Experience Writing

Changing with the Moon

If you missed this morning’s prompts post, I’m responding to Phases of the Moon.

For today’s images I used the disc on a tiny brad filter I created last year over clear plastic to represent different phases of the moon with the blue light curtain in the mirrorworld.

OctPoWriMo 2023:Facing Our Fears

Today’s prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is to write an ekphrastic to a piece by one of three “haunted” artists. I responded to the Edvard Munch, “Despair” in my concrete poem about transformation and fear of change. I call it “A Sliver of Insight: A Nightmare Remembered”

Writober 2023

As I mentioned in the prompt post, I messed up and responded to today’s image last week. If you want to read the beginning of that story it’s here. Today, I am taking inspiration from this Gregory Crewdson photograph. Now for the beginning of my story.

The Spotlight’s On

Graham liked to be in the spotlight. Always the center of attention. He didn’t have an act, a talent, or a skill to speak of. Not yet. But he knew he was destined for greatness. In middle school he finally convinced everyone to call him Gravy Train, mostly by tripping and spilling gravy all over himself, but he liked it, and he made sure it stuck.

Now, a few years out of high school and still not sure where his star would land, Gravy Train was moving up in the local underworld doing jobs without question and not wanting answers. As long as he could keep himself off the street and warm in his signature brown leather from head to tow, he didn’t really care where he had to go or what he had to do. Which is how he found himself alone, deep in some thick woods expecting to meet someone named Tank who had something for his current boss.

Gravy Train wasn’t all that surprised by the location. He figured Tank was cooking meth, or processing something else and had a shack out here somewhere. Probably where that weird light was coming from giving the trees such long shadows after he turned off his car lights and decided to wait in the dark pretending he was famous and he was psyching himself up off stage, then stepping out right before the spotlight hit.

A whirring noise made him look up. He didn’t see anything but evergreen branches. Then it happened, just as he imagined, a giant spotlight lit him up. The light was only on him. Right there in the middle of nowhere forest.

Phases of the Moon by Maria L. Berg 2023

Have fun in the Moonlight!

Oct. 17 Prompts: Phases of the Moon

It’s hard to believe we are already over halfway through the month and these challenges. Even if you’re just joining now, there’s still plenty of time to get some fun, spooky writing done and face your fears through your poems. Feel free to link up to any of the prompts so far as well as the rest as we go. Are you getting excited for Halloween?

OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Fear of Change: For today’s poem think about transformation: physical, situational, or otherwise.

Now that we’ve made it through half of the month, I thought it could be interesting to do another mind map around “Fear” and see if things have changed, if we’re making different connections, if new things come up. You may also want to do a second mind map around “Change” to explore ideas for today’s poem.

A concrete poem or shape poetry might be a fun way to express this poem. Here’s the concrete poem I wrote in April 2022.

Writober 2023

Today’s image prompt looks like a very bad laundry day.

I’m afraid I confused myself (that’s what I get for trying to schedule ahead) and wrote to this image last week with my story The Washing Machine is Out of Order instead of the Gregory Crewdson photograph, so I guess I’ll be writing to that image today.

Halloween Photography Challenge

The first image at the top was made by taping a lazer-cut wooden puzzle piece of an astronaut onto a plastic filter over my camera lens and taking a picture of a white light. The other two are pictures of the moon.

Please link to your creations in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Are any of you planning for NaNoWriMo? I’m having trouble deciding what I want to do this year. I love writing a brand new novel draft, and really want to try a genre I haven’t tried yet (maybe magical realism, fantasy, or horror) but I also need to finish my novels, so I may want to use NaNoWriMo to write a new draft of the thriller I started last year, and revised the outline during camp. Working on the thriller and working toward finishing it will probably be more rewarding in the long run, but writing something completely new sure sounds like fun.

Oh So Many Vampires

Capturing the Elusive Nosferatu by Maria L. Berg 2023

If you missed this morning’s prompts post, I’m responding to Sexy Blood Suckers.

For today’s images I tried to cut a Nosferatu filter inspired by the 1922 movie in which the first vampiric fangs were shown on camera. Though my filter isn’t exactly recognizable I like the resulting photographs. in the mirrorworld.

That which has no reflection by Maria L. Berg

OctPoWriMo 2023:Facing Our Fears

Your
bite brings
blood to the
surface like my
bite brings juice to the flesh of a ripe fruit

And the gushing sweetness heightens pleasure
like a racing
pulse pressures
one to
blush

Your
bite leaves
a bruise like
a dropped apple
left to age; its skin turns brown like dried blood

It’s also Quadrille Monday at dVerse Poets Pub and the prompt word is “fold.” So today, I offer a second poem:

The Tightest Fold

When I fold into
your warmth
I never want to
leave, or move
or breathe out
of sync with your breath
or hear my heartbeat
over yours
When I fold into
your safety
its where I want to stay
and be still
while in-folding

Writober 2023

Wanting to Be Seen

They all stilled and listened, shifting uncomfortably in the confined space. They had been waiting for hours since darkness fell, and finally they heard footsteps on the stairs. A growl began from the crisper.

“Be quiet,” said Nerqui, taking charge. She’ll hear you, and may not open the door. He heard her slipper shuffling across the kitchen linoleum. “Get ready. Okay, now!”

The refrigerator door opened and they all showed their long claws and sharp fangs. But the expected scream in terror, the rush of tasty fear never came. Her eyes were barely open and she reached right through them as if they weren’t even there, grabbed the piece of cheesecake on the plate covered in plastic wrap on the top shelf and went to the counter. She took off the plastic wrap and shoved the front corner of the piece in her mouth. She kept shoving, barely chewing, making happy noises, muttering something and then shoving more in.

“Nerqui, what is going on? We don’t understand. Where’s our meal of terror. The late night snack fridge attack is usually a sure thing.”

“I know. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve heard of this. It’s rare but I think she’s a somnambulist with SRED,” said Nerqui sounding intrigued, and not scared like the rest of them.

“And in real language.”

“Oh, yeah, I think she’s asleep,” said Nerqui.

“You have got to be kidding. She got up, came down stairs, opened the fridge and is eating in her sleep? We didn’t even scare her enough to wake her up? Nerqui, we’re hungry. We’ve been waiting hours. Where can we go get a meal in a hurry.”

The woman finished her cheesecake and licked her fingers over and over for a while, then put the plate in the sink.

“Be quiet, she’s coming back. Get ready,” said Nerqui. “Now!”

They all bared their claws and hissed and growled, baring their sharp fangs. They all could have sworn she looked right at them.

She closed the refrigerator door.

Oct. 16 Prompts: Sexy Blood Suckers

Pontianak Vampire Ghost by Maria L. Berg 2022

OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Fear of Fangs: Write a poem that includes being bit (by something or someone) and biting (something or someone).

A Triple Tetractys might be fun with this prompt.

Writober 2023

Today’s image prompt is a creepy find. Those creatures look like they could have fangs.

Halloween Photography Challenge

Please link to your creations in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

This is a late addition to this prompt, but I wanted to add the Monstrum videos for vampires.

Making Faces

Choosing the Pumpkin by Maria L. Berg 2023

If you missed this morning’s prompts post, I’m responding to Carving Scary Faces.

I woke up before dawn, so for today’s images I combined last year’s pumpkin filter and my wire Jack-o-lantern face filter to turn the neighbors across the lake’s security lights into Jack-o-lanterns.

OctPoWriMo 2023:Facing Our Fears

Becoming her Jack-o-lantern

She kidnapped me
stole me from my patch
of land and family: she
washed me, sliced me open,
gutted me, then began to carve
At first I thought she was forcing
me to look like her, but then she carved
the teeth, sharp, pointed teeth

Yet the candle is warm and my shaved skin glows

I’m living the nightmare
that spread through the patch
all my short life as my brothers
were snatched up, others would whisper
that the carvers had come to tear
them apart for their sick fun

Yet the candle is warm and my shaved skin glows

And now I’m her soldier
I fight back the gloom
I won’t last long
and face certain doom

Yet the candle is warm and my shaved skin glows

Writober 2023

When You Can’t Believe Your Eyes

This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening.

I didn’t just see some big-eyed albino giraffe-dog smiling at me as it ran in front of my car. I didn’t see that because it’s impossible . It can’t exist.

Big breath. Let’s start over. I’m just stopped at the light. Yeah, it’s a little foggy out, but not play-tricks-on-your-mind foggy. I’m not on anything. I like to be in control of my faculties. That’s how I know this isn’t happening.

But oh, crap! There’s another one. I’ve got to get out of here. Those things are big. Taller than my car and about as wide. Those big black eyes and wide smile are almost cute, but they are so wrong. That long thick neck on those elephantine legs running along like that. They look like they should have arms on that neck, and that the neck should be a body, but they don’t, and it’s not.

When I saw the first one I flipped on the radio to try to find some news but it was only static. Every station. I instantly thought of that weird fenced off government lab out in the desert only a few miles from here. There have always been whispers that they were doing creepy experiments out there. You know, mutant genetic experiments that sort of thing, but I just figured those people were conspiracy crack-pots that always want the government to be doing something shady, giving the government way more power and credit than a bunch of paper-pushing bureaucrats should have. But if I believe my eyes in this moment, then I was totally wrong and they were right and there are monsters in that lab. But why? Why would anyone make those things? What could be the point of that?

I’m still sitting at the light. I can’t seem to make my limbs move to make the car move. Where would I go? Is that the same one I just saw in front of me again, or has the first one come back? It’s just standing there. Is it looking at me? Oh no, this can’t be happening. Those were the little ones, and the parents are right behind them.

I finally convince my limbs to move, shifting into reverse and slamming the gas pedal to the floor. Luckily I appear to be the only person on the road tonight and am able to back over the bridge. Maybe the creatures know they are too heavy or they are afraid of water, who knows, but they stop coming. I make it home and hide in the basement all night, just in case those giant ones start stepping on houses.

When I creep upstairs in the morning, there is nothing about it on the local news. It’s as if it never happened. So maybe I’m right, it couldn’t happen, so it didn’t.

The Neighbors’ Safety Jack-o-lanterns by Maria L. Berg 2023

Oct. 15 Prompts: Carving Scary Faces

OctPoWriMo 2023:Facing Our Fears

Fear of Norms: Write a poem from the POV of a monster or your jack-o-lantern. What specifically does the monster fear?

You may want to write it as a Bop. Here’s a bop I wrote for OctPoWriMo 2019:

Crossing the threshold

Inside
Flannel pajamas
covered in blankets
heating pad on my belly
alone in thoughtful silence
imagining a better world
Need a push to cross the threshold

Outside
People, places, things
aspirations and collaborations,
beauty, love fresh and new
expectations, disappointments,
together in thoughtful silence
peppered with communication
that can be misunderstood
Need a push to cross the threshold

Inside Out
Comfort or adventure
alone together
creating more existence
forming bonds
entering or exiting
Need a push to cross the threshold

Writober 2023

Today’s image prompt is another super-creepy gif. What is that thing? Where did it come from? What would you do if you were in that car?

Halloween Photography Challenge

I really enjoy carving Jack-o-lanterns. I also really like the wire jack-o-lantern filter I made, so today should be a lot of fun.

Please link to your creations in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

A Watery Grave

If you missed this morning’s prompts post, I’m responding to Not in the Grave.

For today’s images I tried something new and played with fabric under water to create a ghostly under-water grave.

OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

NIghtmare Nocturnes

Darkness arrives earlier each day
and against my will I tire earlier each day
because then the battle begins earlier each day
hope against horrors earlier each day
and I rush toward death earlier each day

Nightmares in progress meet my heavy lids
lost child me in the forest behind my heavy lids
the wolves—fangs bared snarling—race on my heavy lids
they catch her and bite her behind those heavy lids
she doesn’t fear death, she wants to return earlier each day

Nightmares progress and hold me down; I can’t move
hold my screams in my throat while I can’t move
Cut with knives, scissors, and scalpels while I can’t move
their eyes burn blood-red while I can’t move
aichmophobia or latrophobia I move from bed earlier each day

Each nightmare ends just before death surprised to meet the dark
yet the horror lingers waiting to meet me in the dark
and each day I have an earlier meeting with the dark
To face a fear dream-made all too real, I meet the dark
a growing nyctophobia begins earlier each day

Writober 2023

Logline: A haunted piano fantasizes about its next player, its next love.

The Touch of Your Fingers

One day you will have to move. Maybe your landlord’s adult children want your apartment, or your landlord sells and your apartment is being torn down. Either way you will decide it’s time to buy your own place. You will move into a deserted old house, feeling brave about your fixer-upper. And after clearing away the cobwebs and dust, and hauling away the broken and rusted, dry-rotted and mildewed, and the completely unusable things, and after you’ve washed and cleaned and polished and fixed and painted, you will realize the piano is in pretty good shape. Surprisingly good shape. You will not have played in many years but had once imagined playing professionally, especially on those Friday nights in college when you reserved piano time in the concert hall.

You will sit down on the bench that creaks under your slight weight which will worry you slightly imagining the legs going out from under you, but then you will settle in and touch the keys that will be miraculously in tune, and you will play whatever your fingers play, improvising something that is so beautiful to your ears you can’t believe those are your fingers caressing the keyboard. That is when we will meet for the first time.

I had intended to listen to Chopin’s Nocturnes on my record player while writing my poem today, but on two Chopin albums and all my piano classics records I did not find a single nocturne, so here are all of Chopin’s nocturnes on YouTube:

Oct. 14 Prompts: Not in the Grave

Halloween Graveyard by Maria L. Berg 2022

OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Dream or Nightmare: Have you ever died in a dream, or woken up just before? Carefully describe such an image from a dream. Use that image to explore a specific fear.

Writing a Nocturne seems like a good fit for this prompt. You may want to read Nocturne by Louise Glück.

Writober 2023

Today’s image prompt is by Korean illustrator SillDa. Is that pianist hallucinating, or is that piano haunted?

Halloween Photography Challenge

My past graves haven’t been very scary. Maybe I’ll have to make something outside this year.

Please link to your creations in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Ashes, Ashes We Write it All Down

If you missed this morning’s prompts post, I’m responding to Stirring the Ashes.

For today’s images I tried something new and set two paper filters on fire to make random shapes. One I burned with a match, and the other with a Bic bendable lighter.

OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Dimensional Shifts

This is the one where all is well
I wake excited to create
It’s not the one that’s living hell
or where the lava is my fate

and not the one where night ghouls tap
at windows when I want to nap
they can give an awful fright
This is the right dimension, right?

Writober 2023

Logline: A man feeling sorry for himself annoys his own shadow.

Here’s an excerpt from my story: Don’t Invite Your Shadow to Your Pity Party

Perry knew he wasn’t supposed to drink with his meds, but he had had such a shitty day, his girlfriend moved out while he was getting fired and someone had hid his car in the parking lot while he was getting fired and he got a ticket for the tail light being busted because someone hit him in the parking lot, so he picked up a bottle of whiskey and was sitting in his arm chair in the dark feeling sorry for himself, watching his shadow grow longer and longer.

It started as a whisper, as his shadow stretched up the far wall. Then the voice became louder and he felt a sharp pain along his sternum.

Oct. 13 Prompts: Stirring the Ashes

Stirring the Ashes by Maria L. Berg 2023

OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Fear of the known: Choose one of your questions from yesterday and use all of your imagination to answer it in a way that doesn’t frighten you.

You may want to organize your answer in the Rispetto form. Here’s a rispetto I wrote in November 2017:

The Mentor and Mentee

She volunteers to educate
Her art from years of practice show
To translate plans as patterns state
Important skills to cook and sew

Combining all the lessons learned
Early habits overturned
To leave mistakes to plague the past
An exponential knowledge vast

Writober 2023

Today’s image prompt shows a frightening event. Is the shadow controlling the action or the man?

Halloween Photography Challenge

Ashes is a new prompt this year. I played with the ashes in the fireplace for the pictures above.

Please link to your creations in the comments. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

OctPoWriMo 2023:Facing Our Fears

Writober 2023

Have fun in the Moonlight!

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OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Halloween Photography Challenge

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Writober 2023

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OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

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Writober 2023

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OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Writober 2023

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OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

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OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Writober 2023

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OctPoWriMo 2023: Facing Our Fears

Halloween Photography Challenge

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