OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 31

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Prompted--Or Possessed?

Those who just don't understand

Are always questioning me

Why am I obsessed with writing

Why do I like poetry?

It sure as hell don't pay the bills

But when the words start flowing

Nothing can beat the experience

The excitement just keeps growing

Some people like to party

Some people like to drink

But I can't beat the feeling

When my imagination makes me think

I've been hurt a lot in love

Sometimes I've lost all hope

Writing is what keeps me alive

When I'm at the end of my rope

I can take a journey

To anywhere I please

I can conjure up such excitement

That it brings me to my knees

Nowhere is there such wonderment

As exists inside my mind

Each day I feel the gratitude

For the new wonders that I find

I'm kind of shy about sharing

These creations that I craft

I fear the scorn of the naysayers

I hear their derisive laugh

Still, I keep on writing

Sometimes I just don't know why

It's something that I've always done

And I will do it till I die

~Helena~

Helena's note:

I was glad to be a part of it.

Hope to see you all next year!

Word Prompts:

Poetry
Writing
Experience
Journey
Flowing
Sharing

Feeling Words:

Feeling
Love
Hope
Excitement
Gratitude
Wonderment

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 30

Copyright: mkistryn / 123RF Stock Photo

On the Day Before

On the day before the end came

There was no discernible antecedent

We knew the time was soon

That was inevitable

But there was no precursor to the event itself

Nothing to preface its coming

We believed that there was still a little time before you left

But while we went home for the night

Your wife, your son and daughter, and your only grandson, the only child of your daughter

Leaving you in the hospice center to rest

The door to the other side opened in front of your weary eyes

You walked through

Free at last from the deterioration

Of your badly compromised body

~Cie~

For my father

May 31, 1936 - November 28, 2010

Notes:

My father suffered from vascular compromise leading to stroke, congestive heart failure and vascular dementia over a period of six years. He was a college professor and he was committed to his daily workouts. In the end he became wheelchair bound, confused and frightened. 

Don't let stereotypes about body type fool you. Hypertension happens to people of all body types. My father was not obese. In fact, out of all of us in the family, I, who am a larger person, did not have hypertension onset until I was in my mid-forties, and it coincided with the raising of the dose of thyroid medication, which contributes to high blood pressure.

The most important point is, check your blood pressure at least once a week even if you're healthy, because hypertension can happen to anybody. Machines are available in any drug store and in some grocery stores. 

I'm using the "Unda Nether" or 666 Typing Monkeys account, which is an account available to all members of the team. I created it because some of the team at times feel vulnerable, even when using a pen name, due to our particular brand of mental illness. This allows another layer of anonymity. However, in the end I opted for transparency.

Your Prompt:

On the day before…..

Word prompts:

before

preface

precursor

front

antecedent

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 29

Copyright: zimmytws / 123RF Stock Photo

Nothing and Nevermore

It was love of a kind

But there was never any consuming bliss

The honeymoon was simply a nice thing to do

At least I didn't walk into it blind

Neither of us felt euphoria

The joy pictured in movies

It was a romance born of logic

We liked the same things

I wasn't bewildered when it ended

He was annoyed

But there was too much grief

All we did any more was fight

So we packed it in

And we packed up

Went to court

Amicably filed for joint custody

And divorce

~Wanda Psycho~

Word Prompts:

Love

Bliss

Consuming

Blind

Honeymoon

Feeling Words:

Euphoria

Joy

Bewildered

Annoyed

Grief

Wanda's Notes:

My poem is a bit of an antithesis to Thalia's beautiful poem about a couple who finally gives in to the love that was there all along. Mine depicts a love that never was there. It's the true story of my own marriage.

Why marry someone you don't feel passion for?

I don't recommend it, but it seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.

My ex husband and I maintain a civil relationship although our children are grown.

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 28

Love is Love

Copyright: lentolo / 123RF Stock Photo

Hunger 

With you gone, my sadness began to consume me

My yearning for you was like an all-consuming hunger

It wasn't some sort of perverse lust

Which always seems to be postulated by those suffering from such boredom

That their only ambition is to cause pain

To those already struggling with self-doubt about their feelings

I tried to satiate my hunger by pursuing those I was told I was supposed to

But in the end, it only left me hollow

My soul scooped out like the belly of a man starving in an endless desert

Only you ever brought me joy

Only you ever filled my cold heart with warmth

Only you can dry my tears

With you by my side

With you in my arms

With you safe in my heart

My hunger is satiated at last

How can this be wrong

When it is my salvation?

~Thalia~

Word Prompts:

sadness

joy

ambition

lust

yearning

self doubt

boredom

Thalia's Notes:

I wrote this from the perspective of two male characters that the team works with on our story blogs. They have struggled with forbidden feelings for each other for many years, having one disastrous relationship after another with women, until they finally had to admit that the only relationship that ever really worked was the bond they have with each other.

I'm a lesbian. I've known I was different from "normal" girls since I was nine years old in the third grade and developed a very strong crush on my beautiful and kind-hearted teacher. I would daydream of being the avenging heroine, rescuing her from all sorts of danger. I was extremely ashamed of what I now realize were very harmless fantasies. 

I fought my attraction to other girls for a long time. When I was seventeen, I got involved in a behind closed doors relationship with a girl from another school. It didn't end well. Our fear of being found out caused us to treat each other poorly. Plus, I was very jealous and she wasn't particularly monogamous.

Unfortunately, I never found the right one. I'm not actively seeking right now, but I'm still open to the possibility that one day my princess will come.

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 27

Copyright: patriziatilly / 123RF Stock Photo

For the Dreamers

Dreamer, don't save your dreams for only those times when you're sleeping

Don't let the only time you dream be when you are sleepy

Don't wait for a nap to overtake you to allow your dreams to do so

For dreams aren't only for those who sleep

Let your dreams come when you're awake

Let your dreaming take you to faraway places

Even if insomnia has you in its grips

Don't let that stop you from dreaming

With love,

Dolly

Word Prompts: 

sleep (sleepy, sleeping)

dream (dreaming, dreamer)

nap

awake

insomnia

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 26

Image Source

Hitchcock was indeed a master

I also loved his dry sense of humor on the Alfred Hitchcock Presents program

A trivia niblet:

Bill Mumy once spoke about working with both Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling. He said that Rod Serling was just the sweetest guy, so easy to get along with. If anyone messed up a line, he'd say "hey, that's all right, let's try it again."

Hitchcock, conversely, said:

"Little boy, if you mess up that line again, I'll eat you."

Just a little fun, remembering a talented curmudgeon who was one of my heroes of the film world. They don't make 'em like him any more!

Driving Force

For Spectra Ghostseeker

Sometimes the drive I feel to enter our secret universe 

And tell the tales that creep and crawl and dance and sway from synapse to synapse 

Is nothing short of frightening

It makes me wonder if perhaps I'm truly mad

In the darkness of my mind, spooky images delight

Where this compulsion to dream darkly comes from is mysterious

Why have I always sought the shadow?

Why have I never desired to dance in the light?

A clock striking midnight sets my heart to pounding

I tear out my heart and throw it upon my keyboard with a thud

I pour out my life's blood in these tales that I craft

Indeed, they may be nonsense to the outside observer peering in the window of my mind

But they mean the world to me

~Dolly~

Word Prompts: 

                                     Frightening

                                     Darkness

                                     Spooky

                                     Mysterious

                                     Thud

                                     Striking

                                     Midnight

                                     Pounding

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 25

 publicdomainpictures.net

An Ode to Team Netherworld

My kindred spirits

Sometimes we worry too much

About what others think

Of the things we create

Who knows, maybe it's even true

That everybody else

Thinks our work is silly

Stupid

Ludicrous

Ridiculous

Twisted

Sick

They might cry that it isn't canon

Or that borrowing characters is the sign of an immature mind

Some have even said

That people who write the kind of stuff we do

Tend to be damaged individuals

So they write "shell" characters

Well, I say, maybe all that's true

But I counter it with this

I find the scenarios we create fascinating

Our characters, both original and borrowed, captivating

We create situations both zany and enchanting

Although many of us have given up on real life romance

We can't resist the magnetic pull

Of writing about two characters

Who become drawn to each other

In an irresistible dance

The magic may have gone out of many of our waking lives

Our souls crushed under the burden of debt

Of physical pain and emotional stress

Of bearing up under the weight of a lifetime of mental illness

There are no fairy godmothers for us

But we can be the fairy godmothers of our world

Maybe what we write is trite

Maybe nobody but us would want to read it

Maybe some would find us evil or stupid for loving magic

"This stuff could never happen," they say

"Come into the real world," they say

"Be more practical," they say

But we've seen the real world

And it hurts

And when it hurts we can opt to go deeper

Into that magical world of our own

~Spectra~

I love you guys so much.

Being part of our special world may literally have saved my life.

Thank you.

 Morgan Dragonwillow

Word Prompts:

Fascinating
Captivating
Enchanting
Magnetic
Irresistible

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 24

Copyright: thoermer / 123RF Stock Photo

Can't, Won't, Don't

Helena can't dance

It's like she has no rhythm in the shoes

On her two left feet

Helena has no sense of fashion

It's never been her passion

Her clothes are loose and quirky

Helena rarely puts on makeup

She would rather take up her time on other pursuits

She knows she's no beauty queen

Helena has no tattoos

But she might get one someday

If the wind is blowing just right

~Helena~

 

Word Prompts:

    Dance
    Fashion
    Make-up
    Tattoos

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 23

Image Source

Now and Next

Another chapter begins

Within this aging skin

Turn the page

Feel weariness, not rage

And then there was

Less and less to hope for every day

But I had to keep hope alive anyway

I begin again

When this life is at an end

And then there was

No respite from the fight

I begin again tonight

Now it is time to write

Set some small spark alight

No boldness left, only desperation

In a life without respite or vacation

~The Cheese~

Boldly going where all too many are going in this day and age: on an endless cycle with less than nothing to show for it

Cheesy's Notes:

It's my blog and I'll bitch if I want to.

Howdy. I am the creator of Team Netherworld, which is home to several creative blogs including the one you are currently reading. I've got a rant in my pants, and I'm going to undo the top button and let it out!

So many times I see people apologizing for writing things that are dark and/or raw. This is a source of frustration to me, not because I'm angry at the person for feeling like they need to apologize, but because our society does this to people.

My situation is not particularly good, in fact, it's pretty well straight up bad. I am not the only one who can freely say this in this day and time. If it's this bad for me, imagine how bad it is for the millions attempting to live on minimum wage when I make more than double minimum wage and am still unable to stay afloat.

I have not eaten since yesterday. Granted, I have past issues with eating disorders, but that isn't what's going on in this case. I haven't eaten because I'm rationing my food. I'm rationing my food because I need, for one thing, to pay for my prescription for thyroid medicine. I also need to pay my wireless bill ($45 a month for a shared plan for my son and I, and these are our only phones) and my Internet bill.

I do not use the Internet only for "frivolous" things like playing on my blogs or occasionally watching Netflix. (I got rid of satellite TV years ago--it was costing me $45 a month and the service sucked anyway.) I am also taking online classes in an attempt to eventually obtain my R.N. license. Yay or something.

At my income level ($18/hour) I do not qualify for any sort of public assistance because I make too much money. However, most every cent I make goes for paying my mortgage + lot rent on the mobile home where I live, which does not have a working heater or shower, and I can't afford to have either one repaired. I shower at work and use a couple space heaters in the winter.

About this time, out come the "justs."

"Just move out of there into an apartment."

A two bedroom apartment in this area is not significantly less expensive than what I currently pay for mortgage and lot rent, number one. I'm not talking "luxury apartment." The going rate for a standard two bedroom is $1000 a month. One bedrooms are around $850.

Second, my credit is shot. I maxed my credit cards, mostly on car repair and vet bills. Without at least fair credit, there is no way I can qualify to move into an apartment. Besides, I'd either have to keep paying the mortgage/lot rent until someone else bought the place (and mobile homes are a rabid, snarling, hairy ass bitch to sell) or I'd have to allow it to go into foreclosue, which would tank my credit even further, so I might as well continue to live in the thing.

Yes, I have cats. Five of them. All of them are rescues that I got years ago. I won't take in any more because I can't afford to have their companionship although I do care about them. Nor will I get rid of the ones I currently have. They trust me and depend on me. They don't deserve to be traumatized by being rehomed so late in life--and I don't deserve to be traumatized by having to give them up. Anyone who thinks I do doesn't have a heart, plain and simple. These critters are my family.

My other family member is my son, who has problems finding a job, not because he is "lazy" or "unmotivated," but because he lives with severe depression and anxiety issues which sideline him.

My son has his own apartment, which his father sends him money to pay for. He prefers living on his own, and I back him on this.

Both of us live with mental illness. I have type 2 bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I struggle with hoarding items, not animals. At this stage I'm able to deal with throwing things out somewhat, but I'm often too tired to try when I come home from work.

I've tried to find a second job. Nobody wants to fresh hire someone who's nearly 50, even in areas in which I have experience.

I'm not revealing any of this to try and make anyone feel sorry for me. I'm revealing it to hopefully make people think about the fact that I am far from alone in my state of existence. There are millions like me, and I don't see it getting better. I'm fortunate to have a job and someplace to live, even if it's far from optimal. 

It is very difficult to make it on one full time income and that should not be the case. Something is very, very wrong here. I make far more money than I ever have, and I am bringing home far less to show for it. Back when I was making $11 an hour, I was able to make ends meet. I used to be able to go out to dinner weekly. Now I can't even afford McDonald's. In other words, even though I make significantly more money, it buys me significantly less.

Also, I would like people to consider one other thing. Rather than telling people to "cheer up" or belittling them for expressing dark and/or angry feelings, perhaps it is best to take into account that maybe said person has reason for what they are expressing. Writing should free us, not force us to try and be a little ray of sunshine even when we feel like we are wandering through a dark, moonless night with no lantern.

~The Cheese Hath Spoken~

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 22

Photo Source

For Amy Winehouse

(14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011)

They tried to make me do a video

Of myself reading a poem

But I said "no, no, no"

I'm going to write a poem

About Amy Winehouse instead

In many ways, Amy was the kind of girl

Who said "I can do anything I set my mind to"

She was adventurous

She was audacious

She was spontaneous

Her voice was tantalizing

Her look, provocative

But in some ways, perhaps Amy 

Was not as impulsive as she might have appeared on the surface

She may have needed substances

To feel encouraged to step outside her fears

To continue to feel elated when she came down

To feel motivated to keep on

When I think of Amy Winehouse

I feel sad for her troubles

I feel admiration for her talents

And perhaps I feel a little jealous

For although she was troubled and tumultuous

She packed a lot of living

Into her twenty-seven short years

~Tempest~

Avoid viewing the comments on this video if you don't want to start thinking that the human race would be better off obliterated; they're a worse cesspool than usual.

Word Prompts:

Tantalizing

Adventurous

Audacious

Valiant

Spontaneous

Feeling Prompts:

Encouraged

Motivated

Provocative

Impulsive

Elated

Sentence Starters:

I can do anything I set my mind to...

When I think of...

I feel...

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 21

Image by Julie Jordan Scott

A Perfect Trade-Off

I used to crave fame as a way to leave my mark

But lust for adulation got in the way of creativity

I don't know if I'll leave much of an impression

I suppose I won't make a lasting impact in history

I'll be quickly erased from memory

But at least in the end, I was true to me

~Tempest~

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 20

Down the Rabbit Hole

by John Tenniel

Public Domain

Too Late

Too little too late

Too much too soon

Soon it will all be over

Over the next rise

Rise with the sun

Sun shines bright

Bright lights, big city

City girls just seem to find out early

Early bird catches the worm

Worm your way into my heart

Heart of glass

Glass house

House of cards

Cards in hand

Hand in glove

Glove fits snug

Snug as a bug in a rug

Rug hides dust

Dust of time

Time to hurry

Hurry up and wait

Wait for me 

Me and you

You forgot 

Forgot to remember

Remember my face

Face the facts

Facts of life

Life and death

Death comes knocking

Knocking down doors

Doors of perception

Perception of reality

Reality bites

Bites like a dog

Dog of war

War is not the answer

Answer the call

Call for help

Help the hopeless

Hopeless romance

Romance the stone

Stone the sinner

Sinner and saint

Saint I ain't

Ain't you

You can't touch this

This is the end

This

End

~Tempest Nightingale LeTrope~

Word Prompts:

• late
• forgot
• rush
• hurry

Tempest's Note:
This form is a wild ride! I think I managed to get in all the prompt words except Rush.

OctPoWriMo 2014: Day 19

Copyright: damedeeso / 123RF Stock Photo

 Gloom

The rain in spain falls mainly on the

Melancholy musings of my mind

On a gray day spattered with

Drizzle from a dawn that never quite comes

To a dusk that never quite went away

Damp penetrates my very bones

Making me feel like a corpse

Rotting in a moldy tomb

Rainbow makes its way as the sun peeks out from behind

Cloudy curtain of gray froth dripping tears down on the

Grass wet with weeping from the gloomy sky

Somber is the mood on a day gray from a dawn that never quite comes

To a dusk that never left in the first place

~Aurora~

 The Words: 

                  Melancholy 
                  Drizzle 
                  Damp 
                  Rainbow 
                  Cloudy 
                  Grass 
                  Somber

 

Aurora's Note:

I'm honestly not entirely sure where this came from. I like the rain, and although I do struggle with depression, I'm not feeling particularly gloomy at the moment, only tired. 

I was listening to Pink Floyd while writing about an event that takes place in a horrible dystopian future, and then I read the Wikipedia entry about Syd Barrett. I don't know if any of this has a thing to do with my morose poem. The words just came, and I just let them flow.

The dog is British, apparently, as is Pink Floyd, so there's the reason why the whimsical mutt appears with an incongruously depressing poem.