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Ray Bear
Member since March 24, 2026
Member for 3 months, 27 days
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The Devils Daughters
Beneath the moon their wicked beauty gleams,
The phantom riders of desert dreams.
With painted lips and leather cinched up tight,
They hunt the lawless deep into the night.
They were not born to the leather and the stirrup, but baptized in the choking dust of the frontier. Society discarded them like detritus, so they chose to tear it down. Now, they ride as a striking, unforgettable spectre across the desert night—unapologetically attractive women whose sharp, stunning beauty only sharpens the terror of their lightning-fast draws and ruthless hearts.
"Brimstone" Belle Vance
Belle carries the striking, sun-warmed elegance of a high-society debutante, but her dark eyes hold an icy, obsidian glare capable of stopping a man’s pulse. When a corrupt land baron reduced her family homestead to ash, she traded silk gowns for trail-worn leather, mastering the cold, heavy weight of a Colt Peacemaker. She is the gang's architect, using her sophisticated, disarming composure to freeze a room before unleashing a calculated, lethal violence that leaves only silence in its wake.
Sadie "Two-Guns" Morgan
Sadie cuts a vivid silhouette against the dim lanterns, her cascading red hair and vibrant, confident smile forged in the chaotic heat of San Francisco’s grandest saloons. She commands the room with a magnetic, sharp wit, trapping every eye upon her form. She weaponizes this rapt attention, captivating the crowd with pure charisma until it is too late; by the time her targets realize she isn't there for a friendly whisper, her twin nickel-plated pistols are already unholstered, levelled cold against their chests.
Jessie "Hell Cat" Adler
The youngest of the crew, Jessie is a runaway with bright, wide eyes and a youthful, dew-kissed face that paints her as entirely harmless. This sweet, unassuming facade is her deadliest tactical weapon. Beneath the mask of a gentle traveller lies a chaotic force of nature with a hair-trigger temper and a dark gift for demolition. She uses her deceptive sweetness to melt past heavily guarded bank safes, revealing her true, burning intentions only when the fuse of the dynamite sparks to life.
Cora Reyes "The Viper"
Cora is a fierce, silent storm, her sun-bronzed skin, sharp cheekbones, and piercing green eyes gleaming from beneath the shadow of her hat. Raised by vaqueros after escaping a brutal, forgotten past, she wears rugged, dust-caked trail gear and keeps her dark hair practical and short. She rarely speaks, letting her intense, intimidating aura choke the air. She is the deadliest shot in the West, capable of splitting a silver dollar at a full, breathless gallop while her opponents are still groping for their triggers.
The desert dust clings to their leather tight,
Read the rest of the poem Show less
four phantom shadows riding through the night.
The lawless town is drowning in its sin,
as Brimstone Belle leads all her sisters in.
The Ironwood Saloon now burning bright,
with wicked men who drink away the light.
The land baron sits high upon his throne,
unknowing that his sins are fully grown.
The heavy doors swing wide with sudden crash,
four gorgeous sirens step through dust and ash.
With painted lips and curves in leather bound,
they freeze the room without a single sound.
Belle steps ahead, her sun-tanned skin aglow,
her icy eyes locked on her hated foe.
He burned her home when she was just a child,
but now she comes back ruthless, fierce, and wild.
"I've come to collect," Belle whispers out low,
her fingers trace the cold steel down below.
The baron laughs, "You're just a pretty face,"
Not knowing death has entered in this place.
Red hair cascades as Sadie starts to smile,
"Look up at me, boys, stay a little while."
Her twin chrome pistols flash with sultry grace,
before her lead tears through the smoky space.
A cowboy chokes, his chest a bloody mess,
as Sadie winks, the quickest in the west.
The Viper Cora fires a blinding flash,
her green eyes gleam, her bullets spit red splash.
"Don't blink," Cora sighs, rifle spitting lead,
two lawmen fall, from gunshots to the head.
She shoots a glass from a hired guns hand,
the sharpest, deadliest shot in all the land.
Then Jessie giggles, "Time to watch it burn!"
the drunken bastards have no time to turn.
The Hell Cat grins and lights a short, red fuse,
the baron pales, with everything to lose.
She drops the sparks onto the polished bar,
the blinding glare is seen from near and far.
Belle cocks her Colt and steps into his sight,
to end his reign of terror here tonight.
"This is for my home," she says with fierce pride,
"And all the tears my broken mother cried."
She pulls the trigger, brains splatter the floor,
the baron slumps, his empire is no more.
As silence falls, a ticking sound grows clear,
a gold pocket watch fills the room with fear.
Belle rips the chain right off the dead man's vest,
and slides a folded note out from his chest.
The ink is fresh, a cruel and mocking note,
a final warning that a phantom wrote.
It bears a name from San Francisco's stage,
a ghost from Sadie's past upon the page.
"Hello, sweet Sadie," read the bloody lines,
"The past returns to claim what it aligns.
Old Marshal Cain has found your hiding place,
and soon I'll wipe that smile right off your face."
Outside, the Marshal's men let down the beams,
to lock the girls inside with dying screams.
The fire is lit, the doors are barred up tight,
and Sadie's blood runs cold with sudden fright.
To be Continued................stay tuned , Will our girls make it out alive ? Who is the figure from Sadie's past ? How is The Marshal involved? follow the series The Devils Daughters by RJ Bear
Ray Bear’s timeline
- July 2026
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18 SatReceived a critique
on The Devils Daughters from @Geezer
"it is an interesting tale. What happens? Will they get rescued in time? Will Batman save Robin? I mean... Umm. anyway, yeah." -
18 Sat
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16 ThuCritiqued
"Mistress Library..." by @Geezer
"This reads like a love letter to a lifelong companion. You’ve beautifully captured that quiet, deeply personal intimacy of getting lost in books, and the profound sadness of being separated from a place that shaped who…" -
14 TueReceived a critique
on Five Minutes More from @Lavender
"Hello, Ray, A beautiful title, followed by a graceful and heartfelt poem. The love and devotion, and the loss are felt so deeply throughout. Thank you, L" -
14 Tue
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11 SatReceived a critique
on The Midnight Train from @kellustzall
"My recently new hobby is reading poetry, while having breakfasts and relaxing evenings. More poetry pls ^^" -
11 SatReceived a critique
on The Midnight Train from @kellustzall
"This art piece reminds me of the song "A light so dim" by The Black Heart Procession, its about ghostly pirate ship, and this one is ghostly wild west train. It's the long winded introduction to the atmosphere for me, i…" -
10 FriReceived a critique
on The Midnight Train from @Lavender
"Hello, Ray, Haunting. Vivid imagery. I will disagree with AI regarding "...a coat made of thick winter lace." I felt an intense heavy coldness, almost void of feeling. Enjoyed this! Thank you! L" -
09 ThuCritiqued
"To Live and To Love" by @BlueSkies
"This feels like a warm hug in written form. You’ve captured that pure, golden safety of childhood so beautifully—the smell of pancakes, blanket forts, and just feeling completely protected from the world. A truly lovely…" -
09 ThuCritiqued
"Life is Futile" by @kellustzall
"Ouch, the ending of this completely broke me. Beyond the wild energy and the sharp edges, there’s such a poignant, exhausting search for peace and self-love here. A really powerful, unapologetic piece of writing." -
09 ThuCritiqued
"Fricken Fireworks" by @Lavender
"I love how unapologetic this is. Lines like 'Traumatize the waterways' really stick with you. It’s a sad truth wrapped in a great rhythm, and it definitely makes you look at the whole spectacle a bit differently. Brilli…" -
07 TueReceived a critique
on The Midnight Train from @Alex Tanner
"Loved it RJ loved the story and the telling. I think it would benefit from some editing to really tighten it and give it even more impetus. Having said that it is one of the most enjoyable poems I have read here for som…" -
07 Tue
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03 FriCritiqued
"Porch Light In South Carolina" by @torichavis4
"This is stunning. The image of fireflies "stitching bright lanterns through twilight" is absolutely gorgeous, and the "singing" screen door is such a perfect, nostalgic touch. It feels incredibly warm, grounded, and dee…" -
02 ThuNew follower
@Asa B.
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02 Thu
- June 2026
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30 Tue
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30 TueReceived a critique
on Forged in Fire from @kellustzall
"Always love me a spiritualized sex scene. It just hits different. When yearning burns like its thousands damaged lives before it earns. Don't care abt the AI tho, just keep up with your abstractions, I love it all the m…" -
29 MonPosted a poem
Forged in Fire
"One glance, one thought, a sudden breath, a magnetic pull so fierce the very essence of time stood still. It was a fevered collision, my sweet Susanna, a heartbeat pressing against heartbeat until the rhythm became one. We met in the blurring chaos of the moment, anchored by a wanting that felt primal. Locked in an embrace that refused to break, we found heaven in the delirium. Through every tremor, we remained intimately entwined, our bodies a singular, rebellious shadow against the dark. What was forged in the white-heat of youth only grew deeper and more intoxicating with every passing season. An eternity inseparable." -
28 SunReceived a critique
on Shadows on the Sheets from @kellustzall
"I'd imagine you would make a great Tonalism artist, abundance of background atmosphere. You seem to spend a lot of meticulous hours to frame a scene, memorizing." -
26 Fri
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24 WedPosted a poem
Judge, Jury and Executioner
"The silver star pinned to the marshal’s grease-stained vest didn't belong to him. It belonged to Thomas, his younger brother, who had been dead for three winters. Thomas had been the foolish one, believing a tin badge could hold back the rot of the territories. When he took the office in the valley, he wrote letters home about the rising brick fronts and the black-lime plaster walls of the new saloons. He also wrote about Caleb Lynch—a man who smelled of imported rosewater and cold iron, who controlled every faro game from the creek to the canyon rim. Lynch had offered Thomas a cut of the skimming to keep his boots off the main street. Thomas refused. The retaliation wasn't swift; it was a slow, methodical execution. Lynch’s gun hands didn't use bullets. They caught Thomas behind the livery stables, pinned his arms with cattle ropes, and used heavy timber posts to break his ribs one by one until his lungs filled with his own blood. They dragged his body out to the dry creek bed and left him face-down in the alkali mud. When the townspeople found him, his fingernails were split down to the quick from clawing at the frozen gravel, trying to drag himself back toward the light. The local circuit judge took one look at the three rows of fresh graves in the cemetery, turned his mule cart around, and never came back. When the elder brother received the blood-crusted star in a canvas sack, he didn't weep. He didn't petition the territorial governor for a warrant. He went to his shed, took a file to the sear of his colt peacemaker until the trigger pulled with the weight of a feather, and rubbed animal fat into his leather duster to keep out the desert rain. He tracked Lynch by the trail of cold chimneys and broken storefronts he left behind. He didn't ride into Town to read a text from a law book or offer a fair trial. He came because the earth was still choking on his brother's name, and he rode hard into that town……" -
23 TueCritiqued
"PRESENCE" by @Rakuunz
"I really enjoyed this nostalgia. Very well written and it makes you think. Very well penned" -
23 TueNew follower
@kellustzall
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17 WedCritiqued
"Axes of Our Elemental Kinship " by @juliemakhoul3458
"This is truly an outstanding piece. I really enjoyed it. Regards Ray" -
16 Tue
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10 Wed
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09 Tue
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06 Sat
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04 Thu
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04 ThuNew follower
@Cpwe Skele
- May 2026
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31 Sun
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27 Wed
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20 WedNew follower
@Summer Days
- April 2026
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30 Thu
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18 Sat
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15 WedHighest posting month
April 2026 — 19 poems
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04 Sat
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04 Sat
- March 2026
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30 Mon
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25 WedFirst critique offered
on "SCREAMING TREE!" by @Ebon Croe
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24 TueFirst publication
Gamble for your Life
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24 TueJoined Neopoet
Membership begins
First poem published 1 days later.
About Me
About me
From Sydney Australia. I love Villanelle and Lyrical Prose. Creative writing is a dual-purpose lens: it helps us zoom in on our own lives to make sense of them, while also providing a wide-angle view of worlds that don't yet exist.
I love adventure and write not only of my childhood but of cowboys, pirates and treasure hunters. Also Romance and undying love.
Location: Sydney Australia, AUS
Recent Work
The Devils Daughters
Posted:
Five Minutes More
Posted:
The Guardian and the Rose
Posted:
Judge, Jury and Executioner
Posted:
Contest Wins
| Winning Submission | Contest | Contest Date |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition by Text | 06/26 Text Message Sent to the Wrong Person | 1 June, 2026 – 30 June, 2026 |
| The Embers Burn Low | 05/26 New Member Contest | 1 May, 2026 – 31 May, 2026 |
| Almost Glass | Neopoet Weekly 04/12/26 to 04/18/26 | 12 April, 2026 – 18 April, 2026 |
| The Violet Tide | 04/26 When the Sun Says Goodbye | 1 April, 2026 – 30 April, 2026 |
| A Brief Forever | Neopoet Weekly 03/29/26 to 04/04/26 | 29 March, 2026 – 4 April, 2026 |