# Anonymous August Challenge: “The Difference Between Rock and Stone”



## Chesters Daughter (Aug 1, 2019)

*IMPORTANT NOTICE: We've a new update to the rules. Henceforth, kindly refrain from using the "like" function, or offering critique on any of the entries, UNTIL OUR WINNER IS ANNOUNCED. We are implementing this policy in an effort to protect anonymity as well as to spare our entrants the agony of being unable to respond to any critique they may receive for what could conceivably seem like eons. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

*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 challenge as chosen by Gumby is: *The Difference Between Rock and Stone

*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. 


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 August at 7pm EST.*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 5, 2019)

*
Stone Rocking*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 6, 2019)

*Heavens Help Her*

Together,
they’d created an almost perfect
baby boy,
ever so pleasing to the eye 
and possessing an IQ 
that fairly touched the sky.
For his first twenty years,
he was oft mistaken for Midas
for all he touched turned to gold
until
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]a pack of wolves 
that used thievery to feed
first cornered, then beat
their young man
making his skull 
their favored target.
Boots, batons, fists 
and rings of keys
were employed 
not merely to conquer
but to destroy
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]and that they did.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]The result of the attack
was their boy being cursed
with a concrete cranium 
cradling a brain that had contracted
an insatiable desire for substances
used to subdue neural distress.
And with abandon, their boy indulged it.
[FONT=&Verdana]
[/FONT]Mother became a rock. 
Never crumbling, she was always there
to pick up the pieces 
when her son shattered.
She rolled down his road 
in front of him 
to keep his journey
as smooth as she could,
but the potholes were,
and still are, too many.
Despite her efforts,
abundant crashes 
and subsequent stalls 
regularly occur
[FONT=&Verdana][FONT=&Verdana]leaving behind 
tiny shards [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&Verdana][FONT=&Verdana]of her son 
on the roadside[/FONT][/FONT]
in their wake.

In time, snowball effect
made Mother a boulder
and enabled her to crush,
even if only fleetingly,
those who would endeavor to harm
her fragile child
save for a single stone

whose name was Father.

Daddy dearest
had been born hard,
but in the face of adversity
his shell turned to stone
thanks to an absence of humanity.
Emanating from the couch, 
moronic monologues 
and the worst of threats
echoed throughout the house
adding animosity 
to an already
volatile atmospheric slurry
and pushing the son
to silence the barrage

the only way he knew how.

Unyielding and emotionless 
as is any true stone,
Father could not be coaxed 
to keep his contributions
to himself.

Her own rules dictated that Mother
should have crushed that stone
into mere pebbles 
reducing his gravelly voice 
to undetectable whispers,
but hoping he’d one day soften,
she chose to forego his demolition.

Foolish woman.

He’s long gone gray
and the only things that’ve gone soft
are his gut and the piece of meat
that hangs just beneath.

Mother’s overburdened baggage 
leaks guilt
for had she used her hammer
perhaps her progeny 
would now be traversing 
a superhighway free of pitfalls. 
Maybe becomes
so damned appealing
during desperate retrospect.

During the sleepless nights
that still monopolize most of every month —
rocks in active service rarely rest,
and cracks in her son’s tarmac still abound —
she prays fate will be kind and begs 
but one thing from the heavens 

“Please, please, please,
allow this rock to become the crone 
who outlives the stone
so my son 
won’t be left alone
with the monolith
who won’t cease 
disturbing his peace
until my boy is naught 
but rotting bone.”


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 11, 2019)

*
[joint effort]*


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2019)

-vu *8142019*-


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2019)

*The Difference*

Bound by love and tortured by fear,
she lives in a land of lies.
Tug-of-war child,
between a rock and a stone,
she watches their mirrored eyes.

Eleven-year-old with haunted look,
unnoticed she sits alone.
Tug-of-war child,
between a rock and a stone.
The difference between them?
Her.


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## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2019)

*
Apache Tear Drops*


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