de 1967. Cursó high school en la Escuela Americana de Tegucigalpa, su querida ciudad de donde partió en 1985 para estudiar marketing en Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts, donde se gradu6 en 1989. Siempre tuvo interes por analizar la conducta humana y esa pasión la llevó a cursar un postgrado en psicologia positive en la Universidad de Fairleigh Dickinson, Madison, New Jersey, donde se graduó en 1991. Siempre decidida a aprender y a crecer, en 2014 recibe su certificación como Coach de la Universidad de Miami y un año despues recibe una nueva certificación de parte de la International Coaching Federation. Entusiasta, motivadora e inspiradora escribe regularmente su columna de life coach en Estilo, revista hondureña en la que colabora desde hace una decada y es además parte del team de escritores de Ismael Cala. Autora del exitoso libro El Arte de Avanzar y coautora, con gran éxito de ventas, junto a Brian Tracy, del bestseller Ready, Set, Go. Jackie Smith was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on October 1, 1967. She attended high school at the American School of Tegucigalpa, her beloved city from where she left in 1985 to study marketing at Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts, graduating in 1989. She always had an interest in analyzing human behavior and that passion led her to pursue a postgraduate degree in positive psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey, where she graduated in 1991. Always determined to learn and grow, in 2014 she received her certification as Coach of the University of Miami and a year later receives a certification from the International Coaching Federation. She is enthusiastic, motivating and inspiring. She regularly writes her life coach column in Estilo, a Honduran magazine in which she has collaborated for a decade and she is also part of Ismael Calas team of writers. Author of the Art of Moving Forward, a chapter published in Brian Tracy's best selling book, Ready, Set, Go.

Book preview

The Fringe-Dwellers

We are the fringe-dwellers,

wandering free,

the wallflowers, immigrants and outcasts.

We sit on the edge of eternity,

watching the stars welcome the sun in its dazzling blue.

We meet at midnight,

far from prying eyes that begrudge our nomadic existence,

hold each other tight in the loving embrace of makeshift family.

We shield ourselves against the icy hand of the first snowfall,

fires’ embers having long met their ashy death

in a war we never wanted to fight,

never wanted to win,

never wanted to lose.

And as the dawn melts into the horizon,

we surrender,

rejoice in the birth of a radiance unexplainable

to those who reject the promise of tomorrow, and refuse to accept

a future we will never understand.

Yours Truly

I read the letter

you wrote,

Took comfort in your crumpled paper,

touched my lips to the tear-stained ink you left behind like an imprint on my heart,

and pictured the last time I held your hand.

I traced your spider-like font that only I could read,

handwriting half-formed in cursive,

the way I finished your sentences,

assured yet uncertain.

Imagined your hand holding the pen

as you pondered over the final sentence,

trying to mould your words into meaning that wouldn’t

shatter my heart even while it was breaking.

Because if this is the end of the story as we know it

Where was my beginning,

The middle where I got to love you more fiercely than

I ever knew was possible

Even as we reach this impossible finale,

and sign the page

yours truly.

Wonder

I am the glass slipper

abandoned on the ballroom stair

pouring rain glistening

on the heel.

The rose with the last petal falling

Before the curse

is broken.

I am the clock

that strikes

at midnight

turning the page

in the fairy tale.

I am the northern star

lighting the way

to Neverland

the knife at the villain’s throat

at the end of the movie.

I am the catalyst

and the exception

the dream of everything

you once thought of as right.

The journey

and the inspiration

the soldiers marching

at night

across battle planes unexplored.

I am the desert

Without water

the genie in the lamp

granting all your wishes

in the hope that they may one day

come true.

I am the imagination

and the symphony

the memory

of a childhood

not so lost

in the forest

following crumbs to

find my way home.

I am the imagination

the promise of all

that can

and will happen

if you only

let go.

And take a moment

to believe

in the impossible.

Self-Portrait

In the early morning,

My muscles take their own sweet time to unfurl

from the cocoon of sleep

before they’re ready to re-join the land of the living.

I stretch and pulse

Creak and moan

Nerve ending always on edge,

Ready for the next fall from

Grace,

From introspection

From the sidewalk as I run too fast and trip

On an invisible crack,

Trying to keep pace with time

That never stops moving.

Experts once told me that every step I take

It’s worth ten of yours.

So I’ve spent the last few decades playing catch up

In a race you didn’t even know you were running.

You see, this life is a marathon,

All barricades and hurdles,

Goalposts placed so far across a field

I’ll never quite reach the finish line.

Never quite be what you class as normal.

But why would you want to be normal

If it means living up to someone else’s expectations

If it means watching the stars

instead of dancing on the moon

across galaxies and timelines you never thought

possible?

This world was never really meant for someone like me

Pushing the boundaries to find what lies beyond the safe and comfortable.

So I’ve created a world of my own,

Built from the castles made of sand you left behind

A piece of heaven

In this hellish descent into the unknown

The home of unrealised dreams and potential just waiting for

You to return and take the opportunity you forgot you once had.

Because the globe is only round until you start to mould it with your own hands,

Take what’s yours and craft it into the shape and colour of your own skin

Delicate centres and a fragile composition

Ready to jump and fall,

To fly and fail

To relish in the night if it means you have

A chance to touch the sun

If only once

If only fleetingly

In this life that was never meant to last forever.

Memory