of Stardust and the Beasts

Poetry, prose, stories, and other creative writing experiments.

 

the Six Sentence Café & Bistro #12 | a Freaky One?

This week's storyline for the Nervous Poet was also sourced from the red-headed writer (aka la Raconteuse). The prompt word—FUNCTION—was provided by Denise, aka the Bartender, host of the Six Sentence Story blog hop. All the stories for the week—within the café and outside of it—can be accessed through the link-up. As I was writing this weeks' installment and editing it I was listening to Rotting Christ—one of my favorite bands from Greece. the Six Sentence Café & Bistro #12 Aurelia paced back and forth in her tiny one-room while gripping onto a flyer Denise, aka the Bartender, had handed her with the strength of—umm—well… as if this flyer itself had the might to attack her. "I don't know if I can do this… they called me the poetry freak… even took my notebook and read it in front of...

a POEM IN SIX #2 | Prompt Word: YARN | Linked to dVerse OLN

Какая ночь! Я не могу and Не гляди на меня с упрёком: These songs were playing on repeat as I wrote this poem. I used to write like this quite often—from an emotion or thought evoked by a song—and I wanted to see if I could still do it. So the poem is largely inspired by the original poems, used as lyrics here, but from the perspective of a woman. PS: I've always admired how direct and emotionally unflinching Sergey Yesenin's poetry is. It's all the more haunting knowing that he died not long after writing these... or how the end of his life played out... or how he wrote his last poem... truly... overwhelmingly tragic. Also, Denise gives us the prompt words and hosts the Six Sentence Story hops weekly... all the six-sentence entries of this week can be found at this link-up. I also...

Ten Thing of Thankful #17 | SSC&B & University Plans

These weekly TToT posts have become one of my favorite ways to show my grats', talk about my week, and read about other people's weeks... You can choose to participate or read others' posts at the link-up. Ten Thing of Thankful #17 First—the Six Sentence Café & Bistro. A fricken' awesome tiny (define tiny lol) collaborative world—created by some rather cool authors—that I have now been part of as a walk-in character for 12 weeks! This week, we will have a little function coming up—a Poetry Slam evening where our beloved characters will be on the stage performing a poem… I myself will do an audio recording and upload it together with this week's entry. However, it will probably happen...

Short Story | Goddess in Disguise

In this short story, "Goddess in Disguise," Ella loves fiercely and obsessively, pouring herself into every relationship. She worships her lovers, hoping they’ll stay, but learns a new kind of love from a man who doesn’t fall for her usual charms. This story was also written as a journey of discovering another type of writer in me, before this blog and the Six-Sentence Stories I used to write only poetry. I did dabble in horror and romanticism in my teens, but I never really wrote stories. While reading other blog-hoppers’ weekly additions, I felt that my stories didn’t quite fit, because they never had a strong plot and always leaned toward poetry. Now, however, after returning in 2026, I think it’s not a bad thing to be different from other writers. Perhaps that’s why I stopped trying...

Poetry On the margins of the First Draft #18 | Digging her own Grave

Part of my poetry collection, Margins of the First Draft — this was actually a newer thought or poem that incorporated into this one. I remember the line originated from the Dead Poet thing I had going on and it was supposed to be a part of the Six-Sentence Story but I couldn't connect the thought well enough. (Authors Note) Digging her own Grave " Yes, writing poems about him... was a luxury... I couldn’t afford" Poetry on the Margins #18 I wish Sometimes I wish my writing was more of apunch to the gut,because I amviolent like that. Yet, I feel it's always eithertoo sador too mushy

Poetry On the margins of the Second Draft #1 | Existential Crisis

I haven’t been actively posting poetry or anything for a while—partly because of time, but mostly because I haven’t been getting along with my imagination lately. Too many of my poems were directed at people in my life, and I felt it was better to stay quiet on the blog, as that kind of writing can be disruptive. I had some past traumas I was healing from, and being a poet can sometimes leave you vulnerable if the work is too honest. I truly felt it was too honest to share—unlike the rest of my blog—and that it could have hurt people in my circle. But I feel like I’ve found that spark again, creating from a place that makes my stories feel as if they are deeply personal while still being...

the Six Sentence Café & Bistro #9 | How Rude is This?

Every week, Denise, aka GirlieOnTheEdge, gives us a prompt word for a story that must be written in exactly six sentences. It has become one of my favorite ways to construct a story—or a poem—and, even more so, I have discovered that contributing to the collaborative...

a POEM IN SIX #2 | Prompt Word: YARN | Linked to dVerse OLN

Какая ночь! Я не могу and Не гляди на меня с упрёком: These songs were playing on repeat as I wrote this poem. I used to write like this quite often—from an emotion or thought evoked by a song—and I wanted to see if I could still do it. So the poem is largely inspired...