Parasites – N.R.Shepherd

Defiance

Nicole Lyons

I’m on display in this
snow-globe of calamity.
Confetti of written emotions
blow around the room.
A blizzard of flies swarm
my body; I’m breaking down.
I can hear the rats scurry the tile
and soon the dying of my love…
the decomposition of my damnedest efforts…
will draw them up the bedside,
only to find, I don’t mind to dine
on vermin…when I’m desperate.
I’ve surpassed famine and
my taste buds are numb.
I’ll be damned if I lay here
and be eaten alive by these
parasites of morality..
I’ll indulge; when i’ve had my
“fillin’s worth” …
i shall rise to battle the dragons
who deploy their breath
upon the vigor in my soul,
…once again….

© N.R.Shepherd 2016

You can pray if you want, but God’s not here this evening. ….It’s just you and I under this pale moonlight, dancing… N.R. Shepherd

For more of N.R. Shepherd’s…

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The Greatest

Love wins over fear.

Modern Day Savages – Jason King

Jason is a bit fed up.

Nicole Lyons

Fuck fuck fuck….. Oh yes you read that right….because sometimes that’s the only word that is fitting for this life….and the things that happen in it….what were you expecting….some grouping of words…eloquent perhaps… not this time….anyone on the frontline of living will get it….this is for them.

As we look around at all the bullshit we are forced to swallow….give me your opinions….give me your vitriol….give me your righteousness….feed me your holier-than-thou…..so I can chew it up and spit back my own truth….I’m not interested in how you exist….who are you to say how I’m supposed to live….I’m not the only one.

What you see behind me is an army….modern day savages….tired of all the lies….exhausted from the world we’ve been sold….prostituted politics….puppets with money strings….out of touch with reality for millions while illusions are sold….we all see the slight of hand….and we are raging….your entertainment sells us love and…

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She Is Soul and Stories – A Collaboration

Three poets, one page – Wow

Nicole Lyons

Tiny stories crawl beneath her skin.
Sometimes they breathe love from her heart,
dropping kisses from her soul
and other times they drag sadness
through her core and stay hidden
behind her eyes.

© Michelle Schaper 2016

Until the memories find their way inside,
exploding the tears through the blue,
through the brown, puncturing the disguise
of whatever color her chameleon soul told
her to be; self-preservation comes in many shades,
and hers happens to be beautiful, with or without
a smile, because there are many stories to hold
when the ink is born from your blood.

© Stephanie Bennett-Henry 2016

Bursting tall tales
from ink smeared lips; she holds
her stories close. Suffering
the burn of words left unsaid scorched
into her spirit.
She spills her secrets onto deaf souls
and she aches,
to open her own to eyes
that would finally read her.

© Nicole Lyons 2016

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20 Mental Health Resolutions for 2017 (Because We Sure As Hell Need Them)

Sam shares an excellent list.

Let's Queer Things Up!

This time last year I wrote out some of my mental health resolutions for 2016. And I enjoyed – so much – the process of thinking through my resolutions, reflecting on the kind of precedent I wanted to set for my sanity, and then all the conversations we had together about what kind of year we wanted 2016 to be (this is a good time to mention our online Facebook community is a stellar place for dialogue).

And then, you know, 2016 actually happened.

For those following along at home, I kicked off 2016 with a psychiatric hospitalization and wrapped up 2016 with a relapse and a field trip to rehab. As far as mental health goes, it’s not been my finest year.

This doesn’t even touch on the fact that we’ve lost numerous pop culture icons – most recently mental health and addiction advocate/badass Carrie Fisher – and we…

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Everything you need to know about him in one sentence

A true title from Nicole

Nicole Lyons

You would be hard-pressed
to find anything good
in him
but I liked
the way he tasted,
black souled,
beneath my tongue.

© Nicole Lyons 2016

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Under Red Skies

Nicole conjures magic

Nicole Lyons

That night we smoked cigarettes
and talked of the red skies
that hung over us, above
right shoulders just East
of town.

And although it was winter
and chaos danced
with the blowing snow,
I felt the heat
of those red skies.

It was somewhere
inside of forty-five
mile an hour winds
and the second bottle
of wine
where I fell in love.

© Nicole Lyons 2016

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All My Life (personal poem)

There is meaning to be found in a heart’s speaking.

There is Beauty Walled into the Depths of the Mind that Not Even Death can Get Too

Much truth is here.

PANDORA

Rana is amazing!

2nd Star To The Left, Straight On 'Til Morning

Bits and pieces of this have been published in several places… But here it is in its entirety. It’s my favourite personal essay. So proud of this.

I’m not a real woman, a normal woman. I always attempt to put the truth out there, to warn off, to caution away. I am only a Rubix cube, and it is for this reason alone that men pursue me ruthlessly. I am a puzzle that needs solving. An intricate and magickal illusion that needs to be logically explained. Because of course, it has to be some sort of trick. I cannot be real. So, I’m a mysterious box that needs to be opened. A door that needs to be unlocked. They are all looking for my key. It’s not really about me. It never was. They call it love. They tell themselves this. They tell me it’s my passion.  It’s my kiss. …

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