The Wordsmith's Forge

Here are three pictures from my prompts by shadows_gallery.  My favorite is the thylacine.

 Casual viewers aren't viewing as much.  Well, duh.  People are broke.  A movie ticket is roughly minimum hourly wage, and that's before you buy refreshments.

marina_bonomi started by requesting a villainess that would require both the Origami Mage and the Kirigami Mage to defeat.  my_partner_doug provided her character class.  marina_bonomi then sponsored the poem.  This is written in tanka verses.  Read about Yìnglóng  online.  You can find other poems in the Origami Mage series through the Serial Poetry page.

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Yesterday got really dense because I wrote a bunch of epics.  Some poems had just one prompt but there were others -- particularly "Grit and Grace" (Path of the Paladins) and "Klytaimestra's Kestos" -- that drew on threaded discussions by multiple prompters, and thus packed in a whole bunch of people.  I think I managed to use a prompt by everyone, but if you didn't get a reply from me I may have missed a notification, so check the thumbnails to see if anything sounds familiar.

I'll be sending out the backchannel copies today, and I need to get started on this year's file of records.  I also need to check the status of the linkback perk-poem from yesterday.

... sticking up for your little brother when your father is being a dick.  It's okay to be yourself.

This article talks about the inspiration of Baba Yaga's house.  It's kind of cool.  But I've seen buildings that were a lot weirder, and I think it's possible to come much closer to a house on chicken legs.  In particular, if I ever raise chickens again, I think it would be awesome to have a chicken house up on legs like that.

Here is the linkback perk poem from yesterday, originally appearing thanks to aldersprig on LiveJournal and on Dreamwidth.  "Zee" is part of the Monster House series; you can find the other poems via the Serial Poetry page.  This poem was written outside of the fishbowls, substantially inspired by aldersprig's stories of home renovation and the giraffe carpet.

It's finished now! Linkluv from: wyld_dandelyon, marina_bonomi, thesilentpoet, janetmiles, meeksp, kelkyag, rix_scaedu, the_vulture, aldersprig, fayanora

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You break into her house, she shoots you dead.  So while we're at it, don't diss teen moms. 

Things like this are why I support the right to bear arms.  I want people to be careful with weapons, yes, but I want them to have the option of using deadly force when threatened.  I am totally okay with killing someone who wants to hurt you or your family.

This article looks at society-wide oppression of disabled people.  If you don't think it applies to you, consider that a great many people acquire disabilities as they age.

The following poems from the January 3, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. They may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my LiveJournal profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods.  The Poetry Fishbowl also has a landing page with full details about the project.

Note that as of 1/4/12, there is only one poem in microfunding, so all the epics are eligible for that.
[EDIT 1/8/12] There are two poems in microfunding; the others are still eligible.


"All the Things" -- 56 lines, $20 SOLD
I combined your idea about "symbols of women without power" and combined it with one from Dreamwidth user Jjhunter about cleaning. The result is "All the Things," written in unrhymed quatrains. When her city is besieged with filth, Jenina must find a way to save the day ...

"Bittersweet Preserves" -- 14 lines, $10 SOLD (Fiorenza the Wisewoman)
This is a sonnet about Fiorenza and a magical jar.

"Bringing Down the Blaggards" -- 176 lines, $88
Built from many prompts in the thread about how heroes react to heras is the free-verse poem "Bringing Down the Blaggards." Three nuns, two swordladies, and a whore wind up in the dungeon of a castle controlled by evil wizards. Who's going to save the day?

"The Crackerjack Princess" -- 14 lines, $10 SOLD
From the prompt about a princess rescuing Mario I got the free-verse poem "The Crackerjack Princess." Video games are mostly made for boys ... but what if they had a secret door for girls?

"Grit and Grace" -- 96 lines, $48  SOLD
 (Path of the Paladins)
I stacked together a whole bunch of prompts from this thread to get the free-verse poem "Grit and Grace." Ari is making breakfast while Shahana is out gathering more firewood ... when two bandits barge into the camp.

"Imalye Fotolyi" -- 32 lines, $15 SOLD (Torn World)
"Imalye Fotolyi," written in unrhymed quatrains; it's also in two columns with four verses each. The title means either "Imalye the Savior" or "Imalye the Invader" depending on who you ask, because she is a hera to the Empire and the villainess to the Roluma. The two halves of the poem tell each side.

"Klytaimēstra's Kestos" SOLD
I love mythic prompts. "Klytaimēstra's Kestos" is written in unrhymed tercets. Klytaimēstra schemes to protect her daughter from the deceitful Agamemnon.

"The Morose Mascot" -- 126 lines, $63 SOLD (The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia)
From this I got "The Morose Mascot," a free-verse poem in which Amaia Thornestele has difficulties with her familiar. This poem belongs to the series The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia.

"Pandora's Gift" -- 39 lines, $15 SOLD
I combined the mother seen as a villain with fayanora's prompt about changing fate. In the free-verse poem "Pandora's Gift," Pandora decides to do something about her children's fate ... and that changes everything.

"Princess in the Shadows" -- 42 lines, $20 SOLD (The Ocracies)
Your prompt about an off-screen princess and agency got me thinking about how women are often peddled off for political gain. But what would happen if the princess was the one peddling herself?  The result is "Princess in the Shadows," a free-verse poem in The Ocracies series.

"Sisters in Venom" -- 19 lines, $10 SOLD
From your prompt about women who are evil to each other, and one from Dreamwidth user Serpentine about the dark lord as a woman, I got the free-verse poem "Sisters in Venom." This is a very bittersharp piece about a black slave and a white woman who are set against each other by the man of the house.

"What Makes a Woman" -- 30 lines, $15 SOLD
The prompts about a gynoid and a transwoman stuck together to generate "What Makes a Woman," a free-verse poem about how snotty some feminists can be.

"When Themis Peeks" -- 29 lines, $15 SOLD
From the prompt about judges came the free-verse poem "When Themis Peeks." It explains the realreason why the goddess of justice wears a blindfold, and what it means to serve her.

This poem came out of the January 3, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a cluster of prompts from rowyn -- who specified the characters and plot -- plus further details from aldersprig, wyld_dandelyon, and haikujaguar.  It has been sponsored by minor_architect as a gift for rowyn.

I'm using the Old Greek spellings in the poem; the modern versions are Clytemnestra, Agamemnon (that one's the same), Iphigenia, Achilles, Artemis (same), and Aegisthus if you want to read more about them.  A kestos or cestus is a garment, usually described as a girdle or a belt.  Greek mythology includes references to enchanted girdles, particularly the Girdle of Hippolyta and the Girdle of Aphrodite.

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This poem came from the January 3, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was prompted by fayanora and sponsored by zianuray.  Yes, some natural-born women really are this nasty to other women who weren't blessed with XX bodies.  "Gynoid" is fayanora's term for an android with female attributes.

"What makes a woman,"
the gynoid said to the feminists,
"is the nature of her soul."

"You don't have  a soul,"
said one of the feminists.
"What makes a woman is a pair of X chromosomes."

"Get out of here," another said.
"The more you gynoids agitate for rights,
the harder you make things for real  women.
You're not even human!"

Before long, the meeting turned ugly
and the feminists drove her out
of the little community center beside the park.

The gynoid sat down on a park bench,
far from the crowd where no one would see,
and cried without tears.

Another woman came and sat down beside her.
"I'm still a woman," the gynoid said to her,
"even though I don't have a pair of X chromosomes."

"I don't have a pair of X chromosomes either,"
the woman said, opening her clothes
to show the faint silvery scars
where her breasts had been created
and her genitals had been reconstructed.

"So, the question is:
are you going to let those bitches stop you?"
the woman asked.

"No," the gynoid said.
"Me neither," the woman said.

So they shook hands and became allies.

Here is a great list of spec-fic's love/hate relationships. I'm pleased to see same-sex as well as mixed pairings. It's not always about sex, although some of the same-sex pairings have been interpreted that way. I always figured that Doctor Who and the Master had a horrible breakup  with each other, the way they acted.  And Professor X and Magneto are even worse that way, though they aren't listed.

Anyhow, there's great inspiration for characterization and plot tension in these examples.  I've had a lot of fun with Origami Mage and Kirigami mage along these lines.  They may resent each other for most of their story arc, but when push comes to shove, they step to the same side of the line.

You can now read "Zee" in full, thanks to some enthusiastic linking from fayanora.  This Monster House poem should appeal to anyone who's ever tried to get a cranky toddler to sleep.