at times things work as they should

falling smoothly

into their natural state

but sometimes

and more and more

these days

they fall out of place

I need to know why

I reach my hand under the cavity

a hollow chamber

don’t scream

open your chest

let the hand slip further

ten layers of skin

I slide my fingers

past the ribs and count my bones

all here,

no reason to dread

what is really fear?

the blood still flows

you’ll be okay

someday child, someday

I touch the tissue just under my lungs

a pumping muscle beats

I heard that word before

people describe it as a heart

describe the motion

stretch and expand

repeat

stretch and expand

stroke the matter

but careful, it feels

a purple heart shows its colors

too obvious to hide

it’s soft but wrong

damaged tissue likes to bleed

why is the floor all red?

remember about the lungs

rise and fall

again!

rise and fall

oxygen soothes the pain

the purple color infects my veins

but I have to stay strong

pick up those pieces

you know what this means

I tell myself a simple truth

about that once crimson flesh

that if it was blue, it would be too late

but the blood still flows

and the core still beats

because there ain't nothing wrong with purple

when you need to heal

*

Going

where the action isn’t …

away from crowds

& care

where

no dust settles

at dusk—

but rather

with dawn’s first air.

Maybe it is the nights spent alone that causes such thoughts. Maybe it is the voice in her head that tells her she will never be enough. Maybe it’s the shadows she sees mocking her that causes the pain. Maybe it's the people she cares about laughing when she went. Maybe it's the reaper that tells her she doesn't deserve death. Maybe it's the heart in her chest that was ripped out of her long ago. Maybe it's the soul inside her that speaks the truth. Maybe it was and always will be her eyes that can see past the masks and the smile that leaves her crying on the floor each night. Maybe it's the world no one dares to look at that leaves her feeling so alone. No. It is the world that left her alone gasping for air when she was only three. The world that decided that it made a mistake at first glance. It is the world that decided to tell her nothing more and nothing less than reality.

I wish you paint the sky in every shade of darkness.The plums and ebony that remind me of your starlit eyes, giving me hope in a world filled with shadows that don’t belong with me
For the Gods never called them home. I’m chasing ghost, in a cemetery I created, burying all the letters my heart refused to send home. 

I fail to realize my own body has become my tomb, stitched on broken promises and thin thread. Digging my own grave, one breath at a time … Inviting darkness because I don’t have the courage to stand in the light. 

I pick up my shovel and remove the earth from my feet, leaving the dirt marked for my soul. Two twigs , one promise and all the ghosts. 

Too tired to continue down this path that leads me back to expectations, only to blow on the flames and create fire. Dusting myself with smoke and regret, reliving life and everything I cannot forget. 

Find the moon , under the crying sky
Kissing the sun and this place goodbye. 
Leaving my heart on the altar, reclaiming the plot in which I lay. Bringing tears to cheeks, licking lips and saying …
Sleep sweet

#poetry

Happy November Writers and Readers;

Fall is a time of change, a time of ponderance, preparation, and preservation. And with the final month of fall comes our first $100 Challenge of the Month, wherein we explore the bright colors and darkening skies of autumn. Not only will the winner receive the $100 purse, we’ll also be sharing all outstanding submissions with our publishing partners and contacts. When you’re ready to get started, you’ll find the prompt here: https://theprose.com/challenge/7775. Best of luck!

With the arrival of our monthly challenge, we thought we’d shed a little light on how we’ll be judging your entries (and how we’ve been judging your entries in the Challenge of the Week). In particular we look for: creativity, fire, memorability, coherence, proper grammar, and linguistic mastery. Let’s take a closer look.

The First Paragraph

We read a lot of your writing, and usually don’t have the time to give every word and sentence the attention they deserve. As such, we will commonly eliminate entries immediately if the first couple of paragraphs are rife with spelling or grammatical errors, don’t read clearly, or don’t intrigue. Our advice - make your first paragraph your best paragraph. Make it captivating and irresistable. Make it shine. More advice on how to do so below.

Creativity

Written creativity can take many forms, and pervades every category along which we judge. It could take the form of compelling characters, exotic settings, unusual word choice, unique story arcs, and everything in-between. We want to think “wow, I would never have expected/conceived of/realized that.”

Fire

Fire is passion. We want to see your love for the craft of composition shine through. Whether a controlled burn, or a raging blaze, we want to see your dedication to the story, the characters, the poetry, and the craft. Some of the best writing reads as though the author agonized over every syllable.

Memorability

This is related to creativity, but somewhat different. It hinges a bit more specifically on the author’s ability to clearly convey that creativity. As we’re reading challenge entries, we keep a list of the pieces that catch our eye. When we’re done, we go back over that list of top contenders and choose the winner(s). More often than not, we’ll choose the stories we remember most vividly. In addition to compelling characters and themes, little details can go a long way towards making a piece more memorable. A perfectly crafted sentence. A witty title. A surprising interaction.

Coherence

Your writing should be lucid and coherent. If it’s hard to follow the plot, be it theater or thesis, it’ll be difficult to win. Avoid rambling, over-description, and muddled thoughts. Read your work back to yourself as though you hadn’t written it. Ask yourself, “what am I trying to communicate? Did I do so clearly? Is any of this hard to follow?” If we find ourselves lost or unsure of what’s going on anymore, we usually move along.

Spelling & Grammar

Do not underestimate the importance of proper spelling and grammar. Here at Prose, we respect, if not revere, the King’s English. While we forgive the rogue missing letter or misplaced comma (it happens to the best of us), repeated offenses and gross negligence are to be avoided at all costs. You are of course free to make stylistic choices like omitting capitalization; but unless it’s in the service of some artistic vision it’ll generally be frowned upon.

Linguistic Mastery

This is the x-factor, and the thing that sets great writing apart from good writing. This is proper useage of metaphor, descriptive language, imagery, word choice, alliteration, sentence/paragraph composition, overall flow, finesse, nuance, restraint, and everything in-between. For examples of “linguistic mastery,” please read some of the winning entries from our Challenge of the Week. The winners typically demonstrate a high degree of mastery in their work. To further illustrate what we mean, consider the following two sentences:

“The crows’ calls blared through the quiet like a siren, a dreadful cacophony that rose and fell like the tide, under the chilling, pale light of the full moon.”

“The shrieking of the crows sliced the silence, an unholy symphony beneath a cold, ghostly moon.”

Both are more interesting than “The crows were cawing loudly in the moonlight.” But the first exhibits a sort of scattershot approach, calls upon multiple disjointed metaphors, and betrays a lack of restraint. The second, by contrast, by surgical use of words like “sliced,” “unholy,” and “ghostly,” evokes a certain eeriness. It feels more intentional, and reads more clearly.

These are just a few of the things we look for, and we urge you not to think of them as some sort of “checklist” or “rubric.” Hopefully this has been informative, and will be of aid to you as your craft your entries.

Happy writes,

Prose.