# April Challenge: "Shades of Grey"



## Chesters Daughter (Apr 1, 2015)

The prompt for this month's challenge, as chosen by J.J. Maxx is: *Shades of Grey*

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.

We are continuing to allow optional anonymity this month. You may post your entries yourself, or, if you'd like to remain anonymous, you may PM your entry to me, *Chester's Daughter.* If you are posting anonymously, please indicate in your PM which board, public or workshop, you desire your entry posted on.

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. 

As usual, if you'd wish to protect your first rights, post your entry in the *workshop thread,* *and post a link to it in this thread. Failure to do so runs the risk of your entry being disqualified.

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

Now that the 'like" function is again blessing us with its presence, we respectfully request that you refrain from using it until this thread has been closed and the poll has been opened.

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


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## Pidgeon84 (Apr 1, 2015)

Hammer and Heels

One room white
One room black

Broken and divided
So uncontent with where I am at

Screw that noise
Time to pull out my toys

Grab your hammer and heels
Let's tear down their holy ideals

Smeared makeup and broken nails
are fine by me

I’ll bring down the walls
with an anarchic glee

Dusty dress and torn tights
But no time to change 

There’s no color here
I find it much too deranged

Just a dull shade of gray
I find it rather strange

Break out the paint
No brushes needed

Or I’ll do you one better
I’ll follow the instructions to the letter

Wouldn't want the fireworks
going off a moment too soon

It’s not like I’ve been waiting to swoon
In the wreckage of tradition

It’s not like I’ve been waiting to dance
In the flames of perdition

Never mind me skipping away
With my can of gasoline

I’m trying not to make scene
I'm just trying to look fabulously mean

with my hammer and heels


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## Phil Istine (Apr 3, 2015)

http://www.writingforums.com/thread...of-Grey-quot?p=1847488&viewfull=1#post1847488


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## Sonata (Apr 3, 2015)

The colour has gone

Everything is grey now
There is no black or white
Nothing is right now
There is no day or night

No red no blue
No colours true
Everything is grey now
No matter what I do


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## aj47 (Apr 4, 2015)

*Shades of Gray*


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## Darkkin (Apr 5, 2015)

*Cowled and Three Silver Buttons*

_Cowled and Silver Buttons Three

Crocheted and grey, a stylish woolen beret,
a coat of green, heavy skirted blowin' every which way.
And a dress...just a dress of muted black and grey--
Cowled with Silver Buttons Three.

Against the window, Cowl faced away
knowing there was no turning back today.
And a dress of White packed up, a train under way.
Cowl, a traveller going.

Rain pattered upon that steam shrouded train,
Cowl wondering if Merino, too, felt the aching pain.
And a dress, new and lovingly pressed and chic--
Cowl, fingering those silver buttons three._

_If you love her, let her go...Please let her try.
Wing Tip said to Merino, his eyes not quite dry.
And a dress, quite the dress, was found.
Cowl, plans laid down.

And now the day had come at last,
Cowl reaching deep, leaving the fear in the past.
And a dress became a last touch of home.
Cowl, conflicted but determined.

Hand on the glass, Cowl finally looked back, looked out.
On the platform,Wing Tip and Merino, love quelling the doubt.
And a dress, those silver buttons affixed by her mother's hand.
Cowl, waving...train leaving._


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## Nellie (Apr 5, 2015)

http://www.writingforums.com/thread...s-of-Grey-quot?p=1848211&posted=1#post1848211


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## PiP (Apr 5, 2015)

*Fifty Shades (adult theme)*

I read a book called ‘Fifty Shades’ it really made me blush.
Not ‘Shades of Grey’, more shades of pink - a really rosy flush.

I read it in the garden, in bed and on the loo.
But what a load of crap it was just fifty shades of pooh!

A convent girl, I’d no idea the things of which it spoke,
So I Google searched the lingo, and nearly had a stroke.

My education’s now complete but ignorance was bliss
Once husband checked my cookie file he whipped me for a kiss.

‘I’m not that sort of girl,’ I snapped. ‘Vanilla was just fine!’
Now my friend has fifty shades her sex life is divine.


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## Gumby (Apr 5, 2015)

*Mom's Bad Blood Blues*


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## joshybo (Apr 5, 2015)

*

Fading Away*
by joshybo​


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## Fats Velvet (Apr 7, 2015)

journey to the center of the grey area

pity so-called grown adults – they still prize
the prefabricated moral compass
mom and dad pressed and parented on –
real principle is impermeable, monolithic, eternal,
elemental as the golden rule –
not this cradle raised, ashy grey soft slough
incubating baby “this is right; but maybe not” ‘ s –
for them a cause is a sandbox filled with ash
for iconoclasts to imagine desperate acts, last stands,
and causes – complete with escape routes 
for when the truth gets thick – intellectual cowardice
is smug and sound in a relative greyland –
yet they admit no shaky ground.
Absolutely not.


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## Crowley K. Jarvis (Apr 7, 2015)

You Humans
---
Crowley​


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## rcallaci (Apr 12, 2015)

*A Thousand Shades of Gray*

In black of night and bright of day
in the pits of hell and heavens bay
there comes to us a middle way
hooray, hooray, hooray- 

with tints of black and hues of white
the world unfolds to mans’ delight
where daemons and fae hold equal sway
hooray, hoorah, hooray-

We are all gray strings and things made of clay
diddle le do diddle le de diddle le day …


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## Firemajic (Apr 13, 2015)

*Psychedelic Delusion*

I'm scared of this thing I've become
I can't undo what is already done
this psychedelic trip is in motion
I feel terror on this dark ocean

Psychedelic colors now shades of grey
brilliant hues have bled away
disappearing into this dark ocean
swept away by the constant motion

My face is reflected in the ocean
it looks distorted by the motion
I try hard to catch a peek
such a sad psychedelic freak

My face has become a weird  joker's mask
my arms have black and blue needle tracks
I'm horrified of what I've become
I am trapped with nowhere to run

Hemorrhaging small rainbow tears
psychedelic colors of my fears
I am afraid of my introspection
and what I see in the ocean's reflection

I am scared for this psychedelic freak
lost alone scared and weak
sailing on this cosmic ocean
driven insane by the constant motion

Puff the dragon rises from the ocean
he gives me a new magic potion
he said you must ride this final wave
this cosmic ocean will be your grave

Purple clouds explode in the sky
psychedelic monsters howl and cry
waves crash with angry motion
I am doomed on this killing ocean

As I am being pulled quickly under
I  hear the dragon's roaring thunder
I am sinking sinking fast
this psychedelic trip will be my last

I disappear under grey waves
this dark ocean is my grave
alien monsters rise from the deep
guardians of my endless sleep

I will sleep for a million years
puff will cry rainbow tears
my demise was set in motion
by the dragon's magic potion

All my secrets are buried deep
all my fears have been put to sleep
I surrender to this dark ocean
undulating rocking soothing motion

Now I drift in constant motion
in the kelp beds of this ocean
psychedelic weeds tangle in my hair
as I sleep in the dragon's lair


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## Gargh (Apr 13, 2015)

*
_*eureka revealed*_


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## Chesters Daughter (Apr 13, 2015)

*Taking Gray Out of Play*

If it isn't black and white
best pluck it from me sight
for most who dole out gray
fancy themselves fey

and if I had me say

that word of whimsy
would apply

the Scottish way.


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## Thaumiel (Apr 14, 2015)

*A Very Wet Dream (mild language)*

Slipping between those fresh, grey sheets
Caressing gently down your side,
teasing with her warm breath 
Alcoholic aromas drifting by
as blood drains away, leaving your head
with only one thought to process
Just how perfectly the gentle electricity
of her touch moves across skin
How perfect lips make you- piss the bed?
Waking up, disappointment settles 
on grey sheets now a shade darker.


[Edit: Woops, posted the unedited one briefly.]


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## am_hammy (Apr 14, 2015)

Erased


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## Chesters Daughter (Apr 15, 2015)

This challenge is now closed.


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