dVerse: Edges

dVerse: Poetics ~ Micro/Macro

Photo by Shanyn


always on the edge of sanity
one step from free fall
into relapse
or on the brink of happiness
longing to be sure-footed

 

 

 

CD: Lotus

Carpe Diem Imagination #7

Buddha Under the Bodhi-Tree

 

in peaceful repose

lotus opens buddha to

enlightenment 

VisDare: Life Coach

VisDare 32: Undecided

photo source

How could it have been invisible for decades to herself, her parade of husbands, her friends, her doctors, her therapist? Emma knew it was true at the moment of her wide awake nightmare. The voice in her mind that coached her through the screaming agony of remembering was one of her.

Emma heard the words “multiple personalities” recently but could not comprehend the meaning of fragmented selves hidden within amnesia from early childhood until the height of one’s career in their thirties or forties. The voice that coached her was a character in the novel she had written. She’d heard his voice many times but as dialog.

At age 44, the life she thought she had lived came crashing down. Oddly, knowing the voice of her character was actually a helping personality became an immediate comfort. The time had come to relive her nightmare consciously.

Words: 145 

 

Merge: Read 'Em and Weep

Write at the Merge: Week 27

This week's challenge is to use one of two prompts as inspiration for writing. I chose Katherine Hepburn's quote:

 
“Rules were meant to be broken.” Not how I was raised by a demanding career military officer. Adults were to be respected and obeyed without question. Breaking any house rules was bad enough; fear of death was imposed on me and my siblings for breaking rules outside the home. Perfect students. When old enough to date, so many more rules. “If you ever find yourself at the police station, don’t bother calling home.”

I did break a rule, though. When I remembered my childhood after years of amnesia, I told. Even in my forties, it took all my willpower to let him know I remembered what he did to me. Courage was defined by the number of states between us. Immediately I was declared dead to the family and disowned. My mother had to abide to the ultimatum “her or me” given by her husband. I lost all contact even though I realized I could not have contact because of the extreme dysfunction. Still, it hurt.

I had already broken the rule of seeing a therapist when my second marriage failed in the late 70s and remained in therapy on and off until I began remembering. Then intensive therapy became my full time “job”.

Come to think of it, I broke another rule. In the early 80s I had a breast reduction. I have always been the smallest anywhere in a group at any time. My oversized chest made it the focus of my being. I asked my mother when I was 19 if I could have a breast reduction. My father overheard and came at me in a rage. It’s one of the few times my mother stepped in. However, I learned just before age 30 that health insurance covered the procedure and I qualified. Such freedom.

Then I started a blog about my healing and the horror that had been my childhood and into my adulthood seeping through amnesia. Each time I posted, I was sure I would be killed for “telling”. That had been so ingrained into my being.

Finally I can say I am healed and whatever had been rules made by others in my life that were meant to keep me from being a healed, relaxed, joyful person were tossed aside and I made me own rules. Keep what fits and discard the rest.

Breaking the rules is how we discover who we really are or can be, in my experience. I wish my life had been different but am thankful to be here now writing and sharing fearlessly. For me, the act of writing is brave…I mean for everyone. To speak what is truly on one’s mind is to forget anyone’s rules and tell it like it is.

Words: 454

 

VisDare: The Delicate Balance of Life

VisDare 25: Precarious

Write a 150-word story based on the visual prompt:

Photo Source

She had hated piano lessons. Her older brother Robbie had learned to play and her mother assumed lessons would continue with the next child. After two years of agonizing scales and practice, Niki convinced her mother it was not her cup of tea, although gymnastics was an interest.

By age 10, she was doing backflips, somersaults in midair, and happily competing with the school’s gymnastics team. Her favorite had been the balance beam. Often she would practice walking on any four-inch surface or as narrow a surface as she could find. 

The piano, no longer being used, was moved to the patio in the summer. Niki would annoy her brother by hopping onto the keyboard and walking down the keys.  Now that she was gone, killed by a drunk driver a week before her fifteenth  birthday, Robbie often thought he heard the sound her toes made strolling along the keys.

Toads: Wayward Duckling

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads
The Sunday Mini-Challenge

Photo by Jenn Jilks

duckling near the pond

falls behind in following

hopes for quick rescue

FF: Safari Gone Awry

Friday Fictioneers

Copyright – EL Appleby

Five-year-old Katie was so excited about her summer vacation on safari with her parents. She loved all kinds of animals and even liked to hold the snakes at the petting zoo. Two weeks prior to the trip, her father broke his leg and had to be in a cast for two months. 

To make up for having to wait another year for her safari, Katie’s father had a specially made stuffed animal representing as many safari animals as possible ordered as a gift. Katie was thrilled with her present and looked forward to the real vacation when she was six. 

Words: 100

Edge: Quick! The Bubblegum!

Write On Edge

Write no more than a 200 word post about bubblegum:

Such a picturesque view along 17-Mile Drive of Monterey, California, passing through Pacific Grove, along Pebble Beach Golf Course, through Carmel and a dramatic view of the lone cypress. With several lookout points, Audrey just had to stop and put her quarter in as she used to as a child when on a trip.

After begging her boyfriend to pull over, she hastily put a quarter in the view finder. Turning the knob the quarter wouldn't budge. She tried digging it out with her nails, but that didn't work either. Dean tried pushing the coin in further and again tried the knob. Nothing. It was their only quarter. 

Suddenly Dean said excitedly, “Gum! Give me a piece of your bubblegum!” Not knowing what was wrong with him, Audrey frantically looked through her purse and felt a piece of gum at the bottom. She pulled it out and handed it to Dean who quickly tossed it in his mouth chewing rapidly for about 30 seconds. He then pulled out the gum, smooshed it on the quarter, and proudly removed the gum with the quarter attached.

Fortunately, one more view finder stood next to them.

Words: 193

Trifextra: In Tandem

Trifextra: Week Seventy

Write 33 words using the following photo prompt:

Photo Source

“I can’t get a cell signal. Can’t call for help.”

“I just can’t.”

“If you don’t, you’ll die. You’re having a heart attack. Tandem jump or death.”

“The fear might kill me anyway.”


 

Safe Harbor

Picture It And Write

Reprinted from ermiliablog – Image by Jeffrey Smith

Long ago it guided ships to safe harbor

its bright beacon snuffed out by time

never to be replaced for legends endured

the stories of how darkness befell

of those who never returned

who had hoped to restore its glory

and now on stormy nights

some have seen a flicker and a figure

ghostly by momentary light

as intended by the blind man who resides within

Toads: Leaf Haiku

Sunday Mini-Challenge

Write a poem or prose using the photo prompt which is original photography of L. Diane Wolfe.

dewdrop in leaf's heart

a gift from mother nature

our eyes to behold

 

Toads: Letting Go

Fireblossom Friday -- Location, Location, Location!

Write prose/poetry where the image/place is 

an integral part of the writing.

Sedona, AZ ~ Photo by Grace Beam

Sitting at the bottom of this pile of boulders

which represented all that I wanted to release

I listened with eyes closed to my guide

taking me to oneness by letting go of the sludge

and inviting the joy of living inside 

The wind was still when we began

and I held tightly to a pebble in my hand

I felt the vortex winds begin to swirl around me

initially feeling my raven nestled 

on the top of my head

(the imagery I had of the me who wanted 

to be freed in the ancient canyon)

As my guide suggested I invited in the parts of me

who had been locked out

and then felt my raven soar to freedom

Vortex winds whipped around me

as tears fell from my eyes

silently letting her go knowing that was her wish

my reason for the journey

The joy of the hummingbird I had seen

in the morning

entered my being

along with other entities of life

Afterwards I held the pebble

representing my past

to my heart

I felt the need to hurl it over the pile of rocks

and stood to where I could throw it

with full force

Releasing it, I knew it would not fully clear

and wondered what would happen

if all I had just achieved bounced back at me

A definitive sound of pebble on rock was heard

Both guide and I cringed for a moment

until we saw it bounce in the direction of the

canyon behind and below

Cheers and tears for the healing

Although it was only one part of quest