_{Featured by *doodlerTM}
It Was a Dive     She finally went off the deep end. It wasn't a slow event. The girl looked at the olympic-sized pool first, knowing what little kids added there. That didn't make her happy, so she turned her back on it to stand, heels hanging over the edge of the diving board with only her toes plus the balls of her feet to grip it. Then she sprung to make her backflip dive.

    Penny made a clean dive -- barely any water splashed. She was proud of that, glad her brother watched it to make sure anyone interested would know. She came close to adding pollution to the public pool herself, she was so relieved.

    Penny climbed out to crow with her brot
It Was a Dive by *xlntwtch

_{A whimsical story about
achieving one's dreams.}



For more information, including how to suggest a Deviation
to be featured, please visit us at =DailyLitDeviations.

Thanks so much for supporting the lit community and this project!

~ The =DailyLitDeviations Team ~


_{Prepared by: =LadyofGaerdon}

Saturday Spotlight for May/18/2013

Daily Literature Deviations is proud to feature this special recognition article!
You can show your support by ing this News Article. We hope this gives you some insight into the person behind the art. Please comment and the features and congratulate the artist!


Artists will be featured in a special news article every Saturday. Major points to =SilverInkblot and =DrippingWords for doing the hard work and research that goes into these articles!  

Today's featured deviant is:
*glossolalias!

Questions

 

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing.

I started writing as a way to purge emotions that I could no longer handle internally but did not want to discuss with other people. By the time I was sixteen, I realized most of my writing was utter crap and became interested in technique, theory, and most importantly, other writers. I also learned the value of editing, which I apply to my prose more often than my poetry, though I do put more thought into my poetry than I used to. Let's just say I'm no longer a fan of nonsensical emotionally overwrought word vomit.

2. How do you feel about dA as a literature community?

Of any website I have posted my writing on, dA is the friendliest. Almost all of the community members I have met are willing to not only talk about their writing but their ideas behind it. There is so much talent to read daily, and if one actively participates--commenting on others' work, offering critique, etcetera--it's easy to become involved.

3. What is your writing process like?

For my poetry, I usually start with an idea and let the words build themselves. I then edit the work until I'm satisfied with it, which is almost never. I tend to return to my poetry very often. My favorite is revising poems I wrote months ago, because I always have a new perspective on what I've written.

For my prose, I have more of a systematic method. I outline the plot, decide on themes and symbolism, and then flesh out the story from there. I also spend much more time editing it in the early stages, thought I'm less likely to return to the idea later.

Both of these processes involve lots of caffeine, but a few people have noted I'm a rather "prolific" writer. I have a lot of energy for what I do, and if I have even an inkling of an idea, I will try to write it. You never know if it's going to work until you try, and sometimes, if you start something, the rest of it will come to you either while you're writing or after you look back at your work later.

4. Are there any authors that have influenced your work?

So many, haha. Right now, I've been reading more contemporary fiction, including Sherman Alexie, Mark Z. Danielewski, Yann Martel, and Alicia Erian. I tend to read more prose than poetry, and I'm very drawn to realistic situations and spiritual contemplations. The ideas of human nature and frailty fascinate and that reflects in my writing and inspirations.

To be honest, I draw most of my inspiration from my life and the lives of others.

5. What advice would you give to a beginning writer?

Write often, edit often, and take the advice of writers you respect but don't lose your sense of style. You don't need to be like another writer to be successful.

Poetry

Census of Ghostshe now resides in susurration:
shaken from our summer sheets,
flags drawn taut and shuddering,
and wispseeds rising into the light
with their dressing gowns unbuttoned,
planting onto my lips that name
i've tried to hang with himself;

on a late morning,
while folding your laundry,
i found him again and held his tongue
when he yearned to speak of love
that once transpired in his passion,
or maybe it was the infatuation
of surrealists: brown skin but touched
upon each other,

marking the insignificant with brands
of remembrance: like the crinkling of
tinfoil or the crisping of smokers' lungs
or the thought that cigarettes are only
romantic i
"Census of Ghosts" by *glossolalias


Sixteen Sketches of Local Personhood one.

By Method of Loci, Nick remembers the different faces
of every man he's ever slept with, placing them like mannequins
through his childhood home. In the cluttered foyer is the boy who asked him
for his virginity, but in the attic, his husband of one year by law but many more
by virtue of dedication and love reclines against the diamond-shaped window,
backlit by dusty light while smiling with his arms wide open, his legs stuck straight like
The Cross that hangs beside him, a wooden thing abuela brought back from Mexico.

two.

Tamarah cleans the gutters with her hands because the hose
won't work like it used to and the sun beats down
"Sixteen Sketches of Local Personhood" by *glossolalias

Prose

All Truthsone.

Micah Deluca came out sophomore year.

He was standing by his locker, talking to a blond with a crooked smile and one fake tooth, feigning interest to stare at his biceps. The blond's name was Dylan Arnholt, and Micah had better things to do, but he was always polite and politer to handsome boys. Perhaps that was telling enough, but there was something effeminate about Micah: his straight dark hair, the impish curve of his pink mouth, the way he held his hips, his meticulously shined Doc Martens and tight bleached jeans. Everyone suspected he was gay, but no one knew until Dylan asked pointblank, "So, are you a fag?"

"Do you mean to as
"All Truths" by *glossolalias


Petty ReasonsI. Little Accidents

I scrutinize the jeans I scrape off the laundry room floor, trying to figure out if they're black or indigo; last week, Logan invited me to a party and said Willow would be there. While we still shared an English class, Willow said she liked to see me in black jeans and green shirts, but the only green shirt I own is dirty. I settle for blue and hope it’s close enough, checking the date on the calendar for the sixth time: Friday, July 18th.

Before I leave, I make sure I say bye to Jackson. He’s on the phone with a customer and waves his hand to shush me. A minute later, he covers the receiver with his hand an
"Petty Reasons" by *glossolalias




For more information, including how to suggest a Deviation to be featured, please visit us at =DailyLitDeviations.

Thanks so much for supporting the lit community and this special feature project!

~ The =DailyLitDeviations Team ~


_{Prepared by:  =DrippingWords}

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_{Featured by =LadyofGaerdon}
SummerEllie,

Summer is coming, you feel it in six year old bones sheltered beneath skin paled by flourescent lights and dusty shelves. She will call to you and attempt to lure you in with the promise of dry, dusty heat cooled by southern breezes; but you, so unlike your boisterous siblings, will dig in your heels and bury yourself deeper within tales with boundaries set in ink.

You will watch the seasons play out on your mothers face, placed there by the iron fists of your step father. Pink will turn to red, red to purple, purple to black, black to yellow and blue will hide beneath the surface; a kaleidoscope of colour that will turn your stomach
Summer by ~Lacewinged-Beauty

_{Issues of time and the
damage it inflicts, seen
through the "changeling
eyes" of a child no longer.}


For more information, including how to suggest a Deviation
to be featured, please visit us at =DailyLitDeviations.

Thanks so much for supporting the lit community and this project!

~ The =DailyLitDeviations Team ~


_{Prepared by: =DrippingWords}

Saturday Spotlight for May 11th, 2013

Daily Literature Deviations is proud to feature this special recognition article!
You can show your support by ing this News Article. We hope this gives you some insight into
the person behind the art.
Please comment and the features and congratulate the artist!


 Artists will be featured in a special news article every Saturday. Major points to =SilverInkblot and =DrippingWords
for doing the hard work and research that goes into these articles!  

Today's featured deviant is:
 *beeinthebottle!


 

Questions

 

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing.

I edit for a living, but my first love is poetry; I prefer to think of myself as a poet who daylights as a professional editor. I also write some creative nonfiction and other prose. I began writing in third grade, although it was my sixth grade teacher who really inspired me. She gave me an “empty book” and told me to fill it with my poems. I stopped writing when my life got too busy—the house, the husband, the kid, the cats—only to start again in serious about 3 years ago.

2. How do you feel about dA as a literature community?

dA is often thought of as a teen site, but in the lit community, there are subgroups of all sorts of folks. The flipside, of course, is that some people find the lit community to be too fragmented. As a mature writer (read “older”), I feel lucky in that there’s a subset for folks like me, too, which has really helped to further my writing. People have been very kind and supportive here.

3. What is your writing process like?

I have a bad habit of writing, then overediting, then putting half of it back. As an editor, I’m a perfectionist, which can be good when dealing with issues of craft and really bad when simply trying to get words on the page.

4. Are there any authors that you feel have been an influence on your work?

I’d like to say maybe T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath, but as much as I admire them, they haven’t found their way into my writing. My writing was most influenced, in my teens, by a little known pop poet, Merrit Malloy, who had a very straightforward, personal style. Poet Ed Skoog, [link], taught me most of what I know about crafting poems. I took a couple of classes from him, including a master class in poetry. Any missteps I make are all mine, though.

5. What would you consider your highest literary accomplishment to be?

It’s yet to come; I haven’t accomplished much, at this point. I’d love to see my poetry out there more. My goal for this year is to be published more widely, especially locally. I’m most pleased about appearing in Cascadia Review, which is a beautiful online journal that has featured a ton of more-published poets, including Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken.

Poetry

North StarI want a window
facing the North Star

so I can dream
I am sailing
toward the galaxies,

instead of anchored,
like the tide,
to the moon
"North Star" by *beeinthebottle


SliverYou were once a lightbulb,
a skying bird,
the truth
behind the story,

a sparkplug,
an anchor,
the answer to a dream

Last time
I looked behind,
I saw you standing,
hazy;

a peahen
caught between
control and finery

You were once a highway flare,
a sparkler,
the western wind,
the moon—

you were once
a sliver of the moon
"Sliver" by *beeinthebottle


TransubstantiateI hold you in my hand,
a cup of water, overflowing
(no water into wine, this),
transmuting into vodka

You, a stiff drink I did not expect,
a tired burn in my throat,
blue fire running from my hair
and down my thighs

to fizzle where my leather boots
brace, embedded in burnt earth
“Transubstantiate” by *beeinthebottle

Prose

MirrorI'm sitting in the pub, and a song my mom often sang to me when I was growing up comes on, "Que Sera, Sera." Will I be pretty, will I be rich?

My mom dragged me to the orthodontist to fix my teeth, the dermatologist to fix my skin. I looked out the window and dreamed.

Where do those dreams of pretty and rich disappear to as we grow older? Shoved down like the covers when we go to sleep. I've outgrown the wish to be rich and have almost outgrown the need to be pretty. A pair of tall, black boots and some jeggings, a cute tee on top, and I'm ready to rock.

Almost.

My daughter asked me, tears in her eyes, why I make myself invisible, why I f
"Mirror" by *beeinthebottle





For more information, including how to suggest a Deviation
to be featured, please visit us at =DailyLitDeviations.

Thanks so much for supporting the lit community and this special feature project!

~ The =DailyLitDeviations Team ~


_{Prepared by:  =SilverInkblot}

Saturday Spotlight for May 4^th, 2013

Daily Literature Deviations is proud to feature this special recognition article!
You can show your support by ing this News Article. We hope this gives you some insight into the person behind the art. Please comment and the features and congratulate the artist!


Artists will be featured in a special news article every Saturday. Major points to =SilverInkblot and =DrippingWords for doing the hard work and research that goes into these articles!  

Today's featured deviant is:
~wh0rem0ans!

Questions

 

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing.

If someone takes half the water out of a glass of orange juice, the concentrated liquid is sweeter. Take all of the water out and the result is so sweet it causes an intense reaction, an unforgettable sensation.

An idea will cross my horizon, usually an image with an idea. The image is usually alien to the idea but I know they are important together. So I swirl it around, look at it from many angles. I try to figure out where, in my history, the image arose. Then comes an ‘Ah ha!” moment.

Once I know why it is important that this unrelated image tell the story of this idea, I begin to tell it to myself. And each time I tell it, I reduce it. When all the water is gone, the concentrate is intense and unforgettable to me.

Very nearly all my ‘writing’ is done in my head. I type the words, for the first time, into the Text box for Submissions. I edit there. I hit submit and somehow there is always something wrong with it. This happens several times, usually, and then I am satisfied. That’s how I make poetry.

2. How do you feel about dA as a literature community?

My poetry was never written down until I opened this second account on dA. I wanted to share the words I worked in my head but I was terrified. The early submissions felt like vulnerable bits of my soul. But, from the start, I was supported and encouraged. I gained confidence, I took risks, I experienced an evolving freedom of expression.

I enjoy the interactions with writers and readers here immensely, popping in several times a day to see comments or to read others’ work. Groups have no appeal for me whatsoever, as I am an introvert. I am not shy, though, so one to one, I am in my element. Community as a collection of individuals is precious to me and dA is the only literature site to which I belong. It’s all I ever needed.

P.S. This is too long to be called intense or unforgettable! Ha!

3. Are there any authors that have influenced your work?

Rainer Maria Rilke, especially “Letters to a Young Poet”
The "unholy trinity" of British poets: Byron, Keats and Shelley
John Donne, when he was Jack Donne and wrote, “The Flea”
Jay Knioum
`queenhrosie
Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes: poet, Jungian analyst, but also author of Women Who Run with the Wolves
David Whyte
Joseph Decker
The Inklings
There are so many, too many to name all.

4. What do you consider to be your highest literary accomplishment?

I just began university and got a perfect score on the writing placement test, after being out of school for 35 years. But I would have to say that first DD will always be an incredible bright memory for me.

5. Have you ever written a piece that was "difficult?" Whether because it wasn't ready to be written or something too personal to write about? How do you deal with writing something like that?

I hope everyone has done that very thing. How do I do it? I once tried to make the references obscure with fantasy or myth symbolism. To sort of ‘half tell it’. Well, that’s useless. The blissing of such work is part catharsis and part healing, and neither occurs without vulnerability. There is a sweetness to honestly spilling a bit of your hidden shame and finding someone else who will say, ‘Me, too”.

Poetry

Single LadiesI want to spend a summer fortnight in the Everglades with LynnMarie.
I want to sleep all day and stay up all night, learning just one dance.
I want to dance like Kurt Hummel in the Glee "Single Ladies" video.
I want to learn every hair flip, finger waggle, hip thrust, every move.

I want to keep this incredible talent a tiny secret in my heart of hearts.
I want to keep it for a day when I have a true heart great-granddaughter.
I want to see the gleam in her eye when I invite her to share my secret.
I want to dance, dance for her, until we both cry gasping tears of laughter.
"Single Ladies" by ~wh0rem0ans


Who gives this woman?No one can,
     for she was free and wild
          before she left my womb,
Said her mama.

No one can,
     for she was free and wild
          before she let go my hand,
Said her daddy.

No one can
     bind the wind that is her breath
     trap the water that is her blood
     cage the earth that is her bones
     capture the fire that is her heart
Said her granny.

No one may give wha
"Who gives this woman?" by ~wh0rem0ans


WinterIn the dark night

of Winter,

Look up.

There are stars.
"Winter" by ~wh0rem0ans


daughterI asked
my
5 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“You are, Mama!”

I asked
my
10 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“Who cares, Mama?”

I asked
my
15 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“My friend is, Mama.”

I asked
my
20 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“No one is, Mama.”

I asked
my
25 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“My lover is, Mama.”

I asked
my
30 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“My baby is, Mama.”

I asked
my
35 year old
daughter
Are you beautiful?

“I don’t think so, Mama.”

I asked
my
40 year old
daught
"daughter" by ~wh0rem0ans




For more information, including how to suggest a Deviation to be featured, please visit us at =DailyLitDeviations.

Thanks so much for supporting the lit community and this special feature project!

~ The =DailyLitDeviations Team ~


_{Prepared by:  =DrippingWords}

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