PHOTO PROMPT © Lily Spoiled Although I’m sitting poolside at my villa, sipping Margarita, my soul feels like chipped, latex-coated lead: cheap, artificial, and toxic. The adage goes, how did I get to this place; but I know, know how, and who is to blame. When you’ve had enough trauma cast upon you as an…
A2Z 2026 Spider Woman
Spider Woman —Na’ashjéii Asdzáá (Navajo) Spider Woman by Tara Reynolds “In the beginning, there was the dark purple light at the dawn of being. Spider Woman spun a line to form the east, west, north, and south. Breath entered man at the time of the yellow light. At the time of the red light, man…
A2Z 2026 Rhiannon
Rhiannon (aka Epona) Welsh The Mabinogion The Mabinogion is a collection of Middle Welsh prose. Compiled from texts found in two late-medieval manuscripts, this collection was initially edited and translated by antiquarians in the early nineteenth century. While the Mabinogion collection itself might thus be regarded as a nineteenth century editorial creation, its constituent texts…
dVerse Q246 — Puppetized
(Epoch Producing Corporation) PuppetizedWatching old movies:black-white flickers totrain pupils; see pale-skinned indignities asunquestioned status quo,eyes fix postured macho,not swerved to objects;props serving patriarchy,downcast eyes, smilesor not, dependent ploysto be toyed with, stringedautomatons, machinesserving sociopaths’ greed. Punam is today’s host for dVerse’ Quadrille Monday. Punam wants us to write a poem using some form of the…
A2Z 2026 Qin Liangyu
Qin Liangyu (Chinese) In my research, I learned that Qin Liangyu was not a goddess per se, but her importance in history makes her something close. Further, Marty Noble’s coloring book has her in it as a goddess, which is good enough for me. Finally, I note that the Marty’s image of her doesn’t match…
#SLS — “Grandma’s Hands,” by Bill Withers
Album cover to Just As I Am by w:Bill Withers, w:Sussex Records, 1971. The above album sleeve features a photograph of Withers next to a brick building, supposedly the factory that he was working in at the time the album was recorded, where he installed airplane toilets. He wears a yellow T-shirt and jeans and holds a lunchbox. It…
A2Z 2026 Pachamama
Pachamama (Peru) Pachamama, or Mother Earth, is a central deity associated with fertility in Andean beliefs. The goddess’s presence is strong in contemporary Andean communities, so much so that it’s central to many traditions. From ancient rituals to current cultural expressions, the Andean Earth Mother is widely present. The term Pachamama comes from Quechua, the…
Tao-Talk 