The Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen Literary Collective loves a good writing/creativity prompt challenge. Our goal is to provide prompts on a regular basis. We hope that our ‘Shadow in the Frame’ prompt stirs your muse and that you consider submitting your prompt response to Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen for publication. We welcome poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative […]
Writing/Creativity Prompt Challenge: You Could Start a Cult
They’ve come before. Remember history. Remember the millions, the thousands, the hundreds– totaling seventeen million. And yet, always, they come. Different times, different places. Always leaving behind traces of their strange bitter fruit. They are poised, preparing, ready to come. Some of us remember, state the parallels, recite the historical, are laughed at as the […]
They are coming – Annette Kalandros
Loss X Mental Illness is a collection of poems written by Aariona Harris during one of the most emotionally and mentally challenging times of her life. Harris offers solidarity to other readers who may go through something similar and ensure they know they are not alone. While doing so Harris was able to address her […]
Announcement! Book Launch for “Loss X Mental Illness” by Aariona Harris
some days were sad gray uneventful
most days were brutal confusing painful
rarely did we need or want to smile
the looks the words the anger the hate the ridicule the shame the blame the abandonment
marching on in my head time middle fingered me on my knees crawling on the tarmac of the road to hell paved with no intention
Mutter turned her head like a queen in agreement
i could not comprehend
where do i make sense
papai misguided man
leading dragging his daughter
slaughter wood chipper of life
but i’m grown now
your dice followed you to where you went
my words hushed heaven will never live here anymore Gehenna had bought the country
healing compassion empathy sympathy turning of the cheeks fasting sacrificing keeping score patronizing scarification complete spirit annihilation
i was never meant to be your Issac
tonight i have given up trees comfort me for now the light waves capture the tones of my tears tonight the pain of my mind is entertained by the old dried chewing gum patties on the ground i imagine a plucky child tossing the wad to the ground before his teacher catches him or perhaps […]
wanton bullets – Marisela Brazfield
We just blew inby way of catastrophe.Be kind, althoughyou’ve dealt with your shareof troublemakers. Your shareof trouble.Don’t treat uslike marine recruits.Heck, let us walk aroundin our pajamas without punishing us,relegating us to our rooms for notbeing compliant with rules of your private making.Be kind, although you might not beto avoid burnout. Although you mightbe burned […]
To the orderly behind the screen at the psych ward – Nancy Dunlop
At the end I’ll be dust. Dust and flakes of skin and bonewrapped in long hair,teeth chatteringwith no voice.No sense of tasteor smell.No reason.At the endI’ll be impenetrable,anonymous,figmentsof myselfwith no self left,no Id, no Ego.All will dieat my end. Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced […]
My Ego Dies At The End – Lynn White
I am nowhere and love still finds me. On feather toes and gentle wind, it drops in. It settles in the hollow, drowning out the echoes. Some of the echoes say your name. Some float away. I wait outside the seawall, untangled and unshackled. I hold no phantoms hostage, swim away, swim away. […]
Love Still Finds Me – Kristin Kory
Pretend otherwiseRooms steaming with women in towelsHair dripping, feet slick, thrum of lifeLet loose, voices shrill in gossipAre they talking about you? Are they pullingTheir vicious needles throughYour thin, thin skin, where no oneHas been, those secret corners within Time turns her unwashed skirts outThe sauna is set too high to see Faces melt behind […]
We the unhinged – Candice Louisa Daquin
words less spoken 