The party's over
You got in bed with the devil
And pulled the covers up over your head
It's a bed of your own making
Now you have to lie in it
And lie you have and lie you will
Over and over and over again
You'll toss and turn until morning comes
And after that sleepless night
It will finally dawn on you
It's time to wake up and smell the coffee
To go with your breakfast of crow
Which costs more than you will ever know
And we're all paying the price
Living under a cloud that shuts out sunshine
Memories never put to rest, they haunt you
Lost in a maze of your own making
You fail to figure the way out
Never seeming to find that open door
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
I wouldn't bother
alchemizing language
into golden press releases
of your own making.
It never works long anyway,
grapevines get better reception.
A dog knows who flinches.
Moss grows where one lingers,
even silence
leaves thumbprints.
Say nothing. Say too much.
Either way—
they’ll know you.
You learn to embrace your very own darkening
When trapped in a prison of your own making.
When it is the lights that were always looming,
Yet never letting the light in for any healing.
Freedom is captivity.
To be free,
You must lose liberties.
You’re heart can be open to the world,
But you’re body will be closed to joys—
Off the grid.
No authority.
A paradise of your own making,
Keeps you locked.
Hidden.
Shackled,
In a state of renewal.
Where there is no time for rest.
Only growth.
Sitting on a bench
Of your own making
Feeding pigeons
Who are there for taking
...sustenance
Walking down a worn path
Where others have left a mark
Though you hear a voice
To come up yonder, you will not hark
...silence
Diving headlong into a pool
Where opportunity lures you as bait
No water to soften the fall
You met a foolish fate
...drown
Searching for answers to dialogue
All words jumble into a ball
Hopelessness yanks the chain
Of the one who has done it all
...vanity
Shall I continue on the journey
With a companion who benefits from presence
But refuses all TRUTH in discretion
As a confession of just needing the essence
...wafted about
AWAY, you scoundrel...I do NOT know you
Written by Trudy Schrader on 12-01-2023
(detail of "Rainbow Body", original encaustic, 2018)
Sun Made Flesh and Fiber
In the woods of your own making every tree
has a dark side
and each, a whole, casts a shadow.
Where can you turn
to find a way through?
Where can you run
that does not lead back into?
Trees, however dark and dense we find them,
only grow by the light of Sun.
They are in fact Sun made flesh and fiber,
and we, Sun’s eyes
as bright as stars
whose dust we honor,
have no home but here.
(From my 2019 book of the same name)
Your transparency is like black paint
Shrouded in silence and deceit
Hiding in shadows of your own making
But I see through your dark retreat
You cannot fool me with your lies
Nor blind me with your fake allure
Your transparency is like black paint
But I have the solvent of truth
you invited to the party
telling me to sweetly sing
you offered nonchalance
offering snide remarks
valour was not your end game
You rode on your proverbial chariot
telling me of your mental prowess
Drinking your iron lead,
in the dark
you shared your primordial ghosts
your lips didn't speak the truth
and you said let it be done
blowing out all the candles
to enliven the gloom
of your own making
I saw you...
On your mother's bed
A toddler, comforting her
In her distress
You glimpsed me
But not in my fullness
...yet
I was with you
Every moment you experienced
Especially the terror
You felt me
But could not know me
...not yet
I saw the wolves
I turned not my face
As they mauled you
Skin ripped away
Like debris in a storm
I wanted to hold you
...not quite yet
I found you
Alone..in a dark prison
Of your own making
Many voices thundered
A yearning was turning
For....TRUTH
I, LOVE, invited you
...up
And TRUTH followed
Written by Trudy Schrader on 02-04-2023
Caught in a net
Like a spider sees the fly
Caught in a net
That entangles you
When you lie
Caught in a net
Of your deceit and destruction
Caught in a net
Caused by your lies and corruption
Who will hear you
When you scream and shout
All will close their eyes and ears
Of this, there is no doubt.
Most have had enough,
Of your dictatorial ways
It may seem tough
But now it is your time to pay,
Caught in a net
A net of your own making
Caught in a net
That is weak and slowly breaking
Eventually, the net will break,
Because it can no longer hold
The dead weight
The one question that lingers daily is if I'm so wrong
Then why doesn't this feeling of emptiness leave me alone
About knowing I'm right about things of the past
And why does this pain in my heart forever last
Knowing your living carrying within you
Angers of your own doing and emotions you want share too
So, if anyone's to blame it's not my sister or I
But rather wrong doing of your own making because you don't try
To make right of the wrongs that have been done
So that life can be a little less stressful and a lot more fun
V- iolence found in the hand of one who claims
“I- must be god!”
O- watch your back when you think you can attack the
L- iving God.
E- veryone will bend. You drop to your knees, loudly weeping.
N- ettles of your own making. Would that you
C- all out to Jesus, who can free you from
E- ternal damnation. This is a clear warning. Change direction.
10/26/2021
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12 NKJV
Benson commentary from biblehub.com:
The spirits of men are so excited and animated by a desire after this kingdom, that it is, as it were, attacked like a besieged city, men of all sorts pressing to get into it, with a violence like that of men who are taking a place by storm. As if he had said, “Multitudes are flocking around me, to be instructed in the nature of my kingdom; and some, who were formerly of most licentious characters, and looked upon as utterly unfit to be subjects of the Messiah’s kingdom, are resolutely set on enjoying the blessings of it.”
See no truth,
Hear no truth,
Speak no truth.
Follow the leader.
Don’t look to either side
Or you might see
In the mirror
Of your own making
Your cowardice,
distortions, self-absorption,
lies, and poor judgment.
Keep the blinders on.
Follow the leader
over the cliff.
It really matters how you're facing
When with your sight you're gazing
Towards the light on the horizon staking
Your heart emotions shaking
At the time of light's breaking
A moment of life’s relating
Twilight of life or the sunrise's creation
Is a product of your own making
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