Dandelyon's Worlds

From ariestess' prompt:

Rainbow's End
A Torn World poem by Deirdre Murphy

The storm blew in like the monsoons he had known as a child
The water drops warm, the winds wild and unruly
The young tattooed ”soldiers” who had never truly seen war
Came to carry Rijorl and his belongings from his high tree house
Deep into the rainforest, away from his beloved ocean
 
Everyone huddled together on the rainforest floor
Children chattering excitedly, grownups worried, babies crying
While the water fell in ropes, filled with tatters of rainbow blossoms.
He sang a lulabye from his homeland while the eye moved through
His adopted clan nodded to the strange, “wordless” sounds
 
His beloved, tall home tree toppled during the storm,
The house-platform pulled down vines and three young reed-trees,
Bits of walls he’d carved with the flowers of his homeland lay scattered.
He lifted a broken pottery windchime out of the mud.
“We’ll rebuild” the young man offered, but he shook his head
 
“I’ve been thinking of seeing the Empire,” he offered,
For his balance was unsteady and he felt too old to live in the sky.
He patted the pouch that held his collection of counterfeit licenses
“I’ll watch for the monitors while you rebuild your own homes first,
But I want to ride a steam train, and see the deserts and the mountains.”
 
They gathered the storm-tossed bodies of lizards and squatty geese
And fried fruits and breaded blossoms for his farewell feast.
He sang once again, songs he’d learned from an Empire soldier—
They’d run together, to find a life far from the war so long ago.
Then he set out inland, trading his rainbow life for one on the road.

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And just in time too!  To my surprise, my co-creators voted that we should hold the September Muse Fusion this weekend!  That means starting tomorrow.  Eeep!

I hope you'll stop by and leave us some prompts, or even just encouragement.  I could use some, about now.

I've mostly missed the internets over the last--gosh, nearly a week! I've headed in to work, then back here, and fallen asleep on the couch before I read a half-dozen posts or even play my dumb facebook clicky-games. I think I've seen more Kleenexes than web-pages over the last few days.

I inadvertently complicated the problem by not reading the ingredients on the store-brand Zyrtek I had, so instead of merely having a miserable cold I also had severe stomach cramps, gas, bloating, and even more exhaustion than the cold caused. This has NOT been good for getting stuff done!

But I did want to tell you my poem, Shliiritiri's Rede has been nominated for a Rhysling.  In a post-apocalyptic world, each isolated group of people had to explain what happened; this is just one of those explanations.  this was also designed to be a piece of a world with complex and contradictory opinions about gender, and should not be assumed to be the correct explanation of what happened.  There's lots of opinions about that!

I'm really excited about this nomination!

Everyone's welcome to go read the poem, whether you're eligible to vote or not!

I have a short story done, Laisesu's Blues, which is available for sponsorship at $12.

So far, no one has obligated me to post a second freebie--we're still open for prompts; people have various holiday commitments this month, and we're not all in the same time-zone (or even the same continent) so we're experimenting with a longer "open" period, to allow people to participate when it works for them. So I still hope you'll drop by and inspire us--or grab a prompt or two for yourself.

The prompts for tonight's freebie were ice dancing and snowy snow bath from Jenny Heidewald andhaunted_blood

Winter Follies

By Deirdre M. Murphy

 

It’s dark and cold outside

But that’s what fur is for

The herd is friendly and warm

And Winter is good for sleeping.

 

But you can’t sleep all day

Even when the sun neglects to rise

Snowy foal slips out to the creek

The aurora lights his path.

 

The creek is frozen over;

The foal lifts his hoof

He saw his mother crack the ice

So he knows what to do.

 

But his hoof slips, slides—

He dances across the creek

Eyes wide and startled

The aurora shines underfoot!

 

On his back in the snow,

He wiggles, all four legs high

Hey—Winter is fun!

He stands and laughs in delight

 

He prances back to the stream

Skates across the ice again

And horn and tail held high

Winks at the girl-foal there.

 

She snorts, darts into the herd

And closes her eyes to dream

For Winter is good for sleeping

And always is followed by Spring.

This poem is a sequel to one of my Muse Fusion stories, Wide Sky With Small Critters, and is also a sequel to valdary 's poem Alainya's Knitting. I hope you'll take a moment to check it out!

Alainya's Blanket:  A Summer-Colored Sky

Remember, Muse Fusion is Tuesday, right after the Solstice Total Lunar Eclipse!

A poem for the full moon, and for solstice.  This one also has a tune, though I'm still lacking a way to play it for you except in person.  One of these days, that will change.  Though I did sing it at Barisha's housefilk tonight. 

After I laid down for a brief nap and woke up six hours later...

Goddess Cycling
by: Deirdre M. Murphy


The Maiden Emerging sprouts the seeds
She blesses our lives with crops and weeds
She wakes up everything
The summer’s gifts to bring
She knows our dreams precede our deeds

The Mother of Bounty bids us grow,
The full flower of loving now to know
The height of youth and health
Nurturing autumn wealth
She cares for all the seeds we sow

The Lady of Harvest fills our needs
Her bounty produces our new seeds
She comes with wrinkles clear
She shows us winter’s near
Death comes to everyone she feeds

The Old Crone of Waiting brings us snow
She shows each of us our time to go
She keeps us safe through death
She promises rebirth
And in the spring, our seeds will grow

Copypright 2004 Deirdre M. Murphy.  Most rights reserved.

I wrote this on October 27, 2004*, during a total lunar eclipse; some called it a “blood moon” since it was so red; after viewing the photos, however, I thought of it as the “Chocolate Moon”.

*except for the line I rewrote today. Amazing what happens when you revisit a song after more practice.