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

Poem: "The Stars Must Be Crazy"

This poem came out of the August 4, 2009 poetry fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from ellenmillion and sponsored by nhpeacenik as part of the 2009 Holiday Poetry Sale.  This poem is a sequel to "The Sky-Eyes and the Earth-Hearts," in which humans are trying to get along with two insectoid alien species whose life experiences are very  different.


The Stars Must Be Crazy


Today I learned
why the Star-Minds are crazy.

They go through metamorphosis
fully conscious.

Think about it. 
Think about being horribly aware
while your body changes,
old things falling out,
new things growing in,
rivers of hormones pouring all over.
Think about spending years  like that,
never being able to
close your mandibles on a single day
and say, “Now I am an adult.”

No wonder they’re crazy.
No one could go through that
and stay sane.

I give thanks to Queen Cosmos
for my cocoon
in which I slept in blissful oblivion
through my own metamorphosis.

But what in earth and sky
can we do for the poor Star-Minds?

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, holiday, poem, poetry, reading, science fiction, writing
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  • 6 comments
glitteringlynx

glitteringlynx

December 14 2009, 01:44:58 UTC 11 years ago

I love the title. Will there be "The Stars Must be Crazy II?" Will either of them feature a coke bottle? ;)
ysabetwordsmith

*laugh*

ysabetwordsmith

December 14 2009, 01:59:05 UTC 11 years ago

You get a gold star for recognizing the movie reference!

I have yet to discover a coke bottle in this setting, but as for the possibility of sequels ... that depends on my muse and my audience, either of which could spark one.
glitteringlynx

Re: *laugh*

glitteringlynx

December 14 2009, 02:03:00 UTC 11 years ago

LOL! Woohoo!

My mom and I watched those when I was a kid. :) Hilarious movies. I told my bf what I said after I posted, though, and he actually had no idea what I was talking about. :o For someone who has seen a TONNE more movies than I have, I think that is something I will have to get him to watch.
ellenmillion

ellenmillion

December 14 2009, 06:20:11 UTC 11 years ago

I love this! It would have been SO much easier to go through puberty in a cocoon...
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

December 14 2009, 07:16:53 UTC 11 years ago

... that's exactly what I was thinking when I read your original prompt, and I had a setting where someone would plausibly go ZOMGWTFBBQ?!? when they found out about human puberty.

Deleted comment

ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

December 17 2009, 05:41:01 UTC 11 years ago

I'm with you there. Also, plumbing next to playground = design FAIL.