Stuff that I have written.
Life is made of departures:
The passage from the dark
The moment of weaning’s sharp
Longing, frantic gestures.
Balloons slipping out of hands.
A dog’s last stiff-legged sleep.
Kisses in a closet, the deep
Fear there, the moments grand.
The move from maiden name
And the way she feels once
Delivered. A man who hunts
Regrets, and finds just blame.
Life is made of departures
And occasional desperate returns
From afar, the patchwork paisleys, tights
and robes, gaudy gowns
a glitter, the ladies
all a carnival, a sumptuous play, riches
on display until full light
hits her full force and then we see
the sawdust backgrounds, painted bright
to eye fool eyefulls, add horizons,
set the stages
gap between surreal, unreal, and real
and really, do they know
the way they fool us themselves?
and then the way the light hits
their saddened eyes
the lacework lashes
such pride in paisley promises
stony pride
in teetering at proscenium’s gap
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout, stalwart plucky young Southern Gothic reporter, has landed a prized interview with one of the first vampires to go public…
Sarah had fretted quite a lot before the interview; photos of Renaldo Angelicus Dramatico had revealed him to be exactly the brooding type that she used to dream about as a teenager. Which was only a year ago, before ths small-time local station morning show gig. But now that she was under the lights and before the cameras, she felt better about it. The assistant producer, Jodi from Minnesota, had tried to get her to calm down, but they couldn’t help but giggle about it, trading off-color remarks about long… fangs.
Until he walked in. A blousy white shirt, revealing smooth and hairless pectorals. A confident stride and a firm handshake, even as his eyes flicked up and down her body as if she were just meat. Which she supposed she was, in a way. His hand was dry but not clammy, smooth and uncalloused, and his skin sparkled under the lights.
As the cameras ran, Sarah felt like she babbled through the introductions: “unusual opportunity,” “learn more about these creatures of the night” whatever. The vampire merely looked on her patiently until the formalities were complete. Finally, the preliminaries were done, and he gave a little half-bow from his chair as she was introduced.
“I do hope you aren’t here to eat me,” she said, as her opening gambit.
“Ah no, senorita, I could never do such a thing. You are far too lovely to make that sort of meal.”
“You really aren’t from this century, are you,” she said, looking down at her notes. “So, tell me about yourself. I understand you’re a pacifist vampire–”
“War is such a waste,” Renaldo interjected. “All that blood running in the streets.”
“–A pacifist vampire who only drinks synthetic blood or blood taken humanely from animals under PETA’s supervision, and you are not evil but in fact are cursed to live forever with a remorseful soul to atone for horrific deeds in the past until you meet your one true love. Isn’t that a little unusual?”
“Not at all. In fact, that’s the case for about one in five of the vampire population.” Continue reading »
I am here in Austin for AGDC, after a difficult day of travel. My last-ditch attempt to make it to Rudy’s for some BBQ before they closed missed by 20 minutes thanks to various flight delays. So here I sit with Sonic cherry limeade, melancholy, a Marriott substituting for a garret, to write a Sunday poem for you… 😉
When is a rhyme a rhyme? A pair of words
Vibrating twain and twin, a homonym
A scanty, scarcely fraction time, a blur
Of vowels assonancing on a whim…
Half verb, the penult, higher ante, quill
That sometimes speaks in halves and sometimes sprung,
And in the clumsy piling on of syll,
The ables and alliterate undone.
Is all it is the music? Nothing else
applies? The quatrain’s break, the plosive sound,
The prayer on the couplet’s open verse?
The sense of it, the consonance profound?
The algorithm elegant, the twinning still sublime,
Is it still a poem, if we forget to rhyme?
This is a nice blog anniversary surprise!
I don’t know for how long, or why (maybe the publisher stuff is sorted out? Maybe someone found a cache of them hidden under a mossy rock north of Pirate Cove) — but it’s claims 1-3 weeks shipping time, and it’s $17.24, and it’s not used copies. As you may or may not know, it’s been out of print since last October or so, and copies have been going for as high as $300.
If you’ve been waiting, now might be the time to order it!
Theory of Fun for Game Design @ Amazon
BTW, if any current owners want to review it, it could use some fresh reviews…
