Radiating Love
The resounding beat of his heart,
their interlocking fingers
as perfect puzzle pieces fitting together,
the purposeful gaze of his beautiful eyes are
the things she will always remember.
Disregarding the constant hurry of life,
when she sits by herself with her cats purring by her side,
this is when she can still feel him so close.
Right now, here in this moment
as she closes her eyes to see him again,
to feel his touch, his gentle kisses on her neck,
and the weight of his body on her own.
The void she felt before he came seemed eternal.
It was too late for her, she was told.
Years cascading down and passing, she was a good mother,
a friend, daughter, sister, but no one’s lover.
She immersed herself in her work, purpose and
found peace and beauty but didn’t find passion or desire.
Not now.
That space is filled.
Now she’s vibrant with a heart overflowing—she can
hope and still want something from life.
Like a disobedient youth, she runs wild in her mind,
imagining him, the scent of him,
the sense of smooth skin under her fingers,
until she sees him again and
nestles in his arms, drinking in his embrace.
In silent preparation to sleep, she smiles
and her whole body radiates love around her
to him,
in her bedroom,
to the city,
this country, and
the whole world.
First Published in print in Spark Literary Journal, May 2019
The Author
E. Izabelle Cassandra Alexander was born and raised in a little village in Hungary. After immigrating to the US, she first lived in New York. There she graduated with honors from Monroe College with a Bachelor’s in Information Systems before moving to Chicago, where she earned her MBA in Business from Webster University. In 2013, Izabelle refocused to pursue her life-long dream of writing and began taking writing classes at Oakton Community College and online. Since then, she’s a member of numerous writing and poetry groups, attending workshops and conferences, continuously updating her writing and editing skills. She’s a single mother, nature and animal lover. Izabelle writes short stories, creative nonfiction essays, flash fiction, plays, and poetry. Also, she’s currently working on a few novels and a series of children’s books along with illustrations. Publications Several of her fiction, creative nonfiction essays, and poetry have been published by Oakton Community College in 2016, 2018, and 2019 issues of their annual print literary journal, Spark, as well as by The Scarlet Leaf Review on their website in 2018 and in their March 2020 issue. By the Illinois State Poetry Society (ISPS) on their website in 2017, 2018, and in the ISPS print anthology, Distilled Lives, Volume 4, 2018. Also, in Yearning to Breathe, a print anthology by Moonstone Art Center, 2019, and Fresh.ink Magazine in 2019. By WOW! Women on Writing, 2019 & 2020, in The Book Smuggler’s Den, 2019, by Tint Journal, 2020, in Ariel's Dream Literary Journal, 2020, forthcoming by Ariel Publishing on their site in 2020, and more.
Honorable Mentions, Runner Up, and Finalist
She won Runner Up status with her flash fiction “Fragments of Bones” in a contest by WOW! Women on Writing in 2019, and with her creative nonfiction essay "Why I Hate Yellow Peas" in April 2020. An interview was published by WOW in The Muffin on January 14, 2020 and another one forthcoming in May. Her creative nonfiction essays “Disciplined Discipline” (2017) and “My First Camel Ride” (2019), and her flash fiction “Invisible Love” (2018), “Drowning Under Pressure” (2020), and “Yellow Carnations” (2020) each received an Honorable Mention in contests by WOW! Women on Writing while they chose many of her flash and creative nonfiction pieces as finalists. In The New York City Midnight Challenge Flash Fiction Contest, she won the first round within her tier with her flash fiction titled “What Eyes Can’t See” in 2018. Several of her poems, fiction, creative nonfiction essays, and plays had been selected by Oakton Community College over the last six years as a finalist to represent them in the annual Skyway Competitions (eight community colleges competing).
To Reach Her You can find Izabelle on her website: izabelle2012.wixsite.com/Izabelle
Connect with her on Facebook: fb.me/E.IzabelleAlexander and Twitter.com/IzabelleAlexan3
Support her work on Patreon at www.patreon.com/IzabelleAlexander
E. Izabelle Cassandra Alexander, IL
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