NaPoWriMo Day 8: Changing My Mind About Nukes: A Palinode

Changing My Mind About Nukes:

A Palinode

I used to be all about pacifism

Sunshine and flowers and love and peace

And no nukes

Definitely no nukes

When I got on the Internet

My goal was to spread the love

The message of peace

And my belief that no nukes is good nukes

But then I met the bullies

And the haters

And the thought police

And more than plenty

Of this type

Saying mean things about the way people look

Making deliberate rude comments on people's posts

And worst of all, telling people they should kill themselves

It really bothered me how few people seemed to care

That the words of these ill-doers had the potential to do so much harm

I became disillusioned, jaded, my heart turned black

And I started to reconsider my position on nukes

At this point, if we could take all the trolls to an asteroid

And nuke them straight to hell

I'd say give 'em as many megatons as we've got stockpiled

Hell, I'll even push the button

Because these really are terrible people

And I don't see any chance for redemption

You don't deliberately seek to make others feel bad

Or try to push them to kill themselves

Unless you are a really, really shitty excuse for a human being

Thanks for making me change my mind about nukes

I now see that even things that could destroy the planet have redeeming value

As opposed to those of you who tear others down to build yourselves up

Fuck you.

~Naila~

The Prompt:

And now, without further ado, our prompt (optional as always) for Day Eight: today I challenge you to write a palinode. And what’s that? It’s a poem in which the poet retracts a statement made in an earlier poem. You could take that route or, if you don’t have an actual poetically-expressed statement you want to retract, maybe you could write a poem in which you explain your reasons for changing your mind about something. 

Notes:

I'm pulling no punches tonight. These bullies and trolls really have my goat, and my goat is extremely angry at being had. I have posted two images below. The first image is glorious, the second is gruesome--and yet darkly, disgustingly humorous. Proceed past the glorious one at your own risk.

Know why we agreed to give this guy the questionable honor of dedicating our site featuring poetry of perhaps highly dubious quality to him?

Because he's always been the total antithesis of the kind of crappy people I wrote the poem about.

Even though his brain's being destroyed by a horrible disease, he's still superior to them in every way, shape and form to their ilk

Anyone who doesn't like the fact that we've done this can...

Seriously. Nobody involved with this project should ever have to be ashamed of their feelings. It seems like so many people are afraid of feeling anything genuine or deep, and it's destroying the world, turning us into a bunch of apathetic or downright hateful monsters.

Do not be ashamed to feel love and to try to do right, even though love sometimes hurts like hell and right is sometimes harder to do than wrong.

NaPoWriMo Day 7: In The End It's Only Paper

He made a fortune

A hundred million dollars

It couldn't save him

~Aurora~

I chose to write a Haiku for today's poetry topic (money) because sometimes too many words just clutter things up. 

Aubade for the Night Shift Worker

Aubade for the Night Shift Worker

Morning has broken, and it’s time to leave thee, oh Work

The sun is shining and all I want to do is crawl into my tomb

I can’t call what we have love

But it’s sure as hell a long-term relationship

Another 20 years and I can finally call it quits

I’m gonna leave you

~Helena~

NaPoWriMo 2015: Day 5: Riffin' on Em

December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886

My teammates are going to hate me--today's a bit of a cheat! Here's the exercise from NaPoWriMo:

Today’s prompt (optional, as always) is a variation on a teaching exercise that the poet Anne Boyer uses with students studying the work of Emily Dickinson. As you may know, although Dickinson is now considered one of the most original and finest poets the United States has produced, she was not recognized in her own time. One reason her poems took a while to gain a favorable reception is their slippery, dash-filled lines. Those dashes baffled her readers so much that the 1924 edition of her complete poems replaced some with commas, and did away with others completely. Today’s exercise asks you to do something similar, but in the interests of creativity, rather than ill-conceived “correction.” Find an Emily Dickinson poem – preferably one you’ve never previously read – and take out all the dashes and line breaks. Make it just one big block of prose. Now, rebreak the lines. Add words where you want. Take out some words. Make your own poem out of it! (Not sure where to find some Dickinson poems? Here’s 59 Dickinson poems to select from).

Here's the original:

After great pain, a formal feeling comes – (372)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –

The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’

And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?

The Feet, mechanical, go round –

A Wooden way

Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –

Regardless grown,

A Quartz contentment, like a stone –

This is the Hour of Lead –

Remembered, if outlived,

As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –

First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –

Here is my revision:

After great pain, a formal feeling comes – (372)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

After great pain, a formal feeling comes 

The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs 

The stiff Heart questions was it He that bore

And Yesterday or Centuries before? 

The Feet mechanical go round 

A Wooden way Of Ground

or Air or Ought Regardless grown

A Quartz contentment like a stone 

This is the Hour of Lead Remembered if outlived 

As Freezing persons recollect the Snow 

First Chill then Stupor then the letting go 

A fun exercise. Still, I feel as if I had a bit of a cheat, being the one to take this prompt. Jessica, for instance, had a much more challenging go of it with her amazing Blitz poem!

~Wanda~

NaPoWriMo Day 3 & 4: Brittney's Loveless Fourteener Ode to Axe Man And Other Stuff

Axe Man's unrequited lust for Brittney has yet to be fulfilled

Brittney's Loveless Fourteener Ode to Axe Man And Other Stuff

by

Brittney (duh)

With lots of interruptions from various twits

Try though he might, Axe Man will never get into my pants

Although I don't wear pants, he still will never get a chance

In the nine years I've known Axe Man, he's never stopped trying

He's sure selling it hard, but that don't mean that I'm buying

PANSI (R) being sniffed by Leon, to her absolute horror

Aubvey (L)

Kung Fu Leopard (C)

PANSI says that Axe Man is just a big old blast feemer

I guess that it's true, plus he's a planner and a schemer

His plans always fall through though, because he's lacking in brains

Axe thinking is like going bowling without any lanes

Emrald doing a mystical dance with the assistance of Wheelz the Spider

Emrald says we ought to be writing about Malcolm Young

Our half-assed publicist, Cie Cheesemeister, preparing to combat some sort of spectral nuisance with a salt-filled pistol and a watermelon

She says that The Cheesemeister wants his praises to be sung

Admissibly, Malcolm is a damn great guitarist

Also in his favor: he doesn't make an ass of himself chasing after me like an idiot the way Axe Man does

The wings look cool, but The Cheesemeister looks like a fool the way she fawns over them...and the rest of him

As If I don't hear Cheesy praising Malcolm every night

They're the dorkiest couple, and that's being polite

Aubvey, with Spookley Punkin

Aubvey says I'm being rude, but I'm just telling the truth

Dr. Doo Doo and Doo Doo Girl, the Netherworld's resident Farmacists

Oh look, there goes Doo Doo Girl, flying higher than the roof

~Brittney~

Cross-Posted to:

Dark Hearts Love Too

Rattling Bones Undead Musician Magazine

NaPoWriMo 2015 Day 2: Bright as Touched

Supernova Version 5

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

Bright as Touched

Shining star

Star light star bright

Bright eyes

Bright mind

Mind like a trap

Mind like a razor

Razor's edge

Razor cuts

Cut scene

Cut away

Away from it all

Away from home

Home away from home

Home is where the hurt is

Is anybody out there

Is anything real

Real as it gets

Real as it feels

Feels like loneliness

Feels like a dream

Dream of your goals

Dream becomes nightmare

Nightmare when sleeping

Nightmare when waking

Waking at dawn

Waking to confusion

Confusion sets in

Confusion distorts

Distorts your truths

Distorts your life

Life becomes lie

Life becomes loss

Loss of your mind

Loss of your self 

Self loathing

Self lost

Lost little boy

Lost soul

Soul of time past

Soul of the music 

Music brings healing

Music is forever

Forever remembered

Forever loved

Loved very deeply

Loved by those whose lives you touched 

Touched with an angel's wing

Touched with light from the farthest star 

Star 

Wing

Love,

Jess

This is a blitz poem.

It was harder than I thought it would be to write!

Definition 

A form of poetry created by poet Robert Keim in 2008. It is a 50-line poem of short phrases and images. 

The "Blitz" poem is well-named, as the fifty short lines are read in rapid-fire fashion. 

“The form really relies on sound and rapid "flow." ~Rob Keim. 

Here are the rules: Line 1 should be one short phrase or image (like “build a boat”) 

Line 2 should be another short phrase or image using the same first word as the first word in Line 1 (something like “build a house”) 

Lines 3 and 4 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 2 as their first words (so Line 3 might be “house for sale” and Line 4 might be “house for rent”) 

Lines 5 and 6 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 4 as their first words, and so on until you’ve made it through 48 lines 

Line 49 should be the last word of Line 48 

Line 50 should be the last word of Line 47 

The title of the poem should be three words long and follow this format: (first word of Line 3) (preposition or conjunction) (first word of line 47) 

There should be no punctuation, except for an ellipse after the final two words in lines 49 & 50.

Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/types_of_poems/b

Not Your Stereotype

I don't have penis envy

I'm not into girls because I can't find a guy

I don't need or want a man to fuck me straight

I am not an abomination

It won't turn your daughter gay to be my friend

I don't kiss women to turn guys on

I'm not hot for every woman I see

I'm not leering at you in the locker room

I don't have sex with every woman who asks

I don't hate men

I have male friends, cousins, a father whom I love

I don't like men who objectify me because I like women

I'm a person, just like you

I'm a sister, a daughter, an aunt

I'm me, Thalia

I like music, and I like to write

I like to bake, and I like to hang out with my niece and nephew

I like watching movies and being a friend

I'd like to find a lady who's kind of easygoing

A friend who turns into a lover

Someone I can talk with late into the night

I'm looking for the same thing as many of you

I'm looking for someone to share my life with

Someone I can take care of, and who will take care of me

I'm kind of a romantic, waiting for my princess to sweep me off my feet

Will she be a cowgirl or a businesswoman or more the artistic type

I just hope she doesn't wait too long to find me

I hope that those of you who took the time to read this can see

I'm not a stereotype

There to be objectified or demonized

I'm a lesbian

But I'm a person first

My name is Thalia

Don't stereotype me

~Thalia~