{"id":99,"date":"2022-02-12T15:09:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T23:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/?p=99"},"modified":"2022-02-12T15:09:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T23:09:11","slug":"writing-exercise-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/?p=99","title":{"rendered":"Writing Exercise #10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inspired by my beloved Harls and her goddamn meme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
[image description: Evil Lyn and Skeletor together with the words. The first line of any story can be improved by making sure the second line is: and then the murder begins. Below the text reads: In the beginning God created heaven and the earth. And then the murders began.]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the beginning, God created the Heavens and Earth. And then, the murders began.\u201d Dre stood there grinning at me like a damn fool, I stared back at him and waited. He didn\u2019t say anything else. \u201cBoy if you don\u2019t get your narrow high yellow ass away from my god damn table. Go on somewhere.\u201d He scampered away giggling, I shook my head and looked back at what I was doing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to scowl at him when I felt him looking at me from across the room. I laughed. \u201cShut up come on back over here, let\u2019s talk how you feeling?\u201d He loped back over, he was built like my Mama just nine feet of skinny arms and legs flapping away. \u201cYou ready to do this work baby?\u201d He watched my hands move as I moved the pieces around the board. \u201cFor real? Me? Really?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I work with my children in ways that remain familiar to them until they adjust to their ascension. It was only Dre\u2019s fortieth year with me and I thought he was ready. \u201cYes you. Come on. What are my names?\u201d His gaze turned abstract; his face fell a little slack as it did when he was in deep thought. He pulled in a breath and began, \u201cMother. Anjea. Cerridwen. Innana. Hathor. Mary. Kali. Lakshmi. Erzulie Dantor. Progenitrix. Ibu. Ma. Okaachan. Begetter. Founder. Alpha. Omega. All. Gods. All Mothers. The womb and the grave.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood. And what are your names Dre?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around us the familial scene melted, he rose and his back bowed as his feet lifted from the ground. Light as pure and searing gold as the sun herself shone from his open mouth. I leaned forward; it was not my place to direct him I could only wait for him to awaken. The light wavered and intensified; I watched his skinny chest heave as the truth erupted inside of him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am beloved of God herself. Call me Ramiel. Gabriel. Ares. Huitzilopochtli. I am Tyr. I am Aganj\u00fa. I am that motha fucka.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end as his wings unfurled behind him and peeled the remnants of his tshirt off his light brown skin glowed. His locs floated around his head and when he looked back at me he took a breath and hesitated. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid. Let it out.\u201d He closed his eyes, threw back his head and roared, on Earth people scattered across the continents shivered, I rose with my arms out and threw my head back to join him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The combined truth of our divine voices blew the last of the scene around us away. We were not in his Mama\u2019s kitchen, he was mine. And I his. \u201cSay my name.\u201d He opened his eyes and let himself land, he took a knee and bowed his beautiful head. \u201cYou are mother. Lover. Father. Heaven. Hell. Flesh. Bone. Blood. Shit and death. You are God. And I am your humble servant.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guided him to his feet and he wrapped two of my locs around his fingers like a happy child. He smiled at me as bright and beautiful as the sun breaking the clouds. I kissed each of his cheeks, \u201cin the beginning, God created the Heavens and Earth. And now, the mother fucking murders begin.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Amen <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by my beloved Harls and her goddamn meme. \u201cIn the beginning, God created the Heavens and Earth. And then, the murders began.\u201d Dre stood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","gbox-medium":"","gbox-large":"","gbox-vertical":"","gbox-horizontal":"","gbox-hlarge":"","slider-bg":"","card-grid":"","card-list":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Shanz","author_link":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Uncategorized<\/a>","tag_info":"Uncategorized","comment_count":"1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}