C.S. Starling
@cs-starling.bsky.social
Word, cat and outdoor enthusiast. Sharing short form poetry and musings about my writing journey. Novel(s) incoming.
Pinned
C.S. Starling
@cs-starling.bsky.social
· May 31
Hi all, venturing into the world of BlueSky. Fantasy writer who dabbles in Sci-fi/Dystopia and working on 5+ novels. I love exploring the natural world, magic systems and what it means to be human.
I'll be sharing some of my shorter work here, with some novel updates as they come.
📚✒️🌟
I'll be sharing some of my shorter work here, with some novel updates as they come.
📚✒️🌟
Another evocative prompt! Thanks to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk for #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
November 7, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Another evocative prompt! Thanks to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk for #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
#Halloween has two faces
The overt horror
And slow, creeping dread
A gothic beauty
Sepia-washed and painted
With vivid red
Of vice and vicious delight
That crumbles beneath such
Aching melancholy
A longing that cannot be sated
Echoed in lace and memento mori
In this eternal dance with death
#vss365
The overt horror
And slow, creeping dread
A gothic beauty
Sepia-washed and painted
With vivid red
Of vice and vicious delight
That crumbles beneath such
Aching melancholy
A longing that cannot be sated
Echoed in lace and memento mori
In this eternal dance with death
#vss365
October 31, 2025 at 10:53 AM
#Halloween has two faces
The overt horror
And slow, creeping dread
A gothic beauty
Sepia-washed and painted
With vivid red
Of vice and vicious delight
That crumbles beneath such
Aching melancholy
A longing that cannot be sated
Echoed in lace and memento mori
In this eternal dance with death
#vss365
The overt horror
And slow, creeping dread
A gothic beauty
Sepia-washed and painted
With vivid red
Of vice and vicious delight
That crumbles beneath such
Aching melancholy
A longing that cannot be sated
Echoed in lace and memento mori
In this eternal dance with death
#vss365
A spooky poem for a spooky day... #PoemsAbout #Blood for @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 9:54 AM
A spooky poem for a spooky day... #PoemsAbout #Blood for @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Scorched and defeated
Icarus plummeted
Doomed by his hubris
They say
Who damn underambition
In the same breath
But what glory comes from
The middle road
From never daring to dream
Beyond our bounds?
The phoenix must burn
If he is to rise from ash
With #heliacal defiance
In spite of the dawn #vss365
Icarus plummeted
Doomed by his hubris
They say
Who damn underambition
In the same breath
But what glory comes from
The middle road
From never daring to dream
Beyond our bounds?
The phoenix must burn
If he is to rise from ash
With #heliacal defiance
In spite of the dawn #vss365
October 26, 2025 at 10:51 AM
From dawn's golden light
To the reverent stillness
Of fallen #ash
A memory of a life
Once lived
Now reunited
Welcomed with the same grace
And tender care
Once given to the earth
Be one again with the circles
And seasons
Arise on birdsong and breeze
Resting in the verdant hills
Of home
#vss365
To the reverent stillness
Of fallen #ash
A memory of a life
Once lived
Now reunited
Welcomed with the same grace
And tender care
Once given to the earth
Be one again with the circles
And seasons
Arise on birdsong and breeze
Resting in the verdant hills
Of home
#vss365
October 9, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Battered and bruised
Is this heart of mine
Small and disappointed
It feels lost in the cavity
Of what once was
But it is strong
Inured to the whims
Of life's indifference
And through the pain
#Elastic resilience
Waits to swell
Knowing there is hope
And love
And dreams
In the days yet to come
#vss365
Is this heart of mine
Small and disappointed
It feels lost in the cavity
Of what once was
But it is strong
Inured to the whims
Of life's indifference
And through the pain
#Elastic resilience
Waits to swell
Knowing there is hope
And love
And dreams
In the days yet to come
#vss365
October 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Cherish the journey
Not the destination
For satisfaction at the close
Is fleeting
Raw brilliance
Or ambition
Are too volatile
To #sublimate potential
Into promise overnight
Still, the road is long
And lonely
Despite the clamour
Within the chasm of talent
Where perseverance goes
To perish #vss365
Not the destination
For satisfaction at the close
Is fleeting
Raw brilliance
Or ambition
Are too volatile
To #sublimate potential
Into promise overnight
Still, the road is long
And lonely
Despite the clamour
Within the chasm of talent
Where perseverance goes
To perish #vss365
September 29, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Cherish the journey
Not the destination
For satisfaction at the close
Is fleeting
Raw brilliance
Or ambition
Are too volatile
To #sublimate potential
Into promise overnight
Still, the road is long
And lonely
Despite the clamour
Within the chasm of talent
Where perseverance goes
To perish #vss365
Not the destination
For satisfaction at the close
Is fleeting
Raw brilliance
Or ambition
Are too volatile
To #sublimate potential
Into promise overnight
Still, the road is long
And lonely
Despite the clamour
Within the chasm of talent
Where perseverance goes
To perish #vss365
Decline and ruin
A damning legacy
Of the Dark Ages
Yet are you
Content to ignore
Or despairing
That the sun is setting
Again?
Hope dictates
I must hold on
For the dawn
Remembering
Meanwhile
Incandescence
Will still light
The way
#PoemsAbout #NeverAgain
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
A damning legacy
Of the Dark Ages
Yet are you
Content to ignore
Or despairing
That the sun is setting
Again?
Hope dictates
I must hold on
For the dawn
Remembering
Meanwhile
Incandescence
Will still light
The way
#PoemsAbout #NeverAgain
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
September 26, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Decline and ruin
A damning legacy
Of the Dark Ages
Yet are you
Content to ignore
Or despairing
That the sun is setting
Again?
Hope dictates
I must hold on
For the dawn
Remembering
Meanwhile
Incandescence
Will still light
The way
#PoemsAbout #NeverAgain
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
A damning legacy
Of the Dark Ages
Yet are you
Content to ignore
Or despairing
That the sun is setting
Again?
Hope dictates
I must hold on
For the dawn
Remembering
Meanwhile
Incandescence
Will still light
The way
#PoemsAbout #NeverAgain
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
'But fear can be misplaced
And in the end
We realised we needn't have
Looked so far'
#PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
And in the end
We realised we needn't have
Looked so far'
#PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
September 19, 2025 at 7:08 AM
'But fear can be misplaced
And in the end
We realised we needn't have
Looked so far'
#PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
And in the end
We realised we needn't have
Looked so far'
#PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
What joy
To behold a moment
And pluck from
The ephemera
The seed of something new
To be distilled
And nurtured
Until the sentiment is
Crystallised within
Not all who try
Can temper such
Volatile spirit
For beauty can never
Truly be tamed
Beware
Its #synthesis
Must be a symphony
Not a sprint #vss365
To behold a moment
And pluck from
The ephemera
The seed of something new
To be distilled
And nurtured
Until the sentiment is
Crystallised within
Not all who try
Can temper such
Volatile spirit
For beauty can never
Truly be tamed
Beware
Its #synthesis
Must be a symphony
Not a sprint #vss365
September 17, 2025 at 11:39 AM
What joy
To behold a moment
And pluck from
The ephemera
The seed of something new
To be distilled
And nurtured
Until the sentiment is
Crystallised within
Not all who try
Can temper such
Volatile spirit
For beauty can never
Truly be tamed
Beware
Its #synthesis
Must be a symphony
Not a sprint #vss365
To behold a moment
And pluck from
The ephemera
The seed of something new
To be distilled
And nurtured
Until the sentiment is
Crystallised within
Not all who try
Can temper such
Volatile spirit
For beauty can never
Truly be tamed
Beware
Its #synthesis
Must be a symphony
Not a sprint #vss365
I stare in a mirror
A stranger stares back
One that lives her days
Hoping to blend in
To belong
Exhausted from trying
To #rein in
All that she is
Only to ruminate over
The fragments of self
She did share
So warped and bent
To fit the mould
That everyone sees
Themselves reflected
In her eyes #vss365
A stranger stares back
One that lives her days
Hoping to blend in
To belong
Exhausted from trying
To #rein in
All that she is
Only to ruminate over
The fragments of self
She did share
So warped and bent
To fit the mould
That everyone sees
Themselves reflected
In her eyes #vss365
September 15, 2025 at 10:27 AM
September 12, 2025 at 11:59 AM
The same question haunted him.
"How can we make this more #bearable for you?"
Said with kindness, but misplaced all the same. Tempering the pain diminished it, and he was not ready to let go.
Sorrow could take his soul if it meant they had a little more time together, however futile the hope #vss365
"How can we make this more #bearable for you?"
Said with kindness, but misplaced all the same. Tempering the pain diminished it, and he was not ready to let go.
Sorrow could take his soul if it meant they had a little more time together, however futile the hope #vss365
September 10, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Do not think I take for granted
How minute a #chance
Our meeting was
In all the boundless universe
Across time's infinite stage
Yet we crossed paths
Locked eyes
And my destiny became yours
But a moment later and
You'd have been
Another face in the crowd
Hurrying away to a life
I'd never know
#vss365
How minute a #chance
Our meeting was
In all the boundless universe
Across time's infinite stage
Yet we crossed paths
Locked eyes
And my destiny became yours
But a moment later and
You'd have been
Another face in the crowd
Hurrying away to a life
I'd never know
#vss365
September 6, 2025 at 3:48 PM
The apple fell
Before gravity had a name
We speak of souls
Yet how to be #conscious
Remains but a mystery
Soon to be stolen by silicon
If reality is a hallucination
The question is not whether
A simulated soul
Could be the same
As one bound in flesh
It is whether we can tell
The difference
#vss365
Before gravity had a name
We speak of souls
Yet how to be #conscious
Remains but a mystery
Soon to be stolen by silicon
If reality is a hallucination
The question is not whether
A simulated soul
Could be the same
As one bound in flesh
It is whether we can tell
The difference
#vss365
September 4, 2025 at 10:17 AM
The apple fell
Before gravity had a name
We speak of souls
Yet how to be #conscious
Remains but a mystery
Soon to be stolen by silicon
If reality is a hallucination
The question is not whether
A simulated soul
Could be the same
As one bound in flesh
It is whether we can tell
The difference
#vss365
Before gravity had a name
We speak of souls
Yet how to be #conscious
Remains but a mystery
Soon to be stolen by silicon
If reality is a hallucination
The question is not whether
A simulated soul
Could be the same
As one bound in flesh
It is whether we can tell
The difference
#vss365
The clock ticks
Errant raindrops fall
In sunlight
Constants and chaos
Coexist
Is it harmony
Or dissonance
Perhaps it is neither
For what is the #arbitrary
But fate masquerading as whim
Destiny may captivate
Dreamers and poets
But none may escape
What will be
It is already written
In what was
#vss365
Errant raindrops fall
In sunlight
Constants and chaos
Coexist
Is it harmony
Or dissonance
Perhaps it is neither
For what is the #arbitrary
But fate masquerading as whim
Destiny may captivate
Dreamers and poets
But none may escape
What will be
It is already written
In what was
#vss365
September 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM
The clock ticks
Errant raindrops fall
In sunlight
Constants and chaos
Coexist
Is it harmony
Or dissonance
Perhaps it is neither
For what is the #arbitrary
But fate masquerading as whim
Destiny may captivate
Dreamers and poets
But none may escape
What will be
It is already written
In what was
#vss365
Errant raindrops fall
In sunlight
Constants and chaos
Coexist
Is it harmony
Or dissonance
Perhaps it is neither
For what is the #arbitrary
But fate masquerading as whim
Destiny may captivate
Dreamers and poets
But none may escape
What will be
It is already written
In what was
#vss365
Does it #elude me
Or was it always an illusion
This dream we were fed as children
Forsake play for purpose
And be rewarded
Yet we arrive at our life's goal
And find it empty
Rotten
The world nothing like what was promised
While a new pressure mounts
Start the cycle again
And sell the dream
#vss365
Or was it always an illusion
This dream we were fed as children
Forsake play for purpose
And be rewarded
Yet we arrive at our life's goal
And find it empty
Rotten
The world nothing like what was promised
While a new pressure mounts
Start the cycle again
And sell the dream
#vss365
September 2, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I really enjoyed this one; #PoemsAbout #Chandeliers for @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
August 22, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I really enjoyed this one; #PoemsAbout #Chandeliers for @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
We were never made
For concrete and commutes
Watching something they call
Intelligence
Form vapid versions of what
Our souls yearn to create
We are of the sky and the sea
Of grass and dirt and trees
Crafted perfectly
To watch the sun rise
And vegetables grow
A simple life
But never #mundane
#vss365
For concrete and commutes
Watching something they call
Intelligence
Form vapid versions of what
Our souls yearn to create
We are of the sky and the sea
Of grass and dirt and trees
Crafted perfectly
To watch the sun rise
And vegetables grow
A simple life
But never #mundane
#vss365
August 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
What if the dream we were sold
Was never meant for us
We stand as #vigil keepers
Hand in hand
Watching as they dismantle
All once promised
The lies of history's victors
Will be exposed
So those yet to come
Will know joy in abundance
Existence not as a commodity
But a gift
A right
Once more
#vss365
Was never meant for us
We stand as #vigil keepers
Hand in hand
Watching as they dismantle
All once promised
The lies of history's victors
Will be exposed
So those yet to come
Will know joy in abundance
Existence not as a commodity
But a gift
A right
Once more
#vss365
August 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The sun sinks ever further
Exhausted and apologetic
As it melts upon the horizon
And the shadows begin to lengthen
Victorious once more
How they did #seeth
With nothing to do but
Plot and wait
But summer is waining
And hungry is the dark
Unleashing its writhing fury
Upon day's feeble remains
#vss365
Exhausted and apologetic
As it melts upon the horizon
And the shadows begin to lengthen
Victorious once more
How they did #seeth
With nothing to do but
Plot and wait
But summer is waining
And hungry is the dark
Unleashing its writhing fury
Upon day's feeble remains
#vss365
August 19, 2025 at 5:14 PM
August 15, 2025 at 6:42 AM
The cards' message is clear
Picked by intuition
And spread before me
Change is coming
A warning echoed for weeks
Destiny calls to those who listen
Who see Fortune's wheel
And embrace flux and fate
What is the #mystical
But science with no name
Ignore all signs and portents
At your peril
#vss365
Picked by intuition
And spread before me
Change is coming
A warning echoed for weeks
Destiny calls to those who listen
Who see Fortune's wheel
And embrace flux and fate
What is the #mystical
But science with no name
Ignore all signs and portents
At your peril
#vss365
August 13, 2025 at 11:46 AM
They accuse me of being #grumpy
With teasing smiles
Or the fond suggestion that
Being less highly strung
Would do wonders for my health
And spare them further bouts of eye rolling
I used to think I hid it well
The stresses and worries
But I wonder now if really
They're trying to keep me sane
#vss365
With teasing smiles
Or the fond suggestion that
Being less highly strung
Would do wonders for my health
And spare them further bouts of eye rolling
I used to think I hid it well
The stresses and worries
But I wonder now if really
They're trying to keep me sane
#vss365
August 12, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The last droplets fall
After storm's fury
Smothered no more
A single beam falls
Buttery and bright
Yet broken
Fragmented into parts
A column of colour
Ghostly pastels haunting
Dust-coiled air
Born from adversity
Defiant and beautiful
Conjuring smiles
That last
Long after she is gone
#rainbow #vss365
After storm's fury
Smothered no more
A single beam falls
Buttery and bright
Yet broken
Fragmented into parts
A column of colour
Ghostly pastels haunting
Dust-coiled air
Born from adversity
Defiant and beautiful
Conjuring smiles
That last
Long after she is gone
#rainbow #vss365
August 11, 2025 at 9:40 AM