Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Poem: "The Marble and the Sculptor"

This is the linkback perk poem for today's fishbowl. It came out of the April 6, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from rowyn. This poem also fills the "drunk girl/guy" square in my 10-1-15 card for the Halloween / Samhain Bingo fest.  It belongs to the series One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis.  Boost the signal for the November 8 Poetry Fishbowl and reveal a new verse.  All 17 verses have been posted.


The Marble and the Sculptor


"I'm not the only one,"
Belfegar says as he
refills their wine cups.

"Not what?" Shaeth asks
as he picks up his cup.
The wine is rather good.

"I'm not the only one of ...
the old guard ... who still
thinks of you," Belfegar says.
"There are others who do."

"I know, I know," Shaeth says,
putting his head in his hands.
"Agleca wants me to help
support the baby, and also
she and Zargon are fighting
over control of the temples.
I don't care who wins, as long
as they leave me out of it."

"Desdemona's cute though,"
Trobby says. "For a demon baby."

"Not helping," Shaeth says,
pointing at him with a sharp finger.

"Volac has learned that you
are no longer the God of Evil,
but now the God of Drunks,"
says Belfegar. "So he's trying
to make the order less evil,
without leaving like I did."

"Do I even want to know how?"
Shaeth asks. Volac had always had
a mind as twisty as a catapult spring.

"He's throwing a lot of drunken orgies,"
Belfegar says with a lewd gesture.
"Zargon is becoming fond of them."

"Why is this even happening?"
Shaeth moans, and drains his cup.

"Volac loves you, my lord,"
says Belfegar. "We all do."

One thing Shaeth has learned
as the God of Drunks is that there
is an alarming amount of truth at
the bottom of a bottle -- sometimes,
more than he can handle.

Trobby raises his hand.
"If they're getting drunk,
then technically, they're in
your new wheelhouse,"
he points out to Shaeth.

"The whole point of this was
to leave everything behind and
start fresh," the god grumbles.

"Yeah, let me know if you ever
figure out how to make that work,"
Trobby says. "There's a lot of drunks
who'd love to learn that trick."

Shaeth is reminded of something
that he was told at the beginning of
his new path, which is that you can't
remake yourself without suffering, when
you are both the marble and the sculptor.

"Fine," he concedes. "I'll keep an eye on Volac."
Tags: community, cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, spirituality, weblit, writing
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  • 4 comments
thnidu

thnidu

November 19 2017, 01:24:54 UTC 3 years ago

It's fun, in a partly schadenfreudlich way, to read about a god whose remit has recently changed and who is still learning the ins, outs, twists, and oddities of his new job.
ysabetwordsmith

Yes ...

ysabetwordsmith

November 19 2017, 02:08:24 UTC 3 years ago

That really is a big part of the charm in this series. I'm especially amused by several prompts leading to poems about fragments of his past that he can't leave behind, no matter how much he wants to make a total break.

However, I think Shaeth is actually doing a pretty good job as the God of Drunks. Unlike a lot of top-down solutions, he's asking his new followers what they want and providing it. So far that's everything from a place to sleep to free booze and snacks at the services to a hangover cure. The sense of community seems to have sprung up on its own.

Yay!

Anonymous

November 24 2017, 08:56:15 UTC 3 years ago

Shaeth is a good guy, whatever his former occupation. And besides, I sort of feel that without a God, all the evil priests and paladins and what-all would simply get up to MORE trouble, as it indeed seems they are, so even when he WAS God of Evil, he was doing important work. Not good work as in work that is inherently good, but good work as in he had a hard job and did it well.

--BairnSidhe
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yay!

ysabetwordsmith

November 24 2017, 10:11:00 UTC 3 years ago

>> Shaeth is a good guy, whatever his former occupation.<<

Well, he's getting better.

>> And besides, I sort of feel that without a God, all the evil priests and paladins and what-all would simply get up to MORE trouble, as it indeed seems they are,<<

Exactly! No matter how much some people might want to, it is not possible to remove all evil from sentient beings. The best you can do is find a way to channel it so it does a minimum of harm.

>> so even when he WAS God of Evil, he was doing important work. Not good work as in work that is inherently good, but good work as in he had a hard job and did it well.<<

Very true. Riding herd on those guys -- well, you can see what yahoos they are, just from glimpses in this series. No wonder Shaeth wanted a new job!