thisbluespirit | Poetry Meme

I don't seem to have been writing much lately, so I did what I usually do in these circumstances: the poetry meme!

1: Pick five fandoms. List them in alphabetical order.

2: Visit this site to find your first RANDOM POEM OF POWER. Write down the 5th line (yes, even if it's an E.E. Cummings poem and you wind up with an apostrophe). Repeat five times and - you guessed it - list 'em in alphabetical order! (No cheating, mind! This is a challenge and it's always been about creativity.)

3: I think you can see where this is going. Write a very quick 50-word half-drabble for each fandom (try to do it all in one sitting - make your brain explode!), using the line from the poem as a prompt. You don't have to include it in the half-drabble - it's just inspiration.

4: Bravo! Have a cookie.

*noms virtual cookie*

(These are all only 50 words, so I don't think they're really spoilery unless you know stuff already, they're just probably incomprehensible, but possibly for DW S10, Ripper Street S5 and Spooks S10. Ish. I did cheat, because I didn't want a comma, but at least I managed alphabetical order, and my brain also did not explode.)

1. Blake’s 7: As far from time – as History – (Emily Dickinson)

History is what you make it. The Federation have long since made it theirs. Yesterday’s hero is today’s traitor, erased; names buried with their bones. They underline their inescapable history with law, with troopers, and mind wipes.

If you want absolute control, you need to control absolutely – and they do.

2. Department S: Freedom to starve or slave! (Robert Service)

“Now I know how the oppressed masses feel.”

Annabelle raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look that oppressed. You only came in one day this week!”

“And it was almost the death of me,” said Jason with a faint shudder. “If it’s death or liberty, liberty’s got my vote every time.”

3. Doctor Who: It aims once – kills once – conquers once (Emily Dickinson)

Once. For most, death comes once. He’s envious – no, maybe almost envious, maybe that’s more honest. But he would like that, now, this time, this one time too many. No more. It’s been too long, he’s lost too many.

Life catches at the edges, though. (Where there’s tears, there’s hope.)

4. Ripper Street: Loving offenders, thus I will excuse ye (Shakespeare)

Snow falls in Whitechapel at the century’s end, a momentary covering of sin. It is illusory and will not last, like the lies of his life. Reid thinks of others, who have more final redemption in love, confession, sacrifice, death. And yet – he stands, delays entropy; he works it out.

5. Spooks: This whole experiment of green (Emily Dickinson)

Green grid, green bench: She steals, he lies. Neither of them are ever what they seem.

Green waters, green door: always that stab of farewell just when things are beginning. (They couldn’t be closer than they are now; better not to try.)

Upside down, maybe, but still they got results.

***

As you can see, the poetry generator has not lost its obsession with Emily Dickinson or Robert Service...

Crossposts: http://lost-spook.livejournal.com/610121.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sovay

4: Bravo! Have a cookie.

I really like what this set of constraints produces, even in cases where I don't know the fandom; they are compressed, elegant little sketches. I like the ones for Ripper Street and Spooks especially.

From:

thisbluespirit

Aw, thank you! :-)

The quote for Ripper Street was the most apt, though. I think I need to save that line and use it in a proper fic or something.

From:

astrogirl

Oooh, these are lovely. I will take another turn at this one, myself. It's a nice way of getting a little writing done when you don't really have time to get any writing done.

From:

thisbluespirit

Thanks! <3 It is a nice exercise for getting back on the bike, too. (Er, as it were!) And all the better when other people run with it as well.

From:

vilakins

Excellent vignettes; brava!

From:

thisbluespirit

Aw, thank you!

From:

paranoidangel

These are lovely. But it does choose Emily Dickinson a lot!

From:

thisbluespirit

Thanks! It is completely obsessed with Emily Dickinson. Also sometimes Robert Service, but mainly Emily Dickinson - although, I suppose it could be worse!

From:

liadt

Very nice and contemplative!

From:

thisbluespirit

Aw, thank you. :-)

From:

dimity_blue

I really like that Doctor Who one. It's almost poetry itself.

From:

thisbluespirit

Aw, thank you!

From:

swordznsorcery

Excellent! I especially like the "Department S" one. Nice going there. You've captured Jason rather well, and also the fond exasperation that Annabelle seems to regard him with.

And look at all those Emily Dickinsons! Maybe I should do the meme again too. Maybe you've Dickinsoned it out, and I shall get a clear run without her. :D Still, she seems to have given you a good prompt with that final one. Nice work with that.

From:

thisbluespirit

Thanks! :-)

And you should always do the meme if you want to, but understand this: there is no escape from Emily Dickinson. That generator is on a mission!

From:

swordznsorcery

I gave up last time I tried it, because it not only gave me four Dickinsons in a row, but three of them were the same poem! And the one time I did do it, I had three Dickinsons and a Service. It really ought to see a therapist about its obsessions!

From:

thisbluespirit

I reserve the right to cheat if I want to, so I think it would be fair to set a rule where you want no more than one line per any given poet and skip any duplicates. Mind, it seems to have been particularly obsessed this time round, looking at other people's results, which include several of the same poems.

I have come around to assuming it is basically the Talkie Toaster of random generators, with a built-in Emily Dickinson fixation. :-D