lithium is
highly reactive
flammable
and needs to be stored
in a vacuum
many women are
made of this substance
women
forced by circumstance
to react
sometimes burn things
what other choice do they have
in a world that refuses
to let them breathe
refuses to let them be
fire is cleansing
fire is familiar
inherited flames
handed down
from the witches
who came before them
the one’s who took the flames
inside themselves
and held them for future generations
to remind them of what men did
to women who burned brightly
lithium women are those flames
lithium women are dangerous
and men should think about that
when they write their laws
or walk down the streets alone
at night
Photo: Matheus Bertelli, Pexels
I’m an artist, a writer, a vegetarian, an animal rights activist, and quite a few other things as well. I love books, cats, philosophy, good conversation, Chicago and the arts. So my blog is full of bits and pieces but it’s the bits and pieces that make life interesting to me. You can read more of my writing at Rethinking Life
we used to say you were a girl comprised of ether
unable to stay tethered, buoyant, above the fray
rising higher than any helium, eclipsing
the energies of ten; pulse hammering in wild jack rabbit heart
bulging eyes readied, as if the rest of the world
was on pause, and you, a blur of ill focused energies
charged the weather vane to silver mercury.
we used to say you were a woman made mad
when paranoia turned you cruel, hungry for pain
and a lusting to conquer and shine left you radiant
destroyer of reliability, unfit to make promises you never kept
an echoing flit of attention, like radar without programming
search lights in darkness, sometimes foe, sometimes friend
gaining armies in the arc of your flight, you’d go to war for breakfast
and find yourself dying on the battle field by night.
we used to say you were kind even as you were cold
but sometimes you’d stay iced-over, long past winter’s cease of light
you’d change into someone we didn’t recognize, who couldn’t hear
our entreaty for your return, from the hot brightness and
deep plunge into frost, where listless and angering
you’d rage against lost heights like Icarus touched
the molten burn of his wings and cursed the gods, so
you cursed us, with your menace and delusion, until months
passed and you woke, shaken from pinched spell
returned, expecting us to love you, which we always did
though our wounds grew deeper with each encroaching
season, with every time you threw us off
like a wild horse removes its bridle and, in its fury,
crushes rider beneath thrashing stampede.
Born in Europe, Candice Louisa Daquin is of Sephardi French/ Egyptian descent. Daquin was the Publishing Director at the U.S. Embassy (London) before becoming a Psychotherapist. Daquin is Senior Editor at Indie Blu(e) Publishing, a feminist micro-press and Editorial Partner with Raw Earth Ink. She’s also Writer-in-Residence for Borderless Journal, Editor of Poetry & Art for The Pine Cone Review and Poetry Editor for Parcham Literary Magazine. Daquin’s own poetic work takes its form from the confessional women poets of the 20th century as well as queer authors writing from the 1950’s onward. Her career(s) teaching critical thinking and practicing as a psychotherapist have heavily influenced her writing. As a queer woman of mixed ethnicity and passionate feminist beliefs concerning equality, Daquin’s poetry is her body of evidence.
In honor of its 5th anniversary, Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless are teaming up this November to sponsor a series of 30 daily creativity prompts, comprised of the titles of our 25 published books and four upcoming titles, along with a couple fun phrases to round it out. We think our book titles are pretty damn cool and we hope they spark your creativity. You are welcome to respond to as many that inspire you.
There is only one rule to the prompt challenge: the book title or phrase should serve as the title of your piece OR all the words in the title should be integrated into your piece somehow.
Note: Some of IB books have fabulous subtitles. Want an extra challenge? Try integrating the subtitle into your response
It is our honor and pleasure to publish your prompt responses on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless . We welcome poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and high-res original art inspired by the prompts.
Writing can be submitted in the body of the email or as a separate Word document or PDF
If you are submitting writing, please include a suggested image to accompany your work. Unsplash and Pixabay are two of our favorite sites for royalty-free images.
Your email should include your name EXACTLY as you want it to appear on Indie Blu(e) Publishing and Brave & Reckless, a short biography, and any links you want shared.
Bestselling Canadian poet Nicole Lyons weaves together beloved pieces from her previous volumes Hush, I Am a World of Uncertainties Disguised as a Girl, and Blossom and Bone with new writing into powerful documentation of her journey as a writer. Her poetry and prose are wholly relatable, taking us deep inside the heart, and the human condition. Unafraid to bare her soul, she shares her struggles skillfully crafted with every line, giving the reader permission to take a glimpse into their own. Her readers are sensitive and smart, and Lyons understands this. JUST YOU WAIT says it all, “Be patient, pretty little tragic one, the real suffering has not yet begun.”
“Nicole Lyons is one of the most exciting, vital poets of our generation. The Lithium Chronicles is her most ambitious and brazen work to date, and she delivers above and beyond. Nicole’s ability to delve deep into the human psyche, unapologetic, is her gift to the world. Penning a full range of raw, honest, rage and brutal emotion in six lines is her mastery and magic.”
Raw. Fierce. Brave. Brazen. Honest. These words are often (and accurately) used to describe Nicole Lyons’ writing. She has also been called a crazy bitch; the real burn is that Nicole lives so much inside her truths, she’s able to say, “Yes. I am a crazy bitch.” One of the things her fans admire most about Lyons is that she never allows naysayers to hold power over her. Lyons takes what is meant to be derogatory and makes it into a crown. Bipolar Affective Disorder, however, doesn’t genuflect before her; BAD is always seeking to usurp the reign she has over herself. In her fifth collection of poetry, Lyons is more raw, urgent, and intimate than ever before. She grabs the reader by the throat and does not let go until she has said everything she came to say. By the end of this exhilarating journey, we will have seen the things that have made her into a humble woman, and we will respect her all the more.
“In the Lithium Chronicles Volume Two, we see the raw and the real of Nicole Lyons, absolutely nothing is sugarcoated. Her words draw you in with imagery so vivid it feels like you are there in the thick of it with her, in every piece she writes feeling everything she felt, and then she guts you in an amazing way. Nicole Lyons is incredibly talented, and The Lithium Chronicles Volume Two truly moved me.” – Kayil York, 11:11
Nicole Lyons is a force of nature disguised as a writer, a social activist, a voice for the downtrodden, and a powerful poet with a delicate touch. She is an award-winning poet and bestselling published author. Her work has been featured on CBC Books as well as numerous online magazines and print anthologies. Nicole was inducted into The Mental Health Writer’s Guild in 2015 for her work on The Lithium Chronicles, Psych Central, The Mighty, and the International Bipolar Foundation. In her free time, Nicole volunteers as a speaker and event coordinator with a Canadian non-profit that focuses on suicide awareness and prevention in children and teens. She lives a good life in beautiful British Columbia with her brilliant daughters and an amazing husband. From a sunny porch in beautiful British Columbia, Nicole is enjoying a glass of wine and working on her next collection of poetry. To connect with Nicole on social media, follow her on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram @nicolelyonspoetry.
We were told
So much we could not do,
How things were only for
The men and not for you...
Be a Lady.
Do not date too much.
Save yourself for the husband
That you must somehow love.
The Myths of girlhood
Were chains to hold us down.
Keep us meek.
Making no sound.
For if we can do anything
Regardless of our gender identity
Then what other lies have they told me?
Patricia Harris is a dreamer, crafter, gamer, and digital artist who loves creativity in life. A half-mad poet, her writing is found all over social media and various other websites. She is a devoted mom who can be found doing a variety of art when she isn’t penning poetry and writing words. She is owner of the indie publishing company Fae Corps publishing. Her collection of writings includes two memoirs, a book on writing, several children’s books, and poetry. For more from Patricia, check her out Facebook or Pattimouse .
Read their stories in their eyes
generation on generation on generation
something passes down
stories true formed and told
shaped by those untrue
the myths of girlhood
myths of womanhood
Fates set against fantasies
and needs of men
Bob Wertzler is retired from nearly twenty years in the mental health field both in California and Arizona. There are times the title, “Recovering Therapist,” seems to fit. In 2006 Bob retired (again) to move to western North Carolina to help and become the primary caregiver for his father who had developed Dementia. Before all that, there was much work at various times as a soldier (US Army 196770), community organizer, cab driver, welfare case worker, wooden toy maker, carpenter, warehouse worker, among other things. He relates to a line in a Grateful Dead song, “What a long, strange trip it’s been” But there is a life beyond work and keeping fed, clothed, and sheltered, and for him that has been much involved with reading, writing, and listening. He learned to read and love books from his father reading to him at bedtime and gradually transitioning to Bob doing the reading. It was not generally those things called “children’s books” that he remembers most, although there must have been some. Instead, his sharpest memories are of the works of Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson (what six-year- old boy wouldn’t want to meet a real pirate like Long John Silver?), Robert Heinlein, Louis Carroll, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway (age seven, devouring The Old Man And The Sea), and many others. Nothing school presented could hold a candle to those storytellers. Bob credits whatever skill he has as a writer to those experiences and those examples absorbed as if by osmosis. One more favorite, this, from Bob Dylan: “he not busy being born is busy dying.” His recently published poetry collection, The Comment Poems is available at Lulu in paperback and eBook formats.
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