Prose
Static
Static It’s never truly dark when a current wakes beneath the wool snapping in the shadows as low-voltage blue humming ripples across both arms, microscopic flashes of cold light blinking into existence then dying in the same breath. Suffocating weight, anxiety stuttering thirty frames each second vibrating through the bone, skin becomes a radio tower tuned to dead frequencies, run a hand down my arm and hear dry paper crepitating sudden constellations of fuzz illuminating hairs like frozen antennae there to catch the corrupted signal. Air too thick to breathe, flesh crackling with certainty that the interference refuses to clear, transmission permanently lost, suspended forever my body no longer solid, an unstable broadcast blurred edges flickering violently within inner walls, the terminal arc, dead air.
By Alyson Smith 3 months ago in Poets
“I Had a Dream of Two Suns”
Author’s Note This little poem came from a dream that felt more like a memory, a soft glimpse of a world where light doubled instead of dimmed, where people remembered how to smile, and where the sky carried every color, it ever held. I wrote it simply to capture that feeling, the kind of dream that stays with you long after you wake.
By Vicki Lawana Trusselli 3 months ago in Poets
After the Years
There remains a place where every season continues as though time accepted no bargain, where memory walks beside the living and every passing year gathers another page into the same enduring story. I carried your name through countless days until it became part of every hope I refused to surrender.
By Tim Carmichael3 months ago in Poets
What Would Not Bow
I wailed waiting too, trying to save you, I turned, and we fell apart. Hardened by your safety, you opened your arms to flame and slipped from my reach. In grief’s rising sea, you wanted something to hold; I broke that in me. Her lies filled the dark, behind your father’s name left me bone and dust. Your gaze drifted east, leaving my south‑bound hands still; your borrowed gaze held mine. In the mirror’s stillness, I stripped the love held by my string, and found no more tears. I tried to nurse hope, glancing back toward the moon’s glow; it hid me, showed you. The still bear remains — no rose can move what won’t wake, the stillness that would not bow.
By Caitlin Charlton3 months ago in Poets
The Museum of Unfortunate Moments
Our memories look better behind glass. The museum opened with a promise that every person carried something worth preserving. People came with pieces of their past they had hidden away for years. One woman donated the recording of a speech where she forgot every word she was to say. An elderly man brought a letter he had written when he was young, a letter that returned to him unopened and stayed in his desk for half a lifetime. A painter offered his first work, the one he once believed proved he had no gift at all.
By Nolan Reed3 months ago in Poets
Binary Brains & Quantum Blues
Some stories don’t come from quiet reflection — they come from lived truth, side‑eye wisdom, and the kind of grown‑woman clarity you earn after years of watching people panic over things they don’t understand. Yesterday was one of those days: fear was loud, misinformation was everywhere, and folks were shouting about things they couldn’t explain. Instead of arguing, I wrote a blues story — one that laughs at the panic, calls out the contradictions, and celebrates the kind of wisdom that refuses to be boxed in. Binary Brains & Quantum Blues is my blues piece about fear, tech, humor, and the way I walk through the world now, with less patience for nonsense and a whole lot more room for truth. Binary Brains & Quantum Blues The Less-Bullshit Blues [Verse 1] Woke up this mornin', heard a woman scream Said "AI’s comin’ to steal my dreams" She never wrote a line of code in her life But she’s preachin’ doom like a back-porch wife I just sip my coffee, shake my head slow Fear makes fools outta folks who don’t know [Spoken Word] I woke up in a binary world Zeros and ones tryin’ to tell me who I am But my mind don’t walk in straight lines Baby, I’m quantum I jump, I shimmer, I expand [Chorus] I got them quantum blues Where fear don’t tell me what to choose Binary minds stuck in one or two But baby I’m both, I’m the whole damn truth They run from shadows they made themselves I walk through worlds they ain’t never felt [Verse 2] I heard a woman cryin’ loud Said "AI’s gonna take my soul" But she still uses GPS to find Her way to the corner store Fear makes folks see monsters Where there ain’t nothin’ but code [Verse 3] One lady cried, “AI wasn’t ready!” Voice all shaky, hands all unsteady Talkin’ ’bout tech like she built the mainframe But she can’t even reset her password game I told her gently, “Honey, breathe… Your fear’s louder than the truth you believe.” [Chorus] I got them quantum blues Superposition in my shoes Binary tries to box me in But I refuse, I refuse I’m too grown for that old code Too wise for their old news Yeah, I’m quantum, baby And I got the less-bullshit blues [Verse 4] Another said, “I want my old internet back!” Dial-up dreams and panic attacks I said, “Girl, hop in your time machine 1999’s where you’ll find that scene.” Fear’s a ghost that haunts the weak But blues folks laugh when the ghost tries to speak [Bridge] Now they’re sayin’ AI’s the devil Tryin’ to split folks left and right Fear’s the oldest trick in the book Keepin’ people too scared to unite Divide and conquer ain’t new, baby It’s just dressed up in digital fright [Chorus] I got them quantum blues Superposition in my shoes Binary folks yell “AI’s the end!” But fear ain’t logic, it’s just pretend I’m too grown for their boogeyman tales Too wise for their panic emails [Outro] So let ’em tremble at the tech they use Let ’em run from the tools they refuse I’ll be here in my quantum groove Laughin’ at fear with a sovereign move Yeah, I’m blues, baby And fear ain’t got nothin’ on me The older I get The less bullshit I tolerate
By Vicki Lawana Trusselli 3 months ago in Poets
Farewell Bel
It's time. Time to say goodbye. I chose you for your happy wriggle, and carried you home in the pocket of my coat. I had nothing... NO money, no family, and yet you began to open up my world. Sorrow and grief haunted my life, and you brought joy. You were a terror young, a tornado of destruction in my one room apartment. Needle-like teeth, and high-pitched yaps echoed in my place. But it's time now. You held many names: Jelly Belly, Portabello, Bel Cosby, Baby Bel, Bela Lugosi. All dogs go to heaven. And now its your turn. We had ten years together, ten years of joy, of frustration, ten years of sadness, of enlightenment. I will see you at the rainbow bridge one day, My Bela Lugosi. And I will miss you... forever and a day.
By Jennisea Standing Rock3 months ago in Poets
