Peter Ravlich

A writer
without writing
is a haunt
without its #ghost

And when the words
are reticent
is when
they're needed most

So
Write

#vss365 #prompt #poetry #poem #amwriting #writingcommunity

You gave him something
to cry about
but it wasn't the
frustration
overflowing your firmament
to rain
in punctuated bursts
upon his
smaller self

by hand

by wooden spoon

by belt—

the #pain
came later

when illusions
died

#vss365 #prompt #pain #poetry #poem #amwriting #writingcommunity

Your #vss365 #prompt for Feb 3 is #pain

"After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,'
And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before'?"

'After great pain, a formal feeling comes', Emily Dickenson

#3

You see, she said
it isn't right
to bifurcate the whole
to denigrate the physical
and elevate the #soul;
You see, she said
with eyeballs and receptors
and a brain—
and every revelation
is complicit with the same:
Your self
your only
frame

#vss365 #prompt #amwriting #poem #poetry #writingcommunity

Your #vss365 #prompt for Feb 2 is #soul

"Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don’t believe I’m wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone."

'Alone', Maya Angelou

#2

You lurker
in the liminal,
creature of
the cusp:
Absentia
I summon thee
and by the light
you must
obfuscate in
irony
of formlessness
conform
consolidate
in memory
the lack
by which
you're borne

#vss365 #prompt #shadow #poem #poetry #amwriting #writingcommunity

The #vss365 #prompt for Feb 1 is #shadow

"my selves go with you,only i remain;
a shadow phantom effigy or seeming
(an almost someone always who’s noone)
a noone who,till their and your returning,
spends the forever of his loneliness
dreaming their eyes have opened to your morning"

e.e. cummings
#1

Let another sweet caress
trickle o'er your tongue
No observers to impress
just whispers, one to one

Hold me, and I'll cling to you
in desperate embrace
We'll see this dreadful darkness through
together, face to face

#vss365 #prompt #soothe #poetry #poem #amwriting #writingcommunity

YouTube video by Natalie Merchant - Topic Where I Go

Dear Friends,

We’ve reached our last prompt together. I’m honored to have hosted & look forward to continuing to support you!

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 31 is #soothe
Song: Where I Go – Natalie Merchant
Lyrics: “I go to the river to #soothe my mind.”

youtu.be/cN9OB_pOvWc?...

Be still
my reciprocal rage
before boorish
betrayal

I implore
but
this #thrum of angry energy
craves an outlet

Channel me
then
Let me course
down nobler paths
carving new tributaries
where your crooked footsteps
will never reach

#vss365 #prompt #poetry #poem #amwriting #writingcommunity

Each sibilant
sprays from your tongue
with such
vanity and vitriol

You are the stone-thrower
the self-proclaimed genius
dicksplaining from the back—
but absent for the real work

The tedious #thrum of
all your ruinous rage
sickens me

#vss365 #prompt #poem #poetry #amwriting #writingcommunity

YouTube video by Mike Doughty - Topic Unsingable Name

Hello Lovely Writers! ✨✍🏼

Just two more prompts with me as your host, and I can’t wait to see how you’ll make this next one sing.

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 30 is #thrum

Song: Unsingable Name by Mike Doughty

Lyrics: “Beware the #thrum of hearts”

youtu.be/MyKWrzHzum4?...

Purr warm contentment
Plush fur enveloping your
claws still caked in blood

#vss365 #prompt #obfuscate #poetry #poem #amwriting #writingcommunity #haiku

YouTube video by Bon Iver - Topic Second Nature

Dear Friends,

Here’s to another day of writing!

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 29 is #obfuscate

A. to throw into shadow—DARKEN
B. to make obscure—HIDE

Song: Second Nature - Bon Iver
Lyrics: “There is another fate away
To not be too late and #obfuscate”

youtu.be/bE0H191alFc?...

In a hurricane of
cruelty and chaos
he stands
defiant
this righteous fury
implacable
immovable

So how
does one figmentary
thought of you
strum his every nerve
aquiver?

#vss365 #prompt #quiver #poetry #poem #amwriting #writingcommunity

YouTube video by Indigo Girls - Topic Deconstruction

Hello Word Weavers!

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 28 is #quiver.

Song: Deconstruction - Indigo Girls
Lyrics:
“And as for the truth it seems like we just pick a theory
It’s the one that justifies
Our daily lives
And backs us with #quiver and arrows”

youtu.be/5ipseJH1ADo?...

Jackboots stomped
the dying fire—
crushing coals into muddy mounds
as sullen smoke
announced the end—
then shuffled away
leaving only ashes

except

except
that single ember
borne on the breeze

who still carries
the hope of flame

#vss365 #prompt #wane #poetry #poem #writingcommunity #amwriting

The codecs are invalid now
the audio unclear
and resolution dismal
not much to see or hear
I play it over anyway
and long for all I lack
with each repeat the memory #wanes
a steady fade to black

#vss365 #prompt #wane #poetry #poem #writingcommunity

YouTube video by Alana Henderson - Topic Wax & Wane

Dear Wonderful Writers,

What’s the best thing about Tuesdays? Another writing prompt, of course!

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 27 is #wane

Song: Wax & Wane by Alana Henderson

Lyrics:

“And no one left to blame but
The moon’s wax and #wane.”

youtu.be/IjBmBSeDvds?...

She liked a life less languid
so she auctioned off her soul
The demons offered riches
but adventure was her goal:
She scuffed the ritual circle
tore the veil open wide
and there upon the #cusp of worlds
'tis said she never died

#vss365 #prompt #poem #poetry #amwriting #writingcommunity

YouTube video by Gatton Gatton - Cusp (Official Audio)

Dear Vss’ers,

Thank you for rescuing me from Sunday laundry with your brilliant pieces! 🙏🧺

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 26 is #cusp

Song: Cusp by Gatton
Lyrics:

“Beyond the #cusp, I don't know where I belong
Under the rust, a piece of me I lost”

youtu.be/1ptBrATefgs?...

Alice riding a doctor

The bone temple publicity image

Righto Realms-ers! @realmsunknown.bsky.social deep dive for this week is Doctors! Whether it’s building a bone temple, saving the world or representing Man’s Hubris, tell me your favourite sci fi and fantasy Doctors.

Across the page there's Michael Crichton (MD), who gave us ground-breaking sci fi in Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain... but also more problematic works like Disclosure and State of Fear, which amplified then fringe narratives about gender politics and expertise.

Waldo Butters in the Dresden Files (who should have a medical degree even if he eschews the title). Notable for impressive development of what starts as a tropey character, moral backbone, and some meticulous foreshadowing when you reread the series.

Thank you! Loving the prompts, had to have a longer play with this one too!

"It is a panacea
a balm for any ill
and yours for only P&P"
But then I got the bill

And yes it's true, I didn't dwell
on bodily distress
poring over fine print
untangling the mess

Confronted with my evidence
he
admitted to a fiction
apologised sincerely—
then sold me a subscription

#vss365 #ruse

I make my bed
so why are you always
lying
in it?

#vss365 #prompt #ruse #poem #poetry #amwriting #writingcommunity

YouTube video by BODHI - Topic by your ruse

Lovely Writers!

Thank you for yesterday’s beautiful work! Let’s slip into a new day, shall we?

Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan 25 is #ruse

Song: by your #ruse by BODHI

Lyrics:

“Why you gotta be so cruel?
Heaven only knows you by your ruse”

youtu.be/IOTpKch4tBE?...

A #slip of an idea
took flight and
plunged earthward
more down than feather

But a stray eye snagged
on its fledgling form
catching it, considering...

Until once again
it was thrust from the nest
before its time

#vss365 #prompt #poem #poetry #amwriting

I wouldn’t consider you
a downpour
a torrent
or even a shower

More of an incipient
#drizzle
seeping into weekend plans
and muddying
my shoes

#vss365 #prompt #poem #poetry #amwriting