# August Challenge: "Hidden"



## Chesters Daughter (Aug 1, 2016)

The prompt for this month's *anonymous* challenge, as chosen by ned is: *Hidden


**KINDLY BE ADVISED THAT ALL ENTRIES ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE CRITIQUE WITHIN THE VOTING THREAD


You are free to interpret the prompt in any way you wish, though of course, site rules apply. If you are unsure of the challenge rules please read the 'stickies' at the top of the board.

Your entry must be submitted anonymously and therefore should be PMed to me, Chester's Daughter, so that I may post it for you. Please be sure to indicate in your PM on which board you prefer your work posted, PUBLIC or WORKSHOP.

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Now that the 'like" function is again blessing us with its presence, we respectfully request that you refrain from using ituntil this thread has been closed and the poll has been opened.

This challenge will close on the 15th of August at 7pm EST.*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 3, 2016)

*fluent in spanish*

hoarded delights
piled ceiling high.

book after book
fill the walls
forming the fortress
i seclude myself 
squarely within.

highlighted cookbooks
filled with recipes
i can no longer stomach.

true crime pulp
authors obsessed with people
not deserving of my sympathy
despite my empathy. 

lines of bukowski
flying overhead,
reminding me, 
things can always
get worse.

neruda speaking
a language
i wish i understood.


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 5, 2016)

*Mum*

My end has begun,
but I won't have them
forfeit their fun.
Nothing to be gained
by blemishing the now
with what is to come.
No need to weaken
a nuturing sun
and cover their skies
with clouds,
never a solemn syllable
will I utter aloud.

I must remain mute
so puppies and kittens
will still be deemed cute,
and the scent of flowers
from our beloved garden,
for one more summer,
will retain its power.

My silence ensures
our meals will never 
be merely endured
but rather relished,
and we will go on
trading suppertime tales, 
most a wee bit embellished.

They won't begin each morn
twisted in sheets
from tossing and turning
in pursuit of sleep,
or with baggage beneath
orbs gone old and cold
that can't recall anything at all
save to weep.

Until I take my leave,
they will rouse
with a stolen kiss
to usher them
into the warm embrace
of sun drenched skies,
with glimpses
of joyful dreams
playing peekaboo
in worry-free minds.

Their genuine smiles,
not yet tainted
by mournful beguile,
will serve 
as my most coveted 
goodbyes.

Once the mentoring duties
I so adore are no more,
ripped from my death grip
one by one
and rendered done,
their tragic loss attesting
my tenure on high
has duly begun

please be kind and remind
my six kids
of a lesson I taught
while I lived
a truth,
unlike me,
that will never die:

omission

is sometimes essential
and not always a lie.


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 5, 2016)

*Numb: A Place Unseen*

A place beyond sleep, too tired, even for tears,
beyond the cage of seething, feral rage.
This is a place called Numb—
A dark place, Numb, where the soul is deaf and dumb.

Logic is lost; humour buried in a shallow grave.
The ghost of a smile, a smile taunting, its memory haunting—
Shadows ringing eyes, purple as a pugilist’s coveted prize.
Escape blocked by a cage, a beast of seething, feral rage.

Alone and raw, but the mask is too good—A task,
life where no one tries to see, a mind no longer free.
A brutal endurance found, holding, yet never gaining ground,
alone, tensile strength of character, tested at savage length.

Madness, not the beautiful kind, as chaos spawns the stars.
Nobody left behind to fight—Running silent through the night.
Slipping, shattered and downed—Truth in a bucket, found.
Beneath the weight a mask cracks. Nobody, call out, look back.

Echo, words caught on the fly—Lore, surging, do or die,
chasing a diminishing spiral of gold—Nobody, a story told.
Hold on tight—fight—hold on—even when falling seems so right.
Toes grip, a milkweed seed takes flight—Nobody, hold on tight.


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 5, 2016)

*
I'm Coming*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 7, 2016)

When the Mud Dries 

out of the dust and dirt 
we slither on in and about-
hungry alone and hurt
moving in over and out-

nothing is as it seems~

we slither in on and about
in disgrace and utter shame-
while we scream sing and shout 
God and the devil are to blame-

we move in and out of a butterfly’s dreams~

hungry alone and hurt
do cowards bones we eat-
rotted flesh is our dessert
a sinners soul~ a tasty little treat-

what is hidden is meant to be found~

in nightmares do we hide
the beast inside within has lied-
moving in over and out
we finally purge ourselves of doubt-

does one hand clapping make a sound~


_(songs of the dead to the living)_


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 12, 2016)

*Endure*

Life's tomorrow's
recur obscure,
hidden sorrows
always endure.

My heart did die
as my body lives,
my eyes don't cry
so I forgive.

With this notion
they stay hidden,
these emotions
are forbidden.


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 14, 2016)

*
Feeding Meat to Babies*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2016)

*Secret Reaper*

_*Late at night while all*_ _*sleeping
you sneak out stealthily creeping
creeping sneaking while all are dreaming
Oh you are a silent sneaker
*_*and a dark secret keeper

Into your house silently creeping
while you are sleeping I am sneaking
sneaking peeking while you are dreaming
Oh I am a silent sneaker 
and a nighttime quiet creeper

To your life you are clinging
but it is revenge I am seeking
seeking death silently sneaking
Oh I am a lost soul seeker
and I am your dark grim reaper

Dark grim reaper stealthily creeping
your cheating soul I am seeking
seeking peeking quietly sneaking
Oh I am the dark sneaker
and your cheating soul keeper

You thought you were cleverly sneaking
with your Brother's wife you were cheating
cheating sneaking secret keeping
Oh I am your secret reaper
and I am your Brother's Keeper...*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2016)

*
The Code of Silence*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2016)

*Archaeopteryx*

Proposed in 1859
As Darwin challenged The Word
That dinosaurs, are of course
Ancestral to every bird.

Finally hunted down in China 
Petrified in ashen cover
A ghostly vision of transition
From one class to another.

Given wings, unlocked from rock
Where it may have lain forever 
For it clearly shows, in delicate rows
A dinosaur sporting feathers.


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2016)

This challenge is now closed.


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