# August Challenge: “Light(s) Where None Should Be”



## Chesters Daughter (Aug 1, 2020)

As previously discussed, the challenge rules have been revamped. 

Henceforth, we will be alternating between “regular” challenges during which members will post their own entries, and anonymous challenges during which entries will be sent to me and I will post them.

The “Like” function may now be utilized at any time.

Discussion regarding any entry, or any challenge related issues, may take place at any time in either Bistro. Kindly be mindful that secure entries are only discussed in the Secure Bistro to preserve the first rights of entrants.

Once the entry phase challenge has been officially closed, and the voting process has begun, critique for public entries may be posted in the voting thread itself, while critique for secure entries must be posted in a dedicated thread in the challenge workshop to preserve the first rights of entrants.

I know this is a good deal of info to retain, but fret not, I will be including all pertinent instructions, as well as links, in my opening posts for each challenge function. All that said, let’s get busy!

This is a “regular” month, therefore, * entrants must post their own entries this month*.

*Please remember that in submitting an entry you are obligated to cast at least one vote in the poll once it is opened. Failure to do so will result in your entry being disqualified.

*The prompt for this month's challenge, as chosen by Darkkin is: *Light(s) Where None Should Be
*
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. *Please note that all entries* *are eligible to receive critique in the voting thread.* 

*The inclusion of explanatory text or links of any kind within an entrant's challenge entry is prohibited and will be immediately removed upon discovery. As always, only one entry per member is permitted.

*Entrants must post their own entries in this thread, or if you desire to protect first rights, please post your entry in the *secure thread*, and then post a link to it here in the public thread. *Failure to do so runs the risk of your entry being disqualifie**d*, so if you require assistance with the task, please PM *me*, and I will gladly help you.

If your entry contains strong language or mature content, *please include a disclaimer in your title.

*Kindly make sure your entry is properly formatted and error free before you submit. You have a *ten minute grace period* to edit your piece, but anything edited after that will likely see your entry excluded from the challenge. 
*
Do not post comments in this thread. Any discussion related to the challenge can take place in the Bards’ Bistro for entries on the public board, and the Secure Bards’ Bistro for entries on the secure board.

Everyone may now use the "Like" function whenever they so choose.



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


----------



## rcallaci (Aug 3, 2020)

Light’s Flight

the bells of hell bellow songs 
of lament as the hordes 
covered in the filth of sin 
enter unto its gates  

the lights of heaven are dimmed
but not extinguished for those
who swam and still swim in the mud

salvation, love, forgiveness, 
are lights eternal, 
and even in the pitch black 
fire of hell an infinitesimal pin prick
of God’s light still shines 

hallelujah!    hallelujah!   hallelujah!


----------



## ArrowInTheBowOfTheLord (Aug 3, 2020)

*Drowning Music / The Midnight Zone Mermaids 
*

[tum]
.
[tum-_dum_]
..
[tum …

… come. 
under her watery skin:

fish-lips loll open, 
salt on your tongue.
cheek of the slug and the starfish;
spine of the horseshoe crab.
salad your zooplankton 
and body a nautilus
spread feathering fingers 
into her flesh,
lay your web-skinny self
against her cold back.

we have no hearts to beat as one.
… 
[tum]

[tum-dum

the moon by night
the mirrored sun
crisped our skin and blacked our scales
but as we sunk,
we drunk
its channeled glory
and along our bodies there burst
pockets of stars.

we have no hearts to beat as one.

[tum]
.
[tuummm ….

… and our eyes bulge
lidless in our faces,
full of fire that is not fire
and light that is not sky.

and the

[tum]
 [tum] [tum]
..
[tum-_dum_
.
of our shell-chambered chests
is only the rhythm
of her aphotic measures,
too dark and crushing
for you to understand.


----------



## Darkkin (Aug 3, 2020)

*Vestiges of Constellations Gone*

Vestiges of Constellations Gone


Follow a ripple as day dies and stars rain down—
Trace the ripple, constellations of firefly rounds,
an old lullaby of wings that pierces dense night.
Firefly light.  Firefly bright.  Firefly must take flight.
-------------------In a ripple, Guardian of Deeping Sound

Bug by bug, bright by light, together are bound
until it appears, the lored Door of the Drowned.
Two jet eyes glittered, beetle bright at the sight
as from the pool’s heart she appeared, this light
--------------------------- Guardian born of stars rained down—

Touch the ripple, constellations—stories bound,
among them, Firefly, Guard of Deeping Sound.
Firefly bright, Firefly, a Fox made of firefly light.
Go deep, where no light should be, find the bright,
the Fox entrusted with the key to Deeping Sound.
------------------------------Firefly, made of stars now drowned.


----------



## petergrimes (Aug 4, 2020)

light

hold your hand
brush away a hair
listen to you breathe

look
deep down
past thousand mile stare

dare dream I see
what shouldn't be there
light
but no
couldn't be

it's not you 
in there


----------



## Firemajic (Aug 4, 2020)

*Final Flame*

When I die light a final fire
a glorious celebration, funeral pyre 
then let me drift far out to sea
and smile when you remember me

This flame that burns, I've lost control
scorched my heart, singed my soul
suffocated on poisonous smoke
could not breathe and lost all hope

Watch me as I go up in flames
know that I have loathed this game
sacred love, loving sacrifice
this fragile thing we call life

Let my flame ignite your life
passion born of pain and strife
let my smoke permeate your skin
and start a fire deep within

soaring, dancing in the midnight sky
no longer earthbound, I can fly
a tiny spark soon lost in space
my flame now gone without a trace...


----------



## RHPeat (Aug 5, 2020)

[SUB]_
*To Gallop On Falling-Stars. *_[/SUB][SUB]_

_[/SUB]​


----------



## Gumby (Aug 5, 2020)

*Devil’s Bird*

Ebony grains pour through the sky,
black crosses in flight—
pulled from darkness,
not the light— creatures of upper air,
close to angels.

Feet not made for earth or branch,
fold in evening vespers.
Limned against bright clouds,
dark stars, 
riding thermals.


----------



## midnightpoet (Aug 5, 2020)

Intravenous

I’m a caffeine junkie
love than java jive
i’m not no flunky
makes me feel alive.

I can feel the morning glow
lights up my early dawn
sunshine brightens my cuppa joe 
sitting on my back lawn.

Gives me a morning kick 
so my day’s a pleasure
though my daily coffee fix
jumps up my darn blood pressure


----------



## Chesters Daughter (Aug 6, 2020)

*Senseless (Mature Content)*

Features of both were hidden
by required face coverings
decorated with skull and crossbones,
but their wild eyes 
remained naked 
and glinted
what was secreted inside.
Video would reveal
inhumanly bright beacons 
above death-bedecked masks
focused on a task 
born of misplaced spite
and orchestrated 
on a moonless night.

The same duo 
had snuffed out
the adjacent street lamp 
the night before, 
brick after brick,
until one finally scored. 
Both snickered 
at a passerby 
whose cranium was cracked 
by miss number four.
They offered her a phone to call 911
but only because 
they knew no one would come.
She was left in a heap,
both bloodied and dazed
and laughingly given the advice
“Next time, 
get out the way.”

A little storefront church,
left in the lurch along with the nearby precinct,
was about to make the couple’s acquaintance.
They had no need to shatter plate glass,
the bones of their target
were alas 
made of wood, 
and those bibles inside would sure burn good.
Accelerant and match married
to create a flame, their fiery offspring 
then devoured 
the fluid drenching the frame,
as partners in crime 
anticipated fame
amongst their peers.
Once they were sure all was lost,
arm in arm
they skipped down the street,
oblivious to the true cost 
of their debut “feat”.

+++++++~

After three months of unwanted 
and unpaid “vacation”
thanks to a lockdown of the nation,
Jack had finally been summoned
back to work.
Joyous to resume his schedule,
he set the coffeemaker for a 6am perk,
and eager for the coming day,
he prematurely hit the hay.
Tonight, he’d been spared 
the now familiar midnight melancholy 
that had plagued him throughout the plague. 
He was soon in the embrace of the sandman,
his tie for the morrow still in hand,
and dreaming of dinner on a table free 
of past due notices screaming “pay me!”,
until a shrill shriek attacked his ears
and yanked him from his subconscious.

It seemed noon light
had come to visit in the dead of the night.
The brightness permeated his closed lids,
and his drowsy brain struggled
to make sense of it, the street lamp
had been butchered the day before,
none of the church folks 
were downstairs in the store,
he’d turned out the lamps, how could this be?
Then he opened his eyes to see 
flickering hunger feeding on the sill,
as his nostrils were filled 
with the smoke from its meal.

Trying not to choke, 
he bolted for the bedroom door,
but the knob glowed crimson,
and its edges were blackened 
from top jamb to floor.
He found his phone to call for help
but was rewarded 
with a busy signal
five
ten
twenty times, 
and by then
the smoke and heat 
had fully made their climb.

Surely they’ll see it, surely they’ll come
he frantically thought 
as his lungs began to succumb, 
and as they blistered, he whispered
 “I have to be at work at nine.”
An empathetic darkness 
kindly cradled him
until he was once more bathed in light,
but it was warm and welcoming,
and unlike the first, felt right.

Jack drew his last waiting for help 
that never showed, and once the glow
had extinguished all on its own, the coroner
sifted through ash to collect his bones.
As as he was being shoveled 
into a body bag,
his company engaged 
in no lag
and his prized position was gifted
to another starving soul
who desperately wanted 
off the dole.

​+++++++~

The automaton twosome
spent the day double-dosing
on mission statements
with no abatement 
as they pined and whined for sunset
to resume the battle tactics
that were planted in their heads,
with no care for casualties
in or out of beds,
and at dusk began screeching
“Destruction is our right!
Gonna burn it all tonight!”

And once darkness assumed its position,
they did just that,
and light again invaded night
gratis of flames burning bright

where even the tiniest flicker
would have never existed

sans the abject hand of man.


----------



## jenthepen (Aug 6, 2020)

*No Visitors*​ ​ Deepest places of the heart​ are set apart in time of trouble​ subtle invasion of sterile hands​ throws light where none should be.​ ​ You in a world of tubes and wires​ cold interlude of burning pain
sunlight fades as distant yearning​stands helpless in the shade.
​ Blinded by the empty miles​ forbidden boundary in-between​ crouched in terror here at home​ as you fight on alone.​ ​


----------



## PiP (Aug 7, 2020)

*Trolley-Dash*

  Shopping spree
Binge-buy bullets
Ciggies or weed
Candy or candles
Lippie or loo rolls
Matches, mascara or masks?
Ten bottles of gin.
Decisions, decisions!

*Trump Tweets:* _Lights failing. Abandon ship. Every man for himself!
_
  Decision made: matches, candles and gin ... oh, and rat poison.​


----------



## Phil Istine (Aug 7, 2020)

*Cracked Smile* (N.B. Rude and political


----------



## apple (Aug 15, 2020)

Necromancer: The Awakening

He has the largest hands;
electric fingers that raise her
raise her,
a mouth
that kisses where she’s afraid.

She sleeps in motion, in swirls,
in swirls,
her hieroglyphs unfurl
like the scrolls
of a butterfly wing.

She has the smallest hands.
Unsteady palms that spill,
that spill,
anesthesia’s tomb
into the throes of living air.

Underneath the veil
his golden leaves
scratch her ankles,
and catch inside her hair.
She stirs to his adornment;
Pegasus and his wings;
the sky full of moon and stars

Somnolent, in shadow dance,
she rises to his eyes,
his eyes,
where prisms magnify
all her light.
Within the sparkles,
she reads her beauty.


----------



## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2020)

-p_tool bill yards-  _Written by -xXx-


----------



## Chesters Daughter (Aug 15, 2020)

This challenge is now closed.


----------

