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@thewritermike.bsky.social

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Poetry & prose from the edge of memory. Myth-soaked, grief-blooded, and liminal. Michael Bates writes what haunts & heals: raven feathers, ghost mirrors, forgotten names, and Sacred Woods.

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Reposted

BadRobotLinda @lms2025.bsky.social · 10h

ICE brutally arresting 170 citizens for being brown, tariffs raising prices, millions set to lose healthcare, democracy hanging by a thread, and the wealthy getting all the breaks, is what happens when Trump has Putin instructing in one ear and Miller in the other.
#ProudBlue
#Voices4Victory

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 8h

Desert Song – Voices on the Wind
For Those the Wind Remembers

When the throat singers begin,
the desert itself listens.
A ritual.
A farewell.
A voice on the wind.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/desert...

Desert Song – Voices on the Wind

For Those the Wind Remembers

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 1d

Before We Arrived
What the Mountains Remember

Long before we walked the earth,
the land was already telling stories—of metal veins,
hidden cities,
and mountains that remember what we’ve forgotten.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/before...

Before We Arrived

What the Mountains Remember

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 2d

The First Frost Kissed Us Awake
A moment of heat before the frost melts away

Frost climbed the window
while our breath drew hearts in the glass.
Love burned, melted, and stayed.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #fall #frost #love

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-fi...

The First Frost Kissed Us Awake

A moment of heat before the frost melts away

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 2d

The Frost Remembers
A walk through what remains

Frost remembers what we forget—
the warmth that once walked beside us.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #fall #frost #love

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-fr...

The Frost Remembers

A walk through what remains

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 3d

The Hunter’s Last Stand
When myth remembers your aim.

He waited for the stag.
But when the arrow missed,
the forest remembered his name.
Now the hunt runs both ways.
— where myth answers every shot you take.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #nature

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-hu...

The Hunter’s Last Stand

When myth remembers your aim.

Reposted

JeffTrnka @jefftrnka.bsky.social · 4d

Reposted

Sharp Dressed Man 🇺🇸💙 @sharpdressedman.bsky.social · 4d

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 4d

The Candle’s Last Breath
An Elegy in Wax and Shadow

The candle burned low.
Our bodies breathed in rhythm.
When the flame died,
something else kept touching me.
🐺🩸🕯️💀

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-ca...

The Candle’s Last Breath

An Elegy in Wax and Shadow

Reposted

PeterBMeme @peterbmeme.bsky.social · 5d

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 5d

Her Light Remains
How love survives the dark by finding the true lantern

Love doesn’t die.
It burns under the ribs,
too bright to hold, too brief to forget.
A heart as lantern.
A walk through loss toward light.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #love

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/her-li...

Her Light Remains

How love survives the dark by finding the true lantern

Reposted

BIG D GRANDROYAL @bigdgrandroyal.bsky.social · 5d

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 5d

The Kiss That Forgot to End
A Love That Eats Its Way Out

She kissed me until seconds stopped.
I tried to breathe.
She tried to keep me.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #love #horror

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-ki...

The Kiss That Forgot to End

A Love That Eats Its Way Out

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 6d

Black Lace, Golden Light
Two Faces of the Same Blade

She wears lace like armor and sunlight like mercy.
One hand holds daggers,
the other flowers.
Both are untouchable.
Both are the same woman.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/black-...

Black Lace, Golden Light

Two Faces of the Same Blade

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 7d

Queen of Night and Day
Retribution wears red beneath the black.

A woman of silk and shadow.
A lover who turns devotion into damnation.
You think you can handle her power—
until she decides you can’t.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #love #horror

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/queen-...

Queen of Night and Day

Retribution wears red beneath the black.

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 7d

The Forest Keeps the Change
A Myth of Lost Souls and Small Transactions

A vending machine waits in the woods.
It sells witches, mead, and heartbreak.
The forest keeps the change.
Exact Change Only.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-fo...

The Forest Keeps the Change

A Myth of Lost Souls and Small Transactions

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 8d

Witchlight Waltz
Two women meet between candlelight and autumn’s last breath.

Two women meet in the fading light of Samhain—
a dance.
Not a spell,
just love finding its way through candle smoke.
🕯️

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/witchl...

Witchlight Waltz

Two women meet between candlelight and autumn’s last breath.

Reposted

✨🌟 ⭐️ LoveKat ⭐️🌟✨🟦♿️🧬🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🌎☮️🕊️🟪 @lovekat41.bsky.social · 9d

They are keeping congress out of office until October 20. No Kings is October 18. I believe they are gearing up to declare insurrection act and martial law, taking away our right to assemble. I hope I’m wrong. 😑

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 9d

The Weight of Earth
what covers me, keeps me

Roots tighten. Worms crawl.
The silence grows heavier.

By the last line,
there’s no way out.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-we...

The Weight of Earth

what covers me, keeps me

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 9d

The Weight of Air
Breathing becomes burial

Each line takes your breath,
until the page is empty.
Until you are, too.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-we...

The Weight of Air

Breathing becomes burial

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 10d

Lantern of Ash
A body lit by love, consumed by fire, remembered only in whispers

They adored my glow,
never knowing it was fire.
At 21, I became a lantern of ash—
lit by love, consumed by flame,
remembered only in whispers.

#poetry #writingcommunity

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/lanter...

A body lit by love, consumed by fire, remembered only in whispers

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 10d

The Hollowing Kiss
A love that devours, leaving only wind and hunger

She fed on more than my body—
she swallowed my dreams, my breath, my heartbeat.
I woke with nothing but her…
and the sound of her taking the next.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-ho...

The Hollowing Kiss

A love that devours, leaving only wind and hunger

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 11d

Bow of Fire
She played the violin as if my body were the song

Her violin didn’t play for the room—
it played through me.
Every note a kiss, every phrase a flame,
until silence left my body humming with her song.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/bow-of...

She played the violin as if my body were the song

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 11d

Samhain Resurrection
She Called, and Death Let Go

Each Samhain she danced on his grave.
This year, he rose to dance back.
Love doesn’t end. It just changes worlds.

#poetry #poems #writingcommunity #amwriting

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/samhai...

Samhain Resurrection

She Called, and Death Let Go

thewritermike.bsky.social @thewritermike.bsky.social · 12d

The Sunlit Bargain
The Dawn That Stole My Forever

🌅🩸 A vampire gives up his immortality one sunrise at a time, burning for the woman who prays at dawn. Love freed her—but consumed him. — a tale of tragic devotion.

#poetry #poems #love #horror

Full poem below: ⬇️
vocal.media/poets/the-su...

The Sunlit Bargain

The Dawn That Stole My Forever