The Wordsmith's Forge

Bird ... bird ... ZOMG axolotl SQUEE!!

I am usually impressed if a person even knows what that animal is, let alone how to draw it and what its totemic influences are.  Have I mentioned recently how awesome moonvoice is?

 Here is the discussion of raw/unripe vocabulary.

 jude_rook points to a comprehensive classification of faster-than-light space drives.  If you write SF off of Earth, this is well worth reading.

 Insect art and totemic tips from moonvoice on ants.

haikujaguar tipped me to this post analyzing the publishing world and what it means for writers.

You do not need to speak Chinese in order to be impressed by this.  It is the best coin work that Doug and I have ever seen.  We are in awe. Link courtesy of my partner Doug.

This poem came out of the February 8, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from aldersprig and sponsored by janetmiles.  Series sponsor ladymondegreen. It is a sequel to "Eviction, Noticed," "Home Shriek Home," and "Sticky Fingers."

Note: I looked up the reference for guide dogs.  Most schools set the owner's minimum age at 16 (with parental permission), although there have been a few exceptions. 

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If you're asking that question, try browsing Dimensions Guide.  It tells the sizes for many different things.  (It is not, sadly, a travelogue of other realms.)

This poem came out of the February 9, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles.

What the eye sees are shapes:
heads and torsos, arms and legs.

What the mind sees are people:
allies and enemies scrambling in the distance.

What the gun sees are targets:
arc and altitude, focus and range ... bullseye.

It is up to us to decide
which vision to follow.

This poem came from the February 8, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles.

Here you can see several features of traditional Norse poetry.  This poem uses heavy alliteration instead of rhyme to create a sense of the poetic.  Each line contains a caesura, or pause, in the middle.  The subject matter draws on Norse mythology about Odin, the World-Tree Yggdrasil, and the well of Mímisbrunnr.

Beneath the broad beams     of Yggdrasil's bole
The well lies waiting,     its wide waters gleaming,
Where the piercing root      passes down to the primordial plane
Of Ginnungagap where      great dreams still glisten, hidden.

Only Odin the Allfather      dares to open the well
And drink deep of its      darkly glowing draught.
Even his eye as payment      is cheap for ever-flowing insight.
Odin gives it gladly,     Draupnir glinting golden on his arm.

Now the eye nestles     there, seeing all, knowing all.
The eye of a god     is a grand and glorious thing.
The well holds it     underwater, under wisdom,
Eternally watchful     as the world rolls down Wyrd's way.

This poem came from the February 8, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles.

Many of you probably know the quoted poem as "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  Here I've used the author's original title.

"A Visit from St. Nicholas"
was written in rhymed couplets
so compelling and memorable
that it soaked into the culture:
visions of sugarplums
danced in their heads
long after the children
had left Earth behind
and along with it
both sugar and plums.