Pic and a Word Challenge #182 & Day 13: Little witch in the shadows

Yesterday one and today another most excellent news: I was first published and then featured. Must be magic at work. A little celebration is in order with a poem about a little witch and happy current photos.

Don’t worry about the multitude of links in this post. They are just for those who are curious.

This must be a first: My writing, signed with my real name, was published by a legitimate and unconnected online literary journal. The reason for this may be that this was only my second time submitting something that I’ve written. 😀

Visual Verse, an anthology of art, poetry, short fiction and non-fiction, every month posts a challenging image, invites published and unpublished writers to write a poem or prose piece to it between 50 and 500 words, and then puts about 100 submissions on their website.

And yesterday I saw mine appear. Here it is, entitled The Precondition. And here are all published submissions for this month (new ones will be added throughout April). My real name included on the authors’ list? Looking good!

Thank you so much, Visual Verse editors, and Bojana for encouraging me to give it a try. Oh, and bear in mind that my piece will only make sense if you celebrate the Towel Day.

I was grinning ear to ear already, and then this morning I saw that I’ve been chosen by NaPoWriMo as a featured participant on lucky Day Thirteen! They say about my yesterday’s poem that “the dull/precious thing prompt for Day Twelve gave rise to a sly and supple poem”.

I had a look and it seems that the whole idea and execution of this project stems from the poet Maureen Thorson who “just likes poems and wants to encourage people to write them” (From FAQ). The first thing I read on her website was “I have been sent from the future to tell it like it is”. Oh yes.

I wish to thank Maureen for liking my poem, calling it sly and supple and featuring me, as well as for running this campaign and providing excellent prompts every day, with some help, I should hope. I’m also grateful to everybody who has come to my blog to read my poem. I hope you stick around.

Today’s post also goes for Patrick’s Pic and a Word challenge on the subject of shadow.

Let’s see about that witch now.

Challenge 13: “Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something mysterious and spooky! Your poem could be about something that is mysterious and spooky in a bad way (like a witch), or mysterious and spooky in a good way (possibly also like a witch? It depends on the witch, I guess!) Or just the everyday, mysterious, spooky quality of being alive.”

Little witch

 There is no shadow without darkness,
 there is no shadow without light.

 She lives on the border between the two.
 Where the shadows are.

 There is power,
 fear,
 ease
 on the edge.

 She moves along it,
 making baby steps
 in one direction
 and then the other.

 Darkness pulls,
 light wins.

 White is natural,
 black is omnipotent
 and therefore scary.

 The first time she is tripping
 is also the last time.
 She feels so powerful
 that she doesn’t know how to walk
 without flying off
 into the falling snow.

 She has men sitting  
 on the floor before her
 telling her secrets,
 asking her opinion,
 crying.

 She steps back into the shadow
 towards the white light
 and writes from there.

 Her pen is at the ready
 and so is her pan
 in case a monster enters her shadowlands
 in need of a good thrashing.
   
 Some say:
 “Go into the dark.
 Write out of anger.
 Explore the negative.”

 She says:
 “You have no idea  
 what you’re asking for.” 

---

Here is what my daily walks look like. Easy to opt for light in Italy.

“Are you alright there?” Oh yes, just celebrating.

My familiar posing.

All in light, one branch in the shadow.

All in shadow, one branch in the light.

Chiaroschuro.

This shadow is angry for being cut short.

This shadow is showing off.

It could also be a language.

Nature’s way of spelling “strong wind”.

The flag of the day.

Bestia shows the way: We can get with this.

Or we can get with that.

In response to Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge #182: Shadow

and for Day 13 of NaPoWriMo