Melissa Burkart

@mwithpen.bsky.social

1554 Followers 608 Following

Possible sea witch living by the Maine coast. Spec fic/fantasy writer of flash fiction, novels, and everything in between. Perpetually Exhausted Parent™. Forever a theatre kid. Bi/demi she/her. melissaburkart.com

A white mug with yellow handle and rim sitting on a counter beside a metal French press. Around the bottom of the mug are splashes of rainbow color revealing the word NOPE in white
A light colored bamboo floor with crumbs and things casting long shadows
A brown haired white girl in a purple unicorn dress reads Interrupting Cow to 4 other white kids while sitting on a blue carved stylized protoceid. 2 other books (Lizzards and Snow Babies) sit beside her. The camera can’t see any of their faces
A brown haired white girl in a purple unicorn dress reads Interrupting Cow to 4 other white kids while sitting on a blue carved stylized protoceid. 2 other books (Lizzards and Snow Babies) sit beside her. The camera can’t see any of their faces
The image of a postcard for the upcoming show I’m in. It has 4 photos of the same heterosexual white couple progressing from top left to bottom right, in wigs and costumes somewhat indicative of the dates given each photo. The first, dated 1951, they are looking away from each other. The second is dated 1961 and she is looking away while her looks at her. The third is dated 1965 and she looks at him while he looks away. The fourth is dated 1970 and they are looking at each other and smiling. The text reads: Meetinghouse Theatre Lab PRESENTS Same Time, Next Year a play by Bernard Slade Directed by Shari John Starring Melissa Burkart and Tim Pugliese
An eye with lips at one corner and something blue squirting out of the other, surrounded by blue flame-like curves and small bubbles-like circles of yellow
One of Maine’s few sand beaches, empty except for a tree, pile of rocks, and 2 kids. There are a few islands covered in evergreens. The water is calm (as far as we can tell), the sky a perfect blue with both wispy and fluffy clouds
A small, simple stage outside against a backdrop of trees. Does it count as a selfie because you can see my foot?
A 3D-printed card: blue square with yellow letters and outlines of 2 blobby creatures, one labeled 40 wearing a birthday hat having kicked the second, labeled 39, off a cliff. It reads, “Happy Birthday Mel”
A poster for No Kings Day on June 14th at 12:00 PM. It shows the Statue of Liberty without a torch, her raised hand instead closed into a fist. At the top, there are words that read "If there's money for a parade, there's money for Medicaid."
Screen shot of a text message that reads: Maine Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Final Notice: Enforcement Penalties Begin on June 10. According to our records, your traffic violation remains unpaid. Under Maine Code 15C-16.003, if your fine is not settled by June 9, 2025, the following penalties will be enforced: 1. DMV violation database reporting 2. Suspension of vehicle registration effective June 10 3. 30-day suspension of driving license 4. Toll service referral with additional 35% processing charge 5. Possible legal prosecution and credit rating damage Pay immediately here: https://maine.vtoc.cc/pay?znb=6J0yCH Please resolve urgently to avoid further legal action and suspension. (Reply Y and re-open this message to click the link, or copy it to your browser.)
A mirror selfie of a white woman with brown hair and heavy makeup wearing a vintage-style nurse’s uniform complete with box hat (I have no idea of the proper name for those things). The dress is unbuttoned to below the boobs so there’s a lot of cleavage hanging out. This character has one goal and that is sex
A wooden bookshelf of dark leather-bound books and a wooden ladder reaching up. Photo by Tim Van Cleef
A worn wooden door in an age-stained wooden wall, overgrown with ivy and other plants. Photo by Viktor Mogilat
A worn wooden door in an age-stained wooden wall, overgrown with ivy and other plants. Photo by Viktor Mogilat
On a gray wet day, a brick wall with a bright mural of bugs—bees, ladybugs, butterflies, ants, worms, etc—among flowers and mushrooms, also showing soil layers with a mole and…maybe a fox? Curled up in a burrow
A photo of my laptop screen showing “//end” in a Word document. The lower left hand part of the screen shows a page count of 118 and a word count of 32,977
My BlueSky feed! Top post by Nathaniel Swift: “Nothing like waking up at 5am for baseball. Go Cubs!” Immediately above a post by Ashley Fairbanks: “keeping track of who is silly enough to wake up for 5AM baseball so I can recruit you into my Tour de France cult”
A terrible selfie of me, a white woman wearing a black and white cardigan with freshly cut and dyed dark red hair blowing in the wind. The sun is bright and the sky behind me is a brilliant blue
2 books on a sage green carpet: WONDERBOOK by Jeff Vandermeer and CHARACTERS & VIEWPOINT by Orson Scott Card, which still has its sticker from Half Price Books in Seattle (he may know his craft, but I’m not giving bigots money)
My 7 year old’s cat stuffie, a Siamese named Wendy, on the dusty dashboard of my car looking through the rain-streaked windshield at the Trader Joe’s parking lot. My kid was very concerned I’d be in Portland without her so insisted I take the cat 🤷🏻‍♀️
A white Dimspirations mug with yellow handle and rainbow splashes along the bottom revealing the word NOPE. Beside it is a stainless steel French press and behind it is a burr grinder and other kitchen clutter
My kid wearing a blue and orange poncho I knit her years ago over her purple unicorn dress, over pastel tie dye leggings and tall winter boots. She’s sitting on a tall backless wooden stool and reading from her book, which is printed on standard white paper. The principal stands behind her holding a mic and wearing a purple cardigan over a gray dress. For privacy, both their faces are covered by purple circles. They’re in the school gym with a shiny wooden floor and blue wall with safety mats in the background The image is a screenshot from my phone of the school’s app because I can’t download photos but I had to keep proof of this moment
A small red knit poncho on a gray couch. A portable wooden yarn holder with blue contrast design and a blue wrist strap sits on top with the tiniest remnant of the red yarn still on it
Quotes reading, “Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.” And, “How do we forgive ourselves for ask the things we did not become?” Attributed to Jonathan Safram Foer // Doc Luben
A large popcorn machine, doors closed to keep the violent popping inside, helpfully labeled across the top, “HOT BUTTERED POPCORN”
Yellow Crocks with black eyes and orange beaks blurred from motion because my kid was kicking his feet. You can also see his pj pants—vibrant blue with skiing penguins, snowflakes, and evergreens—with the bottoms rolled up to keep him from slipping and tripping on them
Photo of a library hardcover copy of THE SERPENT AND THE WINGS OF NIGHT by Carissa Broadbent
A snow-mounded deck and stairs against snowy trees
An old, shadowed wooden library with row after row of bookcases filled with old leatherbound books. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Screenshot of a Chrome window with search results for the terms "rain in the nightmarket sudden fictions." AI overview reads, ""Rain in the Nightmarket" is the title of an episode from the podcast "Sudden Fictions," written by Melissa Burkart; it is a short story about a mysterious and somewhat magical night market that is suddenly hit by a downpour, creating a unique and evocative atmosphere."
Two wild turkeys and the tail of a third pecking in the gravel and leaves at the edge of our driveway. One turkey has white feathers edged in brown
Screenshot of Apple Music Replay showing the top 5 artists I’ve listened to: 1) Babymetal (1,836 minutes) 2) Taylor Swift (1,133 minutes), 3) BlackPink (934 minutes), 4) Le Sserafim (689 minutes), 5) Sylvan Esso (258 minutes)
A laptop in the foreground with a document open, next to printed pages with red revision marks, all on a messy table. Blurred out on the background is a white girl with long light brown hair wearing a red shirt with a white stripe on the sleeve is writing.
A screenshot of an account before I blocked it: user @crypto-haters-cry.bsky.social. Profile says, “hahaha crypto haters STAY POOR hahaha keep crying about the environment hahahahhahahah WE DON’T CARE”
Card from Bluesky celebrating 10 million users showing I'm number 577,396 and certified Bluesky elder in the first 10%. Like I don't already get enough of the "you're old" treatment from my kids