Z is for Distant Zen

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The drawing was not created by any member of Team Netherworld

Believe it or not, there is actually at least one poetry style that begins with the letter Z. However, I would instead like to pay homage to one of Team Netherworld's greatest inspirations, H.P. Lovecraft.

Those who don't know much about Lovecraft won't be aware that as well as his fascinating tales of terror, he also wrote beautiful, Gothic poetry such as the piece below.

The phrase "distant Zen" prompted me to want to write my letter Z poem based on Lovecraft's work.

The Zenith of Darkness

In younger days I did believe

The sun would rise o'er golden sheaves

My every day would be a dance

My life would be filled with romance

I was destined to achieve

Or, at least, so I believed

Fame and fortune, adulation

My praise be sung in conversation

"She is," they'd say, "a thing of wonder"

But these dreams were torn asunder

When one day the shadows descended

From that day forth, darkness never ended

Dreams died one by one as years went by

I realized my hopes had been a lie

I had squandered all my youth

Evading a most ugly truth

Dreams don't come true for those gone mad

For us, only ugliness is to be had

The darkness, they said, was of my own creation

I deserved, they said, the lowest station

Ostracized, I wished I'd die

Like blood, the tears flowed from my eyes

For most of my life, I believed their words

I was driven from the herd

In the shadows I did dwell

I came to know the darkness well 

As years went past, I realized

I would never be a diamond in anyone's eyes

But I was not the clod of dirt

They made me feel like with words that hurt

The way they tried to compensate

For their hidden feelings of self-hate

Was shown in their act of destroying others

Rather than embracing us as sisters and brothers

They sought our vulnerabilities

And stole our value from us like thieves

I regret all the wasted years

Allowing such people to bring me to tears

I never was anyone's shining star

To the unenlightened, I seem bizarre 

The truth I realized late in life

The darkness is not worse than light

Those who with darkness identify

Have been cursed as evil in the eyes

Of an unenlightened society

It's up to us to set ourselves free

You may not see the beauty in me

But I refuse to let you make me think myself ugly

I refuse to waste another hour

Allowing others to have the power

To define the worthiness of my being

It is no longer ugliness that I'm seeing 

For some of us, sadness prevails

We still deserve to tell our tales

We should be allowed to have our say

Rather than having our dark light drugged away

I am an outsider, misunderstood

It took many years to see my own good

Though no-one will ever see the beauty in me

My own truth has set me free

I am just as good as you

My thoughts and feelings are just as true

Thoughts and feelings not gentle or light

But my soul still shines as bright

I've learned the truth after all this time

Having a sad heart is not a crime

~Petra Ylva Steele~

Dedicated to all who live with psychiatric illness, and suffer the misunderstanding that comes with having these conditions. End the stigma!

Six of my creative heroes who lived with psychological illness:

Ambrose Bierce: 

24 June 1842 - 1914 (?)

U.S. Author

Depression 

Mode of death unknown. Body not found or identified.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft: 

August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937

U.S. Author

Depression. Lovecraft expressed feelings of suicide ideation in letters to friends. 

Death from cancer

Sylvia Plath: 

October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963

U.S. Author

Bipolar disorder 

Death by suicide

Edgar Allan Poe: 

January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849

U.S. Author

Depression 

Death from dehydration/fever. Actual cause of illness never identified.

Peter Steele: 

January 4, 1962 – April 14, 2010

U.S. Musician 

Bipolar disorder 

Death from heart disease

Wendy O. Williams:

May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998

U.S. Musician

 Depression 

Death by suicide

Published on Jan 26, 2013
The Nightmare Lake
(By Howard Phillips Lovecraft)

There is a lake in distant Zan,
Beyond the wonted haunts of man,
Where broods alone in a hideous state
A spirit dead and desolate;
A spirit ancient and unholy,
Heavy with fearsome melancholy,
Which from the waters dull and dense
Draws vapors cursed with pestilence.
Around the banks, a mire of clay,
Sprawl things offensive in decay,
And curious birds that reach that shore
Are seen by mortals nevermore.
Here shines by day the searing sun
On glassy wastes beheld by none,
And here by night pale moonbeams flow
Into the deeps that yawn below.
In nightmares only is it told
What scenes beneath those beams unfold;
What scenes, too old for human sight,
Lie sunken there in endless night;
For in those depths there only pace
The shadows of a voiceless race.
One midnight, redolent of ill,
I saw that lake, asleep and still;
While in the lurid sky there rode
A gibbous moon that glow'd and glow'd.
I saw the stretching marshy shore,
And the foul things those marshes bore:
Lizards and snakes convuls'd and dying;
Ravens and vampires putrefying;
All these, and hov'ring o'er the dead,
Narcophagi that on them fed.
And as the dreadful moon climb'd high,
Fright'ning the stars from out the sky,
I saw the lake's dull water glow
Till sunken things appear'd below.
There shone unnumber'd fathoms down,
The tow'rs of a forgotten town;
The tarnish'd domes and mossy walls;
Weed-tangled spires and empty halls;
Deserted fanes and vaults of dread,
And streets of gold uncoveted.
These I beheld, and saw beside
A horde of shapeless shadows glide;
A noxious horde which to my glance
Seem'd moving in a hideous dance
Round slimy sepulchres that lay
Beside a never-travell'd way.
Straight from those tombs a heaving rose
That vex'd the waters' dull repose,
While lethal shades of upper space
Howl'd at the moon's sardonic face.
Then sank the lake within its bed,
Suck'd down to caverns of the dead,
Till from the reeking, new-stript earth
Curl'd foetid fumes of noisome birth.
About the city, nigh uncover'd,
The monstrous dancing shadows hover'd,
When lo! there oped with sudden stir
The portal of each sepulchre!
No ear may learn, no tongue may tell
What nameless horror then befell.
I see that lake—that moon agrin—
That city and the things within—
Waking, I pray that on that shore
The nightmare lake may sink no more!

Read by CoRVuS MaGNuS

Music: This is a mix I made using 4 tracks from the Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth (video game) O. S. T. (2005) The rights of the music belong to Greg Chandler.

The tracks are: 05. Title Calling, 06. Main Menu, 47. Credits, 48 Bonus Cinematics (Trailer)

Images: Some of the images were taken from the art of the collectible card game Call Of Cthulhu. The rights belong to Chaosium Inc. and to the artists who created these images.

May the Deities bless your immortal soul, Mr. Lovecraft!

Love,

Petra

Y is for Poetry of Yuggoth

 

A Fungus From Yuggoth

Image source

Our chum A Fungus From Yuggoth was aghast when we suggested that no poetry style starts with Y. He said that our education must be terribly lacking not to have heard the mighty Sagas of the Mi-Go, as penned by Pwbkry 8 in the year 1491. Said sagas apparently inspired Columbus to sail the Ocean Blue in 1492.

A Fungus humbly states that he is not quite such a gifted bard as Pwbkry 8, but he wrote this poem for us.

A faction of Mi-Go, as written about by Dr. Albert Wilmarth and reported by H.P. Lovecraft in "The Whisperer in Darkness," have, unfortunately, caused humans to mistrust the Fungus From Yuggoth. Like humans, this race of beings has good and bad elements.

A Fungus has been a great friend to humans and other dwellers of the Netherworld, as is illustrated in this short adventure.

Here is A Fungus' poem.

A Vision of Yuggoth

Mighty monoliths covered in vines of Hlsad

Vines entwining Cyclopean towers in shadows dim

Far away Sol sparkles in eternal night

Here on Yuggoth life is like a dream that never ends

A human friend of mine once said

Obelisks lined up on the pathway of the Quartz Landing

Point the way to Uranus

Yuggoth welcomes all friendly seekers of knowledge

With Neptune and Venus, we commune

With Alpha Centauri and Izar we share the blessings of our vaults

Come dream with us on Yuggoth for a time

Come and learn what we know

For only knowledge shines a light as bright

As an osmium lamp in the darkness of the Qbcdfi mines of Mars

Quartz and Wyoming Nephrite Jade cannot compare in value

Beautiful and precious though they may be

To knowledge

The most valued of commodities

Humbly shared by your friend,

A Fungus From Yuggoth

No Poetry Style Begins With X

Since there is no poetry style that starts with X, I thought I'd share a poem about my seXuality. 

That is to say, biseXuality.

And all the eXtremely unseXy assumptions that are made about people like me.

Here is a good basic post about what bisexuality is.

UnseXy Assumptions

When people find out that I

Identify as bi

Sometimes they assume this means

I'm horny all the time

That I'll lay it on the line

With anyone who makes a pass

That all takers will get some ass

All they have to do is ask

Or maybe the assumption is made that I

Am telling a lie

Because there's no such thing as bi

There's only a pathetic chick

Who doesn't want to admit

She's really a dyke

All the guys think they can screw the lez away

Certain lesbians think I'm a traitor to anyone gay

Some people think I have it easier

Because I could go either way

But it's not that easy anyway

I don't always act on attraction

Don't give in to every distraction

In fact I'm not easy

I'm really quite shy

I never did find the right girl or guy

Don't assume things about me

Because of my bisexuality

And I won't assume things about you

~Leslynne~

Sweet Tooth Trouble

A fellow who wore a disguise

Developed a craving for pies

When he got busted

His face with sugar was dusted

And the cops wouldn't buy his sweet lies

~The Cheese~

 

W is for Wrapped Refrain (Form 2)

The music I was listening to when I wrote the poem

The Eternal Dance

I

Would you dance with me always, I wonder, and be my love

You are more beautiful than all the angels up above
I fell the moment I saw you
I died the moment I saw through
The mask you wear to hide the lies
The truth is plain behind your eyes

I love you even though you have torn my heart asunder

I ask you now: would you dance with me always, I wonder

II
Your heart beats to a melody untrue and makes me weep
Innocent eyes disguise all the wicked secrets you keep
You hold me in your arms while you
Consider plans to be untrue
You scheme about your next conquest
While telling me that I'm the best
I can't believe I fell for someone as wicked as you
You lie to me, your heart beats to a melody untrue

~Tempest Nightingale LeTrope~

Wrapped Refrain (Form No. 2)

Wrapped Refrain (Form No. 2), created by Jan Turner, carries some similar aspects as her Wrapped Refrain form, with further advanced techniques. It consists of 2 or more stanzas of 8 lines each, with the following set rules:

Meter: 14, 14, 8, 8, 8, 8, 14, 14
Rhyme Scheme: a,a,b,b,c,c,d,d

Refrain rule: In each stanza, the first 10 syllables in the first line (incorporating a phrase) must be the last 10 syllables at the end of the last line (line #8).


Example #1:
Castle in the Clouds

Bavaria, you render dreams come true on hills of white.
Your castle glints through moonbeams, snowy spires in the night.
My mind says it’s just a mirage
or nature playing with collage...
that if I turn around I bet
it shall just disappear, and yet
my eyes instead see parapets that break the skyline blue,
as straight ahead, Bavaria, you render dreams come true.

Bavaria, your Disneyland is mine this very night;
it’s just as if your castle planned its setting, out of sight,
for some of us to stumble on.
But, if I blink will it be gone?
This castle you have hid so well
enchants me with its magic spell;
it lures me into fantasies enwrapped with snowy pine.
You render dreams, Bavaria... your Disneyland is mine.

Copyright © 2009 Jan Turner

V is for Ville-nelle

Ville Valo

There are styles that start with V which have already been invented, one of the most famous of which is the Villanelle. I was thinking of using that one, but then I thought to myself, why not instead pay tribute to one of the most talented modern vocalists and songwriters, Ville Valo of the fabulous Finnish melodic metal band H.I.M.? Thus, lovers of music and verse, I give you the Ville-nelle. First mine, and then a sample from the master.

Ville's song lyrics are characterized by dark and romantic subject matter. There is often a sense of longing or heartbreak, and the setting of the piece tends to allude to the supernatural.

Alone in the Night

Tossed about like driftwood on a stormy sea

I prayed that you would see me through the eyes of love

But there was nothing real within your heart for me

The angels turned their backs and closed off the heavens above

Left broken-hearted and alone in the night

There is no reason left for me to fight

I was just a toy to you, and nothing more

You don't know my heart is broken

Because you don't care at all

You got what you wanted, and you went on your way

You are a dark shadow hanging over my life

I try to escape the memories of you

But I can't find a way to tear you from my heart

Even in death, I'd only dream of you

Although you no more dream of me

You're still the only vision I see

~Tempest Nightingale LeTrope~

**************

 Kiss Of Dawn

Album: Venus Doom

Blinded I am and so are you

By shedding tears

Confusion that separates us two

We hold dear

Just look into my eyes

Kiss our fears good bye

[Chorus:]

I'm reaching for your shadow drowning in

The kiss of dawn

Touching the pain that you left me with

At the kiss of dawn

I'm tired of the games I'm playing with you

When you're not here

Death frees from the fear of dying

it's true, have no fear

Let me look into your eyes

and see death pass us by

[Repeat chorus 2x]

You've read it, now hear it!

U is for Unmetered Verse

Image Source 

Unmetered

I'm not lovely, and my name's not Rita

I like my poetry like I like my life

Unmetered

No clocks to punch

No alarms to shatter my sleep

No calories to count

No giving one single fuck about numbers

Numbers on the calendar

Numbers on the scale

Or whatever other arbitrary numbers

Society tells me I'm supposed to care about

I'm not your good girl

But I'm not your bad girl either

I'm not your girl at all

I'm not your good fatty

Not your good crazy

Not your good anything

I'm good at my job because it suits me to keep it

But I'd really rather not have to have it

I'll admit I'd rather win the lottery

And just go have some fun

I'm as good a mother as I can be

And that's the best thing that I've ever been

I'm sorry my son inherited the mental glitches

But I give him the one thing my family never gave me:

Understanding

I may have to punch clocks

And live by alarms

But my soul within remains unmetered

And the day it flies free

Look the fuck out, Afterlife!

Because it's party time!

~The Cheese~

Unmetered verse is the same as free verse. 

It is very hard to find poetry styles beginning with U.

Last year we presented an Ubi Sunt for consideration.