Stuff that I have written.
Stippled red striated speckles buttered deep
In cocoa, aloe; the slide of cloth on skin
Searing scars of sun and sand.
Skin in sheets, shed sly like sidewinds
Scrubbing rocks, sloughing like cicadas,
Scattered food for mites.
So starts the metamorphose, stretching
To a higher self, a sentience sophisticated
Now for SPFs of sixty-plus.
Lots of events have been happening in Metaplace lately, but this one, you might guess, is near and dear to my heart: a poetry open mic. 🙂 It is happening in WritersForumWorld in about half an hour (1pm Pacific time).
The WritersForum guys have been working to try to get a virtual workshop going as well.
We’re gearing up soon for even more events, so it’s worth following along with the events calendar. In the meantime, stop by for this one!
Birds stud the late night lot, move like skipping stones.
The bi-illumined trees huddle parking lights, dance
the empty parking spots, waltzing without parts, alone.
We click, we clack, we open, close, liquid crystal glows.
We do the work we love, the love is like a trance.
Birds stud the late night lot, move like skipping stones.
The stairwell window’s open. The breeze is cold and stone.
The smokers huddled there and overlooked by chance
the empty parking spots, waltzing without parts, alone.
Last lights are off. Hallway’s dim. The music of alarm tones.
We promised not to stay so late, not to see sunset’s hands
scatter birds, the late night lot, moved like skipping stones.
But it works. Assembly is complete. The work, it can be shown,
a tiny victory; a dinner lost, traded for the midnight glance
at empty parking, spouse waltzing without partners, lonely.
We move like skipping stones through dances grown
To dreams; we work for dreams we only hope enhance.
We stud the late night lot. We move like skipping stones
past empty parking spots. We waltz our parts, and do not dance alone.
Those of you who have read Theory of Fun for Game Design may recall this passage:
Let’s picture a game wherein there is a gas chamber shaped like a well. You the player are dropping innocent Jews down into the gas chamber, and they come in all shapes and sizes. There are old ones and young ones, fat ones and tall ones. As they fall to the bottom, they grab onto each other and try to form human pyramids to get to the top of the well. Should they manage to get out, the game is over and you lose. But if you pack them in tightly enough, the ones on the bottom succumb to the gas and die.
I do not want to play this game. Do you? Yet it is Tetris. You could have well-proven, stellar game design mechanics applied towards a quite repugnant premise.
We don’t need to wonder anymore. A comment in the last thread by the felicitously named Raphael Aleixo (my brother’s name is Alex!) tells us that the Brazilian game design club Loodo has made it, with a slight tweak to the theme: I give you Calabouço Tétrico. Read on for my thoughts!
Several folks have emailed me to let me know they got shipping notices from Amazon for the huge backlog of orders of Theory of Fun for Game Design, and now I got one too!
What’s more, it shows as available (sales rank 6225, and #2 in the game programming category!), so if you have been waiting, go grab it now…!
It could use fresh reviews too, so once you get it, please do post reviews. 🙂
