A Voice Like Lava Flowed

Christine Ray, shouting to the dawn

Brave & Reckless

once
I whispered my truths
to the unfeeling dawn
unheard
unacknowledged
my words
began to build up
choke me
and in that stifling silence
I discovered a voice within myself
hot with rage
pain
deep in my soul
simmering
bubbling
in my gut
that erupted
unexpectedly
like a volcano
cleared away
the debris in my throat
I didn’t intend to shout my truths
but now that I have the dawn’s attention
I am reluctant to let it go
it does not feel
like time to go back to sleep

© 2017 Revised 2020 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved

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Elizabeth

HLR – No clue

hijacked amygdala

she looked like a girl I knew
but stranger
a creature
dental-floss hair
ice in her eyes
tattoos on her toes
tequila on the tip of her tongue
where did she come from?
that whole afternoon
we told stories by the pool
about parents and books
and drugs and the moon
and smoked cigarettes on the beach
with the sea up to our knees
and shared hugs and kisses
and promises and secrets
and I told her
that I’d rather be happy and never write again
than feel this sad/bad/mad forever and have poetry in me
and she said no no no
you must love your pain, your sadness is you
and I told her
that I wished more than anything
that I had nothing to write about
that my notebook was empty
that my heart was good and full
that my life was simple and easy
that my brain…

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Daily Writing Prompt: La La Land

The Daily Writing Prompt for 1/31 – La La Land

Brave & Reckless

My January 2020 prompts are inspired by some of the greatest movie musicals of the last nine decades in all their politically incorrect technicolor glory. Even if you are not a movie musical fan, I hope that you find these prompts intriguing.  They are designed to inspire you to write a poem, prose piece, piece of flash fiction, or create a piece of art in 30 minutes or less.

The only rule is that you use the musical title as your piece title OR integrate all the words in the title into your piece in some way.  Extra credit will be awarded to those who pay tribute to these fabulous films.

I love sharing your responses to my prompts.  If you would like to have your piece considered for publication on Brave and Reckless, please email your prompt-inspired pieces to me at her.red.pen.wordsmithing@gmail.com.  

A short biography and…

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MEME: Trump’s Re-Election Guarantees a 7-2 Conservative SCOTUS Split

Calico Jack – The Court matters

The Psy of Life

7-2 Conservative SCOTUS

One of the most overlooked and under appreciated issues in any presidential election is the appointment of federal judges in general and Supreme Court justices in particular. It was super important in the 2016 election given the #MoscowMitch stole a Supreme Court justice, but somehow we “forgot” about the issue and let the Ol’ Pussy Grabber win.

It is super-duper important in the 2020 election because the age of some of the more liberal justices and because the Repubes are willing to buy the retirements of the justices, see Anthony Kennedy.

Between now and November 2020 don’t be surprised to see one or more of the older conservative justices retire. The Repubes are looking to pack the court with young justices that will support their authoritarian endeavors.

They know for their coup to be complete, they’ll need the blessing of the Supreme Court on key cases. They…

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On Becoming a Poet

Christine Ray – The paradoxical poet

Brave & Reckless

Originally published by the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective

---

sometimes, adopting the names ‘writer’ and ‘poet’
led her to encounters with the most amazing minds
connecting her with a larger community
at other times she thought that ‘writer’ and ‘poet’
were the loneliest names she had ever called herself
waking up every morning
to unzip her chest, her gut
and bare her truths to the world
because like others of her kind
she was complex, messy, containing
multiple truths, not a singular one

sometimes she felt like she was writing
to a small group of intimate friends
at others times
she felt like she was calling out her truths
into an empty desert landscape
without even a coyote or armadillo
to hear her words before they fell away
forlorn and unread
unheard and unacknowledged
rendering the writer, the poet herself
invisible, diminished somehow

she was always struck by the juxtaposition
of…

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Trump’s Narcissistic Delusion is Destroying our Democracy!

Calico Jack – When delusion reigns

The Psy of Life

Those around a mentally impaired person who is unable to face facts will often give into that person’s wishful narrative—the sheer drive is often difficult to overcome. — Bandy Lee, in Salon’sTrump’s Mental Health Is Now A National And Global Emergency

He’s a Fucking Narcissist!

The concept that mentally ill people can and do co-opt those around them into their delusional interpretation of the world is on clear display in the impeachment trial of the Ol’ Pussy Grabber. Given that many of his lawyers and the Repube senators are on record having once held reasonable opinions on impeachment — at least when it was a Democratic president being impeached — tells us that their views have been warped by Trump’s narcissistic delusion that he is the state.

The Narcissistic Delusion

Check & Balance

So great is the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s narcissistic delusion that his needs are inseparable from those…

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Daily Writing Prompt: Into the Woods

The Daily Writing prompt for 1/30 – Into The Woods

Brave & Reckless

My January 2020 prompts are inspired by some of the greatest movie musicals of the last nine decades in all their politically incorrect technicolor glory. Even if you are not a movie musical fan, I hope that you find these prompts intriguing.  They are designed to inspire you to write a poem, prose piece, piece of flash fiction, or create a piece of art in 30 minutes or less.

The only rule is that you use the musical title as your piece title OR integrate all the words in the title into your piece in some way.  Extra credit will be awarded to those who pay tribute to these fabulous films.

I love sharing your responses to my prompts.  If you would like to have your piece considered for publication on Brave and Reckless, please email your prompt-inspired pieces to me at her.red.pen.wordsmithing@gmail.com.  

A short biography and…

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Silence Will No Longer Ring in My Ears

Christine Ray – Silent no more

Brave & Reckless

I will not be silent
I will not maintain the peace
I will say the ugly words
out loud and
I will not flinch
Murder
Rape
Incest
Stalking
Harassment
Discrimination
Domestic Violence
Mansplaining
discounted simply because we are women
to find our voices as women
to speak our truth
is a revolutionary act
that says that your voice
her voice
their voices
my voice
matter
count
have weight
deserve to be heard
are valid
if my refusal to be silent
makes me a bitch
a shrew
a ball-breaker
I will be loudest damn
badass bitch
that I can be
silence leaves us to blame ourselves in isolation
silence benefits only those who have hurt us
silence has been the noose around my neck
the soul ache of my pent-up screams of rage
every 13th story window I have considered walking out of

how fucked up is that?!

© 2017 Christine…

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Daily Writing Prompt: Hairspray

The Daily Writing Prompt for 1/29 – Hairspray

Brave & Reckless

My January 2020 prompts are inspired by some of the greatest movie musicals of the last nine decades in all their politically incorrect technicolor glory. Even if you are not a movie musical fan, I hope that you find these prompts intriguing.  They are designed to inspire you to write a poem, prose piece, piece of flash fiction, or create a piece of art in 30 minutes or less.

The only rule is that you use the musical title as your piece title OR integrate all the words in the title into your piece in some way.  Extra credit will be awarded to those who pay tribute to these fabulous films.

I love sharing your responses to my prompts.  If you would like to have your piece considered for publication on Brave and Reckless, please email your prompt-inspired pieces to me at her.red.pen.wordsmithing@gmail.com.  

A short biography and…

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Gossamer Wings

Christine Ray – Word Wings

Brave & Reckless

you spin words into phrases
like silk thread
fine
lustrous
weave them into
a gossamer shawl
breathtaking to behold
delicate
iridescent
resilient
with unexpected
body
with strength
I long to wrap myself
in the cloth
of your words
cocoon myself inside
white mulberry leaves
nectar
shall sustain me
as I metamorphize
I will emerge
changed
by your breathtakingly
tender
words
luna moth
delicate
new
ready for flight
I shall glide
toward your moon
bathe
in your silvery light

© 2017 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved

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