Deep well
Living waters
Springing up from my heart
Overflowing with life washing
Away
The dross
Of toxicity threatening
To destroy the essence
Of what is me
Sing on
Sketchy Characters – The Lie
Sketchy characters – A lie …..by Artie
The week following our endless evening was a roller coaster ride of hushed calls from unsearchable phone numbers, secretive meetings at obscure establishments and inopportune embraces. Our long involved conversation in Lisa Lund’s Gin Joint back corner booth culminated with a brief but passionate kiss and promises. At various points she said her name was Lilith, but in her family she was called Vashti after her grandmother because they were so much alike although I could call her Saskia because that’s what her father had wanted to name her and her friends had found that out so started calling her that and we were of course going to be friends if not much more. And then, a week later, over potato pancakes and mid-day lager at the Polish Pottery History House’s lower level backroom diner (the best, check it out) her purse fell as she went for the lavatory; she…
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Terror in the Attic ~ [Trigger Warning]
Terror in the attic …. by EM Kingston
The Ramblings of E.M. Kingston
Before reading, know that there are abuse triggers in this text. If you are easily triggered by stories of abuse, please read carefully. Big hugs 🤗

Eileen was hesitant to open the door leading up to the attic because she was afraid when she got up there she might find…memories that she had suppressed for a very long time. Even the thought of entering the house alone was bad enough, but that attic was somewhere she really never wanted to be again.
When she finally opened the door, all the bad juju that rested in the attic when she left came rushing back into her mind. That was a place of terror for Eileen. Always has been… and always will be.
It was the house that she grew up in, and it wasn’t like she wanted that part of her childhood revisited…
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Was it all fake?
Was it all fake? … A very real perspective by Sadje
Her smiling face deceived everyone
Gentleness and care in her every gesture
Agreeing with everyone, pleasant and charming
Never did she asked for anything for herself
Never did she protest an imposition on her time
Inside there was a coil of simmering resentment
Making her angry and dissatisfied with her lot
No one could guess what she truly felt deep inside
For she had schooled her emotions to stay buried
Never to show the world what she thought or felt
Because she sacrificed her true self to please others
Did anyone ever guessed or cared about her sacrifice?

PROMPT #217
The line to stoke your imagination this week is
“Everything about her was a lie….”
Written for RXC # 217, hosted by Reena
#Keepitalive
#RXC
The Fake Life!
The fake life ….. by Radhika

She was a glamourous young actress at the peak of her career. She had name, fame and money.
Her plastic smile, her chiseled body, her empty followers on social media, the many trophies standing in her living room, all seemed so hollow to her.
Looking at herself in the mirror, a repulsive feeling engulfed her. There was nothing about her that was genuine. Her life was fabricated to project a picture of perfection.
She felt everything about her was a lie.
Disgusted with the fakeness of her persona, in the dark of the night, she disappeared without a word to anyone, in search of her true identity!
Reena’s Xploration Challenge: #217 :
“Everything about her was a lie….”
You are free to incorporate the line in your piece, or just use it as a theme.
Challenge Posted by dVerse Poets Pub
Gypsie’s Wonderful World of Words
Your challenge is simply(!):
▪write a sonnet poem of 14 lines and 10 syllables (iambic pentameter is optional extra)
▪choose the Italian, English or French rhyme form
▪start and end each line with the same word (including derivatives and homophones)
▪put ‘shadow’ or its derivative in your title
▪use the notion of shadow as metaphor or reality somewhere in your poem

Shadow Dreaming (A shadow sonnet without the 10 syllable iambic pentameter)
By Ami (Gypsie) Offenbacher-Ferris
White and pure as Snow White
Sleeping not gone only sleeping
Upon the frozen tundra she lays upon
Awaken my beauty and I will awaken
Run free with me to the sea where dolphins run
Water glistening against their skin as snow melts into water
Warmth engulfs us sea-life welcomes us with warmth
Transformed from fur the sea our souls transformed
Wolf and woman no more woman…
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The Prettiest Picture
The prettiest picture …..by Susi Bocks
Inspired by Eugenia’s Weekly Prompt – Unison &
Reena’s Exploration Challenge – Everything about her was a lie….
Everything about her was a lie. It’s plain to see plastic surgery had modified every inch of her body to resemble something that didn’t seem human anymore. She was more like a life-size plastic person now.
She claims to like herself. But does she really or only now because of the result? Would the average person who likes themself do all this altering if they did?
The gawkers on the beach walking past the photoshoot yelled inunison, “Hey, Barbie!” Laughing profusely, they continued on their way.
She looked as if she wasn’t sure whether to feel pride or shame.
Looking For Love
Looking for love ….by Jim Adams
Everything about her was a lie…. in fact, I am not even sure that she was actually a woman. We met online on a dating site called American Singles and we hit it off. I trusted her, but I was naïve at the time, and I wanted somebody in my life after I left my marriage. I was the double dotted type of naïve, as I had been with my wife before the internet was invented and I had no idea that I should not trust strangers, as I saw goodness in everyone. I had not read Machiavelli’s Prince, so I didn’t know that “Its better to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both”, and his other bit of wisdom, “Safer is better, too, because you won’t have to watch your back as much.” I was a trusting soul, and I had no idea that someone would be trying…
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Uptown Heartbreak
Uptown Heart Break ….. by EM Kingston
The Ramblings of E.M. Kingston

She stood there with tears in her vivid sapphire-blue eyes waiting for him to see her expression and her torment from watching them together. Fawn Parker was not a stranger to having her heart broken in half, but Nigel’s affair right in front of her face was too much for her mind to process. He was such a careless man, standing there kissing another woman. As much as it was frustrating to watch, Fawn couldn’t look away, besides…she wanted him to see her face when he turned around to leave her replacement.
She thought to herself, “Who did that bitch think she was anyway…kissing my man and pressing her body against him? Does she even know about me?”
As much jealousy that Fawn was feeling in her heart, she couldn’t help but live vicariously through her. She had not seen Nigel look at…
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Marissa
Marissa …. a story of mental abuse … by Mich
Marissa is your typical happy and successful middle-aged woman.
She was in a violent relationship for 10 years. Violence or abuse happened after the first year of their marriage. Initially, it was like, she would not be allowed to go out of the house except if she is accompanied by her husband or whenever she will do a family errand. On that case her husband would closely monitor her calling her all the time until she is home.
Control was the first sign of abuse.
When you are in an abusive relationship for so long, you lose your identity. You believe in the lies you were told. You don’t believe in your ability to live independently. You don’t get much sense of freedom, and on most occasions, you learn to live with it and deal with it quietly for there is nothing much you can do about the situation.
Such…
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