# Anonymous February Challenge: “Bond(s)”



## Chesters Daughter (Feb 1, 2020)

*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 Phil Istine is: *Bond(s)

**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 February at 7pm EST.*


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## Chesters Daughter (Feb 4, 2020)

*Cutting the Chord*

Late night hosts and news anchors:
the pied pipers of our day
Six dead,
--but doesn't fit the narrative,
----so unreported: there's no tragedy
The truth remains unheard

Tears mean nothing on TV,
at least to me and mine
The lies
--we're told to manipulate:
----tricks used one too many times
The truth remains unsaid

I'm not sorry for your loss
if it gives you power over me
Control;
--decrying fear and hate,
----unless disguised as empathy
The truth remains unknown

Echoes enforce homogeneity;
formed parasocial communities
I bond
--not with strangers on a screen
----but people I can hold and see
The truth remains unscathed


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## Chesters Daughter (Feb 6, 2020)

*
Our Affection*


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## Chesters Daughter (Feb 10, 2020)

*Entanglement*

Evil looks
poisonous words
vile twists
vengeful turns
eyes on me
hatred says
fault with Other
surely lays
quantum things
puppet strings
fixate, pin 
your life to mine
your faults
are all
that fill
my 
mind


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## Chesters Daughter (Feb 10, 2020)

*I’ve Stolen Your Used Shoes*

I become you.

Every day.

I slip on
unsightly sandals
and shuffle along
filthy floors
while I watch my socks go gray.

I piss in aluminum
as one eye migrates
to the back of my head.
Communal cleansing
has schooled
orbs gone old and cold
to do fancy new tricks.
Hyper vigilance
is better than dead.

I steer clear of uniforms

whether they're weighted
down by batons
and detector wands
or are contraband
fashion statements
of red or blue
wrapped around wrists
itching for a coup.

I scoop up slop
off plastic trays
with plastic sporks.
Luckily,
servings are so scant
my gag reflex
hasn't the time to kick in
even though I'm sure
most of it's been
fished from the bin.

I trade ramen for salt
to lessen taste bud assault
and simply refuse to sample
the gray sausage
dubbed “sick donkey dicks”

even when pressed
by the block bully
looking for kicks,
who, I'm sure in time,
will deliver me licks.

On "A" visiting days
I pray no one will show.

An hour enduring cacophony
and bookended 
by strip searches
makes kin and friends
seem almost like foes.

The caged clock mocks me
and slows its flow
when it knows I'm zipped 
to my lips
in ill-fitting coveralls
the color 
of hurricane clouds
and peppered with rips
with legs that abort
three inches
too short.

I nap
but never sleep
and terror
has taught me well
you die if you weep.

Four months 
undeservedly spent in hell
thanks to a lie
some bastard saw fit to tell.

You’ve been free 
for near five years

yet still I become you.

Each and every day.

Just how you survived
I really can't say.

I beg you to forget 
your haunted shoes,
such loss is no lack,
to my feet they’re now affixed
gratis of a super glue’s kiss

and God as my witness,
I won’t ever 
give them back.


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## Chesters Daughter (Feb 14, 2020)

*
Lightings from Embers*


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## Chesters Daughter (Feb 15, 2020)

This challenge is now closed.


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