The sun still shines
The clouds still cry
The moon still beams
The stars still align
Every night when they last rattle the gate, I draw a last breath and finally close my eyes.
The artwork above that inspired my poem was one of several sent by fellow blogger Rara to my friend Colleen Brown to post on The Chatter Blog.
Rara draws while she’s incarcerated for a year in California. But there’s more to it than that. So much more.
Back story:
I came to know RaraSaur, as she’s known in full, first observing from the fringes this writer of a wildly popular blog. As I read her words and others’ comments, it started sinking in that she was the focal point of a seriously strong community of creative people here on WordPress.
Yet all the time Rara was helping others, she and her husband, David — who also blogged as Grayson — were waiting for her home state of California to decide what to do about old charges held against her. White collar stuff, with her words of innocence. When the legal system dropped its dime, the water was deep. Although her community here rallied with words and faith and plans and money campaigns, Rara decided to stick with public-appointed defense and a plea bargain and a jail sentence.
She’d see her beloved husband and their kitties when she’d get out for good behavior, in about a year.
People in this community asked me to take Rara’s place as host for their gang in the November write-every-day NaMoBloPo exercise they called Nano Poblano, and I agreed. I met many fantastic bloggers that I still correspond with now. Our logo was drawn by Fishy, OK’d the year prior by Rara. Every day during Nano Poblano, I thought, what would Rara do? I referred to back posts of her blog. After November, I followed her accounts and letters she sent posted by David on a special blog he set up for Rara’s friends.
This spring, David posted on his blog that he was feeling ill.
And then he died.
With Rara in prison.
She drew that art and others posted on Colleen’s blog after being let out for his service and then going back inside.
That creative community of which I spike is still rallying.
If you’d like to take part or simply know more, click the links below.
Here’s the link to the source for the artwork above.
Here’s the link to the Fear No Weebles post about Rara’s awful situation.
Here’s the link to the Go Fund Me page to help Rara.
Here’s the link to the post by Rara’s great friend DJ Matticus, where he in turn links to the post of the text of the letter she sent from jail about how she’s shaken daily by the death of her husband.
Here’s the link to the post by Rara’s friend Not a Punk Rocker where you can find an address if you’d like to write Rara a letter.
If you’d like to take part in helping Rara in any way, feel free to reblog this or click Press This.
Here’s how this challenge works: You Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph that shares your insight or inspiration of or from the image.
This is the third of my entries in the Five Photos Five Series Challenge. My thanks to Amy Rose for nominating me to participate.
Today I nominate my Nano Poblano friend Jackie P. Have fun!
Wow, that’s so sad! 😦
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It’s a sad, sad tale, Rachel. 😦
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Beautiful poem, Mr. B. Such a sad and heart-wrenching situation. Doesn’t seem fair or possible that so much suffering could fall upon one person. 😦
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She had so much bad jammed into one year, Mrs. B. I hope Rara has the gumption and map in her head and heart to build another life for herself, somehow. It’s going to be such a change for her.
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Thank goodness for her support system, virtual and real. 😍
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beautiful and so utterly sad.
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I hope Rara can bounce back into life somehow, Beth. he’ll have people on her side.
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Oh my gosh Mark! I had no idea her husband passed away – It’s so sad. ❤
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I know, Diana. Add the worst to something already terrible.
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I just found Rara’s blog a couple of days ago – I haven’t gone through it much and didn’t realise David had passed away. That’s so sad. It’s good to see the strong community surrounding her though. Thanks for sharing this, Mark
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I’m glad you found the blog, Victoria. Yes, this is the sad side of BloggyVille. Real life happens and we try to help each other the best we can from far away in reality.
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That is a terrible story. :/I’m glad to see she has so much love and support.
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Thanks, Joey. Yes, Rara has all these people pulling for her. She is going to need a really big net.
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I was really on the outskirts of all this happening so thanks for filling me in. Great poem! I just heard on Colleen’s blog that she would be out soon. That’s a good thing.
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She did her time, and her life has been taken from her in so many ways, Marissa. I am so sad. 😦 But her release is something to be happy about, yes.
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Rara, a vivacious and multi-talented blogger has been hit doubly hard in the last year or so.I wish her the best when she sees freedom again and hope she will cope well and stay healthy.
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Thanks, Tess. You’ve been in that group all along! You know. ❤
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Yes. I do know. She was everything and knew how to do anything and everything.
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Rara’s story is so very sad, yet she is the most uplifting of souls. She is going through hell and never fails to lift someone else up that life has kicked down. She is special and one of a kind.
I feel honored to be nominated in this after such a wonderful tribute to Rara, Mark. Thank you for thinking of me. I will try my best to do well.
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This is why I picked you for today, Jackie, because you have always been so important to her circle. I know you are going to carry on proudly. By the way, Colleen announced on her blog this morning that Rara is being released on Julyh 18!
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Yay!! Less than a month to go! Thanks Mark.
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Wow-too much!
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Too much for anybody to have to go through, I think, never mind one of us!
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Heartbreaking.
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Thank for reading, NancyTex. It’s so awful.
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You are a kind and caring man Mark. Thank you for filling in for Rara and for your care and concern about her situation. Excellent poem.
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Thank you, Paul. You know how we all feel about our community here.
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Wow. I didn’t know anything about this. Thanks for sharing, Mark.
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You’re welcome, Scott. One of the hidden stories of BloggyVillle. I just saw on Colleen’s blog that Rara gets out of prison for good on July 18. Into a world that’s forever altered for her. 😦
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Wow, what an interesting story. We have to stand by our fellow bloggers – thank you for sharing this.
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Thank for joining into the support system, Amy. Much appreciated.
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Mark, I honestly don’t know what to say. My tears are thick in my throat as I have been reading about Rara. How Life can be so cruel and those of us who do not have the green to pay our way or to help ourselves out, truly at times suffer. What a heartfelt post, one that for me, was not easy to read, for I “feel” others’ pain. I cannot even begin to pretend to imagine what Rara and her family have been through, but just the stress of all this horror, will take its toll, and it did, as seen in Rara’s husband. I’m doing what I can, my friend, and I am donating to the good cause. To think that I have been a part of all this today, makes me oh so very humble. Bless you for having the Huge Heart you do, cuz. Sending Much Love to you, cuz from the west ❤
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Thank you Amy Rose, for being you, and connecting to Rara so thoroughly, and helping and sharing your love. You are one in a million, cuz to the west. ❤ See what can come from these challenges?
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Speechless out west here, cuz. The good that is coming out of this challenge humbles me. >3
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You did good, Amy Rose.
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So did you, Mark B. I’m proud of you! Now there is a woman whose name is Rara who will be in my Heart and prayers. ❤
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Beautiful MBM, just beautiful….. ❤
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Thank you for sharing Rara’s art, MBC. She needs the support as the clock ticks. ❤
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❤ thank YOU MBM!!!!
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Thank you for sharing her information and her story, Mark. Whenever people ask about friends made exclusively through social media and like sites, if they are “real”, I think not only of Rara but the other genuine friends I have made through our connections.
People buy cars or houses, find jobs and set up dates to seek romance almost exclusively online these day; why not make “real” friends too? ❤ 🙂
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Exactly, J. We are as real as can be. 🙂 I hope Rara knows that, above all, and feels it from around the world. ❤
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Beautiful artwork and poetry! ❤
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Thank you, Vonita. This one is important to a community I joined in November that’s been special to me since.
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Thank you for sharing.
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