Stevie Raine Elliott sent us poetry prompted from a past year’s April P.A.D. challenge. We are delighted to share this with you. We encourage creativity whether it is for the current challenge or a previous one. We do the challenge every April and November.

“The Fool Who Became a Queen”

They painted me with laughter 
I never meant to wear
A jester in my own collapse,
Dancing through their stare.

Each smile was a shield I forged
From the wreckage of their rage,
Each tear a silent monument
To a war they’d never gauge.

They called me foolish, broken, and small,
But they never learned the art
Of sewing crowns from spider webs
Or thrones from shattered heart.

I swallowed shame like bitter wine,
Let poison teach me grace,
And in the mirror of survival
Found my own unyielding face.

Now see me
Not their puppet, not their game,
But a queen resurrected
From the ashes of a name.

My scepter forged from memory,
My crown of scars and flame
They made a fool of me for years,
But I’ve rewritten the acclaim.

Because the fool who learns to rise
Is the monarch of her pain,
And the thorns they left upon her path
Have bloomed into her reign.

“Trapped to Freedom”

I lived inside a shadowed box, 
A prison sealed with cursed locks. 
They waged their war against me,
forcing me in, at such a great cost. 

Each whisper curled, a ghost of fear, 
A storm of pain that no one could hear. 
Hope was a flicker, far from my hand, 
Buried in darkness, sinking in sand. 

I held my breath through endless nights, 
A captive to sorrow’s cruel delight. 
But a crack appeared, a breath of light, Splintered the chains that bound me tight. 

From Pandora’s depths I found my way, 
Into the warmth of a brand-new day. 
Now I walk free, the air is mine, 
Carrying hope I thought I’d never find. 
The box behind me fades to dust, 
And in my heart, I bloom from rust.

Stevie Raine Elliott is an amazing poet.