OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 18: Our Secret World

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Our Secret World

The Netherworld is the place we run

To escape real world demands

It's the one place where we can truly be ourselves

It doesn't matter if no-one else understands

~Mo~

Notes:

Over the years, the members of Team Netherworld have heard how our blogs are "stupid" and "weird," and so are we. Our founder, The Real Cie, gets the brunt of this as she created the Netherworld blogs and is the member of our group who is the most active, even if much of what she does is behind the scenes as our editor, making sure that each post will adhere to the Netherworld mythology.

It is so hurtful to have your creative work constantly torn down. Cie is a sensitive person, as is everyone in our group. Most of us have had to deal with people who just don't get where we're coming from, who think we should just put our foolish flights of fancy aside.

This is a terrible thing to say, especially as in some cases, the flights of fancy may be the one thing that keeps a person hanging on.

The Netherworld is real to us. It may not be "concrete reality," but in some ways it is more real.

As the verse on our blog header at Dark Hearts Love Too says, it's "the only place where you can dream, living here is not what it seems."

Bless Steve Harris for writing those magical lyrics. He's been an inspiration to us.

~Mo~

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 17: Dancing In The Web

Image copyright Olha Shtepa

OctPoWriMo 2015: 

Day 17: 

Dancing In The Web

Caught in the middle of your web of self-hate

Injecting yourself with venom each day

You used me as a bandage for your wounds

I wanted so much to be your savior

I tried to free you, but you put up your defenses

Caught in the middle of your web of self-hate

I tried to love you, in return you abused me

I only wanted to make you stop

Injecting yourself with venom each day

I wanted to be your only love

You fooled around with so many other girls

You used me as a bandage for your wounds

~Thalia~

Cascade, a form created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall. The poem does not have any rhyme scheme; therefore, the layout is simple. Say the first verse has three lines. Line one of verse one becomes the last line of verse two. To follow in suit, the second line of verse one becomes the last line of verse three. The third line of verse one now becomes the last line of verse four, the last stanza of the poem. See the structure example below:

a/b/c, d/e/A, f/g/B, h/i/C

Notes:

Is it pathetic that I'll be 50 years old on Halloween and my first girlfriend broke my heart so badly that I've never been able to have a relationship since? I suppose it might be. 

I don't want people feeling sorry for me or thinking my life has been wasted. It hasn't. I've had fun in spite of the inevitable visits from the Black Dog. I'm a bit of an introvert, but I do have friends. I'm happy being my niece and nephew's favorite Auntie Thalia. I've just always been afraid to try to get into a relationship again. 

I met my girlfriend when we were both fourteen, but we didn't get involved until two years later. It was all on the down-low, although I think people suspected. Being out wasn't even an option in those days, at least not where we lived. I dreamed of going somewhere like San Francisco where we would be accepted. 

She believed that she could somehow be "cured" if she just "lost her virginity." She fooled around with guys, and it didn't cure her. She blamed me for holding her back and fooled around with other girls to spite me. She called me all kinds of ugly names. She physically abused me. She flaunted other girls in my face. I believed if I just loved her enough, she'd come to love me in return and we could live happily ever after.

I broke up with her on my eighteenth birthday. I knew she could never love me back because she hated herself so much. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I cried every day for more than a year afterwards.

I didn't long for her to return to me. She did far too much damage for me to ever take her back. I stopped loving her a long time ago, but the legacy from our relationship is me being unable to open myself up to love again. 

She died nine years ago from an overdose of X. I don't believe she ever stopped hating herself.

Beliefs such as "homosexuality is a sin" and "we can cure homosexuality" are so destructive. If anyone takes anything away from my story, let it be this. People are people, love is love. Let's support each other rather than tear each other down. Life is hard enough.

I forgive you, Ingrid. I wish you had learned to accept yourself.

Peace,

Thalia

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 16: Ondina's Paradelle

Image by Beverly Tan

Ondina's Paradelle

O Stormy Sea, wash over me

O Stormy Sea, wash over me

Take this shipwreck of a life

Take this shipwreck of a life

To a parallel dimension

Where I may meet my love

I crave his delicious kisses

I crave his delicious kisses

Although I know him not

Although I know him not

I long for him with all my soul

Only his love can save me

Sounding with a crunch, I hear footsteps approaching

Sounding with a crunch, I hear footsteps approaching

I hide away my dream from wicked souls

I hide away my dream from wicked souls

I have not abandoned you, Beloved, remember your Ondina loves you

In her shadow you may rest, until she can return

Long not, Beloved, know your Ondina may return with delicious kisses

Take my life, crunch all wicked souls, have rest with him

Hear her footsteps sounding, approaching to a parallel dimension for you

Where I may meet my loves in shadow, hide away from my abandoned soul

O stormy sea wash over me, until she remember although

Crave, only his love can save this shipwreck of a dream 

~Ondina Rvaga Zecor~

Notes: 

The Princess Ondina is a character in Team Netherworld's serial/novel in progress, Fetch. The story is a paranormal romance with sci-fi elements which honors the late H.P. Lovecraft, as well as other writers of the Cthulhu Mythos genre.

I'm not sure about that last stanza, but my brain just short-circuited. I can do no more!

~Wanda~

The Design is simple:

Stanza 1: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4  

Stanza 2: 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8

Stanza 3: 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 12

Stanza 4: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 

For the most difficult piece of this poetic puzzle, the final stanza of the paradelle does not repeat like the preceding stanzas, rather the final six lines must contain every word from the first three stanzas, and only those words, again using them only once to form completely new lines.

Astriferous Artifact

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The painting in the dream lair

Astriferous Artifact

by

Little Fairy

Prompts Used:

Victorious Vocabulary

Writeworld

"Gerri, don't run off like that again!" Spencer demanded, relieved to have found Gerri. "Time in this place is really fucked up. I blinked and lost half a minute. I also lost that zany character who led us into the Dream House in the first place. What is this place anyway?"

"It's a gallery of Grandfather's hopes and fears," Gerri said. "This area seems to be devoted to his incarnation as Serab. Most of these paintings are depictions of Ondina."

"So, basically, we're inside your grandfather's subconscious," Spencer noted.

"Yes," Gerri said.

"Well, that's a bit nightmarish. Quiet people do have the loudest minds, don't they? These pictures are beautiful but they're unsettling as all get out."

"Particularly when you read the poems under them," Gerri agreed. "Listen to this one."

Astriferous they

Deemed themselves, but they were low

Murderers were they

~Fae~

Note:

This is a Haibun, created for Team Netherworld's serial/novel in progress, Fetch. Here is the original post.

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 15: Without Rejection

To just be myself

To tell the truth within me

And be accepted

Notes:

I suppose this is a "Senryu," as there is a sense of irony. However, it isn't satirizing anything. I would call it a "Haiku," but that would probably get me chastised by poetic purists. 

I wanted to keep the poem very simple so as to force myself to say only what really needed to be said. I tend to run on if allowed.

The prompt asked us to imagine having a day where we could do anything we wanted, and to describe our wildest dreams. This is mine.

Also, I would be able to call my short 5-7-5 poems Haikus and not be chided for doing so.

~Fae~

OctPoWriMo 2015: Day 14: Connections

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Connections

I stood on the bridge

Between yesterday and tomorrow

And thought how my life seems

To be rife with missed connections

To be plagued with wrong connections

To be lacking in strong connections

There are all too many times

When I found myself burning bridges

To places I never again wanted to go

I made too many bad connections

Being so desperate for special connections

I held on to destructive connections

The difference between then and now

Is that I know that I deserve better

Than to be treated like I belong in a dumpster

Just because I don't look like a doll

Just because I don't play the right games

Just because I don't have the right connections

~Dolly~

Silly Interlude: VILE Awards 2015: Steaming Piles of Poetry

Hello everyone! I thought some of you might get a laugh off this turly offering of Vogon poetry. The VILE (Vogon Intergalactic Lyrical Establishment) Awards are in full swing over at the Rattling Bones Undead Musician Magazine. This chap is one of their people's finest poets.

I also wanted to inform everyone that we are working to reply to all your lovely comments! We're a bit behind. We're currently working on the sixth day of OctPoWriMo. I assure you that we have no intent of ignoring you, and one of us will be by to say hello.

Now, if only I could get the Doctor to show up in his TARDIS, I could get caught up yesterday!

~Helena~

Celebrated Vogon poet Zephfrous Lobotomay

VILE Awards 2015:

Steaming Piles of Poetry

by

Filthy Fred

THIS IS A SANITY-SCARRING MULTIVERSE MASHUP, NETHERWORLD STYLE

SIDEBAR RULES APPLY

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE RULES, DON'T READ THE POST

Prompt Used:

TMI Tuesday

"Fellow Vogons and fnoq guests, it is time for our illustrious poetry showcase!" harrumphed Judge Ugry Surly. "Fortunately, our cufly reading does not appear to be sullied by the presence of any member of the lurak Young family. I despise them with every fiber of my ejnut. They make me want to upchuck my eory. In any case, we have with us our esteemed poet laureate Zephfrous Lobotomay to read for you his steamy sonnet, Hot Ruven. Join us now for some Astronomical Sizzle that will excite even the most muted of hiljwe."

Zephfrous Lobotomay approached the platform, cleared his throat, and spoke.

1. He turned me over and englobe afar.

2. He grabs one lira and I aglow aware.

3. She Apso cowed cautiously.

4. Now I am going to cow the sulfa oxide you.

5. I will take you by your boys now.

6. I slipped my hand under soil and his/her woods spasms.

7. In the shower she let me nosh her bow.

8. She grabbed his cow, and yanked and pulled until he vow now.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but my Hiljwe was still pretty muted after hearing that. Also, I get the distinct feeling that Judge Surly is not in the pro Young brothers camp. I overheard him saying something about wanting to remove their qutubs and feed them to ghiks. Maybe I'm misinterpreting things somehow, but to me that doesn't sound like he's exactly feeling the Young Zeal.

Filthy Fred 

for

Rattling Bones Undead Musician Magazine

a division of

FOGNL/UNDEAD Entertainment

The feelings of the Vogon Empire are mixed regarding these fellows

Certain citizens of the Vogon Empire consider Malcolm Young to be a hero of their people for saving their flagship from the Rainbow Connection Pirates during the 2014 VILE Awards. They tolerate Angus as a necessary auxiliary evil. As VILE Awards Judge Huffy Noxious says:

"Angus Young can be compared to the need for a subcutaneous injection of pix when one is experiencing the pax pox. He is a threat to the Splunge, doubly so when paired with his brother, whom I consider comparable to the bad taste left in one's mouth when licking the adhesive on uflon envelopes. It is an acceptable tradeoff for knowing that one's important paper documents are sealed in the most jiq envelopes in the Universe. However, in spite of his particular btab qualities and the threat he poses to the Splunge, Malcolm Young is indeed a hero of the Vogon Empire, and if we are to honor his contributions, we must accept the fact that his autonomously functioning conjoined soul twin cannot be far behind."

Other citizens of the Vogon Empire feel that regardless of the fact that Malcolm saved the Vogon Empire's flagship with his quick thinking and sharp wit, he is too great a threat to the mysterious and inexplicable quality of Splunge to be allowed aboard said flagship again, and becomes infinitely more of a threat when his brother is present. Besides, as Tuns Tumuch said after capturing Malcolm in a Soul Stripper spider web last year and forcing him to listen to multiple verses from the Grimoire of Yopsog, the sentiment of certain vogons regarding said accidental hero is "I just don't like you."

We are left with the question of whether the nefarious plot of Judge Ugry Surly and the anti-Young faction will succeed in eradicating the ingenuous musical pair to the farthest reaches of the time-space continuum, or if the "hideously adorable in their own iqueous way" duo will find a way to negate the unsavory plot of General Mondegreen should they cross paths with him. It remains to be seen!

Personally, I'm rooting for the hideously adorable twosome. As my pal Kizz Myass says "I loike dose wee dudes. They're totally deadly."

Harry Sakks

for

Rattling Bones Undead Musician Magazine

a division of

FOGNL/UNDEAD Entertainment