Contest Winners! - Scream and Season of the Witch

The winners of the 3rd Annual Screams Contest hosted by

1st Place   offerings of a ghostand there was a vague veracity
in the whisper of your touch
that faded like feathers of frost
before the fevered kiss
of my breath.
winter settled slowly
down the curling knots of my spine
the same path
where your lips once burned
like candles in the night,
shadows tossed high
as autumn leaves riding reckless
on the wind.
at times i feel
this cup of bones
will crumble, blood and ash
and only that
and heavy hearts too full to bear
will break against the cool,
upturned cheek of earth
bare of greenery
but veiled in sinking snow.
your every echo is a curse
limned in regret
and the sting of dark hair whipping
in my brimming eyes
carries the coldest winds
across whitewashed memory,
the bite of ice built
upon a wasteland.
even a shiver cannot shake
the ringing feeling
that your absence speaks
a greater truth—
that you were never here
at all.

2nd Place   Dark MotherBleed your colors to the ground,
let them swirl in the vortex of your breath.
The gathering chill escaped from your lungs
whispers the green earth into death.

Dark Mother, keep the spirits
you hold within your hands.
Souls eternally bidden,
soaked and seeped into the land.
Dark Mother, keep your fury
quivering deep within the ground.
Harm us not, but let us hear
the power of that sound.
The wheel is turning, always turning
as the sun falls from the sky.
Mother can you tell me,
oh can't you tell me why?
Dark Mother, stir your cauldron
deep living waters of rebirth.
Wash clean this wretched wreckage
we have wreaked upon the earth.
Dark Mother, shall we reap
all that we have sown?
When spring returns will you be there?
to light our path toward home?
The wheel is turning, always turning
as the seasons slowly die.
Mother can you tell me,
oh can't you tell me why?
Will you exhale a merciful breath,
to warm our world once more?
Or stop the wheel from turning,
leave us trappe

3rd Place    kissing a ghostbend.
once upon a
time, i
inhaled a shooting
star -
silver trail
it was a falling
star (in
ha[i]led)
like kissing a ghost
in the parking
lot in the
stairs hollow
lips pressed
against mine
you said darling i
won't be here
forever;
just long enough
to make you love
me,
sunrise dim on
the horizon, blur
ring the li(n)es -
there is the present
and there is the
future but the
past is merely
memories  
/fingerprints
enclosed in
stories between
the pages
and the sun
it is strong it
is bright it is
scorching my moon-
possessed
flesh charring
my lungs burning
my heart
like kissing a ghost
blazing fire blazing
soul, suspended in
m i d a i r
[like a
body
hanging
from a
rope,
     dang
ling]
and you whisper
darling, i won't be
here forever;
just long enough
to make you
cry.

Honorable Mentions

HarvesterHarvester of Lost or Possibly Forgotten
From you to the sky to the
Beast to the floor, we are
All one endless string.
All is the lost hound's shiver
Trotting down the city street. All is the grieving
Master, alone in a foyer chair—his
Loneliness
A headless man who stands in autumn leaves,
Tapping on a windowpane.
All is the reunion and the warmth of the fireplace.
At night, or if overcast is thick,
I reach into the Skulls and pull out the
Lost,
And imbibe the murky time-forsaken
And daydream a day
When I'll need be a glowing stain on someone else's tongue.
:thumb262895621: Music of the DamnedHe loved the music
violence makes -
the terrible crushing song
of birds
dropping from the sky
or children's feet
mutely shuffling a lullaby
against cellar walls,
the noise of small animals
pleading against
cold metal wire
and innocence losing hope
to rough hands
lurching from the dark.
Those sounds could break
a weaker man,
suck strength like blessings
from a stranger's heart;
but he could savor
its last coda -
the bludgeoning whispers
and souring cries
left muffled
between his ears
with a dying note. Love slipped through my handsWhen the stars collapsed--
                  You
                      followed  
                 them
              to  
                 my   
                    doorstep.
           Chilled, your smile
            w  a  r  m  e d      
fearful                                               sometimes                            sometimes,
kissing you is                                                                                      




The winners of the Season of the Witch Contest, hosted by

Digital Category

1st Place   

2nd Place   

3rd Place   

HM          


Traditional:  

1st Place   :thumb266349742:

2nd Place   

3rd Place   

HM          


Fractals

1st Place   

2nd Place   

3rd Place   

HM          



Literary

1st Place    Season of the WitchSomething slow and arcane
culls this fire
and flares like ghosts.
It stirs your soul,
splits the iris of your eye,
a spectrum to haunt October -
ruddy gold and rust,
followed by a dark so smooth,
it smothers embers
and roosts upon the river,
too deep to drown you.
And in the depths -
molten brown
muddles silt and pine,
witches' brew of
tar voiced stones
that glint
and hold you down
like amber.

2nd Place    :thumb259581852:

3rd Place     Moonlight SerenadePain erupts around the swollen womb
As the cycle of day turns to night,
Full moon starring the Night Sky Feature.
Unwanted muse to peel away
Layers of saturated flesh,
Blood pooled around where the body lay twisted.
A cry pierces the night sky
Splitting the clouds like lightning,
Settling down like ashes that taste of leaves.
Thunderous echoes follow after
While fear spreads below,
Tremors threaten the threshold and force the break.
Alone, the babe with Canine eyes,
Steps forward from the grave
His mother a sordid, fragile thing where warmth lingers.
Into the night stumbling forward
Clutching an imaginary heart,
He pretends to feel and thirsts for a drink,
Lifting his head into the midnight sky.

HM             


Photography  

1st Place    

2nd Place    

3rd Place    

HM           :thumb266152628:



Artisans

1st Place    

2nd Place    

3rd Place    

HM