There's a "Bad Moon Rising"

 I know it's only September, but I'm already excited for the unholy month of haunting, October. So here it is. My ode to the ghosts, goblins, vampires, and witches. Starting today, I'm posting weekly. Each week a new song, because everyone needs a playlist for that Halloween party, and why not a flash to go along with it? After all, it's all about the ghost story, isn't it?

The first song chosen is:

"Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

https://youtu.be/5BmEGm-mraE

Photo by Vino Li on Unsplash

THERE'S A "BAD MOON RISING"

September's here, but something disconcerting is occurring in Hell. There's a disturbance among the denizens below.

Even Satan is dancing to a tune we all know.

Celebrating in Hell, the ghosts and goblins are preparing to appear. Unfortunately, the bad news is that it won't just be on Halloween this year.

When the sun goes down. The world will awaken to an unholy sound. All the demons, gargoyles, and ghosts will arise and take flight. Guard your soul, don't mess around!

Lock your doors tight, for evil has arisen, and no one is safe from diablo's intrusion.

Happy early Halloween!

100 words

Yolanda Renée © 2022

*****

This was just to prepare you for the fun

that is coming in October!

The WEP Challenge 

THRILLER

(follow the link to the lyrics)

A little more inspiration taken directly from the list of Challenges for 2022

This is the Fear fest Challenge in which we ramp up the spook factor over here, welcoming your creepiest compositions, your most haunting and haunted tales running the gamut of paranormal, speculative, crime, and horror genres. However, as always, there are no rigid rules. Feel free to write to any genre if those mentioned are not your thing. 

The prompt is based on Thriller, released in the early '80s,  an unofficial anthem for Halloween and horror. Both singer and song are music industry icons. Thriller has sold 70 million+ copies worldwide and Michael Jackson, known as the King of Pop, is one of the controversial and culturally significant figures of the 20th century. They credited him with some landmark music as well as reinventing complex dance moves like the moonwalk to make it his own signature. Just like the Beatles, MJ was, during his lifetime and remains, more than a decade after his death, one of the bestselling artists of all time. He has left a massive and unique thumbprint on the music/entertainment scene of the late twentieth century. 

The prompt has endless possibilities. Take the lyrics to this song - they can inspire myriad flashes - the forty thousand years of funk, the beast about to strike, the thing with forty eyes - the imagery is vivid and specific, and boy! Can they be used to craft a creepy tale or what? Or you could use the video's own storyline to write to. Use that iconic dance with the undead MC morphing into a zombie, to spin a horror flash. 

Or maybe not...because hang on...not everyone needs to be a horror/Halloween junkie. Use the demons as a metaphor. Let the dance with the zombies become an inner wrestling bout with some tragic character flaw(s) in your MC. Or weave a girl-boy-movie-night narrative. Or one of a rescue mission where the hero snatches the damsel in distress from the jaws of monsters real or imaginary.  Or...just write to the title 'Thriller' - no end to the tales you could tell. You see? - a million ways to go, a million things to be! 

Here is the link to the thriller lyrics if you need more inspiration: THRILLER

Remember it's all about fun!

See you there? 

Photo by Daniel Lincoln on Unsplash

mWU ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7fVfNCvwsA

I hope you enjoy my drabbles!

DRABBLE

A drabble is a short work of fiction of precisely 100 words. The purpose of the drabble is brevity, testing the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in a confined space.

Wikipedia· Text under CC-BY-SA license

WEP - Moonlight Sonata

 

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

Goddess of the Night

I'm a practical, well-educated man and an athlete that enjoys a challenge, adventure, and travel. It's why I joined the Navy after 9 11.

But after twenty years in the service and giving my best in the fight for freedom. The exodus from Afghanistan exposed a weakness. I began questioning my choices. Retirement from command was my solution. However, the change wasn't easy. I sought direction at the Meher Spiritual Center of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wanted peace and healing from what I saw as a spiritual crisis.

Now I'm wondering if I've completely lost my mind.

After a week of meditation and silence, I began to see a new path to my future. On Friday, August 11, the evening of the sturgeon moon, I took a healing walk along the ocean. This night as it was explained, was the season of Leo. Astrologers claim the August moon stands for perseverance and the ability to adapt with time and change just like the sturgeon. Tonight, was all about going inward. Clearing the ballast and making room for opportunity. Which I was open to.

The evening was hot, but the breeze off the ocean made it comfortable. I had a flashlight to help me find the way, but once the moon was high, the light was brilliant and my walk invigorating. Then I heard music, faint at first, but the further south I moved, the more recognizable the tune became.

Then, it dawned. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was being played. Even though I was no longer on the property of the Spiritual Center. I kept walking south. The area was privately owned, but I just had to know who was playing this hauntingly beautiful piece.

I came around a high dune and stopped in my tracks.

Standing in the direct rays of the Sturgeon Moon stood an angel. Or was she a mermaid turned human? It didn't matter. Her beauty captivated. She wore a gown of brilliant white trimmed in gold. Her arms were raised to the heavens as though in worship. I thought she was praying.

Her long luxurious hair was the same color as the moon, red with glimmering gold highlights. The breeze lifted the tresses, caressed them, then laid them carefully across lightly tanned shoulders. She was perfection.

Her feet were bare, and the surf kissed her toes lightly, reverently. Watching her, I was frozen in place.

The Moonlight Sonata flowed in an evocative lament.

When she turned toward me, I saw tears on her cheeks, shimmery diamonds she quickly brushed away. What could bring this beautiful goddess to tears?

She smiled, and her deep blue eyes held me fast. Suddenly I was drowning. I felt the cool, clear water pulling my willing body deeper into its depths. Fighting for breath. Her smile calmed me.

Though my heart raced. I relaxed as she moved toward me. Was she walking or gliding across the sand? Did it matter? No, not at that moment, for I knew instantly that she was a gift from God. The answer to my prayers. My future.

Communication went beyond words. Clasped in an embrace, our bodies were one. I could feel her heart beating as furiously as my own. When our lips met in a kiss, the word ecstasy would never describe our response or the carnal nature of our union. The world, the entire universe disappeared, and we were alone. Soaring through a cosmos of indescribable color and beauty, the Moonlight Sonata played its soulful refrain, and we rediscovered our love.

In that kiss, I uncovered the past, saw our future, and recalled our eonian vow of love eternal. She was mine, and I, forever hers. If she'd come to me as a succubus, vampire, or the living dead, I would have willingly given her all and more.

Then the music ended. I opened my eyes, and she was gone. I stood there, unbelieving. Confused. Even the moon had disappeared behind clouds that hadn't existed before that moment.

But she was here, and in the flesh, my moonlit goddess. I could still feel the warmth of her lips, the softness of her skin, the silkiness of her honey-colored hair, and the want in her kiss.

Her absence left me hollow as though she'd taken my soul. But it was my heart that she stole.

I searched until dawn but failed in my quest. Was my goddess a dream? A siren of the Moonlight Sonata or my heart's yearning made flesh under the thrall of a full moon?

Yolanda Renee © 2022

754 words/ FCA

Photo by Rafael Alcure on Unsplash

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

This is the beginning of a love story I hope to turn into a novel.

I would love to know your thoughts.

Tagline: Moonlight thrall or real-life goddess?

XXX

Choose Beauty

 

Look at that sky

sorrow and sadness must fly

it's time to stand up

kick abuse to the curb

no more woe-is-me

no more words that disturb

God gave us a choice

He gave us a voice

I'll make my way

beginning today

and for all the tomorrows

believing in truth

forgiveness and peace

a gift from above

given in love

ours to claim

and without blame

see how easy it is

to wash away the gray.

***

 Yolanda Renée ©2022

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. 

Summer Is Here - Covid Be Gone

 Photo by Ethan Robertson on Unsplash

Summer Is Here

 

Covid be gone

summer is here

I've more important

things to do

and now, no fear

 

just listen

hear the winds howl,

gust and blow

hot air above one hundred

sweltering and sultry beyond words

 

Covid be gone

it's too beautiful to be pallid

the waves crash

whitecaps on an evergreen sea

so just leave me be

 

palm trees wave

but never sway

their trunks stand tall,

even in a squall

or hurricane come this fall

 

flowers are bright

as the bee's light

hear the bird song

the frogs' croak

nature, so full of hope

 

Covid be gone

it's time you departed

for regions unknown

health and happiness

God's promise, our own.

***

Yolanda Renee © 2022

Covid Is Here

 

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

COVID IS HERE

 

Contemplating life

pondering death

all because

Covid is here

touching all things

I hold dear

I did my best

followed all the rules

used all the tools

vacce'd and masked

still, it pierced my defenses

now I face all the consequences

 

Covid is here

as it ravages and burns

I've come to terms

there will be no rest

not with this unwelcome guest

so I stumble and stagger

a human half dead

filled with disease

and plenty of dread

 

Covid is here

It haunts through the night

tossing and turning

my body fights

this invasive intruder

as it tests and taunts

all my weakest spots

the pain unbearable

the rest denied, unendurable

 

Covid is here

and I'm trying to survive

praying for reprieve

I have to believe

all my preparations

will eventually payoff

but days in

this evil is not backing off

and I've no more tools

 

Covid is here

It's not fair

I did everything right

but no matter the caution,

or how hard you fight

this sneaky devil

always had you in its sights

 

Covid is here

a parasite that

subjugates your body

befuddles your brain

I thank God

at least

the soul is free

of this unholy beast

 

Please understand

I don't fear death

I'd welcome the change

I just don't want

to give Covid

any more fame!

***

Yolanda Renee © 2022

STAY SAFE!

WEP - Please Read The Letter

It's that time again. A new prompt for all those who love a challenge. Are you ready to take up the baton?

It's simple really, the important part is to remember to have fun! Here's my version called My Letter.

Tagline: Unrequited love - a curse

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

My Letter

 Please, read my letter

return to sender

cuts to the core

why have you discarded me

why am I spurned

 please read my letter

it details my love

I gave to you wholly

my heart and soul

I belong to you only

 please read my letter

you’ll see it’s all true

I didn’t betray you

lies were construed

vengeance out of the blue

 please read my letter

my devastation runs deep

the devil has spoken

and I am broken

still, your memory I keep

please read my letter

your answer might be the cure

for the constant replaying

of love-filled nights

and memories so pure

please read my letter

nothing could be worse

unless love one-sided

was meant to be

my curse

Yolanda Renée © 2022

It Really Does Matter

 Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

It Really Does Matter

Another Mother's Day

has come and gone

no word from the two I've born

no text, no call

no card or bouquet at all

makes me sad

and tears do fall

they are better than this

they really are

but without a man to mentor

they've failed the biggest test of all

The man, my husband

once yelled

 when asked why?

"Don't look at me. You're not my mother."

then the tears did fall

each year the pain does lessen

from this sharp arrow to the heart

someday

maybe anon

they'll truly understand

and be better champions

to the little ones

and the women that make them

men.

 

Yolanda Renee © 2022