Soul Ink is Here #8Sunday #SnipSun

 

Genre: Poetry

Heat Level: Poetic

ASIN: ‎ B0C481638W 

   

Publisher: ‎ Dragon Soul Press; 1st edition (June 23, 2023)

Publication date: ‎ June 23, 2023

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/3CL4fs5

Price

$1.99 ebook

$19.99 paperback

Blurb

Poetry; a unique and beautiful way to express feelings and ideas. Weaving words into perfect poetic prose, these authors remind you of your childhood, bring comfort from the hardships of life, fiercely spur emotions, and tell tales of old. All lovers of poetry will find a favorite here!

Featuring poetry by the following authors: John Grey, Kellee Kranendonk, J.E. Feldman, Debbie Hadow, Nina Padolf, Dibyasree Nandy, Brianna Witte, Nnadi Samuel, Rhiannon Bird, Sunayna Pal, Christopher R. Muscato, Vanessa Bane, Edward Cody Huddleston, Prathyush Devadas, Ed Ahern, and Cara Hartley.

Selection

Dreams of Disaster

What do dreams of disaster mean?

Can chaotic nightmares compare

To a true emergency scene?

What do dreams of disaster mean?

What knowledge can we from them glean

When studying them if we dare?

What do dreams of disaster mean?

Can chaotic nightmares compare?

Notes

This poem was included in the recently published Soul Ink anthology along with twenty-four more of my poems and works by other poets. The ebook is only $1.99, which is a lot of poetry for a little money!

I have recurring nightmares about disasters. Tornadoes top the list, but nuclear strikes are far from unheard of, and volcanoes sometimes show up at the party. Floods are, surprisingly, less frequent. I've written about my experiences with my car being hit by a wave of water during a flood. Perhaps I've repressed that memory, or at least the feelings that go along with it, because I don't enjoy having panic attacks.

https://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-hard-rain-in-boulder-colorado-wep.html

I imagine I had one of my tornado dreams before writing this poem.

Another greatest hit involves driving down a steep road with soft brakes. 

Also topping the charts is driving into the mountains and coming to a chasm, which I proceed to somehow carry my car across. While this dream might sound triumphant, it is actually extremely nerve-wracking. 

Another banger involves finding myself parked beneath an underpass in a seedy part of town. 

Yet another all-time favorite involves being in an underground spa and trying to find a vacant stall in the locker/shower room with a door or curtain so I can have some privacy while doing the necessary. Most of the stalls don't have doors. There are usually only women in this area, but sometimes there are men as well because why not up the discomfort ante, I guess.

Bathroom dreams have only one true meaning:

The sleeping person needs to do their business.

I get that part, but why does my subconscious always create a poorly lit spa/changing room setting with pipes running everywhere? 

In any case, I am sharing this with multiple blog hops. I'm currently working to finish a story that has been giving me fits so I can submit it to Dragon Soul Press for potential inclusion in their Beautiful Darkness 2 anthology.

https://dragonsoulpress.com/shortstorycalls/

My PTSD has also been really extra this month. I've finally found someone I think I can work with on the many years of awfulness that I've shoved down into the recesses of my mind. For some reason, my recent dentist's appointment brought a whole bunch of crap to the surface. I need to go back in four days and try again because I wasn't able to go through with the procedure. So, I'm kind of a wreck and need to do what's easiest. I hope you can understand.

~Ornery Owl Has Waxed Poetic and Flashed Back~

Image by Ulrich B. from Pixabay

Hop On!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/401643826588474

http://wewriwa.blogspot.com/

Would you like to know what I was listening to while I wrote this? Of course you would! Only the best Krautrock will do, Baby!

https://odysee.com/@TerminalPassage:c/richard-wahnfried-%E2%80%93-tonwelle-%281981%29:5?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 22: Leaving the Casino

 

Image by Peter Lomas from Pixabay

I quit my job at the casino

22 years ago

at first, it all seemed so enchanting

but beneath the veneer of glamour

the cracks quickly began to show

people losing two hundred dollars to chase twenty

their paychecks floating away

after that elusive jackpot

always on the horizon

was just one reason I couldn't stay

gambling wasn't much of a draw for me

but I was still looking for "the one"

I had propositions aplenty

for love that's rotten to the core

of these I wanted none

I hung my hopes, like always

on the absolute wrong kind of guy

believing a man's public face

is who he really is inside

is a spectacularly useless skill of mine

don't go looking for something outside you

to heal the trauma within

there are plenty of parasites in the world

hoping to make a meal out of you

after they get under your skin

I ran from my mistakes once more

just like I always do

I wasn't cut out to be a gambler

'cause chasing love or money

just leaves me simmering in my own stew

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Tanja from Pixabay

Ornery Owl Says: 

Never believe you can find happiness under a veneer of bright lights and glitter. In the light of day when the dust has settled, the cracks will always show.

notes and prompts used

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-22

Prompt: Write a love or anti-love poem

If you know me at all, you know which direction I'm gonna go with this.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/19/october-31-2/

Prompt:

balancing across the bridge of your nose for a moment, there is a $20 bill [or your currency’s equivalent of a useful but not exciting amount of money].

The ball is now in play.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/21/day-21/

Prompt:

You have been given an ability, one you can depend on utterly. 

My ability is picking men who are going to hurt me.

It is a very bad and stupid ability.

I refuse to use it ever again.

today's playlist

I listened to this one yesterday too

You might say it's tried and true

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/deus-ex-human-revolution-detroit-20:1?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

This one's really cool and eerie

It will clear your mind when you're feeling weary

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/deus-ex-human-revolution-detroit-17:7?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

November PAD Challenge 2022: Day 15: Dawn Thoughts

Dawn Thoughts 2

See notes for image information

I once despised dawn

today I am glad of it

opportunity

new thoughts I can imagine

old pain I can put to rest

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay

notes and prompts

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-13

Told ya I was gonna keep on truckin' with the ekphrastic poems! Find the info below.

I created the header image by layering two photos and using special effects from Pixlr.com

Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1938.6

Ancestral Commemorative Head (uhunmwun-elao)

possibly mid-1500s or early 1600s

Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-15

Write a thoughtful or thoughtless poem. I think today's Tanka is pretty thoughtful.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/08/day-8/

Write in praise.

https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2022/11/15/day-15/

Write an aubade. An aubade is a poem about dawn. It has no specific rhyme or rhythm scheme. 

Today's aubade praises the dawn, something I never thought I'd do again in this lifetime.

"Well, who hates the dawn, Ornery, you crusty old owl-crab? What kind of misanthropic curmudgeon doesn't love to see the sun come up on a new day?"

One who knows they probably have yet another day of bullying and abuse to look forward to.

One who will go to a job they hate. 

One who is grieving.

One who is traumatized.

Someone whose first waking thoughts are abusive rhetoric that has been drilled into their psyche. It has only been during this past year that my first thoughts on waking haven't been something along the lines of "you fat, disgusting pig, nobody could possibly love anything that looks like you. Eww, you're so gross! Why don't you just stop eating, Fatty?"

I didn't stop having these thoughts because I lost a semi truckload worth of weight and now I have a "revenge body." What a wretched concept. I'll likely always be fat unless my zombie thyroid suddenly revives and revs up my metabolism to transwarp 666 gazillion parsecs per nanosecond, turning me from a portly and perpetually pissed-off prairie witch to a svelte Borg siren existing for the sole purpose of serving man.

In other words, not gonna happen.

Nope, I finally realized how horrible and shitty diet culture really is and concluded that anyone hell-bent on judging a person based on their physical appearance rather than their personality is someone whose opinion matters no more to me than a gnat's fart in a category 15 hurricane. In other words, less than not at all. 

This realization was even more freeing than the day I decided I was tired of being blonde and stopped bleaching my hair to hide the gray.  I started going gray at 27. I have thick, somewhat coarse hair that tends to be resistant to coloring, so I started bleaching it. My hair became very dry and brittle, having the approximate texture of straw, and it was falling out. I decided I no longer gave any fucks about people thinking I'm (gasp) old, and I dropped the bleach habit.

I used henna to color my hair for a while, not because I cared about hiding the gray but because I found it fun to dye my hair different wild shades of blonde, brown, black, or red. Unfortunately, I developed an allergy to henna, which caused big flakes and scabs to form on my scalp. I now use silver brightening shampoo and a color-depositing conditioner to enhance the silver tones. I'm pleased with how shiny and soft my hair is since I started this routine.

I really don't care if anyone thinks someone else's physical appearance is unattractive or "unhealthy." Let's face it, the "for your health" screed really isn't about health. It's code for "but fat people are ugly and you have such a pretty face and if you'd just lose (insert arbitrary amount of weight here) you'd be fuckable." People are going to think what they're going to think. The more enlightened among us check our prejudices and call ourselves out on our bullshit. 

People's bodies are nobody's business but their own. If you feel the urge to insult someone's appearance, whether simply to be hurtful or because you believe you're being "helpful," I suggest taking ten steps in the other direction and going in search of your beeswax elsewhere. Other people's bodies are none of your beeswax.  

Nobody deserves the dawn thoughts I woke up to for decades. Don't be the person who awakens such thoughts in someone else.

Here is some gorgeous background music from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Here is the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mirror%27s-edge-catalyst-rezoning-combat-3:b?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

But wait, there's more!

Once again, here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mirror%27s-edge-catalyst-rezoning-combat-2:6?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

Building this post is taking a while. Here's some more background music from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/mirror%27s-edge-catalyst-rezoning-gridnode:8?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

30 Days of Haiga 2022: The House of Dark Dreams

 

Original image

Murmuration by Lee Madgwick

Used with permission of the artist

text

my favorite tales

born in the house of dark dreams

conceived in shadow

notes

I'm grateful for today's prompt from D'Verse Poets, which provided me with the amazing artwork used to create the Haiga.

https://dversepoets.com/2022/09/13/the-strange-houses-of-lee-madgwick/

I'm okay with you using the Haiga if you wish, but you will have to credit both me (Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl) for the digital manipulation, text art, and poem and the original image creator Lee Madgwick. For me, a link back to this blog is acceptable. Here is a link to Mr. Madgwick's website. https://leemadgwick.co.uk/

I used Pixlr.com to create the text art and the decaying effects used on the image.

I've got a few thoughts, but nobody is beholden to stick around for them.

This day started badly. One reason it's hard for people with psychological issues to maintain relationships is that prospective partners think they can fix us, but when depression or anxiety flares up (or never completely leaves) said partner becomes put out that they have not, in fact, fixed us. The trauma that led to my multiple nervous breakdowns occurred 25, 30, 40, or even 50 years ago. I should be over it, especially if I received the wondrous healing love that we're all taught to expect will totally happen if we're worthy of it, right?

I don't have a partner and I won't again. I no longer see this as a failing on my part or see myself as a failure because I just don't do romance right. I am just learning at nearly 60 years old to respect and care for myself. That it is necessary to be coupled to be a complete human being is an erroneous idea that does many people a great disservice. Some of us truly are better off without it.

I also found myself yet again explaining to some know-it-all who totally understands how metabolic health and issues like poverty, stress, and food insecurity work (bask in the sarcasm, I've slathered it on with a trowel) that a "war on Teh Obeesiteee" in which individuals are shamed for their physique and assumed to be constantly shoveling "bad food" into their gobs and never lifting a finger to do anything but play video games is not only ineffective but harmful.

After that, I was just tired and discouraged. Sometimes I tire of explaining reality to dimwits, especially dimwits who want to keep on feeling morally superior for their simple-minded stance on complex issues. I also caught (probably) a cold last week. So I took a nap.

I still felt bad about myself when I woke up from my nap, but as I worked on today's Haiga challenge, I started feeling better. Then I was able to remember something I already know.

Fat is not the worst thing a person can be.

However, being a sanctimonious jerk who shames other people's bodies is bone-headed and boorish.

I'd rather be fat than a boorish bonehead.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Ornery Owl

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

Hangin' with Hangry Wyrm

If you're Hangry--eat!

Free use image from Pixabay