Mandy Botlik's Blog

Slava Ukraine

Fields of golden wheat

‘neath skies of blue, fluttering.

Bristled stocks reach skyward.

Roots mingle with strewn

corpses, repose, unburied.

Sunflower petals

unfurl. Blood like dew

gathers, beads of garnets drop

onto the hearth soil.

Seeds of hope carried

in pockets sprout. Symbol of

strength and persistence.

Brave volunteers fall,

others strive on for freedom.

I am not Ukrainian. My ancestors who were are too far back to even note. I do have very recent eastern European ancestry. My great grandpa was from the Czech Republic. I often feel a loss that a part of my culture was lost to me when he died. My grandpa lost his father and his mother when he was very young 7 years old. So he was raised by his American grandparents. He never learned to speak his father’s language or participated in Czech culture. I wish I knew more about this side of my family. I watch the war in Ukraine with the same horror all humanity should feel but I do feel a connection with those of eastern European background. Perhaps I shouldn’t feel this way, cultures and languages differ. But I still can’t help feeling a geographic kinship, after all I may still have relatives in this region that feels the growing threat and aggression of Russia.

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Little Creator

(for Hayden) by: Mandy Botlik

Like tracks in the snow

Small hands make graphite ciphers.

Pint-sized composer.

Handful of Crayons

illustrates the tale with wax.

What skill she lacks is

compensated by

focus and effort; embers

of dreams glow within.

Pride burns bright in me.

I feed the fire one word

after another.

Her tale burns bright–rough jewel–

polish comes in time.

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Not sure if this one is any good or not but here it is.

A warning this poem deals with death, loss, and grief if you have recently lost a loved one or are struggling with depression caused by grief, you might want to pass on this poem, unless you think it will make you feel less alone.

Marya

Loss is like the night sky without the moon.

Without the moon all is bleak darkness.

A darkness that shows the speckled river of Milky Way across the dome above.

Stars like fragments of joy past or hope glimmering against the void.

There is a void in my heart.

It is in my heart she still lives.

Her phantom is expected at every turn.

I look and almost believe I see her.

I sleep, and there in the cocoon of dreams,

I see her alive and well.

Alive and well, my soul aches.

My soles crunch on dead leaves.

Dead leaves carpet the path to her.

Here, with her, at the brink

of her small grave I break,

and rearrange the pieces of myself.

I gather the pieces and live

with the ache,

with the void of her absence.

-Mandy Botlik

12.19.21 Tomorrow is the winter solstice and her birthday.

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Blessings & Thanks?

The frigid air bites.

White and black clothed bodies piled,

the soil too frozen.

Fifty-one from twice that.

Who saw us through winter? God?

No, the Nauset tribe.

We gather to feast,

Great myth with one truth, Mercy

saved. Merciless, the

Pilgrims turned. Freedom

for the faithful. The oppressed

become oppressors.

Light on a hill. Below small

pox rages. No good deed goes…

-Mandy Botlik

Nov 7th 2021

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Samhain Ritual

by: Mandy Botlik

Veil thins betwixt realms.

Waning moon climbs, faint, golden.

All Hallows draws nigh.

Gather elements.

Look to the North, zephyr; South,

pyre; West, terra; East…

The circle drawn, breathe.

Sense power surround and wax,

chant, sway, surrender.

The magic of now.

Specters near, shiver, reach out.

Incant, charm, hex, curse.

What is unleashed, returns thrice

Hecate, As above…

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Humans Hath Wrought by: Mandy Botlik

Brittle, brown, dormant, rustling

The arid wind rocks

barren branches. Leaves falling

On shattered Earth, like dry blood.

Beneath the crust black

roiling sea of ancient life.

Plunge the depths and draw it up.

Fossils float like clouds,

blanket the globe. What was lost

Now found. Arise extinct beasts.

Share your fate with the

Necromancers, the cursed ones,

The mortal, the “civilized,”

fragile plague of the planet.

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Walking in Shadows, the giveaway is live on goodreads starting today and running through Oct 10th. This is the sequel to Shadows of Memories, but I believe you could read it without having read the first one. I don’t think you’ll be too lost if you start here. You can find the giveaway on the recent tab on goodreads giveaways today. After that visit my goodreads author page at:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20621325.Mandy_Botlik

or follow this link to go directly to the giveaway page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59056522-walking-in-shadows

I will be adding a giveaway for the first book in the series soon!

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It’s finally happening. After months of writing, revising and editing the sequel to Shadows of Memories has been submitted to Amazon. A big thank you to my volunteer editor Jan Warner and my captive editor and mother Karen Botlik. You all did so much to make this book the best it could be. Now we await approval…In the mean time here is the cover and title reveal.

As you can see there is a different central character in this one, but don’t worry almost all of the central characters will be reprising their roles. Just so you can get an idea of what this one is about here is the back cover.

The paperback will be the first edition to come out followed by the digital edition. The paperback will be 2 dollars more than the first book, but it’s twice as long at 641 pages. So, you’re getting value for your dollar. If the paperback is too much to commit to, the digital version will be cheaper and I make the same in royalties. Hope everyone enjoys the second and final book in this series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

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My latest collaboration with my mother, A Snowy Feast is published on Amazon. I did the illustrations and editing. Karen Botlik is the author, putting her years of teaching experience on the page to inform and entertain kids. Only the print version is available right now. It’s 43 pages long. So, it’s good for up to 9 year old readers or a as a read aloud for younger children. The ebook is in progress.

A Snowy Feast is a watercolor and pen and ink journey through the winter bird’s native to the Midwest and southern parts of North America.
On a crisp winter morning, Hayden rushes out to fill the bird feeder before she does anything else. Hayden’s day is filled with bird sightings as she visits the barn animals, eats her meals, and plays in the snow.
A Snowy Feast presents different birds and facts about birds in bite size pieces for all to enjoy. Come and explore Grandma Sheep’s Garden.

Follow the link below to Amazon and check it out! You can also find the book by searching Karen Botlik on Amazon books.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58528163-a-snowy-feast

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Divining the Future

I dance with the shadow of my future in seclusion.

All is obscure.

Time stands still.

I feel each grain in the hourglass of life,

upon my head they rain down.

What awaits on the other side of this isolation?

The world holds it’s breath.

One step at a time,

strides into the void of future,

with it’s garish gaping maw.

It howls,

struggling against one catastrophe,

we’ve lost sight of the greater.

It looms on the horizon.

A grim end of all things,

wrought by no deity.

This dread fate was begun by our ancestors,

completed by us, their children.

-Mandy Botlik April 11, 2021

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