“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.” - Lemony Snicket
becoming, existing, becoming (4/3/25) i. the dog lays at the foot of the bed and i can imagine that she is mine. she leaves me and wanders aimlessly into the slick street, tail between her legs like she smells decimation in our future--- she knows the walls will be infested and eaten away at eventually.
ii. i cannot help but wonder what will become of the things i hold. i have inherited my mother's hair and her jaw and the need to nurture. femininity means i was born to carry, and i have been holding the cracked foundation together with my naked palms, but fingers bleed, and mine are red and raw.
iii. the dog and i stand nose-to-nose, a mirror of existence and becoming. she will be like me, i think. i want to choke on my own blood. i do not want her skin to stain crimson, do not want her to inherit a rotting home. but i am a woman. it is my inheritance.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Sorry for the late submission!! I fear yws might be getting blocked for me soon Poem under spoiler Spoiler
from the pit to the forge: briares speaks (the hecatoncheires and hephaustus) every stroke of brass against my back, my knees, my chest, my cheeks-- i welcome it, i breathe it in. better the sting of this labor i do for free than the stinging of the boulders digging into every part of me, pinning my hands (my hands, my hands!), making me feel as though i can't breathe. her voice haunts me when i try to sleep, that monster more snake than woman hissing, "come now, briares... if you don't face my whip, your brothers will." a flash of a wicked smile in the darkness we'd grown used to seeing through. i feel the phantom flashes-- they burn. i blink, and i'm back to the forges. hephaestus is kind-- takes us in like we're brothers. works with us like we're friends. we are, now. friends. and brothers. while his skin is rough and scar-flecked, mine is coarse and all scar tissue. he smiles broadly, and of the forge's fire, he asks, "briares, don't you feel it?" of course, brother. this molten metal soothes this rough laborer's skin of mine. yes, i feel it. freedom. isn't it lovely?
Reminder next up is Round Two: Submissions for this round are due by 04/11/2024 09:00 PM CDT And those advancing to the next round will be posted with their new parings on April 14th
and a friendly reminder that if you submit an image to please provide a text version with it, thank you so much!
that the powerful play goes on And you may contribute a verse
If you ever need to talk I am here for you<3
"All great change is preceded by chaos" - Deepak Chopra Fight through the chaos, there are good things ahead<333
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
'Hush, hush!' I whispered; 'people can have many cousins and of all sorts, Miss Cathy, without being any the worse for it; only they needn't keep their company, if they be disagreeable and bad. — Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
