She skipped from stone to stone across the stream,
each stepping stone subsiding with her stride.
No tears for trampled islands,
she was on the other side.
In comfort, and in loneliness, she mused
she’d never feel or be felt from outside.
Her brain a private island
she lived and thrived inside.
The world and she were sisters, though not fused,
new sustenance delivered on each tide.
She lived upon an island,
Necessities supplied.
Her needs well met, she soon began to dream
of wants her bounded home could not provide.
She took them from the island,
and then the island died.
Assured the world would match her self-esteem,
She headed out across the sea’s divide
She found another island,
and there she multiplied.
And one by one each island’s stocks were used,
they one by one became desertified.
The world was but an island,
and then the island died.
The death and desolation soon suffused
the living brain she looked out from inside.
She never left the island,
and then the island died.
She’d skipped from stone to stone across this dream,
each stepping stone subsiding in her stride.
No tears for trampled islands,
she was on the other side.
This one is a bit like Juratron Park, in that I dealt the cards early, started the week with a long train journey (perfect for writing) got somebody else to pick the cards, and ended up reasonably happy with the results. At least, happy enough to publish it well before midnight instead of spending more time fixing it.
I don’t like it as much as I like Juratron Park, but it’s still better than the things I rush out on weekends after dealing the cards the same day. The journey and the card pickers were not quite as exciting either; it was a day trip to Zurich for a work-related Christmas party, and a couple of colleagues who picked the cards on the way home. They picked St. Lawrence Islands National Park, and a kind of horse called Isländer, which in German actually means Icelandic, but I chose to ignore the umlaut. I added Achill Island, County Mayo to the photo, since it fits the theme. At first glance, I thought the horse rider was a woman, which is why the protagonist of the poem is one. As for the letter M, it’s Roman numerals for a thousand, so… Thousand Island dressage, anyone?
I think this fills a few more stanzas than it really needs to, just for the sake of keeping the structure which it somehow ended up having. Perhaps it’s a little slow, perhaps it’s not the ‘condensed language’ that Audrey C. Luckens and a more famous writer (whose name I’ve forgotten, but who didn’t agree with Audrey C. Luckens very often about poetry) agreed defines poetry. I have to admit I am pretty happy with getting ‘divide’ and ‘multiplied’ in the same stanza, though. That’s the mathematician in me, imposing its identity.
I added a page explaining in the Creative Commons licensed that this blog is licensed under, principally so I’d have an excuse to link to the 17-second song I made about Creative Commons using Jonathan Coulton’s Creative-Commons-licensed music. What can I say? I’m a show-off. On the subject of showing off, I also added myself to Zimbio, and published some of my Things there, just to see what it does.
Only one suit to go! I can’t believe I’ve made it this far. Bring on the diamonds!
Sorry, William… no cookie recipe yet. No eggs either.
Creative Output 