Challenge Poetry
July 16, 2001

M.C. went nuts last month. She challenged the forum to do 19 pieces of writing in one month. Oddly enough, no one made it. M.C. herself got very close, but didn't quite make it. Anyway, I did some poetry to go along with the prose. Here's the two of them.

This first one was typical of my poetry style. I was chatting with a friend, who had heard about some bad things happen to someone else they knew. And it just sort of screamed at me that it Wasn't Right, whatever that is. A quick bout of depression later, and the words just came. I am proud of the fact that I mangled it into actual form (5 lines, 3 stanzas of 6 with the fun repititon, then 5 to end it), but otherwise.... ::shrugs:: Just another depressing statement.

Ghost of the Samurai

I remember a song,
Asking where the cowboys disappeared to.
A good question, I must concede,
But what I’d like to know
Is where have honor and esteem gone?

A battered girl
Submits once more to a ‘lover’ and his friends,
Calling herself weak for giving in,
Blaming herself for surviving.
Is it wrong for me to dream
Of the heroes that should not let this be?

A heartbroken boy
Watches behind tear-shaded eyes
As a lover turns casually away, true love
burning away to reveal only heartbreak and blood.
Is it wrong for me to dream
That love is not lust, and can last more than a month?

A cynical dreamer
Hides behind a glowing screen,
Too close to tears over the “silly things”
That others mock as impossibilities,
Thus breaking that spirit which soared among such fantasies.
Is it right for us to see
The horrors of life, and deny the dreams?

Most of us are faithless wanderers,
Serving no lord but momentary, evil whims.
No heroes, no true loves, no dreams.
No honor, no respect for self.
All dead and gone underneath the mundane sword of grief.

This one came along a good deal beforehand. I'm not sure what exact, single event inspired it, but I've been wanting to use the friends line for even longer.

Stone Heart Breaking

Stop!
Run away!
You’re letting them too close
They’re finally getting in.
Your heart’s at risk again:
Only friends can stab you in the back.
Fear of intimacy,
Fear of love,
Fear of being hurt once more.
Run away, child, and they’ll never hurt you,
Run away, and love can never reach in,
Only eventually to leave you.
Don’t love them, don’t know them, don’t get hurt.

Don’t live, and you won’t die.

As always, comments can be e-mailed to Norcumi@backtick.net, or Instant Messaged to the same address.

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