Tag: Linda M. Crate

A Gothic point of view 

I never knew

of how sadness could kill you

how grief could be so heavy

that you’d choose relief from demons

rather than being cradled in the

light,

but that was changed when my uncle

chose death instead of life;

seventeen years ago,

but I still remember being that sobbing

little girl

I still cry

our hearts were broken when he chose

to leave us instead of remaining 

where he could have been loved;

but now I know grief can hang on the bones

secrets can have a need to be buried within

never shared out of shame or fear,

and nothing is ever what it seems;

where others find terror and horror I have always

found darkness beautiful in its own way

perhaps that’s why I hold the ‘creepy’ copy

of the nutcracker he gave me so tightly

without a second thought

scare tales have always fascinated me because

I have learned there cannot be beauty without pain

for misery gives birth to appreciation and joy.

Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic was published in March 2015. The second novel of this series Dragons & Magic was published in October 2015.  Her poetry collection, Sing Your Own Song, is forthcoming through Barometric Pressures Series.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Linda-M-Crate-129813357119547/

Novels: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Magic-Linda-M-Crate/dp/1508572968 & http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Magic-Linda-M-Crate/dp/1517126312/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456149250&sr=1-1&keywords=Dragons+%26+Magic+Linda+M.+Crate

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlindamcrate/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thysilverdoe

MY WEAKNESS & STRENGTH 

No one

wants to hear the

story of how

I sewed myself back

together

after the throes of lust

nearly ravaged 

me into ruin

they only want to hear that

I am “fine” when they ask how i’m doing,

but I’ve never been the type

that can hide my emotions and why should

I want to?

why is it so wrong to admit

that I feel

as deep as the earth holds her roots or as high as an

opera singer can psalm or as jaggedly as an

quaking mountain?

my strength

is my empathy, my kindness, my love, 

and my caring;

I will not cut that part out of myself because it makes

some uncomfortable or insecure or vulnerable—

I will not be ashamed of feeling

because sensitivity is both a weakness and a strength.

 Linda M. Crate 

I’M MAGIC

If you’re looking for me

you shan’t find me

because I’m magic,

and you don’t believe;

I suppose a healthy dose of skepticism is

to be expected from one who doesn’t

even hold his religion

sacred

let alone his love—

you hunted me like a wild animal

with your wolf fangs

you dragged me to the ground and made me yours,

and I let you;

but I puzzled over it all—

because while I knew love was painful

I didn’t think it required this much blood,

and so I changed and became stronger

I was always a wild creature;

but now your gilded cage can’t even find me

let alone hold me.

A SOUL ON FIRE

You put your hands

into my cosmic cookie jar,

but my stars were not

yours for the taking;

they burned you on the sharp

edges of their wildness—

always I was “too” something:

too fat, too uptight, too anxious, too provocative

or I was not enough:

not pretty enough, not provocative enough, not brave enough

you could never make up your damn mind,

and so when I look back at the pictures

I can safely say

that I’m happier without you;

and your icicles so sharp and so cold as the hell fire

in your soul.

Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic was published in March 2015. The second novel of this series Dragons & Magic was published in October 2015.  Her poetry collectionSing Your Own Song is forthcoming through Barometric Pressures Series.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Linda-M-Crate-129813357119547/

Novels: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Magic-Linda-M-Crate/dp/1508572968 & http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Magic-Linda-M-Crate/dp/1517126312/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456149250&sr=1-1&keywords=Dragons+%26+Magic+Linda+M.+Crate

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlindamcrate/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thysilverdoe