The Wordsmith's Forge

This poem was commissioned by chanter_greenie. It also fills the "social gathering" square in my 6-1-16 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. It belongs to the Danso & Family thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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This poem came out of the April 5, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from zeeth_kyrah, fred_mouse, janetmiles, and LJ user My_partner_doug. It also fills "The Lovers" square in my 4-1-16 card for the Archetypal Bingo fest. This poem has been selected in an audience poll as the free epic for the July 5, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl making its $200 goal. It belongs to the series Walking the Beat.

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 Thanks to a donation from curiosity, the poem "Pillow Talk" is now complete.  Cuoio has the most fun losing an argument that he has ever had in his life.  :D

This poem came out of the April 19, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from rix_scaedu and mama_kestrel. It also fills the "lost and found" square in my 4-19-16 card for the genprompt_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series An Army of One.

Warning: This poem features some intense topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are major spoilers. It contains unexpected travelers arriving at Sargasso Base, Bottleneck learning that he has a wife and daughter who survived the Massacre of Cascabel and now plan to stay with him, discussion of how everyone else in their families is dead, enormously awkward interpersonal dynamics, Bottleneck not knowing what to do with a crying woman, and other emotional whump. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before moving onward.

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This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls, and fills the "consent is sexy" square in my 6-1-15 card for the June Relationship Bingo fest.  This poem has been sponsored by curiosity.  It belongs to the Cuoio & Chiara thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

This microfunded poem is part of a package bought during the May half-price sale, to be paid on an installment plan.  So it's not seeking donations from other people, and the remaining material will be posted over time.

Warning: This poem contains some intimate topics.  Highlight to read more details, some of which are spoilers.  Cuoio things that talking about feelings and desires is boring. Chiara demonstrates otherwise. Sexy funtimes ensue. It's mostly bedsports and character development. This poem is definitely NSFW. If that's not your thing, you can skip it without missing too much plotty stuff.

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This poem came out of the February 2, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman and dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "odd couple" square in my 1-23-16 card for the Valentine's Day Bingo fest, the "dangerous territory" square in my 1-1-16 card for the Spies, Secret Agents, and Noir fest, and the "Pre-Slash/Femslash/Het" square in my 10-2-15 card for the ladiesbingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by EdorFaus. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

Warning: This poem contains some intense topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It begins with a serious nuclear emergency, then moves into awkward negotiations for aid, even more awkward revelations about relationships, lots of work fixing the reactor, identity strain, embarrassing conversations about relationship status, deep discussions about intimacy, and other challenges. Socket has been in love with Fortressa for a long time, and when Fortressa finds out, it really shakes things up. But they're still adorable together, and it's honestly one of the healthiest relationships in my cast list, especially among supervillains. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward. It's a major change for Fortressa, though, so skipping it would be confusing later.

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curiosity is sponsoring the three poems in Cuoio & Chiara, on a payment plan.  The first part of "This Penetrating Intimacy" will go up presently.  Further material will be posted every other week as new payments arrive.  This is not the same as the usual microfunding-by-crowd so I'll need to modify the headers a bit.

This poem came out of the February 2, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from LJ user Lb_lee. It also fills the square in my 1-23-16 card (Romantic) for the Valentine's Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the Danso and Family thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: Although generally sweet, this poem contains references to prejudiced and unsupportive behavior by some people around Danso and Noah. Think before you click.

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This poem is spillover from the March 1, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from LJ user Rowyn. It also fills the "motivation" square in my 2-29-16 card for the Villain Bingo fest and the "celebratory kiss" square in my 10-1-15 card for the trope_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Fiorenza the Wisewoman.

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Here is a thoughtful post about bisexual romance.

The about labeling romance based on sex/gender instead of orientation raises another issue that I've been exploring recently: cross-orientation relationships. There's almost no discussion of it, and that causes problems. Cross-orientation relationships can happen when someone with a wider span hooks up with someone of a narrower span, like bi/gay or bi/straight. It can also happen when someone falls in love with a person of incompatible orientation, but they don't want to give up the relationship, so they try to retune it into something both of them can live with. Frex, if a lesbian falls in love with a straight woman, they may not be compatible sexually but might be able to adapt into a queerplatonic relationship. Ace with anyone sexual is another example.  

I think my favorite cross-orientation relationship right now is Socket and Fortressa.  Socket is a lesbian.  Fortressa was previously involved with men but decided to abandon the whole love/sex thing -- and I don't think she's just celibate, I think she somehow hit her sexuality with a wrench until it crumpled into a motionless lump.  It certainly isn't the same shape it was,  and she doesn't respond to men the same way anymore.  So.  They started off with Socket in love with Fortressa, who had sworn off love, so Socket didn't say anything about it and set about becoming friends instead.  That has actually worked pretty well, except that now the cat is out of the bag and they have to deal with that realization.

I think that, if people don't even realize this is an option then they miss out on a lot of opportunities, and if they stumble into it by chance, it can cause tension because the patterns don't match exactly. Just as a M/F relationship requires accommodation of the sex/gender difference, orientation differences can take some adaptation too. That's hard if you don't know what the heck you're doing.

This especially comes up with bi folks, because while the inclination toward bisexuality is common, the number of people actually identifying as bi is a lot smaller. Many bi folks join up with someone(s) who is gay or straight. And some of the problems in bi erasure come precisely from that lack of awareness about cross-orientation relationships; without it, people have a nasty habit of thinking that being with someone of the opposite sex makes you straight, or the same sex makes you gay. It's a case where labeling can make things clearer: "No, I'm not gay. I'm a bisexual man in a cross-orientation relationship with a gay man."

The question of combinations is another one.  A majority of bi romance is written as MFF or FMM.  In effect that merges bi and poly romance.  This is a problem because many bi people are not poly, and many poly people are not bi, although there is a fair amount of overlap.  

I have some characters who are both bi and poly.  I have some poly families.  I actually have more poly families than people may notice, because not all of them are tied together entirely by sex, and I count poly based on strong, lasting relationships rather than just fucking -- it's about who moves through life as a social unit.  So if you mapped out the lines there would be some sex, some romance, some queerplatonic, etc. within a poly family, and that actually seems to be the norm based on poly families I have known.  Not all of them are a blob of everyone-sexing-everyone.

Plenty of my bi characters are in exclusive relationships, though.  Stan and Lawrence, Danso and Noah, they're in stable binary relationships.  So as usual, I'm doing my "tell ALL the stories" thing.