Allow Me to Confuse You for a Moment
The Confusion
I am both Ravyne Hawke and Lori Carlson. Ravyne Hawke (pronounced Raven Hawk) is my Cherokee name and the raven and the hawk are my spirit guides. I explain how this came to be in this article. She is also my online persona and my ofttimes melancholy muse. The I who does all the writing, is Lori Carlson, and this introduction will be about this me.
Believe me, I’ve heard it all before: If you write under your own name, why not post under your own name? Quite simply — I don’t want to dishonor my Cherokee name…
POETRY | THIS HAPPENED TO ME
A poem
my deep imagination
transports me —
I become characters
in all your stories
and for a time, I forget
my own loneliness
so come, tell me a story
I need to feel alive —
make me a heroine
or a villain would do
take me on a journey
so I’ll forget who I am
just please, don’t leave me
in suspension —
I need to know, must know
how I will end
©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
A poetic response to Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)’s poetry prompt — what do you get from reading other people’s stories?
Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. Check out her personal Medium blog here.
POETRY | HUMANITY
A haiku
cast downward your eyes
witness the lack now in bloom
human sparks of love
©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. Check out her personal Medium blog here.
POETRY | THIS HAPPENED TO ME
A micropoem
My life is a stale ale
left half-opened upon the bar
an afterthought from an afterparty
Who will drink of me now?
©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
A poetic response to Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)’s poetry prompt — use a metaphor to describe your current situation BONUS POINTS: food / beverage metaphor
Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. Check out her personal Medium blog here.
POETRY | SELF-WORTH
Poetic response to Creative Corner Edition Nº10
these bones have felt the shallowness
of many a lover and friends
too often I’ve been collected like artifacts
for someone’s mere amusement
and more oft than not, I’ve dodged boxes
so deep, I’d get lost in them
it takes effort to get to know someone
but few have the patience for one such as I
and while I remain an open book
I never said you’d understand the language
for within me are puzzles and riddles
a vortex in an endless spiral to nowhere
so why come to me looking confused?
show me one minute, one hour of time spent
pondering…
I’ve been plagued with mental health issues for the majority of my life, spending countless years in in-patient and out-patient treatment, playing medication roulette and yes, I have gone through way too many therapists to count.
So when my doctor suggested that I once again see a therapist in late 2019, I just threw up my hands in frustration. The voice in my head kept saying, not another one! I’ve not had much success with therapists. However, I struck gold with the one I began seeing in late 2019. She has helped me heal in ways no one else has…
PERSONAL ESSAY | MUSIC | SELF-AWARENESS
Essay response to Creative Corner Edition Nº10
Last night, I revisited old friends — the Goth Metal band Type O Negative. It has been a year since I’ve listened to them and even after eleven years, I am still mourning the loss of the lead vocalist and my muse, Peter Steele. And yet, each Autumn, I am drawn to his haunting voice and the dark beauty of the lyrics in their album, October Rust.
All four members of the band — Peter Steele, Kenney Hickey, Josh Silver and Johnny Kelly — had the look of centuries-old vampires, but at 6'8" and with his long black hair, Peter…
Highlighting Stories From My Fellow Writers
It’s that lovely time again to show some of my fellow writers here on Medium just how much I appreciate their work and hopefully encourage others to read these works.
Periodically, I will make a list of 25 stories and publish it on Ravyne’s Nest. You will be able to find this one and subsequent ones under the Articles Tab.
Poetry by Alisha Thomas
Personal Essay by Penelope Mayfield
Personal Essay by Rachel Luxemburg
Essay by T. H. McClung, she/her(s)
Article By Stephanie Florczyk
Haiku By Kavya Janani. U
Haiku By Upen Singh
Tanka by Penny Grubb
Haiku by David…
POETRY | NATURE
A Haibun
red, gold and yellow
dressings fall and carpet ground
autumnal frolic
Like five fingers entwined in lace reaching down down down for earth, your leaves await the wind to scatter them in a dance along the ground, roadways, streams and neighborhood streets. They long for their fall from grace in their delicate gowns dazzling in reds, gold and yellow. And each Autumn, I sit and watch their randomly, choregraphed ballet.
©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
Haibun is a poetry form that combines a haiku with a prose poem. Haibun prose is usually descriptive. …
POETRY | NATURE
A poetic response to Creative Corner Edition Nº10
what beat do marigolds keep
from seed to flower —
if we could but hear
the cacophony of sunlight
rushing through their veins
and the sighs of water
funneling from root to bloom
what beautiful cadence
would ensue
©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
In response to Diana C.’s Creative Corner Edition Nº10 prompt — | The cadence of marigolds |
Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. Check out her personal Medium blog here.
