The Wordsmith's Forge

This is the freebie for the August 2012 Muse Fusion over on torn_world.  It was inspired by a prompt from ellenmillion. 

NSFW: There are nekkid people in this poem.

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If you are a Torn World supporter, you can now read my poem "Red Glass, Green Glass."
Two rangers fall in love, but don't have a spare bead handy.
24 lines, Buy It Now = $5 or 5 Torn World credits

If you like this poem and want to see more like it, please consider sending me credits or karma through Torn World's crowdfunding options.  Not a Torn World member, but still want to support the work? I have a permanent PayPal button on my LJ profile page.

This poem came out of the March 6, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by prompts from e_scapism101 and Dreamwidth user jjhunter.  It was sponsored by Anthony and Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the series Fiorenza the Wisewoman, and you can find the other poems through the Serial Poetry page.

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Giacinto is used to
walking through the village of Faggiola (1)
with gossip swirling around his ankles like streamwater.

Vitalia the baker hands over her extra buns
for Giacinto to take to his mother Agostina,
and asks if he will let his hair grow as long as a girl's.
Giacinto flicks his shoulder-length locks out of his face
and murmurs, "Not much longer than this, I think."

Silvano the woodcutter brings a load of logs
from the beech forest above the village,
then tips his hat as if Giacinto were a girl.
"There's a handsome lad come with the tinkers,"
Silvano says as he stacks the firewood.
"So I hear," Giacinto says,
though he does not care for handsome lads.

Delanna the shepherdess comes to Giacinto
with her herd of white Fabrianese sheep,
seeking a dip to relieve the fleas.
"I miss when your mother would visit me
in the hills," she says with a sigh.
"As does my mother," Giacinto replies.

The constant tut-tutting of villagers
is as familiar to him as the clucking of hens.
So long as they come to him at need,
he will abide it.  It is no one's fault
that a wisewoman is expected to be a woman
or that Agostina gave birth to a son instead of a daughter.

"Do not fret over it," the wisewoman says,
patting him with a wrinkled hand.
"You will grow into your place here,
and they will grow used to you.
When I was a girl, it was my mother they wished for!"
"I'm sure you're right, mother," Giacinto replies.

Then one day, Fiorenza comes to Faggiola,
towing an addled veteran along
to see if anything might be done
to restore the balance of his mind.

Agostina spends hours weaving a witch's subtle spells,
piecing together a path through the overgrown thicket
of his thoughts, a twist here, a turn there.
It will never be straight again, but it will have to do.
Giacinto and Fiorenza stroll through the gardens,
speaking of herbs and how best to soothe Ercole
on the bad days or the sleepless nights.

The villagers see them together,
Giacinto the striòs  and Fiorenza the wisewoman, (2)
not holding hands but close enough to do so.
Giacinto just smiles, knowing that
the gossips will have something new to talk about now.

* * *

1) Faggiola means "beech grove" and is the name of Giacinto's village.  Many Italian villages are named in this fashion, after notable local features.  Special thanks to Marina Bonomi for providing the name.

2) Striòs  means "witch-son" or "male-witch."  Although folkloric witches are often thought of as female, there are exceptions.

Celebrating the clitoris.  It's the only organ that exists exclusively for pleasure.  Isn't that awesome?  Worship it with art.

This poem is spillover from the February Crowdfunding Creative Jam, which generated the Hart's Farm series.  Various folks wanted to see more of Auduna adapting to life in this community; this poem shows what happens when she encounters one of the more peculiar activities that some people enjoy.  It has been selected in an audience poll as the freebie, activated by the several new prompters and donors that this series has attracted.  You can also read about the Akero apples online.

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lb_lee wrote this marvelous story, "Coming out to the family Rodriguez," based on my prompt, in which it's possible to love more than one partner at the same time ... and explain it to your folks.

Thanks to another donation, there is a new verse for "In the Palms of My Hands."  Seeing Vendel brings up memories for Arnvid.

This poem came out of the February 18-19 Crowdfunding Creative Jam.  It was inspired by prompts from siege and aura55</lj>.  This is the second poem in the Hart's Farm series set in Sweden, and presents the carpenter's view of the same day as in "Welcome to Hart's Farm."

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $.50 per line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.  

So far sponsors include: aura55</lj>, zianuray</lj>, catsittingstill, janetmiles

FULLY FUNDED
65 lines, Buy It Now = $32.50
Amount donated = $17.50
Verses posted = 5 of 10
Amount remaining to fund fully = $15
Amount needed to fund next verse = $1.50
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $5

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This is a Monster House poem, written outside the fishbowls, and presented here as a Valentine's Day whimsy.

being normal means
not having to wear armor
on Valentine's Day 

Schrodinger's Heroes  is an apocryphal television show about quantum physics and keeping the Earth safe from alternate dimensions.  If you're not familiar with it, you can browse the menu page.  The following poem may make more sense if you have read the descriptions for Melannen's characters and my characters, and browsed the LOL_HEROES post "Good and Evil."  It's a sequel to "The Alpha Vector."  This is posted as part of the Asexy Valentines Fest.

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