Pain(t)ing

Willard House by Lisa Gordon Photography

They took my books

Said all that reading wasn't good

for a woman's mind

So I started writing

They burned my papers

and spilled my ink

Said my useless nattering

just proved that I wasn't 'right'

What else could I do but paint?

I painted the walls with my monthly blood

I painted the nightmares that visited my bed

I painted the screams stuck in my throat

But mostly, I painted rage

Deep, dark, red rage

I should have known better

An insane woman is an embarrassment

An angry woman is a danger

So they put me in this place

with bars on the windows like a jail

or a zoo

to be punished

and tamed.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Artistic Interpretations with Margaret, Willard Asylum

No Phoenix

inkblot by lolamouse

You love the exits

Dramatic flair

I have to watch them

Pretend I care

I’m tired of playing

the audience

Waiting for the

Next big entrance

You are no Phoenix

You’ve just been burned

You lie in ashes

The pain unearned

So brush yourself off

It’s time you learned

There is no rebirth

Though you may yearn

The star performer

And now I see

You love your mirror

Much more than me

So take your bow and

Walk off the stage

Proselytes waiting

You’re all the rage

But you’re no martyr

You have no cause

You show your scars off

To gain applause

You claim redemption 
but that's untrue

There is no savior

There's only you

You are no Jesus

You’re just a man

Bloody and beaten

Please understand

This ground's not sacred

Not holy land

No Second Coming

No God's command

You are no Jesus

And I’m no whore

You cannot save me

Not any more

You are no king so

Get off your throne

You want to suffer

Suffer alone

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Sunday Mini Challenge, Doctor Mouse Is In the House

Memories and Magic

image from cover of "The Ocean At the End of the Lane"

Go the pond

At the end of the lane

Think of the girl

Remember again

Standing inside

The green fairy ring

Nothing can hurt you

Forget everything

Marble of glass

Soldier of tin

Swallow the ocean

Breath it all in

Fight with the monsters

The sheets from your bed

Nightmares of grown-ups

Take root in your head

Childhood demons

Tore you apart

Banished, but still

Left a hole in your heart.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Words Count With MZ

and mindlovemisery, Prompt 15, Childhood Dreams 

(inspired by Neil Gaimon's new book, The Ocean At the End of the Lane)

Tulip Queen

courtesy of Photobucket

She was the tulip queen

Wild and red, she ruled

the meadow 

Flowers grew at her touch

Grasses bent to her will

Even the birds

sang on demand

The fields were her island

The rocks, her castle

To find her retreat,

her haven,

her heaven,

she had just to cross the bridge

of her mind

It may have been a bit unstable,

but she never fell.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Haunted Hearts, Hungry Eyes

and the Sunday Whirl, Wordle 115