Quilled Sister

Wed, 06 May 2026 20:08:31 -0400

Sing ‘Snuff Out The Light’

As I slather the aloe

Denial of fault

….a haiku on my sunburn (which was totally worth the beach days). Each time I’m in this pain I blame the sun as if there aren’t >1000 products that would save me this fate.

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:24:57 -0400

The sun has burned me,

And while I know it’s my fault,

My fury boundless.

…a haiku on why I can’t even THINK because Lord have mercy do my arms itch/hurt!! Aaaaaaaaaahhhh 😭

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 15:16:58 -0400

Thirteen minute mile,

The last time I felt this free,

Was a dream long gone.

…a haiku for the 5k I ran this morning. I once called myself a Runner and am determined to do so again. Do not let illness or the world convince you to be less than You.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:04:15 -0400

“And if you speak to my betrothed like that again, I won’t have you killed, no. I will do it myself, with pleasure.” #unrelatedcharacterquotes

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:52:23 -0400

Do you bowl-ieve in the power of friendship? New short story: Today I am Devotion

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:05:49 -0400

A quiet sun day

Only birds and the soft wind

A clown horn calls out.

…a haiku for a tiny event that made me laugh for several minutes. Out here writing in this gorgeous glimpse of spring and somewhere in the distance, one lone clown horn honk. The kids must be free and having a great time.

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:59:15 -0400

Hi my name is Callie and I have a comma addiction.

As I refurbish old posts, I’m am finding my biggest issue is the onslaught of unnecessary commas! Why did I feel the need to instruct so many breaths and dramatic pauses??

So there. Only used 1 this whole post.

The Book Was Better

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 20:06:38 -0400

The book is always better

The viewings leave such to be desired

Nothing is taken down to the letter

And I want the director fired

Why can’t he take the light

That burned so brightly in me

that kept me woke throughout the night

And shine it out for all to see?

He’s pilfered and he’s filtered

To condense into the time

And I am left bewildered

At the audacity of his crime!

The faces wrong, the words atrocious!

A subplot gone, my rage ferocious!

A forced romance, there goes the sequel

(It can’t advance without its equal).

I sit here mad, in my uneasy chair

I’ve been had, and it isn’t fair

For I will watch this film again.

The story botched, but still a win.

….a poem inspired by Netflix’s recent movies on books I have absolutely adored. I ate “The Guernsey Lliterary and Potato Peel Pie Society” like a famished reader. It was so well done and I fell in love with each character, and how the author made all of it so real. And I don’t mean in the way some excellent fantasy authors make you seriously consider magic, but as if I was truly peering into these people’s lives. I felt a different, but equal, kind of joy from reading the series of “The Thursday Murder Club” books. Less real people, but just fun to read in the same way beach books are, but a little more cerebral. Then I watched their Netflix counterparts. Look, I knew going in. I’m one of the “DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!” complainers. And on top of that, it was, ya know, Netflix. So when characters got mushed together and subplots traded in for cameos, I only groaned minimally. And really, I shouldn’t groan at all. Because “Guernsey” is now one of my treasured volumes. It’s one I will tell others they HAVE to read, but refuse to lend my own copy out (we all have a few of those, don’t we?). But- and here’s the turn- I wouldn’t have even looked it up if Netflix hadn’t suggested the movie to me. It came up on my “for you” list and I thought “well that sounds more like the title of a book… an interesting book.” So I went on my search, found it, and the rest is me curled up in a ball well into the night in my plant nook. So can I complain? In this time of growing illiteracy (both basic and media and artistic, really all senses) shouldn’t we be celebrating anything that can lead people to story? Or should we be arguing that instead- these things should be done perfectly right? I’m really asking. I’ve argued myself in both directions. I suppose tonight my stance is, this book led me to rhyme for the first time in weeks, and I am grateful for any way it came to me.

What is your top “The Book Was Better”?

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:19:37 -0400

“Of course I still use checks! Anyone taking your money should hear the power flick of your pen, dearie.” #unrelatedcharacterquotes

New Conspiracy for a New Age

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:06:39 -0400

With too many conspiracies being proven true lately (and mostly the sad, bad ones) I think we all deserve a new fun one. As a treat.

Especially since so many of the entertaining ones have been stolen from us, like good ol’ Nessy (who at best was a monk’s fever dream after too much scribing with dubious-plant-based inks, and at worst was a money grab, and realistically, probs both).

So I give you: There is no Eye in Evolve. (Get it? No I, no eye? Hee hee)

It starts with a great base: Jellyfish are trying to take over the world. Why? Easy- they’ve managed to float basically unchanged through all of history, ever, no matter if oceans freeze (they don’t even go dormant really. They just kind… stop… until they melt) or meteors take out half the population- big deal! They’re good! Just wait for the random midnight that happens under certain moons to repopulate under conditions even horoscope girlies think is a bit much.

Until us- humans are starting to change the ocean in ways that jellies are having to actually adjust to. Ugh. They are having to evolve for the first time… like ever. Well, more like the 3rd time, but that’s about 45000 fewer times than the next least-evolving species. They’re shifting the genus around to deal with acidification and temperature change and food scarcity. This is too much for the jellyfish. If they’re gonna have to make an actual effort- damn it- it’s gonna be a big one.

Yet hate is a strong feeling for a brainless floating blob. They’re not taking over the world to kill us all- no no! That would really trash up the waterways. They just think they, we, the planet, would be better off jelly. Jelly is great. We should all be jelly.

The process? Gotta take those weird mammalian things that crawled out of the waters back to a more suitable standard. The first move? Get rid of the eye. Don’t need that. Jelly got rhopalia, does the trick. Rhopalia are VERY light sensitive. Obviously, infiltrate leading technology (easy- have you ever seen an AI bot and a jellyfish in the same room? No. How about an IT expert and a jellyfish? No one has. Ever. Cause they’re the same). Blow up the lights. Lamps? Huge bulbs, never go out. Make them literally buzz with annoying power. Phones? Big huge screens that each update get subtly brighter. Make bigger phones more socially cool. Cars? Turn those beams UP. No human should be able to see when driving. Give up the eyeball or crash trying.

It might… it might also be moths in charge. Never mind I’ll worry about that later.

This is why you’re addicted to your phone. It’s not marketing schemes, it’s not the government taking your data. It’s the jellies.

And oh, what’s that? You can’t see now that your ridiculously over evolved orbs are reconstituted to a nice little sensory nerve? I guess you’ll be doing a lot of grasping around in the dark. If only you had more arms… many of them… maybe it would be easier to not move so much. To just… float along? BOOM. Everything is jelly.

I mean this conspiracy has EVERYTHING! A not-so-innocent-afterall main character, government infiltration, a long-con. I think it’s gonna go places. Mostly wet places. As all places should be. Dark and wet and filled with yummy zooplankton…

…what?

Jellyfish. There’s no Eye in Evolve.

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 22:16:21 -0400

I swear the damn light

Is brighter than it once was

In the dark I hide.

…a haiku for my conspiracy that the lowest setting for screen light on the iPhone is brighter than it once was. Let me lower it further! How am I supposed to waste bed time in these conditions??

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 09:33:33 -0400

“You look like death reheated.”

“… the saying is death warmed over.”

“No baby, you look like death forgot you in the back of the fridge and then threw you in the microwave.” #unrelatedchacterquotes

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 20:34:53 -0400

“So yeah, I’m throwing stones from glasses houses. But at least I can see clearly from in here.” #unrelatedcharacterquotes

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 20:57:03 -0400

“I like my tea hot enough to burn the day away.” #unrelatedcharacterquotes

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 20:56:08 -0400

I’m going to start doing #characterquotes. I’ll write out a phrase that came to mind & made me think of a character I either have created or should but has nothing to do with any story ever.

It will look the same as me having a mild mental break with ThE VoiCeS in my head but I’m okay with that.

Dracula in My Home

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 09:05:05 -0400

You scream. I scream. We all scream. Because you’re in my house and neither of us wants that. Oh tiny creature of the night They say you are fear But I see fear in your tiny eyes, your shivering wing. Trust me. I shiver as well when the world is too big, too bright. Now get in the tupperware so I may release you into the dark.

This Little Piggy

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 11:55:49 -0400

I rise Just to fall again Slam again Betray my friend Who is just there On the end Doing their little best.

Why are you not like the rest? Why do you keeping passing or, is it failing, This test? When it’s clear you’re not wanted Not needed Not heeded.

You’re not meant to roam You’re meant to head home Bruised and battered As you are

…a slam poem for my broken pinky toe that I slammed again this morning.

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 19:51:46 -0400

I made some sliders. It settled a rage in me. Mustard has answers.

…a haiku for dinner fixing my hangry-ness before I became violent.

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:15:02 -0400

Sometimes I wake in the night- my subconscious brimming with brilliance that it cannot contain! I thrust myself out of bed towards a pen. Many of my proudest works have been born at midnight. Occasionally though, I find the sticky note in the morning and it says like “purple bowl.” Wtf.

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:30:08 -0400

They quoted Byron. Not Shelly. A beautiful, faithful adaptation I was about to be on my feet for! And the finale card? A quote. By Byron. Not her word Beware. Or her line on Beginning. They instead End with Byron. In 2025 Two men named before Shelly. And they still ask who the monster is? Rage.

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:18:25 -0400

In today’s plan of “I’m so independent”

I hung up some shades, no attendant

Now I did break a glass

and fall on my ass

but damnit the shades look resplendent!

Professionally, Artistically Disinterested.

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 10:14:25 -0400

You: A recent college grad with a black hoodie pulled tightly against the world and a scowl that would freeze lesser men.

Me: Just wants some frames for my new art prints. I have a coupon.

But I see you, friend, far more than you think I do. I smile brightly, purposefully widening my eyes like a puppy does when emphasizing play over battle. You deepen your frown, clearly interpreting my joy as ignorance. It’s fine. We begin an awkward dance of matte colors for my paintings. When you finally say something past “no” it’s that these paintings are awfully “whimsy.” You mean “whimsical” and you mean it as an insult. You are baiting me into playing the Karen for a scenario you have already picked out in your mind for this interaction.

But like I said- I see you, friend, far more than you think I do.

How do I tell you that I too was once a recent college grad, determined to fill the world with art? Sure that I was the savior of my medium, positive that the people around me were obstacles. I didn’t buy a black hoodie, as black washes me out a great bit, but I did get so angry at everyone and everything that I ended up on a therapist’s couch.

I can’t be your therapist in this small moment- there’s not enough pause between “what about the gold for this one-” and “well that one looks a bit bright-” for me to tell you all the answers to questions I know you have.

If you could only see me for a moment.

I too had to build a non-art life. We unfortunately live in a world that no longer barters. I could not play Chaucer and pass off my rhymes for bread. No I had to bend my abilities to a paycheck, just as you do: me behind a desk and you behind this counter. But there is still rebellion to be had, my friend! Look before you at my fanciful pieces. We are color matching the crown on a watercolored otter’s head, the oiled water drips off a heron’s escape, the sketches of sun cresting over the very mountains that shadows us this moment! Is this not beautiful rebellion? I built my non-art life so large that I no longer simply shelter art, but celebrate it!

Can’t you see? I continued to build up my non-art life and my non-art paycheck and now I can do the very thing I first set out to: Art. I have space, I have coin. My walls are a celebration of divine inspiration. There is not a Fall Festival that cannot feel me coming for their pottery and their paints! And through my non-art sacrifice I have gifted myself time. Time to learn shading waters and sculpting on the wheel. Time to put those rhymes out into the world.

But you cannot see. Not past your own pain, certainly not past that old hoodie covering even your eyebrows. Not yet. So tonight I will pray for you and paint for you (though it’ll be a pink, drunk octopus of which you would not approve), that your non-art life brings you too, to this very artistic place.

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 07:34:18 -0400

Sometimes I still feel 27ish. I truly forget my age. But then I pull my back doing something stupid and I feel all 86 of my 33 years.

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 11:42:49 -0400

One of my favorite things to do after an art festival is follow all the artists I fell in love with there on instagram. Like yesssss fill my feed with color and inspiration!! abstract pottery to tiny metal mice sipping from acorns to iridescent herons soaring over water color moonlight. Good stuff.

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:35:16 -0400

There is a cricket.

Outside my bedroom window

Perhaps a frog.

Solo in the night.

Tiny singer in my head

Chirp chirp chir- SHUT UP.

…a duel haiku for the enthusiastic performer keeping me awake.