# Anonymous June Challenge: "Echoes"



## Chesters Daughter (Jun 1, 2016)

The prompt for this month's *anonymous* challenge, as chosen by Darkkin is: *Echoes
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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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*
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This challenge will close on the 15th of June at 7pm EST.

***Upon announcing our June winner, I will create a poll for everyone to vote on whether or not we will continue to enter anonymously henceforth.*


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 3, 2016)

A Killing Touch

In this winter of lost dreams
amongst the unborn and newly dead

--I still whisper your name--
~but only my echo returns~

all my burning desires
and tethered hopes,
remain buried within the ice

The chains that hold me and
rip into my flesh were made by
your loving hands. To feel
them once again against my cheek
is all that I ask---even though your
touch turns me to dust.

--I long for your embrace--
~instead of this chill that eats at my bones~

wings scarred and broken
into the ice I sink
with your name forever
etched in, on, and within 
my heart-


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 5, 2016)

*To a newborn*

Your own cry surprises you, makes you start,
your tiny heart rises and falls.
We stare, babe and mother, eyes locked together,
unravelling alien clues of each other.
Unsure and unnerved, we cling to the moment,
a haven between our two worlds.

You will learn and gradually come to know
all the things that a life can show. 
Through growing years we will teach you the ways,
the twisting paths of this earthly race.
The grace of your heavenly starting place
will fade as you learn to let go.

It could take a lifetime of searching and learning
and sorting the wheat from the chaff.
But one day, the thing that I wish for you,
is to find those traces, mysterious spaces,
that haunt this world and will once again show you
echoes of all you know now.​


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 7, 2016)

*Dispossessed*

She never got to see
our new place,
schedules failed to mesh,
and without warning,
next week

became never.

Daily, I curse dust
that collects
on the stained glass skylight
that would have delighted 
her azure eyes,
and the chorus of cicadas
in summer
is no more than a nuisance
that rubs my drums 
the wrong way.
That their song
unfailingly enchanted her
will evermore 
escape my grasp.

Now new is old, 
and I've grown to abhor
the sight 
of our ornate front door,
a fancy facade
to hide the void that lies inside.
The unhallowed walls of the hall
cannot recall 
the echo 
of a voice they've never heard,
nor will the wretched floors
ever be blessed
by the caress 
of her gentle step.

Sans any remnants
of Mom's essence,
this place,
supposedly ours, 
can never, 
ever
become home


nor can any other.


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 8, 2016)

*
It Bears Repeating*


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 8, 2016)

*In The Wake of White Pelicans*

​In the wake of white pelicans, she heard them, echoes of duty’s call.
Like his grandfather before, he served the sea keeping the tidal light,
surrendered to savage waves along a shore where hemlocks stood tall.

To and fro on the singing sand, she paced bouncing a woolen shawl,
knowing what it meant when those pelicans came soaring into sight.
In the wake of white pelicans, she heard them, echoes of duty’s call.

Two little boys tucked between sundried sheets heard the echoes call.
No chance of sleep, two small boys, peered through fractured starlight,
surrendered to savage waves along a shore where hemlocks stood tall.

Hand in hand down to the shore the boys rushed, tugged at her shawl.
Her boys, too young, too knowing—She must be fierce, her hug tight!
In the wake of white pelicans, she heard them, echoes of duty’s call.

They were all she had left of him, their youngest couldn’t yet crawl!
Quiet fury blossomed there at the edge of the tide—A mother’s fright
surrendered to savage waves along a shore where hemlocks stood tall.

Like their father before, venerated gentlemen, echoes sought them all.
To the sea they would go, following as the white pelicans took flight.
In the wake of white pelicans, she heard them, echoes of duty’s call,
surrendered to savage waves along a shore where hemlocks stood tall.


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 12, 2016)

*
Loneliness*


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 13, 2016)

*Posttraumatic Stress*

_Shots fired! 
_
A troop of soldiers defend our freedom
bodies descend beneath the smoke.

_Tears shed!
_
The agony from the wounded heroes 
masked from crossfire and landmines. 

_Explosions! 
_
The war has ended, troops return home
traumatic events flash; echoes linger.


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 13, 2016)

*Words*

Words burden like anchors.
Damage like blades.
Stain like blood.

And they echo.


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 15, 2016)

*
Debugging*


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## Chesters Daughter (Jun 15, 2016)

This challenge is now closed.


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