Vicie Ree aka Auntie_Social

#vss365
A forced pall
on display
in a dim funerary light.

Kin play ghost
in shades of gray
squeezing tears
from traitorous eyes.

Still. Silent.
Ritual observers of
this life.

I bounce,
wearing #blatant joy.
Lips painted loud.
Ready to eulogize.

I am here to bear witness:
to celebrate
this death.

#vss365
All tucked in,
wanting to cry.
My head buried in sheets;
my lips quivering
Grandma’s prayer—
“If I die…”

Her house is #beastly.
Branches scratch at walls
threatening to grab me.
Shadows lurk in every corner, waiting.
Gnomes plot in the garden.

The floors creak.
They are coming—
for me.

🤣🤣🤣

#vss365

I am #mystified every time I pull into a parking garage—
a concrete labyrinth
where I circle and spiral,
one direction, up and down,
never finding the minotaur
but somehow always finding my way out.

#vss365
Dottie didn’t need love potions; she only needed a sewing machine and a Simplicity pattern. She added a wiggle to her walk and a red lace crinoline to accentuate her #bouncy figure.

Behind the bleachers, she flashed Billy and he came running—then she rewarded him for being a good boy.

#vss365
Bonnie was verdant
and green,
a #mountainous woman
wanting to be explored.

Clark was tired
of rock climbing,
scaling shallow surfaces
with little to hold on to.

They bumped into
one another and met—
Someone to have,
someone to hold.

#vss365
Each passing day
the visit
grew
less #enchanted.

Glitter-bomb sparkle
became
dust
in my pores.

My cozy,
contented life
dulled
in the visiting shade.

I began to itch
with social discomfort—
my home
invaded.

Auntie Social
took the toll.

Anti-Social
is what remains
when the visitor leaves.

#vss365

Potential

aloft
i am
#minuscule.
a molecule.
a dust mote.
sparkling
carbon
pressured
to be
imagined,
ready
to be
polished.
i am
awaiting
discovery.

#vss365

It was unwanted—
That Winter’s #kiss
blooming flowers
A rejected gift.

#vss365

Mama’s daddy sprouted from a broken branch—
our #lacuna legacy,
bound in trauma,
shallow-rooted
in yellow bayou bottomlands.

#vss365

“I found a rainbow,” I beam
but before colors
spill from my mouth
they are stolen
midair.

Mouth agape,
a #dark cloud gathers
in my throat.

I am a fool,
left out in the storm,
watching you
gather my gold.

#vss365
A painting lives on the wall
it has lived here longer than I

It goes unnoticed
like a clock
with dead batteries

But today
the sun oversteps
pushing in uninvited
through a narrow seam

a ray of blind illumination
“Look” it commands

Rothko’s landscape
A #touch of blue
on an abstract horizon

#vss365

Lucia’s Diary
#ThousandYearOldVampire

I woke this morning in pain.

Blood-tears pooled in my eyes. I searched for a wound, pressed my hand to my chest, wondering if love had broken my curse and returned my beating heart.

But alas—there is only #ache. No heartbeat.
I am not human.

🙏🙏🙏

#vss365
My heart is a muscle—
not a #bone to be broken
by sticks and stones.

Micro-tears.
A bruised ego.
These will heal.

My heart is a muscle—
stronger for loving,
capable of being loved.

#vss365
Master Paul Feininger reminded me of an ivory-carved statue: chiseled features, #pale skin, cold and immaculate. He carried himself as an aristocrat, living always at the leisure of others.

Excerpt from my #ThousandYearOldVampire journal entry, The Immortal Who Turned Me.

Thanks Eileen.

#vss365
I could smell him. His scent was sin and lust, and in his eyes was a thirst not unlike my own—but I knew it was not for my #blood.

“Brother, don’t you see? I'm your Little Lucia. I'm of your blood. Your flesh.”

I smiled, my teeth betraying my true nature. I went for his jugular.

It was. 🫶

🙏🥰🫶

#vss365
We were praying
before the attack
I was in shock
My sister snaked her arm around mine

Her fingers #wound tight
biting my skin
as if she could stop the venom from reaching my heart

The poison was already in my blood

In all our DNA
in words that could never be unsaid

as daddy lay in repose

#vss365

Small crowd.
Harsh light.
Bare stage.

Feathered delight.

Brazen, bejeweled—
her shimmy shivered,
plush hips rolling,
her smile quivered.

Tassels twinkling,
dollar bills in the air,
#lambent curls flowing,
clothes everywhere.

Watching her,
I felt sexy
in my own skin.

#vss365

Your #ghost lives
in the space
between me and comfort.

#vss365

Yesterday, your #pain saw its shadow—
six more weeks, you said.

Six more weeks holding our breath,
winter’s judge postponing spring.

Six more weeks weathering moods,
waiting for a break, waiting for a verdict.

Six more weeks until we learn
a stranger’s definition of family.

Thank you for your kindness. 🫶

#vss365
My son wears a coat
you cannot see—
unlike The Emperor's New Clothes.

Like Joseph’s coat,
his #soul is a patchwork hand-me-down,
stitched with patience.

My brother walks in his stride.
My father twinkles in his eye.
My ancestors speak when he does.

#vss365

I am safe
in the #shadow of
my pseudonym—
a ghost writing
very short stories.

VSS-ography:
changing names,
protecting those
I met before
my flashlight of truth—
my metaphor.

🙏🙏🙏 Thank you.

Yes. For you. Yes. 🥰

Same here Bethany. I've been distracted this year with some family trauma/drama but im hopeful it will begin to settle in the coming weeks so I can be more fully engaged again.