April 1996; Sally McNeil was sentenced to 19 years to life for the shotgun slaying of her husband Ray McNeil. Sally was and continues to be one of the most beloved and best known bodybuilders among the female ranks of a sport which is increasingly moving away from the drug fueled Narcissism of its recent Silver Age towards a more fitness oriented display of health and prowess.
Her career as a professional bodybuilder was barely building up steam as she strenuously supported her husband’s goals; to be the best, to rise above the inconsequential and the fleeting, to achieve world fame as an actor and action hero.
Unfortunately, what was hidden behind ambition was rage; a confusing mix of jealousy and admiration, worship, distrust and betrayal. Ray McNeil had taken to beating his wife, in public and in private. The scars were visible, the bruises and broken bones obvious. People were concerned, Sally was afraid and Ray thought he could get away with murder.
Sally had no such thought in her mind. Please enjoy this gallery followed by a collection of Sally’s poetry
TO CONQUER THE POWER OF LOVE
by Sally Marie McNeil (c)1996
POWER:
Love is equal to atomic power,
The unknown that can be conquered.
If you fear the unknown
When you are in love
Then you are the unknown.
Love creates power that wasn’t there.
You make the unmentionable happen
& prove it wrong.
When people quit, you continue
Your quest to prevail.
You find strength in corners of your mind
That you didn’t know you possessed
And then only you possess the power of love.
INFINITY:
The emptiness of love
Keeps pouring out of my heart.
There is no bottom to my love,
The bottom of my heart is endless
as is the love for my lost love.
Darkness created my loneliness.
My heart will love
A returnless love
For the rest of my life.
Your love is the legend of my life.
The ache you created
Will go on into indefinite
Infinity
FOREVER:
I’ll be gone forever
And you won’t miss me.
It will be as if I never existed.
My name will be wiped
From your lips forever.
As time goes by, it will be as though I were
Just a ship passing through the Equator.
How brief that moment lasts.
It happens and maybe will only
Happen once in a lifetime.
I am your comet that shot through the sky
and lit up the sky for a brief moment
In your brief life.
You saw me shine, saw the dark side of me,
Now experience the cold side as the comet fades away
To nothingness, as I fade away in your mind.
For a brief moment remember the sparks I created
As I drifted helplessly through your space and time.
I am a spark of happiness
In your lonely life of dreams.
I was a dream that you could not escape
Or wanted to.
You chased me away
Before my light faded away
And now live without me forever.
CONQUEST:
To have me is the possession of power.
I am the power of life.
To love me is the love of life.
I am the freedom you seek.
To possess me is to rule
The kingdom of power.
I am the uncontrollable power
that is untapped,
The raw power that only nature can claim.
The man who claims my love
Claims eternity.
Forever,
Sally
WOMEN BODYBUILDERS
Women bodybuilders are a dying breed.
One day we will remember them as Amazonian
Dinosaurs, T-Rexes.
The feline she-cats of bodybuilding,
The spots of our thongs,
Black leotards marking our prowess.
Look out! Here comes a
Female bodybuilder!
Is she beauty or the beast?
Beauty is not only in the eye
Of the beholder, beauty is the eye of the beheld.
Some men adore us,
Pay us for our muscles.
They want to be around us
All of the time.
They’ll do anything to be around our
Rippling physiques.
We’re as well-rounded as a woman can be.
Female bodybuilding
Is the naturally muscular
Woman’s savior, now
She is fashionable
And doesn’t have to hide
Her round hind quarters
Because other non-athletic
Women didn’t work their bodies
Past the point of no return.
Gymnasts, skaters, ballerinas, runners,
Hurdlers, swimmers and divers
Have a place to retire to.
They can become women of iron,
An adult sport that can
Preserve their naturally muscular bodies,
Maybe make it better than
They even knew possible.
Man-killers, destroyers of men.
Where is this dying breed headed?
The same place that legends go.
Mount Olympus!
SPIRIT OF THE EAGLE
I’ve soared with eagles
And stood with legends.
Now I stand alone, So alone.
As I attempt my flight of life
There are many obstacles in the way
Trying to block my attempt at liberty.
I cannot abort this mission of my life as I know it.
I cannot face the cage again as it held me in its strong hold
Like the cages that keep eagles from freedom of flight.
As I flapped my wings to take me to freedom, they were hindered
Only for a short time by the ceiling of unknown justice.
I am the eagle that soars forever
To ring the bell of justice and liberty
For those who have been captured in the snare of undue misery
And suffering by the hammer of ambitious arms of the law.
Feeling the power that exudes from me
They will look into my eyes
And see the honesty within and see what I am made of
And where I come from.
I come from where the eagles soar forever
And mere men cannot bring them down.
I have the spirit of the eagle.
Watch me as I fly.
See my plumage as it glistens.
Those who know will see that I am not a mere sheep
to be plucked up and slaughtered.
I am a leader to soar one notch above
I can pull up strength from anywhere at anytime
When the adrenaline demands action.
My power comes to me as needed.
The eagle will show you how legends are made.
I am a symbol of striving life to live on,
Free to fly on to meet my destiny head on.
I will stick my chest out and hold my head high
To let them know that I cannot be defeated.
Semper Fidelis
VALENTINE’S PLEDGE
I have no one to be my Valentine.
Will you be my Valentine this day from afar?
I send my Valentine this day to you
When you are miles away.
Although the miles separate us
The breathless thoughts I have of you
Envisioned in my mind as I lay alone
In bed brings you miles closer to my heart.
What a big, cold lonely bed it is without you
By my side and as I lay here alone
Each vision of your warm smile brings you closer to my heart.
I thought there was no room left in my heart
But you tore down the walls of armor and steel
To steal my heart forever and wipe away the lifetimes
That seperate us. As you receive my wish, smile a lover’s smile
of lust to think of me in your arms.
Will you love me today like there will be no tomorrow?
Have a Valentine’s thought of me as you envision me.
What is a Valentine?
I have no one to be my Valentine.
Will you be my Valentine this day from afar?
Though thousands of miles away
I send my Valentine’s greetings to you.
Will you love me today
Like there will be no tomorrow?
Remember the thought I send to you from afar.
Each letter you send
Brings you miles closer to my heart.
As you receive my wish
Smile a lover’s lustful smile to think of me.
Envision me laying in bed on satin sheets
In a red satin teddy, flexing
Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.
Will you be my Valentine from afar?
Voices of lust breathlessly whispered through the miles
As sweet nothings pile up along the way to your destiny.
Think of me as your Queen of Hearts
As I place you in my heart.
I wish you would be a part
Of my life as we roam like nomads
Though space and time.
Reaching our destiny in time as we parallel our lives
We wrap our feelings around the life line of bedtime dreams
And Lustful whispers in the hazy night.
Clearly envision in your Royal bedroom waiting for your arrival
On a special day such as Valentine’s Day,
Just be mine and I’ll love you forever as my King of Hearts.
I refuse to make partial reservations
In any part of heart.
As a mother’s pledge
I pledge my whole heart to you.
My precious child, my eternal love gushes out of my heart.
As the tears pour out of my eyes
Because we’re miles apart
And your smile could light a fire from thousands of miles away.
I wish you were here
To light the fire in my heart.
-Sally Marie McNeil