The Wordsmith's Forge

I've made a bingo down the I column of my 1-31-14 card for the origfic_bingo  fest.  This also applies to the Bingo Valentines fest running in allbingo. 

This poem came out of the January 21, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by mdlbear. It also fills the "disability" square in my 8-29-13 Wordsmith Bingo card. This poem belongs to the series Walking the Beat.

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This poem came out of the January 21, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman and rix_scaedu.  It also fills the "exhaustion" square in my 18-8-13 card for the Genprompt Bingo fest.  This poem has been sponsored by technoshaman.  It belongs to the series Walking the Beat.

WARNING: The later part of this poem contains some intense scenes. Highlight for details. These include animal abuse and Dale doing a not-so-great job of managing her disability. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.

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This poem came out of the January 21, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from perfectworry. It also fills the "Huddle for Warmth" square on my 1-2-14 card for the trope_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by technoshaman. It belongs to the series Walking the Beat.

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The half-price sale is now SOLD OUT.  Thank you for your support!

This week the unsold contents of Walking the Beat are on sale for half price, running February 17-23. If you can't afford to sponsor a whole poem, remember that epic poems (anything over 60 lines) can be funded at $.25/line. This series is contemporary lesbian romance.  It features themes of family, community, love and friendship, life changes, disability and ability, ethnic cultures, and local color from Jamaica Plain.

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This poem came out of the February 4, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from the_vulture and thnidu.  It also fills the "brand new" square in my 1-31-14 card for the Origfic Bingo fest, and the "embracing imperfection" square in my 2-1-14 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest.  This poem has been sponsored by the_vulture.

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Our theme this month was "love."  I worked from 12:45 PM to 4:30 AM, so about 13 hours 45 minutes, allowing for lunch and supper breaks.  I wrote 12 poems on Tuesday, and another 8 spread through the week.  Series prompts often run longer and stack less, so it spreads out the writing.  In addition to the epics there were a bunch of long and medium-long poems this time, all free verse.

Participation was much livelier than last month.  There were 46 comments on LiveJournal and another 30 on Dreamwidth.  A total of 22 people sent prompts.  Please welcome new prompters DW users Alexseanchai, Sharpeningthebones, Peoriapeoriawhereart, and Librarygeek.  You have them to thank for the extra freebie.  That's more new prompters than we've had in some time!


Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the March 4, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Always Like Itself"
"Aren't You Already There"
"As One of Your Countrymen"
"The Children Made Manifest"
"The Feast of Saint Valentine"
"Let Me Count the Days"
"The Love of Brothers"
"No-Good Lovers"
"A Picnic in the Hills"
"Pussy Willows and Tiger Lilies"
"Speaking of Broccoli"
"Unexpected Affections"
"Valor's Widow"
"Waiting Hand and Foot"

"Spirit of Truth" (One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis, 1/7/14 fishbowl)
"Grotesque Alterations" (Frankenstein's Family, 12/3/13 fishbowl)


Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, read the unsold poetry list from February. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

All currently sponsored poems have been posted.  Prompter copies for the rest have gone out.  Per the $200 goal, "Grotesque Alterations" is the free epic.  Per the $250 goal, that's a second tally toward a bonus fishbowl.  Per the $300 goal, there will be a half-price sale in Walking the Beat from February 17-23.

Donors this month included lb_lee, Anonymous, janetmiles, DW user Librarygeek, zianuray, rix_scaedu, Anthony & Shirley Barrette.  Please welcome new donor Librarygeek, contributing toward that second freebie.  The donor perk is "Types of Love," posted on DW since the LJ group function is still borked.


The Poetry Fishbowl project also has a permanent landing page.

Based on an audience poll, there will be a half-price poetry sale in Walking the Beat from February 17-23.  This series is contemporary lesbian romance set in Jamaica Plain.  Please mark your calendars so you can come shop, or just watch for poems to appear as other people choose things to sponsor.

This poem came out of the December 3, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from lb_lee.  It also fills the "Disability (Chronic)" square in my 11-26-13 card for the Origfic Bingo fest.  This poem has been selected in an audience poll as the free epic for the February 4, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl reaching the $200 goal.  It belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family, which you can find via the Serial Poetry page.

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This poem came out of the February 4, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from mdlbear and LJ user Siege. It also fills the "wooing" square in my 2-1-14 card for the cottoncandy_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It is set in nether-Earth, like The Steamsmith, but happens a lot earlier.

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