won't silence my magic
they've told me i dream too big
since day one,
but perhaps their dreams aren't big enough;
i want to be challenged, i want an adventure
so that when i do get everything
i aspired for and more
that i have a story
worth telling—
always they told me to get my head out of the clouds,
but i refuse;
i always resisted and for that they hated me
but i am a wild thing
outside of their control—
they make it clear i am not their cup of tea
because i burn them
in some way,
but i am only trying to live my best life;
just trying to bloom
i am a flower
that resurrects
an immortal flame, a phoenix
only wishing to spread feathers of love and light—
always they've tried to silence my magic,
but it speaks loudly because
i have a power and voice all my own.
their frustrated fires
they say the sky is the limit,
but no one will
limit me;
i am limitless
won't be defined by their terms
i am who i am
defining myself
because if i listened to them
i would never achieve anything
less than self-loathing and defeat,
but those aren't what i need or want;
a negative mind cannot yield
positive results
so i just shoot for the moon
because even if i land in the stars i'm glowing—
i am immortal of the flame
always rising from
the ashes of yesterday
nothing will keep me down
especially not the expectations or rumors
they whisper behind my back
not one of them is brave enough to communicate
how they feel to my face
so let them forever burn in frustration
as i prove them wrong.
i will never surrender who i am
they asked me to bury who i was, but i couldn't do that; i came from the darkness they planted me in as a wild thorned rose—only those who deserve my petals will know my fragrance otherwise they will bleed, for far too many moons people who have had no business being in my heart took up residence there; but now i am chopping down every toxic tree to make room for new pines and willows like the ones that whispered peace and compassion to me as a child when i sought refuge from a man who chose to be a monster—he tried to cut away my dreams, but only lit my fires all the more brighter; everything he said i couldn't do i sought to prove that i could because no one defines me except for me—i have slain my own monsters and shattered the masks of nightmares my entire life, and will continue to do so toward those who think they will break the dreams of dreamers because i am their queen; i will not let paradise shatter beneath the fangs of devils—i will take their vices and watch them hang themselves because life should be for everyone, we should all be able to accomplish our wishes and dreams no matter who we are; so don't tell me i need to be a certain way because i never will be anyone less than me—i am a goddess, powerful and divine full of magic and a voice all my own; i won't let you take that from me—i will never surrender who i am.
legendary, mythical phoenix
you can sculpt a thousand
pedestals and gilded cages
for me,
but i will never be held in the restraints
of who people wish me to be;
i am a sunset,
raven,
valkyrie of white wings,
keeper of golden suns,
daughter of the silver moon—
a lie no matter how
ornamented is still a lie
so i won't sit
in the boxes society says are mine
for i am of a worth more infinite
than rubies or diamonds,
and my magic will not be shattered
nor dimmed by the fallacy
of their lies;
my voice will always rise from the ashes
for like the legendary mythical phoenix
i will rise immortal of the flame
burning every nightmare and monster
who ever stood in the way of my dreams.
soul devouring cancer
tripping over the tongues of syllables not theirs, i see so many swept away in the tide of who they do not want to be; i want to free them of their lofty prisons—they don't see they're only killing themselves and their dreams, but i can; and i refuse to be them—i will find my dreams, and i will use them to burn away the nightmares of my life; because life is too short to be a relic or a ruin long before your time is gone—so many archers have tried to take my heart, but it is mine; they have only tasted my thorns and bled for them because i won't give my flowers to just anyone—blowing out my candle won't make yours shine brighter, and i refuse to surrender my light; my love, my voice, my magic, my power isn't for anyone's use but mine—i will use my heart for good, and make this world somehow a little less evil for doing so because i refuse to accept that the status quo is the way things always were and will always need to be; we all have the right to be who we are and we should all be living our own dreams—anyone who tells you different needs to be cut out because they are a cancer that will devour your soul.
About Linda M. Crate
Linda M. Crate's poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has five published chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press, September 2017), and splintered with terror (Scars Publications, January 2018), and one micro-chapbook Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).