NaPoWriMo 2017: Day 3: B is for Broken

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

You were brilliant

Your mind was the key to everything

You had no higher education

But you schooled anybody

Who tried to put you down

Your amazing mind

Was broken by something

That can't be seen by human eyes

But I believe that you

And others whose minds are broken

Will remember

Perhaps you are already flying free

Far from a mind that no longer works

 If so, maybe you can hear me say

"Thank you for your gift to the world."

You may have been small

But you were better and stronger than you knew

With respect,

Thalia

NaPoWriMo 2017: Day 2: Princess Trap

To trap a princess

And make her want to stay

Take a bath

So you smell pretty

A rank suitor

Will only drive away the lady fair

You don't want to scare

Your princess away with your smell

To trap a princess

Let yourself be the damsel in distress

So she can help you out of your mess

Then thank her kindly

With a cup of coffee

And some homemade cake

Or one bought from the baker

If you cannot bake 

If you wish to trap a princess

You can't be busy all the time

Always running to and from work

And on errand after errand

If there are never enough hours in the day

Your princess will stay away

She doesn't even know that you exist

Because you're never there

If you wish to trap a princess

You must go where the princesses are

Take it from a lady who knows

You won't find her in a bar

(Well, probably)

Perhaps you enjoy art or reading

Or theater, or learning to bake cakes

To trap princesses with

"You have to get out there, Auntie Thalia"

"You have to say hello and don't be shy"

"And if the first one doesn't like you"

"She wasn't the right princess for you"

"Give it another try."

"Because you're the most awesome Auntie"

"I know there's someone special out there"

"Who will love you just as much as I do--only romantic."

My niece is a very smart girl

And maybe if I follow her recipe

I'll have my princess come to me

Before this body of mine

Is too old to ride into the sunset

With the lady of my dreams

~Thalia~

 With many thanks to my niece Kia, who is 13 going on 35

 

NaPoWriMo 2017: Day 1: A is for Angel

Did angels

Fall to Earth

Long ago?

Left behind

Did their minds

Forget their divinity

Are there souls

Who try to remember

Lifetime after lifetime

What we once were

Is this why we suffer

Why we feel too much

And sometimes

Let others use

And abuse us

Will we one day remember

And spread our wings again

Or are we

Forever

Lost?

~Thalia~

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 24: A Crew of Creatures and a Slew of Seasons

Image Source

A Crew of Creatures and a Slew of Seasons

Here is the imaginary tale

Of a little snail

Who slid off to find the summer

Image Source

I share the adventure of a frog

Who lived down in the bog

He fell off a log and into autumn

Image Source: Michael Stirling at publicdomainpictures.net

Here is the drama of a lizard

Who got caught up in a blizzard

She went underground for winter

Image Source

Like a living fantasy

Butterflies fly free

In a land of eternal spring

~Thalia~

Note:

Today's prompt asked us to create a story poem. I've always been the creative type, and I love doing this sort of thing. 

Sadly, I was never able to make a career of it. Happily, my niece and nephew always loved their Auntie Thalia's stories and even her drawings of questionable ability. 

They're getting a little old for story time now (nephew is ten, niece just turned twelve five days ago) but they aren't quite too old to be too cool for a tale just yet--happily for me!

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 17: Dancing In The Web

Image copyright Olha Shtepa

OctPoWriMo 2015: 

Day 17: 

Dancing In The Web

Caught in the middle of your web of self-hate

Injecting yourself with venom each day

You used me as a bandage for your wounds

I wanted so much to be your savior

I tried to free you, but you put up your defenses

Caught in the middle of your web of self-hate

I tried to love you, in return you abused me

I only wanted to make you stop

Injecting yourself with venom each day

I wanted to be your only love

You fooled around with so many other girls

You used me as a bandage for your wounds

~Thalia~

Cascade, a form created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall. The poem does not have any rhyme scheme; therefore, the layout is simple. Say the first verse has three lines. Line one of verse one becomes the last line of verse two. To follow in suit, the second line of verse one becomes the last line of verse three. The third line of verse one now becomes the last line of verse four, the last stanza of the poem. See the structure example below:

a/b/c, d/e/A, f/g/B, h/i/C

Notes:

Is it pathetic that I'll be 50 years old on Halloween and my first girlfriend broke my heart so badly that I've never been able to have a relationship since? I suppose it might be. 

I don't want people feeling sorry for me or thinking my life has been wasted. It hasn't. I've had fun in spite of the inevitable visits from the Black Dog. I'm a bit of an introvert, but I do have friends. I'm happy being my niece and nephew's favorite Auntie Thalia. I've just always been afraid to try to get into a relationship again. 

I met my girlfriend when we were both fourteen, but we didn't get involved until two years later. It was all on the down-low, although I think people suspected. Being out wasn't even an option in those days, at least not where we lived. I dreamed of going somewhere like San Francisco where we would be accepted. 

She believed that she could somehow be "cured" if she just "lost her virginity." She fooled around with guys, and it didn't cure her. She blamed me for holding her back and fooled around with other girls to spite me. She called me all kinds of ugly names. She physically abused me. She flaunted other girls in my face. I believed if I just loved her enough, she'd come to love me in return and we could live happily ever after.

I broke up with her on my eighteenth birthday. I knew she could never love me back because she hated herself so much. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I cried every day for more than a year afterwards.

I didn't long for her to return to me. She did far too much damage for me to ever take her back. I stopped loving her a long time ago, but the legacy from our relationship is me being unable to open myself up to love again. 

She died nine years ago from an overdose of X. I don't believe she ever stopped hating herself.

Beliefs such as "homosexuality is a sin" and "we can cure homosexuality" are so destructive. If anyone takes anything away from my story, let it be this. People are people, love is love. Let's support each other rather than tear each other down. Life is hard enough.

I forgive you, Ingrid. I wish you had learned to accept yourself.

Peace,

Thalia

NaPoWriMo 2015: Day 19: One If By Landay

Craving Version 11

Photoshop Phoolery by The Real Cie

You can hide the truth with lying lips

But your dreams tell the secret of whom you long to kiss

~Thalia~

The Prompt:

for today’s prompt (optional, as always!), I’d like to challenge you to write a landay. Landays are 22-syllable couplets, generally rhyming. The form comes from Afghanistan, where women often use it in verses that range from the sly and humorous to the deeply sardonic and melancholy. The first line has nine syllables, the second has 13. 

Here is an article on Landays.

NaPoWriMo 2015: Day 18: Tom Thumb Shines Through

(Image Source)

A drunk Tom Thumb nearly missed the Spammy Pipers' gig

NaPoWriMo 2015: 

Day 18: 

Tom Thumb Shines Through

After drinking way too much of Cuzzin Hildy's fine Shine

Tom Thumb really had to recline

He missed the transport to Antares

Had to hitch a ride on a star beast

But made the show in the nick of time

~Thalia~

Prompt:

And now for our (as always, optional) prompt, which takes us from 2015 back to the 1700s. After all, it’s the eighteenth of April, which means that today is the 240th anniversary of the midnight ride of Paul Revere! Today, in keeping with the theme of rush and warning, I challenge you to write a poem that involves an urgent journey and an important message. It could historical, mythical, entirely fictional, or memoir-ical.

NaPoWriMo Day 9 + 10: An Abecedarian Calligram: Shadow of a Man

Shadow of a Man Version 6

Photoshop Manipulation by The Real Cie

 Shadow of a Man

             Amazing

                 Beautiful being

              Creature of love 

             Diamond in the rough

           Envisioning creating a better world

             Fanciness was foolishness in your eyes

           Gifted, talented, mind razor sharp

              Heart fragile as blown glass

               Ingenuous although leery

             Just a simple person

             Kind and gentle

             Little lost boy

             Mystery to himself

             Never really at peace

               Only the music made sense

             Pain drove him to erroneous choices

             Quietly he slipped away to recover

                Real and true and better than he knew

                   Such a gallant soul deserves far better

                  Than to die feeling abandoned and alone

                   Unquiet ghost haunting empty house

                  Valiant nonetheless unto the end

                  Wishes don't come true

                    Xanatos waits until

                    Your time reaches

                 Zero at last

                                       ~Cie~                     

                   

Notes:

The shape is an hourglass or an urn or something. I started out with idea of making a butterfly but gave up in frustration. Someone less dyslexic than I am might succeed.

To my wonderful writing sister Thalia for coming to my defense recently:

Not Your Stereotype

I don't have penis envy

I'm not into girls because I can't find a guy

I don't need or want a man to fuck me straight

I am not an abomination

It won't turn your daughter gay to be my friend

I don't kiss women to turn guys on

I'm not hot for every woman I see

I'm not leering at you in the locker room

I don't have sex with every woman who asks

I don't hate men

I have male friends, cousins, a father whom I love

I don't like men who objectify me because I like women

I'm a person, just like you

I'm a sister, a daughter, an aunt

I'm me, Thalia

I like music, and I like to write

I like to bake, and I like to hang out with my niece and nephew

I like watching movies and being a friend

I'd like to find a lady who's kind of easygoing

A friend who turns into a lover

Someone I can talk with late into the night

I'm looking for the same thing as many of you

I'm looking for someone to share my life with

Someone I can take care of, and who will take care of me

I'm kind of a romantic, waiting for my princess to sweep me off my feet

Will she be a cowgirl or a businesswoman or more the artistic type

I just hope she doesn't wait too long to find me

I hope that those of you who took the time to read this can see

I'm not a stereotype

There to be objectified or demonized

I'm a lesbian

But I'm a person first

My name is Thalia

Don't stereotype me

~Thalia~

Unofficial NaPoWriMo 2015

We are unofficially participating in NaPoWriMo this year. Our fearless leader, The Real Cie, doesn't feel quite up to the kind of participation levels with going official, and that's okay.

Our poems will be dedicated to the man whose picture you see above. I've got no shame in my game when it comes to declaring that I think he is someone who is deserving of being remembered. Shame on anyone who has made Cie feel embarrassed about expressing her feelings of love/devotion for him. This world is full of people who aren't happy until they've pissed on someone's heart. That's a true shame.

Cie made the manip featured above. I say it's beautiful and true, just like the subject of the work! Simply fabulous!

Here's a kickoff poem using a variation on the NaPoWriMo Extra Prompt.

I guess it's too late for me to meet you in this life

To shake your hand

To give you a hug

And a big thanks

For the gifts you gave to me

And to the world

But when I get to the other side

Know that you've got a friend who will have your back

If you want her to

Because I think you're always simply fresh

And forever all kinds of cool

Perhaps not the best poem ever written, but I mean it with all my heart. He was more than just a guitar player. He was a very special person. He deserves to be remembered.

Love,

Thalia

Spirit of Love

May the loveless ones

Be kissed by the breath of wind

And know acceptance

~Thalia~

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.

30 Days of Haiga 2014: Day 28

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Original Image:

Copyright: artisticco / 123RF Stock Photo

Verse:

Thalia Graves

Photoshop Manipulation:

Cie Cheesemeister

30 Days of Haiga 2014: Day 27

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Original Image:

Copyright: ryanking999 / 123RF Stock Photo

Verse:

Thalia Graves

Photoshop Manipulation:

Cie Cheesemeister

30 Days of Haiga 2014: Day 20

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Original Photo:

Copyright: matka_W / 123RF Stock Photo

Verse:

Thalia Graves

Photoshop Manipulation:

Cie Cheesemeister

30 Days of Haiga 2014: Day 19

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Original Photo:

Copyright: aticch11 / 123RF Stock Photo

Verse:

Thalia Graves

Photoshop Manipulation:

Cie Cheesemeister

30 Days of Haiga 2014: Day 7

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Original Photo:

Copyright: yarruta / 123RF Stock Photo

Verse:

Thalia Graves

Photoshop Manipulation:

Cie Cheesemeister

Thalia and Cheesy hope that no-one will brand this girl using the awful label "tomboy." Girls can be active and adventurous, imagining themselves swashbuckling pirates or brave heroines. Boys can be quiet and bookish. Some people are both--like the crew members of Ye Goode Shippe Netherworld!