Poetry by Linda M. Crate

                          ​Alessandra CC



my love was stronger 
​
i was unwanted
came into this world
of light & darkness
anyway

i was born at night
with only 
moonlight and hecate
to guide me

magic has always
been in my veins,
but i didn't always see
my worth or my magic;

people tried to break
me of my power and my dreams
i didn't understand why 
until i realized my love was

stronger than their hate
and so i love with a love beyond love
because there's too many nightmares
in this world, if i need light then so do others.




solitary moons 

hecate
sent me a barn owl
when i was struggling with
the idea of myself,

and i know she sent it
to remind me 
of my magic;

in those wings i realized
i have a purpose and power all 
my own so i am going 
to dance in the moonlight and 
sing my songs of stars--

unwanted daughter,
forgotten friend

i will be the hero that saves herself;
don't need a prince or handsome stranger
to help me out of my chaos i can do that myself--

they say no man is an island,
but some of us are solitary moons
driving away all the wolves who howl
at us trying to take away our dreams.




magics yet to make 

i felt like an empty shell
husked of every
useful part

as if every good year
was already spent,

and i laid here useless and barren;

then the barn owl came
reigniting my purpose and reminding
me of all the magic in my veins--

sometimes you have to 
empty yourself of everything 

before you can be full again--

as we locked eyes i knew
the owl was here to rescue me,
and i had journeys and purposes yet
to unfold and magics yet to make.



Linda M. Crate's works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is: More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She's also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018). She has published three  full-length poetry collections Vampire Daughter (Dark Gatekeeper Gaming, February 2020), The Sweetest Blood (Cyberwit, February 2020), and Mythology of My Bones (Cyberwit, August 2020).