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So excited to announce my piece, Winter Solstice, has placed me as a Longlist Winner in the Tadpole Press November 2025 100-Word Writing Contest!

Thank you Amber and the Tadpole Team! ♥️

Beneath these robes
there dwells a lie
These beads they bind
the fear inside

This cloak of harmony
fits my form so well
A riotous fabric
born of chaos and hell

A true enigma
of heat and light
Within a deep dark cave
where no one is saved

Should the truth itself
ever be exposed
The world would see
the imposter is me

Envy flows like green fluid
along this beam of life
Ancient memories scroll
through our own subconscious
to shape a truth that no longer
works in the blunt truth
and shift of life in present day

The pictures in her hand
reflect images of a young girl
lingering beside a hotel’s
swimming pool, wearing
a new bathing suit with a spill
of daisies upon her breast
and a layer full of frill and fringe on her hip.

It was their yearly trip up north to visit her grandparents, the highlight of which
an overnight stop at a hotel with a pool.
She stood on the spring board,
her young body fit and relaxed
when she jumped with a spin
into the cold water below.

The perfect dive through the placid
blue water, sent a resonance gasp
through the crowd of onlookers.
The judges were stunned
and then turned to confer. The boards
were all turned, and ten number
tens proclaimed her winner again.

Like a gentle breeze
it slips away into the night
What was coming
has now gone
What was future
has become past

Memories made are stored away
memories to make wait ahead
Dreams unrealized fade into mist
fantasies form within future’s fog
Nightmarish phantoms await
amid paradisiacal imaginings

One more year has melted away
time rushing past with tsunamis force
The new year slams into place
at the stroke of midnight
Creeping over the sleeping
to celebrate with those still awake

Her human departed
left again
A sense of lingering joy
felt oddly sharp

In the place
where her heart resided
A piercing point of pain
forced her to sit

Instead of waiting and watching
him go
Full darkness enveloped her
and she left first

Demons hold secrets close to their skin
once released the dragon flies free
A blink conjures the starless night
kindling hope in an airless room

Third time was not the charm
swallows pride and trudges on
More life behind than in front
angels fall hearing the toll

White is black and black is gray
lines are crossed in every way
Monsters eyes hide deceit
until all good is gone – complete

In response to Esther Chilton’s writing prompt: FAMILY

What I’ve always longed for
but never can I find
The support of a loving family
a special person by my side

To get all together in daylight
or start of night
For birthdays and holidays
or just to celebrate life

For fun and jubilation
or smart conversations
Sometimes just to sit as one
in quiet observation

This scenario for me it seems
lives here in my imagination
My line and my kind know
only indignant justification

Upset, chaos, stress and turmoil
that’s what’s thrived upon
Watch out – be careful – look away now
it’s eggshells we must all walk on

Dysfunctional malfunction
multiplied by generations
Quietly I slip away
hiding hurt and deep frustration

A time for remembering
a time for dreaming
A time for reflecting
a time for giving

A season of joy
a season of sadness
A season of cohesion
a season of aloneness

Whether bitter cold
whether the dead of summer
Whether it’s Yuletide blessings
whether it’s Hanukkah celebrations

Out of sorrow comes acceptance
out of grief comes understanding
Out of sacrifice comes enlightenment
out of anger comes perception

To touch is to care
to hold is to love
To breath is to exist
to think is to be human

In our humanity may we find joy, understanding and enlightenment. May we know love and show care. May we accept that we are different, may we revel in those differences. May we inspire harmony and shun hatred. May we always remember that we – are – human.

💙 Merry Christmas 💙

You have long ago
gone to find your sleep
The hours have passed
onto the next days morn

Yet still I sit awake
alone in my chair
My heart yearns to feel
you next to me here

Night time is dwindling
the horizon’s alight
With dawn’s earliest warmth
yet I reside here in darkness –

Without you by my side.