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PoeticMC
Author, Poet, Blogger, Authorpreneur, Playwright, Writer of: NonFiction, Fiction, ChickLit, Erotica, Fantasy, Thriller, Horror, & Kids Books
90 Posts • 165 Followers • 206 Following
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Challenge
M.L.K. Anthology Entry Requests
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT if you are willing to have your work published as a part of an Anthology with the theme of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream, on Amazon in print and e-book forms. A mini bio with links and website welcome. 3 entries max, with word count 1,000 or less. Deadline: MLK Holiday: Monday 1-18-2021. A copyright form is required stating that you own and retain the copyright to your work but give me permission to publish, which I will send to you to sign if you concur, via e-mail when you hit me up at: maryannesbookshelf@yahoo.com, with mini bio. This is a good opportunity if you want to add to your curriculum vitae or portfolio, put yourself out there with other creatives and further progress MLK's movement. Your choice overall. I will keep all who submit to publication updated on publication date and Amazon links, and send pdf of final book via email. More details on themes and requirements below: https://poeticmc.medium.com/attention-all-poets-artists-writers-62ec3496af99 http://maryannesbookshelf.com/2020/12/22/anthology-in-celebration-of-martin-luther-king-jr-s-dream/
Cover image for post Beautiful Dreamer, by PoeticMC
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PoeticMC
• 39 reads

Beautiful Dreamer

Beautiful Dreamer

If I could but have your eyes to see the rainbow

Lead to a pot of gold

No limericks sold

With shamrock or sham

From tricky treacherous leprechauns

With want to fill their hands

Beautiful Dreamer

If I could but have your ears

To hear the music of the world

From hilltop to mountain side

Sing your magnificent hymns

Of freedom

Of equality

Of faith

Of justice

Oh Beautiful dreamer

If I could but have your voice

To create remembrance

To create a choice

To create of sound mind

In each person amongst us

Regardless of creed and credo

Humanities’ soul

Not the wretched one

That seeks self-fulfilling prophecy

With me-isms in this me-centric world

Beyond the point they can see no one else

In the mirror

When they look at themselves

Oh Beautiful Dreamer

If I could but have your hands

To hold onto the brevity of man

Who doesn’t realize

That all in his likeness

Regardless of spiritual belief,

Regardless of attraction,

Regardless of culture,

Regardless of flesh,

That all blood is red,

Do we not labor with the same struggles?

Do we not rejoice in the same exhilarating joys?

Is our experience

-The human experience

Not the same?

Do we not have the same reactions?

Must we all be defined by the insane state of mind

That confines us to a particular equation that doesn’t equal up to

The majority point of view?

Since when am I defined by a people

When my experiences grant me an alternative point of view

You don’t know me

I don’t know you

Oh Beautiful, beautiful dreamer

Please give me your heart

So I can start to feel

Whatever warped, dreamlike state

You were submerged in

Because I’ve been high

And haven’t attained the highest high

To believe

Your Oh so Beautiful Dream

Oh Most Beautiful Dreamer

Please give me your soul

So I can begin to unfurl even my belief in you

Because to me

You were a brief truth

Who showed a point-of-view

The world will never be ready for

Never accept

Always circumvent

Because sometimes Dreams are so Beautiful

They evade us

Like a mirage in the desert

Just too good to be true I suppose

That’s what dreams consist of

No more than a thought

An image, an idea

And quite frankly

I’d have to say my imagination is more real

Than the Beautiful Dream

Oh so Beautiful Dreamer

You deceptively conned our minds with

So long ago

But I don’t and won’t hold it against you

Sometimes, it’s best to sleep

And awake from Dreams so Beautiful

And remember

As a temporary distraction

To the nightmares of our realities…

But I know for one, I’m free at last…

“…If America is to be a great nation, this must become true.” ~MLK, Jr.

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Challenge
Christmas Horror Thingy. Santa dies.
Cover image for post Santa Dies Haiku, by PoeticMC
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PoeticMC
• 42 reads

Santa Dies Haiku

Caught on the rooftop

And held at gun point sadly

Claus acted badly

Break in through chimney

Claiming delivery -ha

Not in this era…

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Challenge
Extraterrestrial spy falls in love with a human.
Cover image for post Extraterrestrial spy falls in love with a human., by PoeticMC
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PoeticMC in Romance & Erotica
• 86 reads

Extraterrestrial spy falls in love with a human.

“Extraterrestrial spy falls in love with a human. –Interesting headline. Is that why you bought the tabloid?”

“Of course.”

“You and your love of romance is something else Doris.”

“Really honey, is it so hard to believe in?”

“Why yes! Of course. I doubt an alien or extraterrestrial would even be capable of love. That’s something preserved for the human race!”

“Really Harry? And why would you say that?”

“Because love is the reason why humanity is so fucked up in the first place. I’m sure any evolved external species from outer space would be more advanced than to experience love. You know how many times love has skewed the perceptions of people, how many murders have taken place in the name of love, how many crimes, how many hate mongrels have desecrated the concept of love?"

“Oh Harry, come on… love isn’t all bad… love has saved lives and kept the world turning in so many facets. I like to think there’s more good than evil in the world…”

“Well you can hold onto that lie if you want to Doris, but love is the reason there is evil. For those lacking, for those who do not have love reciprocated, -they become the veil of evil… It’s love all the same. The concept is simple. It generates both good and evil, I’ll give you that, but any advanced life form would not embrace or display such a concept or emotion because love is biased. An advanced species could only remain fair and neutral and logical and intelligent by not having any emotion whatsoever!”

“Humph!”

“Another reason no alien would fall in love with a human, is not only because they lack emotion and the capacity to love, but to such an advanced creature, especially given our existence and how we have wreaked havoc on the Earth, our very planet and home, -any respectable alien would view us as beneath them. We are parasites to our planet, we’ve even brought imbalance and extinction to the animals that helped the Earth maintain its balance.”

“Very well then Harry, you’ve made your point!”

“Have I? I mean, what’s so appealing about aliens anyway? Would you want to fall in love with one –some skinny green big eyed freaky being?”

Doris shrugged her shoulders in reply.

“Well they say relationships are a mirror, -if we’re repulsed by them, I’m sure they’d be repulsed by us.”

“Fine. Maybe there’s nothing to love about humans!”

“Well Doris, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings by telling the truth, but I will say this, -I can certainly understand if an alien fell in love with you, I mean after all, you are the love of my life!”

“Awww Harry, you are the love of my life too honey!”

Harry gets up to kiss his wife Doris, just then the doorbell rings. “I’ll get it honey,” he says as he walks to the door to answer it in the next room, out of view.

It’s his friend Zeecomorph6000. “Are you coming out tonight or what,” he asks. “Yeah, just a minute,” Harry replies.

“Doris honey, it’s our neighbor Bart. He needs help moving his tractor out of the ditch. I’ll be back in an hour or so,” Harry calls out.

“Okay honey, you be careful, see you soon,” Doris yells back.

Harry unzips his human outfit and removes his facial mask, the alien spy that he is, and joins his friend.

“You really take this spy business seriously with that one -huh,” Zeecomorph6000 asks?

“It’s complicated,” Harry, (a.k.a. Zeecomorph6033) replies.

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Challenge
Behind tears
Describe when an emotion- any emotion- has made you cry/ want to cry: happiness, sadness, fear, boredom...
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PoeticMC
• 86 reads

Behind tears

The fact that you didn’t want to live anymore

-Couldn’t find the joy in life

Didn’t make me want to cry…

Living without you did

Can you understand all the reasons why?

Twirling you in circles through the air while your laughter strangled the both of us into adoration

Tickling you to get you to smile for the picture in which we both wore red

I still have it framed to this day

Laughing as you sang to the Ting Tings:

“Shut up and Let me go!” buckled in the backseat on the way to pre-school.

Your fear of snails always cracked me up

And made me your protector always

(It’s a fact I’ve eaten escargot, no snail would ever harm you my darling daughter,

As long as I exist in your world)

Even all the crazy moments

no matter how crass

seemed like a dream

because you were in those moments

alive and thriving with me

just you and me against the world

my best friend and legacy

I’d always want you to be

Here even when I have gone

So there is something left of me

Because the best of me is in you

You are the very drum my heart beats to

There is no other rhythm to carry my song

And you are as strong as you are resilient.

To this life

To this world

You belong

Planted by the hands of God

To behold

I still see you blowing the dandelion wisher

At the age of three

So mesmerized by its complexity

I saw all the wonder and delight in your eyes

Life is still unfurling in your eyes

And there is still more magic to experience in this life

You are my lifeline

I pray you flourish

I pray you shine

But most of all I pray you always know

How much I truly love you and

How proud of you I am!

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Challenge
Write a haiku about your least favourite season and why:
Cover image for post SUMMER HATE, by PoeticMC
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PoeticMC in Haiku
• 28 reads

SUMMER HATE

The flamed searing heat,

Abundance of nakedness...

Damn! Gotta' lose weight!

Check Out My Website: www.maryannesbookshelf.com

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Challenge
“Quotes”
We all have those lines and words that stick with us long after we first read them. Always? Always. Share them, quoting your favourite author, book, work of prose, or literally any quote. Credit who said it originally (could be you) and tell me why the quote is so important to you. Don’t forget to tag me please!
Cover image for post Velveteen Love, by PoeticMC
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PoeticMC
• 34 reads

Velveteen Love

“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit

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Challenge
Cultural Appropriation: can a white writer ever create minority characters?
When is it okay for a white writer to create a black character? For instance, I'm white, but writing an urban fantasy featuring a bi-racial (black mother, absent white father) jazz musician who's down-on-his-luck... because he's a heroin addict like many jazz musicians. It's set in 1978, and (like me back in the late 70s/ early 80s) he's a huge P-Funk fan so he slips P-Funk-isms into his thoughts, like calling the antagonist, a white drug dealer he owes money to, as "Sir Nose d'Voidofunk." My question is, would folks see that as cultural appropriation? I'm interested because I'm a huge social justice progressive and yet often feel stymied by political correctness. My intent is to embrace Jimmy (who I really, really like despite his flaws). In fact, of all the characters in my urban fantasy world, Jimmy's the one most like myself (though I've never tried heroin and am a middling jazz guitarist at best). Thanks in advance. PS. Everyone wins. But in payment, I'll read your most recent work and comment. Please tag me in your comments.
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PoeticMC in Fiction
• 61 reads

Can a black writer ever create a white character?

The bigger question is: what is the significance of the character's skin color in and to the story?

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Challenge
Guess Boo!
Here’s a fun idea! This is a guessing game of sorts. What you have to do is think of a topic that is often associated with horror, and then write out three lines, six words each, that describes what you are so everyone can guess in the comments. The topic can be a scary movie (Jaws, The Exorcist, Aliens), a scary TV show (American Horror Story, Walking Dead, Goosebumps), a scary game (Dead Space, Ouija), or a scary book (Dracula, Frankenstein). Or the topic can be some sort of monster, masked killer, or whatever that is associated with horror. Or it can be real people that are often associated with the horror genre like writers Stephen King and Mary Shelley. I'll start off with an example so you all can follow. Winner will be selected by the one that stumps the most people.
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PoeticMC in Six Word Story
• 52 reads

Dream Much?

Son of a nun sadly -raped

Burned in the fire of nightmares

He wears an awesome striped sweater

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Challenge
Malaphors
Smash two idioms or cliches together to get something new (Famous example: "We'll burn that bridge when we get there.") May be funny, thought-provoking, odd...
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PoeticMC
• 56 reads

So much for goals...

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Man plans, God laughs.

(Here's wishing God will plan my goal while I'm laughing.)

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Challenge
Before and after.
I've noticed on Prose, many writers have a talent for cramming a big story into a short story. We know that something has happened before. We know that something will happen after this event. That's my challenge. Write a scene so we can wonder what happened before and what is coming next. Min 15 words... to infinity.
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PoeticMC
• 42 reads

Chapter 183: Need I Say More (From the Relica Enchanted series) (c) 2019

Vladperialess summoned the witch Broom Hilda and the vampire Kazimir to King Halfingfalfidor’s study for further and I dare say, final, examination, since the interrogation did not work out.

Broom Hilda and Kazimir were seated across from each other as Vladperialess, Myrmidion and King Halfingfalfidor bore witness to the hypnosis.

Broom Hilda wore two wooden crosses around her neck, One inverted and the other up right. She pulled a vial of potion from her gown, “I need him to drink it,” she stated as Vladperialess came over, and tilted his head back, since Kazimir was in chains. She uncapped the vial and poured the potion down his gullet, and as Vladperialess held his head all the way back, he had no other recourse but to swallow, or choke…

“May I ask what that was?” Myrmidion questioned.

“It was pig’s blood with a dash of sunlight infused water, crushed garlic and a couple of other secret ingredients,” Broom Hilda replied.

“Do tell, I’m just dying to know,” stated Myrmidion again.

“Well if you must know sire, I used several herbs: aspen, oak, ash, maple, dog rose, wild rose, holly, juniper, millet, linden, mayflower, roses, lemon, rowan, and wolfsbane.”

“You witches and your concoctions! Might I ask what that elixir will do to him?” Myrmidion asked on.

“Are you sure you just rather not see sire?”

“I’ll be uneasy and anxious if I have to wait to find out,” Myrmidion retorted, as King Halfingfalfidor sighed and rolled his eyes, just wanting to get on with the show.

“It will basically weaken him, so he’s easier to hypnotize,” Broom Hilda replied.

“And the crosses you wear, -whatever purpose do those serve?” Myrmidion questioned.

“My God brother! Can you let her simply hypnotize the vampire already!?!” King Halfingfalfidor snarled.

“I don’t mind answering King, it’s basically for my protection. I wear two as some vampires are religious and others, -not so much. As long as there is a heaven and a hell, God or the Devil will have someone’s full attention,” Broom Hilda replied.

Broom Hilda then began to hypnotize Kazimir, as the potion made him so sick and lethargic he could hardly resist the witch telling him he was getting sleepy, and to shut his eyes, -to which he did. And upon her telling him to open his eyes and answer the questions he was going to be asked honestly, he did just that…

“Okay King, he is all yours! You can ask away. He is as lucid as a pubescent boy in a wet dream,” Broom Hilda stated, and as she said it, or suggested it, sure enough Kazimir had an erection.

“My God,” stated Myrmidion as he watched the bulge in Kazimir’s pants rise to the heavens. “I had no idea vampires were that well-endowed. I finally understand their seductive powers!”

“Enough Myrmidion!” stated King Halfingfalfidor, “Vampire, how is it you escaped?”

“I, the ghouls and the centaurion Queen formulated a plan. I for weeks at a time carefully loosened the collar around my neck until I could get it off. I transformed into a snake, slithered into the cage of the centaurion queen to drink her blood to garner strength. I then transformed her into a vamptaur, and transformed into a rat to find an exit, which I did, when I discovered in the bowels of the dungeon, a room full of zombies. I pulled a hair pin from a female zombies’ hair to unlock the cages of the two ghouls and centaurion Queen. I led them to this room where we breached the wall to escape.”

King Halfingfalfidor smiled, finally getting answers, and also at the thought of how clever, perceptive and absolutely insane and adlibbed his plan was, but the most entertaining part of his story was the idea that the centaurion Queen was now a vamptaur Queen. King Halfingfalfidor applauded, and stated, “I do like this vampire. So cunning! And genius!”

“Wow,” Vladperialess stated.

Myrmidion dropped his jaws in awe, “A Vamptaur?”

“Broom Hilda, can you tell me your thoughts, -your opinion on what a vamptaur Queen can and will do when she returns to her kingdom?” King Halfingfalfidor asked.

“My King, the nature of a vampire is to feed, as any living thing must do to survive. If all in her kingdom are centaurs, who else would she have left to feed on?” Broom Hilda stated.

“Brilliant,” King Halfingfalfidor stated, “She is likened to a masterpiece, -a bomb that will detonate in the very kingdom where we wage war.”

“But… what if she is to turn the others -into vamptaurs? What will we be up against?” Myrmidion asked.

“I doubt she even knows her capabilities or how to turn another, as she is perhaps the only vamptaur in our realms, she doesn’t have her teacher, what could she possibly know about herself, -her capabilities, when she is a new creature, -a conundrum at best? I’m willing to bet the vampire doesn’t even know the monster he’s created,” King Halfingfalfidor stated.

“Vampire, what are the capabilities of this vamptaur?” Myrmidion asked Kazimir.

“I do not know,” Kazimir replied.

“Ha! This will definitely work in our favor brother. Need I say more?” King Halfingfalfidor questioned.

Vladperialess looked bewildered. Broom Hilda smiled and Myrmidion shook his head no. None of them had ever imagined such a reveal.

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