#indie-poets — Public Fediverse posts

2026 PAD Challenge Day 24

Follow Friday

Today we ask that you leave in comments great pages that you think we should follow. Be sure to include your own link!

Throwback Thursday

So, This is where we talk about older books. Has your book been out a year or more? Tell us about it! Links and blurb, and maybe your next read will be in the comments below! We are always looking for our next read, and everyone asks about your newest volume.

Here we show love to those books that are already out. Don’t have but one? Share it! Have not published yet? Share your favorite author. Let’s make the comments pop with suggested reading!

TBR Suggestions

So we often have friends releasing new books. And we love to recommend them. Here’s our book recommendations. We try to get it done every Saturday but we are busy so we may have missed a few.

1. Weeds and Stars By Lisa Rosenberg From the celestial to the ground beneath our feet, from supernovas and nebulas to dandelions and the beautiful mundanity of the everyday, Weed and Stars houses us in the living herbarium of its vibrant poetry.— Ariel Francisco Henriquez Cos, Judge, 2025 Hilary Tham Capital Collection PRE-ORDERS ONLY AT THIS TIME. RELEASE DATE IS APRIL 21.
2. About to Disappear by Robbi Nester About to Disappear is a poetry collection that explores the limits of ekphrasis; that is, descriptions and reflections on works of art in order to expand their meaning. The book is separated into four sections: Ex Nihilo, Adaptation, Law of Attraction, and Ad Nihilum. The first and final sections-translated as “from nothing, returning to nothing”-act as bookends. Ex Nihilo includes poems about imagination, optics, creation, and and development; while poems in the final section, Ad Nihilum, are about trauma, unmaking, climate change, and catastrophe. Poems in the middle sections are about artistic, psychological, and physical transformations, and natural history and community. Artworks included are from contemporary artists-as well as such artists as Vermeer, Grant Wood, John Singer Sargent, and Edward Hopper.
3. It’s Easy to Lose Your Breath by Kevin Risner Anchored by the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kevin A. Risner’s debut full-length poetry collection It’s Easy to Lose Your Breath is both introspective and outward-facing, rippling from the poet’s inner life into family and friendships, work and unemployment, suburban life, and wildlife. The collection draws on daydreams and nightmares, small animals’ housecalls, and memories of childhood. Concerns about health and emotional well-being intermingle with the worries about what climate change will bring in a world hellbent on maintaining the capitalist status quo. Though not without that unbeatable Rust Belt hope, this is a collection that sits with the heavy weight of what the powers that be have done to the natural world and what it might take for ordinary people to survive in the years and decades to come. “It’s Easy to Lose Your Breath reflects on our collective quarantine year with a burgeoning hope in the face of dread’s drumbeat. It’s no surprise that Kevin A. Risner’s poems snap with a pulse from The National because both yearn for what could be (or for what could’ve been) amid bedraggled reality. ‘I’m the only human who weeps for this lone songbird,’ Risner writes, but his poetry connects us. We all feel, and weep, with Risner through his poems. With our hearts on our sleeves, we struggle as one with ‘[t]he knowledge that I can try my best and I might still fail.’ The year 2020 separated us, but It’s Easy to Lose Your Breath brings us together.” – Mitchell Nobis, author of The Size of the Horizon, or, I Explained Everything to the Trees
4. The Weather Inside by Stevie Edwards In The Weather Inside, Stevie Edwards measures the emotional atmosphere of a mind navigating bipolar disorder, complex PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and alcoholism while forging intimacy and creative resilience in a rapidly declining world. Both as someone who has struggled with mental health and as a feminist approaching middle age, Edwards interrogates parenthood and marriage: What forms of nurturing survive when traditional roles and certainties do not? Can bringing children into a collapsing world still be an act of hope? When your partner does not want children, where should you divert your surfeit of love? The poet grieves, “I am chanting the name of a daughter / my husband doesn’t want / enough, the child I’ve spent years / not being sure I deserved.” This fiercely honest and intimate collection offers a vision of adulthood shaped by the capacity to inhabit an embattled inner world. With clarity and dark wit, Edwards probes the uneasy border between solitude and connection, asserting the relationship between caring for oneself and caring for the wider world.
5. Where is the Green? by Carolyn Donnell The author/artist has paired her original artwork with her poetry in a way that makes you wonder which inspired the other. She writes both structured and unstructured verse, some poems as short (and deep) as haiku and others that meander from thought to thought, taking you along with them. There’s even a shaped poem…no spoilers, I’ll let you discover the image in the words for yourself.

2026 PAD Challenge Day 22

Indie Wednesday

We are all about promotion of the indie here. Are you a indie artist or author? Post links to your work! This is the place to brag about your work. Or do you know an indie that needs to be seen? Post a link. Sharing is caring after all. We also welcome you to post services for the indie… If you are an editor, cover designer, or something like that… Post that link!

2026 PAD Challenge Day 21

Teaser Tuesday

What are you working on? Share with us a teaser for something that you are or have done. Share links too so that we can find you… Don’t feel like sharing your work? Well share another indie so that they can be seen!

Monday Motivations

It’s another week, another Monday!

So tell us, what’s on your desk to get done this week? Let’s boost and motivate each other!

2026 PAD Challenge Day 20

2026 PAD Challenge Day 19

Another Response From Linda M. Crate to the Pad Challenge

to where i began
no foundation
to stand on,
always feel like the
sand beneath my
feet is going to give out;
will i be falling through
stars until i land in
the right universe?
i can't shake the feeling
that this is the wrong one,
no one seems to
understand me here;
and no one has ever loved
me the way i needed
to be loved—
no one seems capable
of appreciating me and all of
my magic,
perhaps i just need to
let the sand be washed away;
maybe the ocean can
take me back to where i began
and i can find my home and
these restless bones of mine
can find rest.
-linda m. crate

2026 PAD Challenge Day 18

2026 PAD Challenge Day 17

2026 PAD Challenge Day 16

2026 PAD Challenge Day 15

Responses from Linda Crate to the Pad Challenge

falling into dreams 
the song the crickets 
sing beneath the silver
moon may enchant
you to dance in dew
covered grass,

where the distant cries
of coyotes and owls
hooting will chime in;

as you're dancing insomnia
will leave your bones—

you'll enter the house tired,
and fall into dreams
you cannot remember
when you wake.
-linda m. crate 

from a previous life 
old books and dust
make me sad,
i try to give them a new
life;

sometimes it is hard
for me to be captivated
by old stories—

other times i open the 
page of forgotten stories,
and remember something
from a previous life;

it opens a portal to my soul
which i hope leads 
home

to my magic and to the 
mythology of my bones.
-linda m. crate 

some battles aren't worth fighting 
dreaming violence
sometimes comes natural
as breathing,

no one knows the violence
required to become gentle;

but i know—

i wouldn't wish it on anyone,
but i know the deep magic
and all the scars it can leave
behind;

yet i also know magic
which heals and is kind and full
of light and love and joy—

when i feel my fingers curl
into a fist i just take my fingers
apart and remind myself of the
miracle of life,

some battles just aren't worth
fighting;

sometimes the best thing to 
do with the violent dream
is walk away.
-linda m. crate 

from a previous life
old books and dust
make me sad,
i try to give them a new
life;

sometimes it is hard
for me to be captivated
by old stories—

other times i open the
page of forgotten stories,
and remember something
from a previous life;

it opens a portal to my soul
which i hope leads
home

to my magic and to the
mythology of my bones.
-linda m. crate

parasites and monsters 
the treasure i buried
was my magic,
figured only the worthy
ones should be able
to find me;

a best friend of twenty
years forgot me

so i see no need in 
offering all the prettiest
songs of my magic to
any stranger—

if you want to know me
then you can deal with these
walls,

until i feel safe enough to
show you my shiny things;

i used to be openly 
vulnerable but i learned 
i needed thorns and walls
to protect me from the
parasites and monsters.
-linda m. crate 

what would their water be? 
a world without water
isn't one where i imagine much
could thrive,

perhaps machines would
roam the earth;

but what would their blood be
made of and what stories
could they forge or tell?

what kind of world would 
they live in?

could they see any beauty
in color or value anything that
once lived?

what would their water be?

i wonder what they would do
or what they would dream of,
what would they be?

i wonder what language they
might speak and what variations
to those languages there might be,
and where did all the water go?
-linda m. crate 

what would their water be? 
a world without water
isn't one where i imagine much
could thrive,

perhaps machines would
roam the earth;

but what would their blood be
made of and what stories
could they forge or tell?

what kind of world would 
they live in?

could they see any beauty
in color or value anything that
once lived?

what would their water be?

i wonder what they would do
or what they would dream of,
what would they be?

i wonder what language they
might speak and what variations
to those languages there might be,
and where did all the water go?
-linda m. crate 

meander into an adventure;

perhaps i'll see a butterfly
or a deer will lock eyes
for a second with me before
his or her white tail disappears
into the trees—

maybe i will see giant trees,
or go play in the creek;

you never know where a road
to nowhere may lead you—
and as long as the day is full
of light and the skies are blue,
i say adventure away;

no one wants to end up 
in a horror story.
-linda m. crate 

whispers in the dark 
the shadow people
roam around,
some of them are 
friendly and kind 
i am sure;

but i am always 
weary of anything that
whispers in the
dark—

i remind myself i was
born at night,
the moon and stars
knew my face
before the sun ever did;

so i try to tell myself
perhaps in the darkness
there can exist more than
monsters and parasites.
-linda m. crate 

this world too full of nightmares 
moonlight blessings
shimmering in silver,
pink, red, orange, purple,
blue, yellow, green, indigo,
and any other color she so
chooses;

the moon is a rainbow
hearted woman like me—

she taught me that i am
beautiful in all of my phases,
and always full of light
even when i don't feel whole;

she always watches over me
when i am sad or happy
and she never judges my moodiness—

she always kisses me with 
compassion,

a cool hand to soothe all the things
which burn me up in this world
too full of nightmares.
-linda m. crate 

song of magic 
lifted by faery wings
the butterfly seemed to
remember how to 
dance among the flowers,

and i watched those wings
sweep pollen off the
lilies as it flew past;

making the clovers dance
with more food for the
honey bees—

i watched the orange and 
black wings of the monarch,

and i think he or she 
watched me back for a moment
probably wondering what the
giant creature was doing;

but i couldn't help but be
caught up in the song of magic.
-linda m. crate 

something more practical 
dripping ink
would make me so
impatient,

people have talked 
about gifting me quills;

but i think i can write
perfectly pretty
letters in cursive without
them—

i can see them just sitting
behind the plastic,
gathering dust;

the ink never used—

so get me something 
more practical
or pretty because a girl 
could never have too many
jewels or crystals.
-linda m. crate 

shapeshifting 
the animal within
sometimes shifts,
at times i can be a
happy dog;

other times i am an angry
wolverine ready to slash
you with my claws—

sometimes i am the 
happy crow hopping around
in autumn or shrieking with
joy to see my friends,
who must collect all of the 
shiny things;

other times i am a melancholy
little cat sitting by the window
feeling forgotten—

sometimes i am the turtle slowly
crossing the road,

other times i am the impatient
hare who can wait no longer
as i speed walk past you;

but mostly i am just me
regardless of the animals within.
-linda m. crate 

an invitation 
the blank page
is an invitation,

always i want to see
what she'll bring
me;

sometimes it is
memories and other
times dreams and 
others there are worlds
i scarce remember
from another life—

but every blank page
excites me because the chance
of something new,
an adventure i've never known
waits and beckons for me;

and so i must go—

to lose everything weighing
me down,
and to gain everything i was 
meant to know.
-linda m. crate 

once i got it 
daisy chains
were never something
i learned how to
make,

i've always wanted a flower
crown of real daisies;

but no one ever thought to teach me
these things and my mother's cure
for everything was watching
a tutorial online—

i have always learned better
from someone showing me,

i could mimic the movement of
their fingers and learn how to
do it my own way;

but it is easier if the person
is actually there—

because i am curious,
and i need to ask questions;
i need to see it more
than once but once i got it i won't
forget.
-linda m. crate 

meander into an adventure 
roads to nowhere
where i can go
slowly,


the skeleton of who i was 
hypnotic melody 
whispers in my ear,
tries to make me
worship an entity whose
purpose i don't trust
or know;

i ignore the song
no matter how pretty
it may be 

don't need a religion
willing to sacrifice me—

i had one of those
growing up,
and i have left it behind;

those bones aren't something
i would wish upon anyone—

the skeleton of who
i was warns me that this
music is just a spell which
could undo me.
-linda m. crate 

2026 PAD Challenge Day 14

2026 PAD Challenge Day 13

Sunday Suggestions

Happy Sunday y’all! Hope your week went well!

Here is the prompt for today! We’d love it if you shared a snippet of what you wrote with it!

 A detective investigating a murder in his hometown discovers the crime is connected to his own estranged father’s dark past.

2026 PAD Challenge Day 12

Show Us What You Got Saturday!

This is your day to shine. You got an art piece you are proud of? Or a scene you feel is well written? Or a picture you think was amazing that you took? Share it! We always want to encourage creative projects. And we love seeing what you are doing.

Follow Friday

Today we ask that you leave in comments great pages that you think we should follow. Be sure to include your own link!

Throwback Thursday

So, This is where we talk about older books. Has your book been out a year or more? Tell us about it! Links and blurb, and maybe your next read will be in the comments below! We are always looking for our next read, and everyone asks about your newest volume.

Here we show love to those books that are already out. Don’t have but one? Share it! Have not published yet? Share your favorite author. Let’s make the comments pop with suggested reading!

Indie Wednesday

We are all about promotion of the indie here. Are you a indie artist or author? Post links to your work! This is the place to brag about your work. Or do you know an indie that needs to be seen? Post a link. Sharing is caring after all. We also welcome you to post services for the indie… If you are an editor, cover designer, or something like that… Post that link!

2026 PAD Challenge Day 8

2026 PAD Challenge Day 7

Monday Motivations

It’s another week, another Monday!

So tell us, what’s on your desk to get done this week? Let’s boost and motivate each other!

Sunday Suggestions

Happy Sunday y’all! Hope your week went well!

Here is the prompt for today! We’d love it if you shared a snippet of what you wrote with it!

 A detective investigating a murder in his hometown discovers the crime is connected to his own estranged father’s dark past.

2026 PAD Challenge Day 5

Show Us What You Got Saturday!

This is your day to shine. You got an art piece you are proud of? Or a scene you feel is well written? Or a picture you think was amazing that you took? Share it! We always want to encourage creative projects. And we love seeing what you are doing.

Follow Friday

Today we ask that you leave in comments great pages that you think we should follow. Be sure to include your own link!

Throwback Thursday

So, This is where we talk about older books. Has your book been out a year or more? Tell us about it! Links and blurb, and maybe your next read will be in the comments below! We are always looking for our next read, and everyone asks about your newest volume.

Here we show love to those books that are already out. Don’t have but one? Share it! Have not published yet? Share your favorite author. Let’s make the comments pop with suggested reading!

Indie Wednesday

We are all about promotion of the indie here. Are you a indie artist or author? Post links to your work! This is the place to brag about your work. Or do you know an indie that needs to be seen? Post a link. Sharing is caring after all. We also welcome you to post services for the indie… If you are an editor, cover designer, or something like that… Post that link!

Monday Motivations

It’s another week, another Monday!

So tell us, what’s on your desk to get done this week? Let’s boost and motivate each other!

Monday Motivations

It’s another week, another Monday!

So tell us, what’s on your desk to get done this week? Let’s boost and motivate each other!

Sunday Suggestions

Happy Sunday y’all! Hope your week went well! Here is the prompt for today! We’d love it if you shared a snippet of what you wrote with it!

Show us what ya got!

This is your day to shine. You got an art piece you are proud of? Or a scene you feel is well written? Or a picture you think was amazing that you took? Share it! We always want to encourage creative projects. And we love seeing what you are doing.

Writer’s Lift Friday

Today we ask that you leave in comments great pages that you think we should follow. Be sure to include your own link! 😍

Throwback Thursday

So, This is where we talk about older books. Has your book been out a year or more? Tell us about it! Links and blurb, and maybe your next read will be in the comments below! We are always looking for our next read, and everyone asks about your newest volume.
Here we show love to those books that are already out. Don’t have but one? Share it! Have not published yet? Share your favorite author. Let’s make the comments pop with suggested reading!

Indie Wednesday

We are all about promotion of the indie here. Are you a indie artist or author? Post links to your work! This is the place to brag about your work. Or do you know an indie that needs to be seen? Post a link. Sharing is caring after all.

We also welcome you to post services for the indie… If you are an editor, cover designer, or something like that… Post that link!

You can find pieces of my mind when you read As It Gets Darker. Get a signed copy at @centralbookexchange

#Gothic #Goth #Horror #GothicShelf #Poetry #IndiePoets #BookCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #ReadingTime #AuthorsSociety

Only 🖤 four 💙 copies 🖤 left!

Visit @centralbookexchange to get yours before they are gone! They are charged with emo music, folklore, and queer, autistic, immigrant witch energy.

Did I mention they are signed, too? ✌🏻👀✌🏻 Remember to leave a review if you get it. My emo 13 years old self will appreciate it!

🖤💙🖤

#Gothic #Goth #Horror #GothicShelf #Poetry #IndiePoets #BookCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #ReadingTime #AuthorsSociety

It is a spell book of sorts for when the lucid dream gets out of control.

It is a reminder that we are in control. That we are stronger than we think. That we are more than the sum of our parts.

#Gothic #Goth #Horror #GothicShelf #Poetry #IndiePoets #BookCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #ReadingTime #AuthorsSociety

Indie Wednesday

We are all about promotion of the indie here. Are you an indie artist or author? Post links to your work! This is the place to brag about your work. Or do you know an indie that needs to be seen? Post a link. Sharing is caring, after all. We also welcome you to post services for the indie… If you are an editor, cover designer, or something like that… Post that link!

#author #authorslife #authorsofinstagram #authorsofwordpress #blog #blogger #blogging #IndieAuthors #indieCommunity #indiePoets #supportindies #supportingIndieAuthors #WriterSLife #writers #writing #writingCommunity

Here's the media shareable version of https://lgbtqia.space/@MxVerda/113932062656410421

when in doubt, anything of mine most likely follows https://oql.avris.it/license and even if it doesn't, dw. I'll appreciate if you go by the queer license in any case.

emoji spam incoming.
:ablobcatbongo: :nonbinary_flag: :blobcat_thisisfine: :sparkles_nb: :neocat_thonk: :sparkles_bi: :neocat_glare_sob: :sparkles_trans: 👏 :neocat_cool: :_gaysparkle: :Blobhaj_Hug_Plushie:

#OortArtCloud #poem #lyrics #song #idea #ideas #art #TW #CW #CN #heavyTopic #VeRamble #VeRantDa #VeyVemVer #trans #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIA2S #queer #nonbinary #NonBinaryHRT #nonbinarity #NonbinaryArtist #enby #person #people #human #humans #Acceptance #SelfAcceptance #FullAcceptance #poetry #indiePoets #QueerVibes #queers #gender #GenderPolitics #vent

Here's the abridged version, mostly the end. I feel like these stanzas are more widely applicable to most people or situations. Probably more accessible. too. (A little reworked to make it flow a bit better for most readers.)

"Whom you want to be - Lyrics or poem

All I want from you:
Be more of yourself and choose
whom you want to be.

No one else will feel your feelings.
No one else can cry your tears.
No one else may think your viewpoints.
No one else should stoke your fears.

Trans people exist?
Hello, I'm one!
Nonbinary just means "person".
What a kind idea we won.

Is it nice to meet you?
I'm not really sure.
Had you considered being trans, too?
Did I ever know you, anymore?

To be real is not to repeat
the last thing you have read.
To be "biased" means
you've opinions in your head.

I can no longer make myself care.
Maybe if you loved yourself more,
while you will not see me there,
you'd have more chance to tone down the scorn.

Do I deserve to have kids?
What if I turn into you?
Oh, dear god(s), no! I can't risk that.
The core idea rips me in two.

I love them too much in advance
to avoid asking of ourselves:
"May we bring into existence
people whose time may never tell?"

How do I avoid that?
I'm terrified to be you.
A child is not a cat,
but fully-formed human, new.

All I want from you:
Be more of yourself and choose
whom you want to be.

Ban fossil lobbying; and act!
Long-term, more extreme weather?
Climate change patterns collapse.
We've plenty solutions clever.

Problems from hierarchy
ingress beneath our skin.
Set aside your worries;
Become your strength within.

You cannot redo high school.
Become yourself, a real adult.
What can you do; who are you?
Feel emotions, more than sulk.

HRT may have advantages
for who you want to be.
Think past the many challenges.
Imagine yourself free. "

https://meow.social/@oddtail/113924688366357500
(but also that
Lily Alexandre video about DIY HRT
you can find on youtube, nebula, and archival places for as long as possibly, hopefully.)

[Also, the bias / opinion bit is about e.g. hearing the phrase "filter bubble", then immediately testing everyone you know whether they are less that you for succumbing to our shared systems.]

#OortArtCloud #poem #lyrics #song #idea #ideas #art #TW #CW #CN #heavyTopic #VeRamble #VeRantDa #VeyVemVer #trans #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIA2S #queer #nonbinary #NonBinaryHRT #nonbinarity #NonbinaryArtist #enby #person #people #human #humans #Acceptance #SelfAcceptance #FullAcceptance #advocacy #LetPeopleLive #therapy #counselling #therapist #ArtTherapy #interest #BuyIntoArt #poetry #indiePoets #QueerVibes #queers #gender #GenderPolitics #vent #VentArt

NEW BOOK ALERT!!

I've been secretly working on a project very special for me, a book of poems inspired by my journey of self-discovery as an immigrant, exploring language, faith, mental health, and blood bonds. Behold AS IT GETS DARKER!

https://books2read.com/u/brEo6w

#Gothic #Goth #Horror #GothicShelf #Poetry #IndiePoets #BookCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #ReadingTime #AuthorsSociety

Follow Friday

Today we ask that you leave in comments great pages that you think we should follow. Be sure to include your own link! 😍

#author #authorslife #authorsofinstagram #authorsofwordpress #blog #blogger #blogging #IndieAuthors #indieCommunity #indiePoets #supportindies #supportingIndieAuthors #WriterSLife #writers #writing #writingCommunity

Indie Wednesday

We are all about promotion of the indie here. Are you a indie artist or author? Post links to your work! This is the place to brag about your work. Or do you know an indie that needs to be seen? Post a link. Sharing is caring after all. We also welcome you to post services for the indie… If you are an editor, cover designer, or something like that… Post that link!

#author #authorslife #authorsofinstagram #authorsofwordpress #blog #blogger #blogging #IndieAuthors #indieCommunity #indiePoets #supportindies #supportingIndieAuthors #WriterSLife #writers #writing #writingCommunity