thisbluespirit | Poetry Meme

It's been a while! (I couldn't access the random poetry site for ages until I finally realised it was just my anti-virus getting over-enthusiastic about blocking things. The first poem it gave me after all that time away was Emily Dickinson, and I knew that nothing had truly changed.)

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 them 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), 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.

1. Blake’s 7: and over the whole grave space hath settled awe (John Berryman)

They destroy the building around the bodies: supporting beams blown away. The ceiling collapses in, like the roof of the universe, falling in after. The dust settles.

“Yes,” says the Commissioner when she arrives. “Bury them where they lie.” But her gaze lingers over the rubble, pleasure mingled with regret.

2. Press Gang: Indignant—that the Joy was come— (Emily Dickinson)

“I don’t know what you’re all so excited about.” Lynda pushed party streamers off her desk, glaring at everyone. “I want next week’s edition ready – yesterday!”

“People are allowed to be happy, Boss,” Kenny said.

“Not in my newsroom!”

“Is this about Spike going to America?”

“Hic,” said Lynda.

3. Sapphire & Steel: Rising within women's eyes (Louise Bogan)

Sapphire catches hold of Jet’s hand; their eyes burn blue and black. Around them minutes march back and forward, and back and forward again, as they search for the moment when time broke in here.

“There,” Sapphire says.

“Yes,” Jet agrees.

Together they close the gap – and then they part.

4. Spooks | MI5: to ship as a seaman on the schooner Flight (Derek Walcott)

Some of them were never built for this: the spy thing sails away from them. The lucky ones fly out before it breaks them; the unlucky smash against the ground in pieces.

Some of them can’t run away even when they try: Ruth, Ros, Harry, they go; they come back.

5. Star Wars Prequels: Why is it so quiet, what are they hiding? (Sylvia Plath)

The clearing is empty; the surrounding woodland unnaturally still. The Jedi stand in the centre and listen and wait, reaching out in the Force.

“I sensed life forms earlier,” says Obi-Wan. “Where are they?”

“Yes,” Qui-Gon murmurs.

Obi-Wan has to emphasise the point: “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

executrix

"Don't read this, hamsterwoman!" reminds me of the joke about tactfully giving bad news to a crew member: "All those with living parents, step forward--not so fast, Jones!"

From:

thisbluespirit

"All those with living parents, step forward--not so fast, Jones!"

LOL!

hamsterwoman has informed me that they have already read vague ominous spoilers, and I have told them that they will not be unspoiled to the end. This goes no further unless they read it, in which case it was definitely less spoilery before I said it was a spoiler!

From:

hamsterwoman

Ha! I appreciate the personal spoiler call-out (and skipped it obediently :)

From:

thisbluespirit

Hee, good. :-D

From:

astrogirl

Oh, this one is always fun. And somehow B7 always seems to get the most weirdly appropriate lines in this sort of thing.

From:

astrogirl

Huh. My antivirus software does not like that website right now. OK, guess I will not being doing this one...

From:

thisbluespirit

Neither does mine! I had to turn its shields off for ten minutes to let me go on it. (I googled a bit to see if it had been hacked or taken down or something, and nobody had been complaining, so I just did that and then it was okay. Or at least, it all seems okay so far!!)

From:

astrogirl

You may be less paranoid than I am. I think I'll wait and see whether your computer blows up before I risk it. :)

From:

thisbluespirit

Well, I have a free anti-virus (Avast) and the one on the computer, plus Firefox being security conscious at me. So I only turned the shields for the free one off and it worked perfectly (tested as of two days ago) and my computer is also still fine.

But I've now learned (for reasons other than blocking that), that I should probably change that free one anyway.

In the 18 months or so it was blocking it while everyone else in the world used it quite happily, I did eventually find one other random poem generator here and you could always use that instead. It's slow, but my anti-virus is fine with it.

From:

astrogirl

I'm thinking maybe I should just take it as a sign that I really, really ought to be working on my Space Swap story instead. :)

From:

thisbluespirit

Thanks! B7 really does somehow.

From:

ride_4ever

I <3 what you've done with this poetry meme!

From:

thisbluespirit

Aw, thank you!

From:

auroracloud

I love this idea! I kind of did it last night because I needed something fun and distracting, but I got too sleepy, so I still need to finish and post it. But random memes are a fun way to get to writing without too much quality control. :-D

From:

thisbluespirit

Yes, this one always seems to work that way for me! :-D I'll look forward to seeing your results at some point, too.

From:

liadt

Poetry prompts work well:D All too well for B7!

From:

thisbluespirit

Thanks! And, yeah, it always does seem to for B7.

From:

swordznsorcery

Gosh, a Plath! And it didn't inspire misery. :) Your obligatory Dickenson was well-fielded too.

Nice selection. B7 and S&S are particularly effective, I think; but then I probably would say that!

From:

thisbluespirit

Thank you! And, ha, yes, there had to be a Dickinson!

B7 and S&S are particularly effective, I think; but then I probably would say that!

I think I'd agree, really.