neoncrackle raze what you wrote on mandated_reporters is shattering and beautiful. your words are stunning. i'm glad you're here. in all senses of the word. 220301 ... tender_square i want to second what raze wrote. "mandated_reporters" is a swift and compressed vignette. the simile of being "like a little raccoon with curls," the description of "whole meals of ketchup & saltines," and the ending with it's resonant power of ocean-as-mother were all vivid and compelling images. the way the title ties it all together is heartbreaking. thank you for being here and sharing your words. i can't wait to read more of them. 220301 ... past kung_fu_chicken resonates not to my experiences but to who i am trying to be. my littles have become obsessed with "house hippos" and building traps and houses and other things for them. there's a line between fostering imagination in a good natured way and deception and i'm thinking harder about them since that blathe. 220301 ... neoncrackle oh my gosh thank you so much for these kind words I was worried I was oversharing in a way that might make things harder for someone on here & I'm so moved that my words have found interested readers thank you for having me here, I'm happy to be here with y'all 220301 ... Bizzar i often think of how i would describe you to someone who is unfortunate enough to not know you. I often wonder if you chose this name with intention - as a description of who you are and how you affect those around you. because you are a neoncrackle. i think of a lightning bolt striking the ground, filling the world around it with light and electricity. and you certainly brightened my world when you came into it. i often reflect on the early days of you. how i knew before we spoke that we were same_brained, that i somehow felt a connection to you without really knowing you. i may never understand how these things can possibly be, but we both knew, and we laughed about it after - how across a discord server we were screaming at each other that we were besties because "same_hat". and time is strange. because i feel like we have fit a lifetime of stories and memories into the short time that we have been friends. if someone asked me how long i've known you, i'd say "forever" without thinking twice, and then recant that because it's only been a little over a year. i guess connections are funny like that. someone can come into your life for a short time and fill it with more meaning than people you have known your whole life. and sometimes your brain just knows. that i can simply observe your written words quietly for a little while and somehow know that i was meant to find you. you will forever be my magical_tree_goblin. and i don't think a day in my life will pass without you in it ever again. mostly because we talk every day, but on the rare day we don't talk, your name always passes by my lips, a conversation is always somewhere in my thoughts. i have twitch to thank for so many things in my life - but mostly for neoncrackle. 220302 ... epitome of incomprehensibility A belated welcome! Props for the poetricity. Bizzar's words prompt me to resurrect old slang of mine, because electricity. The name also makes me think of transparent wrapping paper in bright colours. Anyway, in plain words, it's nice that you're here and I'm enjoying reading what you're writing. 220304 ... e_o_i Props on how the images and words of radio_tv_set are strung together. It's like folloing rope of different threads pulled taut. (And the taut/taught pun is well placed. As I told tender_square, I'm a sucker for wordplay that isn't necessarily meant to be funny, but to suggest multiple meanings.) 220611 ... e_o_i A tightrope. That's what I'm thinking of. Not a professional-looking metal cable, but a casual yellow-rope one that people might set up in a park, between trees. 220611 ... raze "go" just brought me to one of your poems and made me realize how much i miss having you here. i hope you're doing really well, and i hope you find your way back to this red place one of these days. 230705 what's it to you? who go blather from