Inspired Imagination

This was an entry I wrote for Sparkler Monthly http://sparklermonthly.tumblr.com/  for a contest they had about how people share their worlds. I didn't win, but I'm still very proud of this slice of my childhood.


It began with Sailor Moon. Two girls, eight and nine, bonded during recess as Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter fought against the Negaverse. Battling imaginary monsters, Salina and I would save the world day after day as our two favorite scouts. Then, with a set of seven Sailor Moon Adventure Dolls, our games expanded in bigger, better ways. No longer limited to our bodies, the scouts went on madcap adventures that sent them bungee jumping off the second floor stairs, tumbling over rocks, and desperately running along the wheel of a bicycle, trying to stay alive. The dolls made our games more exciting, but the rough escapades took a heavy toll on the toys, putting us in a bind. How to continue our daring adventures when our beloved heroes were breaking?

The answer was Barbie. Far easier to replace, we decided to transform our Barbie dolls into Sailor Scouts. Our games began again with exciting new life. No character from Sailor Moon was off limits. But, we didn’t stop there. Using Barbies opened us up to a world of characters just waiting to be discovered. Our imaginations had no limitations. We began to build a world beyond Sailor Moon, creating original characters and picking characters from our favorite shows, movies, and anime. Soon, our creation took on a life of its own.

Minor characters in one world became the heroes of their own stories, finding friends, and forging new lives for themselves in our world. Characters from completely different stories never meant to meet, crossed paths in our town becoming so entwined it’s impossible for one to exist without the other. As the years passed, our world expanded from a dollhouse with seven characters to a town of forty-seven, each with unique lives and personalities.

Now at twenty-five and twenty-six we live on different sides of the country and no longer get together every weekend to play dolls. Despite the distance and responsibilities that come with age, the town we created seventeen years ago still exists. It lives on, beyond the dolls, in illustrations, short stories, comics, radio plays, and continues to grow with us. The world two kids created from their inspired imaginations now kindles the dreams of a younger generation.

When my cousins ask for bedtime stories I tell them about the adventures of our beloved characters and their little town. It’s a place where friendships are made, hearts are broken, villains seek redemption, and the weak find strength. I tell them of heroes triumphing over evil, sometimes at a heavy cost, and the enduring power of hope. Looking into their enraptured faces, imaginations beginning to blaze, I know by sharing those stories our world got bigger and a new one was born.

He is...

It’s been years since I last wrote a sonnet. But, I was given this challenge and, though it took me more time than it should have to post it, I’m happy with the results.

Vengeance and justice all rolled into one

Brewing, consuming, one man’s lonely soul

Silently screaming, that poor orphaned son

Forged in an instant for one tainted role

He stalks through the darkness, born of the night

Hunting through shadows for dangers and crime

When people cry out in desperate plight

He always answers; a hero in time

Facing down criminals thriving on pain

Fighting for justice to break evil’s sway

Beating back villains with noble disdain

Protecting his city, always to stay

Haunted and driven by ghosts that won’t rest

Though only a man, he’s simply the best.

First Love

Smile like you mean it.
Can a heart ever truly break?
 
Love is forgiveness,
and foolishness.
A thousand heartbeats.
A blind eye.

The press of soft lips,
in a familiar kiss.
I'm drowning in sweet agony,
as you tear the world apart.

Pinkies tied by a red string,
promise forever.
Pulled taut to breaking,
it wears and frays.

Left alone,
living in your shadow.
Does my smile seem sincere?

I've tried so hard.
It isn't enough.

Glasgow Grin

This was inspired by Harley Quinn and the Joker.

Pealing bells infuse the air
erupting gales of laughter.
A figure stirs with haunting grace
shadows trailing after.

The crimson blush of twisted lips,
painted in a grin,
Denies the beauty of her face,
hiding angel's sin.

A poor and little broken doll
of jagged, shattered pieces.
Torn asunder long ago,
her sputtering flame ceases.

Drifting through dark endless days,
longing to expire.
A splash of color draws her gaze,
Only to inspire.

Casting off the binding chains.
Ending of the strife.
Pleasure lives in cruel, scarred lips:
The edge of a knife.

The Sinner's Grave

By the sea on a moonlit night

A woman sings a mournful tune

There she makes an enchanting sight

Her song a sweet and haunting croon

Then comes a man that is ensnared

In her eternal siren song

She lures him in her plan prepared

To make him pay for his past wrong

She’ll take revenge for his great sin

The foolish mortal filled with greed

Did take the lives of all her kin

And filled her with a vengeful need

To honor all the souls she’s lost

Revenge she will extract this way

For one must always pay the cost

Of taking someone’s life away

Into the sea she bid him come

He follows her into the deep

Her song becomes a lilting hum

Adding to the souls she’ll reap

And there the souls of men doth wail

Creating a tormented hymn

Forever trapped in this cold jail

For sins created by their whim

Into a cell she leads him still

Forever in eternal Hell

He follows her against his will

Into the place he now will dwell

And then she leaves him to his pain

The price for all his sin and hate

This man who’s filled with such disdain

Has met with his deserving fate

So try to be a man that’s true

Remember that you should behave

For every wicked thing you do

Could send you to the Sinner’s Grave.

Bone Soup

A bit of fun for my cousin V.



An old woman got sick and died.

Everyone laughed and nobody cried.

Not going to Heaven, but down to get fried,

for taking and eating the bones that she spied,

from graves that the cemetery failed to hide.

Movie Night

A small horror story...

It’s after midnight when Cassie locks the front doors behind the last few stragglers of the late night movie. In the front of the movie theater she begins methodically sweeping the debris of candy and popcorn, dropping empty cups into garbage bags as she goes. ‘People can be such slobs,’ she thinks disgusted, grateful it’s an old one room theater with only a small balcony, lobby and bathroom in need of cleaning. Her co-worker went home sick, so she’s stuck by herself. Bent under a seat to get a box of chocolate, the catchy sound of “Let’s All Go to the Lobby” gets her attention. ‘Somebody lost a cell phone,’ she decides. Scanning the seats she spots a shape at the back of the theater in the balcony’s shadow.

“Hello?” Cassie calls out tentatively, pulling a small flashlight from her pocket, walking closer. She could’ve sworn the seats were empty when she came through earlier. “I’m sorry, Sir, we’re closed.”

Caught in the beam of light is a man slumped in the seat. Head tipped forward his slit throat spills down the front of his shirt seasoning the red splattered tub of popcorn in his lap with a coppery tang. A squealing shriek rips from her throat as the flashlight falls from numb trembling fingers. Cassie’s heart falters, thumping away at a staggering beat. ‘Run!’ her mind screams in panic. ‘Now!’

Racing into the lobby she grabs her cell phone and keys from behind the candy counter. Crossing to the door she fumbles with the deadbolt twisting with all her might. Grunting, the metal refusing to budge, her hand flies free as one of her fingernails rips off. Biting back a scream, exposed nerves on fire, she clutches the injury. ‘Screw it,’ Cassie decides taking deep ragged breaths, ‘I’m breaking the glass.’

Unhooking the velvet ropes used to corral patrons she picks up a gleaming golden pole, wielding it like a bat as she swings at the door. THRACK! The force vibrates up her arms, turning muscle to jell-o, but the glass doesn’t crack. Rearing back for another swing the lights give a loud humming BRRZZZTCRICK and explode. Dropping, Cassie covers her head as a shower of glass rains on her. Plunged into darkness she lifts the pole, tightening her grip for another go at the door. A flicker of movement in the glass catches her eye. Someone is behind her. With a shrill banshee shriek she whips around swinging, the pole connecting with something solid and meaty.

A body crashes in the darkness and Cassie runs, racing up the stairs to the balcony. She can barricade herself in the projection room. Tripping, stumbling, heart thundering in her ears, she smacks into the rail of the balcony teetering dangerously. Pulling herself upright Cassie fumbles in the darkness, banging into seats, groping for the door. Movement echoes up from below with the sound of humming. Heart seized in panic, gasping, suffocating, she chokes on air. Somebody’s coming! Desperately she rips out her cell phone using the dim light to find the projection booth. Slipping inside she turns the lock dragging shelves, chairs, and anything that moves in front of the door. The Humming grows louder as footsteps come from the balcony. Jumping away from the door, Cassie crouches, praying they won’t get her.

Someone starts singing.

“Let’s all.”

The floor creaks.

“Go to the.”

Shoes shuffle.

“Lobby.”

The doorknob jingles.

Biting her arm to muffle a scream, Cassie listens to the door rattle. Blood rushing in her ears, fighting back tears, she wishes the person would go away.

Silence.

Heart fluttering a staccato her eyes fly to the projection window. It’s too small to fit through, she knows, but her throat closes tight at the scraping tap of nails on the window frame. A velvety chuckle fills the darkness as footsteps drift towards the stairs. Standing, cramped legs aching, Cassie steps back, starting to call the police. Hitting into something hard and warm two vice like arms close around her. The cell phone clatters to the floor. Body frozen in fear, mind screaming to struggle, Cassie feels lips press against her ear.

“Let’s all go to the lobby.”