Carpe Diem Summer Challenge 2019 + Tuesday Platform: Coming Full Circle: Not Your Summer Tryst Under the Big Moon

Big Moon copyright Alicia Dunn

no summer love here

hope for a rainstorm to come

far from any beach

on a faraway seashore

as the children gather shells

couple making love

I want a garden

perhaps a small waterfall

spilling over stones

don't want a French kiss

I take tea with sunflower

won't lurk in shadow

~Cie~

Note:

I've never been keen for flings and I don't like being anyone's dirty little secret. Finding a summer love never appealed to me, and I've only been to the beach once in my life. I'd much rather spend my time on mundane activities such as gardening than engaging in an ill-advised mating dance which will only end in heartbreak for me. 

Frankly, in many ways, I'm quite content not to be young anymore. I only wish I had the strength and endurance of my youth. The impulsiveness, stupidity, and desperate lovesick puppy behavior is more than welcome to remain in the past.

Carpe Diem Summer Challenge: Red Sweat

Image by Isabella Quintana from Pixabay

A warning that today's prompt did not invoke in me the feeling it would in a person with a normal history when it comes to sex. I instead ended up having a physical flashback. I have not had good experiences in this area. My work addresses this, and thus I give you the opportunity to leave my work unread.

The late 1990s were extremely difficult. My mental illness would not be properly diagnosed until 2004 when I was closing in on 40 years old. Self-harm became a way of coping when I was in my early teens. When I tried to talk to anyone about what had happened to me, they only tried to push drugs on me in the case of medical "experts" and didn't listen when I told them that the drugs only made my situation worse. I have always had paradoxical responses to drugs such as benzodiazepines, and SSRI's make me manic and psychotic, although I didn't know that was what was happening at the time.

My family's response when I told them what had happened was to tell me that I got over it before and could get over it again. 

I had no support and in swooped another predator who saw his chance of getting something he wanted from a very vulnerable person. I have written horror stories from the time I was quite young, and one might think that I would compare this individual to a vampire. Incorrect. He was a ghoul.

My poem is not about impassioned lovers wrestling as one. It is about a discarded and misunderstood person wrestling with herself. It has taken me more than 20 years to finally begin to forgive her for being so broken and allowing predators to harm her repeatedly.

What happened last year

You capitalized upon

Red sweat on my arms

~Cie~

Carpe Diem Summer Love + The Tuesday Platform: Love is Love on aHot Summer Night

Image Source

Can you tell me why

It troubles you so badly

To see him love him

Perhaps you would do better

To concern you with yourself

~Cie~

Visit the Artist

Ghost Town Grover Sez: "I don't git bothered none with who's zoomin' who. Only thing is I ain't too keen on folks doin' them dang PDAs durin' poker night here at the ole Grover Hotel. I don't care if it's Adam an' Eve or Adam an' Steve or Annie an' Eve. If yer suckin' face is disturbin' my concentration so's I'm losin' every hand to Cactus Clem, I ain't gonna be none too pleased. Git a room, or go out to the swimmin' hole like them fellers in the picture!

Visit the Artist

Cactus Clem Sez: "I'm okay with folks givin' each other a kiss fer luck on poker night, 'cause I usually have a really lucky night when they do. 

Support the Grover Hotel Renovation Project! Visit the Good Stuff from Grover blog to follow the misadventures of Cactus Clem, Ghost Town Grover, the Ornery Old Lady, and their friends and family, plus get updates on the renovation proceedings.

You might also consider trying some of this Cactus Candy. Grover and the Ornery Old Lady recommend it, and Cactus Clem certifies that ain't no Cactus People was harmed in the making of this here candy.

Troiku Challenge 2019: Day 17: Breathing Silence

Image by Radoan Tanvir from Pixabay

alone on the beach

only the cries of seagulls -

breathing silence

alone on the beach

wondering what lies ahead

another sunrise

only the cries of seagulls

if I could understand them

what would they tell me?

breathing silence

trying to calm this feeling

that all is not well

~Chèvrefeuille & Cie~

Notes:

The "sleigh" of this Troiku was created by Chèvrefeuille. The Three Horses of the Apocalypse are my responsibility.

This poem is part of my Seacliffe Series, in reference to my WIP, The Legend of Seacliffe House. These poems focus on the thoughts of my protagonist, Randal Messana, as he finds himself in a strange new situation after rescuing his mother from the brutal Diamantina Lamb and fleeing the cursed Lambswood Manor. The story is primarily a homage to Edgar Allan Poe and it may or may not ever be published. Either way, I hope some of you enjoy the poetry inspired by the tale!

Tanka Splendor: Sea Shells

Image Copyright D Sisson

Seashells on the shore

I'd like to crawl inside them

Hide myself away

Safe inside where the hard world

Cannot hurt me anymore

~Cie~