# Anonymous March Challenge: "Long Shadows"



## Chesters Daughter (Mar 1, 2019)

As previously announced by Gumby, we've updated the *challenge rules*. Henceforth, all submissions will be anonymous.
*
Please remember that in submitting an entry you are obligated to cast at least one vote in the poll. Failure to do so will result in your entry being disqualified.

*The prompt for this month's *anonymous* challenge as chose by TL Murphy is: *Long Shadows

*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 SECURE. **I am responsible for linking all entries posted on the secure board to public board.**

*****VERY IMPORTANT*** Kindly make sure your entry is properly formatted and error free before you PM it to me as you will be unable to edit your work once I have posted it. **If your work requires a disclaimer, please inform me in your submission PM.
**
**PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT ANY ENTRY POSTED DIRECTLY TO EITHER BOARD WILL RESULT IN THAT PARTICULAR WORK BEING DISQUALIFIED, BUT YOU WILL BE PERMITTED TO SELECT ANOTHER WORK TO ENTER ANONYMOUSLY THROUGH THE REQUIRED CHANNELS. 

If your entry receives critique at any point in the process, kindly wait until after our winner has been announced to respond to it as responding before then will reveal your identity and disqualify your entry.

**Do not post comments in this thread. Any discussion related to the challenge can take place in the Bards' Bistro.


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


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 5, 2019)

*
Apologue of the Cave*


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 5, 2019)

*
-wing.ed-*


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 5, 2019)

*Words are pegs for the lines*

The dog lies on top  
of the long shadows, knows if he moves 
darkness will engulf the food 
I haven’t yet delivered. 

His jaws rest on large paws, 
his moonful eyes reproachful – 
how could I, hasn’t he given me 
the best years of his life, 
chased sticks and balls and howled 
loud enough for morning to come back? 

I use words he cannot comprehend 
to explain I have bigger fish to fry 
than fill that metal pan 
and the dog hates it anyway — 
he is the only dog I know 
who eats with dainty teeth 
as if those canines could never rend or rip. 

My words, like his teeth, 
offer a pretence — the way a Venus flytrap 
seduces the fly with a stench 
so true it must be a lie. 

My words are false, 
strung up as they are like lights 
to be read then think meaning is made 
within their vowels and pauses – 

into the night we head, blank page as bright 
as any midnight — the loss of thoughts 
leaving lines empty, the screen  
gasping for something new, the dog sits still, 
stares at the metal bowl, his cocked ears 
full of words that could tell the truth 
if only I could understand.


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 6, 2019)

*Daddy (Mature Content/Language)*

Even in his absence
he casts a long shadow
as viscous as cold petroleum
that suffocates the innocents
he leaves behind
on his vile isle
light years from the norm.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]They’re accustomed to its weight 
forcing them ever closer to the floor -
exactly where he wants them -
and where they have a daily date
once he rejoins his projection
and flesh offers substance
to shaded suggestion.

It’s an anomaly,
that shadow,
its existence depends upon dark
making it allergic to light
and pity the fool 
who attempts to shed some
by imploring 
anyone 
anywhere 
at any time
to help make things right.

It comes equipped
with the latest, greatest GPS
to better tail them 
to school, the market, the doctor, church,
and at one time, the homes of family
and friends, 
but all of those relationships 
eventually met their end
thanks to a fistful of subtle persuasion.

It rules a roost
that has no phone
but boasts casements
secured by coffin nails
[FONT=&Verdana][FONT=&Verdana]and magic doors 
that fail [/FONT][/FONT]to open
thanks to disappearing keys
that only materialize 
when the magician has his fill
of pleas from a chorus line
[FONT=&Verdana][FONT=&Verdana]of crying robots 
draped with frill.[/FONT][/FONT]

But once its master’s bulk
darkens the front doorway,
it takes its rightful place behind him
as he makes his day
by creeping up on his prey

but today

the hungry hunter finds
his personal grounds barren.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]The offspring, sheltered
in the recesses of the cellar,
shudder at his enraged roar
as does Mommy, secreted 
behind the kitchen door
and clutching freshly honed
liberation.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]Last night’s run to the ER,
the third in a year 
but two months old,
was finally one time too many
waking Mother from a decade
of compliant coma.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]Daddy grins when he sees her,
taking off his jacket to keep it free
from those pesky stains,
and as he goes to grab her hair
to keep her where 
his arm need not strain,
she gains
the upper-hand
with an upper-cut
that opens up
both voice box and vessels.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]His eyes,
wide with surprise
begin to cry
and his roar, now lame,
can only gurgle her name.

Her hawk-like gaze —
who’s the hunter now, bitch—
never wavers as his pulse
paints the cellar door,
each beat of his pump
adding to the puddle on the floor
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]and as she backs away
to keep it from her slippers
she finds her step lighter and quicker
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]and realizes both he
and that fucking phantasm of his
were finally no more.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]Scooting ‘round a red river, 
she grabs his jacket
and extracts from the pocket
the last bit of magic
needed to exact their release.
Such a sweet serenade
is the jingle of keys.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]She collects her kids
and ushers them out 
the back basement door 
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]then up the concrete stairs
to the waiting sun 
where their five shadows become one
gratis of a group hug
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]each relieved to their core
at deliverance 
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]from the evil that kept them 
ever tethered
to its noxious shores
and its shadowy sentry
that in Daddy’s absence
enforced his lurid lore
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]both now obliterated 
as Mommy last night swore.


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 8, 2019)

*The Abandoned Well*

Dark escapes light.
Shadows form bleak armies
leap edge to sky, 
to pin scraps of the sun 
against the distant hills.

Old man dwells between cardboard walls , a desert, inside an echo 
of someone once named Sam.  

Here,
where tribes deserted long ago,
angled deep into earth’s soul,
the moon forgets to shine
across the gape.

A coyote falls through,
breaks its bones and sinks midway
in muddy stench.
Days and days and nights howl
inside a hole,
to last, 
below a star’s eye. 

Magic worms
from a moments pocket
appear,  
weave labryinths inside soft parts,
glow phosphorescence,
then blink out.

Old man's hands reach, as he spills through coils of crumbling walls 
toward light he can not grasp. Reflexive tears illume his face.

Shadows rail downward.
Soft flutter, the crows
with their eyes cocked, pull seeds
from the ragweed,
while a skull and claw moor
against the heart
of an irresponsible moon.

Old man remembers his blanket is warm and wraps himself inside 
because he remembers his blanket is warm.


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 11, 2019)

*Lux et umbra*

The shadows were long within her eyes
from leafless treetops against the skies.
Morning had brought a grey half-light
smouldering at the edge of the dying night.
Should I indeed allow myself to love
this beautiful innocent and fragile dove
lost in a wilderness of tangled winds,
of bright beginnings and bitter ends,
of embattled hopes amid great fears
and joyful tidings after many tears?
She smiled to herself, then looked at me; 
the shadows were gone, from what I could see.
She took my hand and we faced the light
which now filled the world, serene and bright.


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 11, 2019)

*
Memories of Shadows*


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 12, 2019)

*
Fifty Years*


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 13, 2019)

*
Long Shadows*


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## Chesters Daughter (Mar 15, 2019)

This challenge is now closed.


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