You liken my intricacies to that of a satin rose, but I am not so fragile, so easily frostbitten, picked apart—love me, love me not. The rose, a delicacy for Japanese beetles on a hot summer’s day, so frail the petals are swept away in a rush of cold hose water and hard beetle bodies flailing in the stream. I do not succumb to the mold or the mildew creeping between crevices, rotting from the inside out, wilting tender petals. You think with one little snip I am yours to lay broken in a state of slowly decaying beauty in your calloused hands, to be arranged in a vase and placed on the windowsill where you can admire me at your discretion?
I am not your rose.
Liken me to an onion instead, born in the dark peace of a deep place. My layers are harder to peel away. I’ll take your knife—yes, you can cut me—but my scent will cling to your fingers, your blade, a parting gift you can’t wash away as easily as my blood from beneath your nails. Every time you breathe, you’ll taste me. Every cut you make in me will put another crack in your dam until tears flood your eyes and your vision becomes a watery blur. Consume me, and I will be on your every word. You will remember me. I will make sure of it.
So cut me if you dare. Unlike your lovely rose dropping blood-red petals one by one on the windowsill, I do not fall apart so easily.
I'm an award-winning fantasy author, artist, and photographer from La Porte, Indiana. My poetry, short fiction, and memoir works have been featured in various anthologies and journals since 2005, and several of my poems are available in the Indiana Poetry Archives. The first two novels in my Chronicles of Avilésor: War of the Realms series both received the Literary Titan Gold Book Award in 2020.
After working as a freelance writer for a time, I was shocked by how many website articles are actually written by paid "ghost writers" but credited to a different author. It was a jolt seeing my articles presented under the name of a high-profile CEO or an industry expert with decades of experience when in reality, I had none of those credentials. Just a talent for writing and the time to research topics. Ghost writing is perfectly legal and a VERY common practice.
You won't find that here on my website. I do not and never will pay a ghost writer, then slap my name on their work as if I'd written it. This website is 100% authentic. No outsourcing. No ghost writing. No AI-generated content. It's just me... as it should be.
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