Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith

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Poem: "The Orphaned Elements"

This poem came from the March 2, 2010 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman and stonetalker.  It was sponsored by janetmiles.


The Orphaned Elements


They were all there,
the ones we have forgotten,
tucked away in a smoky corner of the aetherium:

Good and Evil were arm-wrestling as usual,
cheered by a circle of drunken dodos.

Loud dance music filtered through the walls:
Earth and Air, Fire and Water
hooting it up with their crowd of followers.

The element of Freedom
complained to her friends,
"Those mortals have forgotten us."

The element of Style
tipped his elegant black hat and said,
"I quite agree with you, my dear,
but whatever is to be done about it?"

The element of Surprise
drummed fingers on the wall.
"Well, we could go crash the party."
A watching thylacine yawned capaciously
then nibbled between its toes.
"Then again, we could get up a gang of our own
and head down to Earth for some fun."

The element of Creation
was using a luminescent hookah
to blow nebula clouds overhead.
"Don't bother me," she said, "I'm on vacation."

The element of Crime
pushed himself away from the table
and said grimly,
"I will remind them."

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fantasy, fishbowl, magic, poem, poetry, reading, writing
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  • 4 comments
Mwhahah.. Oh I like!

Elementals can play rough, yes indeedy.

Deleted comment

I had fun playing with the personalities in this one.

that's a rap

Anonymous

May 6 2017, 10:09:53 UTC 4 years ago

Usually when I read a poem and think about a tune for it, I'm aiming for a result where the words are mapped onto the notes of a melody fairly closely. Not for this one! Instead, I'm picturing something more Hamilton-esque, where the musical underpinnings reflect the mood(s) of the song, reinforcing the character depictions and their utterances. -- Callibr8