Good Vibes

I was born with a mischievous grin on my little childish lips and I've always been looking for trouble to get in.
The problem is I find it rather easily.
I hope you do too.
Because trouble is wrong.
And unfortunately, wrong usually tastes good.
So live wild and slow, don't let it all slip too fast.
Take a deep breathe and give long kisses.
Sit on the edge of a lake bed and watch each little wave kiss the shore line.
Promise yourself that someday you'll wiggle your toes in real ocean sand.
Grow your hair out too shaggy and rub oil on your temples.
Maybe get a little hippie.
Be so much you that the weak hearts just can't handle it.
Kill the bad vibes.
Wake up too early just to watch the sun wink at your sleepy eyes.
Listen for the morning birds start to call to their lovers.
Just like it calls to your soul.
You're gonna be alright.
Drink too much,
make a story.
Love too much,
you won't regret it.
Kiss too much,
just cause you can.
Feel every last little emotion,
deep and fierce.
Life's short.
Live it.

XoXo Gussie

Her and Me

Our braids were half shook free and our horses done in.
They looked over us hobbled out while we sprawled across a bedroll in the sun.
She had her arm laid over my back.
I think we were somewhere between sleep deprived and wired red hot.
I rode in behind her.
I've always been my hero's little shadow.
She'd smile and I'd hang on every word she said.
Always hoping to grow up to be half the woman she's been.
I had a calf at the fire grinning through white teeth and chapped lips.
She was all business looking up at me through blue eyes.
I washed sand and grit out of her hair when her hands were all rope burned and taped up.
I've wiped her tears and hung my arms around her little shoulders.
She's been the whispering voice on the other end of my sobbing late night calls.
We were swapping sweaters and stealing necklaces with big cheesing grins.
She was chewing my ass out behind the barn and I took it with gritted teeth.
I had bruises down my arm and tears in my green eyes,
but those didn't hurt me near as bad as they hurt her.
She has more fire in her than the sun and the most tender heart.
We were horseback and laughing louder than the wind with rawed up cheeks.
I had my arm linked in hers following her around, you know, the way little sisters do.
And whether we knew it or not we were always free, her and me.

XoXo, Gussie

Photo Credit: Kay Shrock

Silver Rings and Gasoline

Running on high hopes, caffeine and gasoline.
Hands weighed down by silver rings.
I took matches to what paper trail was left of us.
Us? What us.
Sun bleached hair, guess I'm a blondie once again.
Take it for what it is.
Tanned up skin.
Scars and broken hearts, welcome me into your arms.
New books, old stories.
Woke up early, stayed up late.
I thought I'd have more to say.
So here's a good luck wish and kiss for all the big endeavors you may find.
Dream big.
Fear small.

XoXo, Gussie

"Too wild to last, too rare to die."

I've become an expert in tragic love stories, perhaps I should write a book of my own.
First I would tell about the long kisses and free spirits.
Then about all the places we roamed.
I could go on about how we lived wild and fast; like we'd never know regrets.

I would thank the ones who once held my heart.
Tell them how pretty the stories were that they made for me to write.
I'll say a silent prayer for them and remember the times when we weren't apart.
Funny how dirty the past can bite.

I'd tell you about the one that gave me bruises and the one that gave me a ring.
I could tell you about the wiry ones that had wild and wooly stories to tell.
There was one so fierce, on fire, he all but gave me wings.
And a few that maybe I ought to have told to go to hell.

There were so many horses that danced between our knees.
We were fearless and dumb with only the end story in mind.
Living life like adventure was all we'd ever need.
We wanted to be remembered as some heroic, gypsy kind.

If only the pictures did justice to all the country we saw.
And I wish you could meet all the people we were.
My trusting heart and the late night phone calls.
The big promises, high hopes and ultimate heartbreaking failure.

I'd write about how the most tragic of my love stories is the shortest of them all.
There for a second then gone as hard and fast as the Wyoming wind.
I'd tell you about the bittersweet goodbye.
One last kiss and three silver tears, neither of us could stay in one place long enough to watch them fall.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist.
Dark eyes that smiled into mine.
The day he met me I had dust in my braid.
I guess everything comes in God's time.

I'd tell you all of these stories then remind you I'm just 19.
So this "love" is all new to me.
A beautiful and dangerous thing.
Maybe sometimes no more than a rainy midnight dream.

And finally I would pencil in that Atticus must have known about me when he wrote,
"They were strange in love. Too wild to last, too rare to die."

Xoxo, Gussie

Cowboy Love Story

I tripped, you laughed.
New beginnings, the first hello.
Awkward handshakes, big dark eyes.
Broke horses playing on their checkerboard beneath us. 
My braid all tangled with dust.
Lost loves still dragging on coattails.
Forever clutzy and staring at the clouds.
Long ropes, tarnished bits.
Big dreams and open hearts.
Your smile, my blushing cheeks.
Sun tanned skin, rope burned hands.
Two deep conversations and one long kiss.
Silver rings, horsehair lacing my fingers.
Dust on your face, a ripped shirt sleeve.
Fearless.
You carried a story with you.
I could see it from a mile away.
Reckless memories and fears that stop you in your footprints.
Tell them to me.
First wink, your arms wrapped around me.
Twirl me around. 
Cowboy love story.
Forever lost and forever found. 

XoXo Gussie

I Swear I Lived

I have too much to say and can't get it out fast enough.
Mostly just spitting angry words at the sun.
Life's rough, knives cut.
Fear or be feared.
Bleed or draw blood.
I shouldn't encourage your willingness to cause pain, but damn is it better than feeling it.
Trust me; I know. 
I've got welts on my hands and memories of cigarette kisses in bars.
Stayed up half the night tipsy on Jack.
Felt like hell in the morning with dragon breath and half a name left.
Running reckless and fearless dying to feel something.
I've got a scar below my left eye and an old rope burn across my arm.
Crying old tears, ones that should've spilled years ago but I'm too stubborn to let go.

Let me just tell you a thing or two...and I'm fully aware of how little I know, but still
Here's the thing, I want you to live life really full.
And really free.
I want you to know a real love.
One that comes with good morning kisses and shoulders that are actually there for you to cry on and lips that are yours to kiss.
A love that doesn't ditch you in a metaphorical dark alley with nothing but a cheap dress and wine on your lips.
I want you to have good memories.
I get it. Pain comes, I have the bruises.
But you have the right to own your scars.
You've been bloodied up and choked out, you've been caught in the abyss.
You're still standing though.
Your arms, though they may be weak are still upright bearing the weight of your try.
Your heart is still pounding out of your chest with a loud, earth shattering call.
And look how tough you must be.
The most badass thing you'll ever get to say is "I lived."
I swear I lived full, hard and fierce.
With wind burning my eyes and blood trickling down my cheek. 
I lived.


XoXo, Gussie

P.S.... LIVE!

You're Strong

I won't stand for it.
I don't want to hear you say you can't.
I'm not going to let you lie there in misery.
Get your ass up and if you want it, get it.
No one is standing in your way, and if they are box your way out.
Life's much too short to only dream.
You need to live.
And it may not be smart, it may not be pretty but if it's what you crave, it's what you need.
Don't die without a story.
Don't survive without scars.
Pain is a beautiful thing.
You're strong.
If you want an adventure, create it.
Run free if that's what you need.
Be a child of reckless wanderlust.
Be an architect, be a mechanic.
Be a gypsy.
Be a cowboy.
Just whatever you do, make damn sure your heart is in it.
Xoxo, Gussie