Spectrum

Image Source

 

 

Spectrum

 

In poetry I am able

To cryptically reveal the splendor

That hides beneath my secular skin

 

At first gaze I seem a plain person

With no higher ambition

Than to harvest what meager fruits I can

 

When I'm old and my back is bent

From toiling at physically difficult jobs

And the death rattle takes my last breath

 

When what little family I have is gathering

And the breeze builds and blows away

The scattered ashes of my body

 

These words will remain

For those who like puzzles

To try and decipher

 

The truth about a plain person

Who was more than she appeared to be

 

~Cie~

 

 



Paradise

This realm paradise

Is that place where you can dream

And at last find peace

~Helena~

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Never Forget

Let us never forget the inspiration behind so much of our recent work. 

Click to enlarge the image

Photoshop manip by Cie

Original Eye in the Sky image:

Copyright: zadvinskiy / 123RF Stock Photo

This wasn't long ago, but it was prior to the massive cerebral degeneration that leaves him unable to remember anything about his life. Even at that juncture, the eyes that were once bright and alert were now bewildered and frightened. It breaks our hearts.

He and others like him are worth remembering, even though they can't remember.

If caring is uncool, then we're proud to be uncool.

We won't ever forget.

Forget any of the supernatural horrors that we create. Those are small potatoes. Even they run crying for their mommy in the face of real-life abominations such as this.

Lewy Body Dementia is an evil force which steals the light from beautiful, bright eyes. It is a sociopathic murderer which kills dreams and memories. It is a thief that strikes in the night, leaving a sharp mind broken in shards like a fragile artifact smashed on a stone floor. It is pure malevolence. It must be stopped so no more lives are destroyed this way.

Tempest

for

Team Netherworld

Exposing the Lies

Image Source

Exposing the Lies

He was always there to mock me, to remind me that no man could ever think a woman like me was pretty. He was always there to convince me to go on another diet that wouldn’t work, all in the name of catching a man like him; a perfect specimen, ice cold and sadistic, but beautiful. His face was tantalizing but his assertions were foul.

He delighted in gutting me whenever I started feeling better about myself. One day, to his surprise, self-respect surged through my battered soul.

Image Source

I snatched the mask from his face.

“You! It was you all along!”

It was then that I saw his true ugliness, and learned another truth as well.

Having an external appearance that most people find pleasing does not make a person beautiful. Some very ugly people have pretty outsides, and some people who look quite plain are actually beautiful within.

Anyone who gleans pleasure from making another person feel badly about themselves is not a person to look up to. Anyone who ridicules another for their size, their age, or the color of their skin is the epitome of ugliness.

At no time again

Will I allow shallowness

To define my worth

~Tempest Nightingale LeTrope~

Prompts Used:

Haibun Thinking

Jeremy's Daily Challenge

The Reverie

Tempest's Thoughts:

The writers for Team Netherworld tend to be drawn to people and characters who aren't conventionally attractive. They either do not align with societal standards of beauty, or they have other traits which make them "unattractive" under conventional scrutiny, i.e. being mentally ill or not heterosexual.

I want to share pictures of a few of the people we've featured on this blog and the reasons why they would not be considered attractive by conventional standards of beauty.

Amy Winehouse

Tattoos

Brash clothing choices

Not conventionally delicate/feminine

Ville Valo

Tattoos

Sometimes wears makeup 

Sinewy physique

Copyright: vschlichting / 123RF Stock Photo

Middle-aged

Heavy build

Modest attire

Malcolm Young

Middle-aged

Short (5' 4")

Extremely slender physique (~110 pounds)

Freddie Mercury

Non-Caucasian (Parsi)

Flamboyant

Bisexual

Here's a twofer!

Stan Laurel:

Middle-aged

Extremely slender

Prominent nose

Oliver Hardy:

Heavy build

Middle-aged

Plump face

If any of these people showed up for a photo shoot at a fashion magazine, they'd be sent away with derisive commentary. They would likely be mocked by gossip rags for lacking a certain type of highly improbable beauty.

In fact, I find all of them aesthetically pleasing. I like imperfect people. I would rather look at people like these all day long than any number of so-called perfect people.

The truth is, the perfect people really aren't that perfect either.

I've always appreciated Britney Spears' willingness to have people see the unretouched photos from her Candies shoes ad. She wanted girls to see what her body really looks like without her torso and legs being elongated and slenderized. She has sturdy, muscular dancers' legs. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with her real build.

Britney, the real you is beautiful!

And all of you are beautiful too.

Love, 

Tempest

The Flower of my Love

The Flower of my Love

Your halo sits crooked, my bijou

And although I have promised to keep my effable feelings to a minimum

If you listen you can hear the truth in the susurrus

Whispering from deep within the chasm of my heart

I fall in a helical pattern

I cared too much about the copper

In the two cents thrown at me by those

Who do not understand how deep the root of my devotion goes

For some the flower of their love is a rose

Pretty and smelling like summer

The flower of my love is a black orchid

I want you to etch your name upon my heart

I don't care how much it hurts

~Cie~

Prompt:

Mindlovemisery's Menagerie

The Gap

Filipino street children

 

The Gap

 

What for you amounts to a few miserable moments

Driving past forgotten and neglected children on the streets

Amounts to their everyday life

 

While you attend the recital and watch your healthy daughter turn pirouettes

Another parent struggles to remain resolute

To somehow put food on the table

 

Spills and stains are quickly washed from your clothing

Or you make the decision to replace the item

When the stain has set in too deeply

 

The poor person continues wearing the stained item

You laugh at them

Calling them a disgusting slob

 

On a cloudy day, you drive your beautiful, warm car through the rain

The tires splash the forgotten and neglected children

Who flutter past your window as you roll home

 

~Cie~

 

Spirit of Love

May the loveless ones

Be kissed by the breath of wind

And know acceptance

~Thalia~