OctPoWriMo 4 - Monsters and Magic

Today's prompt is purple, and the suggested form is the Cascade. I thought about it for hours before my sister suggested (mostly joking) that I write about Hawkeye (Clint Barton) because, in the comics at least, he wears purple. I decided to write about Clint and Natasha (Black Widow) because their role as the humans among gods and superheroes fascinates me. If you've watched the Avengers movie, this poem will probably make more sense than if you haven't, though you might be able to follow along anyway. I'm not sure.

Monsters and Magic

I’ve got red in my ledger.
Monsters and magic—
Nothing we were ever trained for.

Nat goes to the villain,
Conjures some tears:
“I’ve got red in my ledger.”

Clint wakes from the nightmare again and again
Where he served the
Monsters and magic.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with gods and heroes—
Only our wits and skills to face
Nothing we were ever trained for.

OctPoWriMo 3 - Star Shine

Today's prompt is sparkle. I decided to try a form I haven't tried before: the Essence. It's a very short form of only 12 syllables in 2 lines, so I doubled it to make 4 lines. The short, quick lines, and the internal rhyme in this form make me think of sparkling bubbles in champagne or ginger ale. I think it's a very appropriate form for the prompt.


Star Shine

She sings, stars shine o’erhead,
And wings are ever spread.

She smiles, and all is right.
The trials end. There is light.

OctPoWriMo 2 - Tinnitus

Today's prompt is The Void, and the suggested form is the Kyrielle. I decided to write about silence, and how losing much of my hearing has affected me.

Tinnitus.

When I was twelve, my eardrum burst.
It healed, yet always, since that day,
My world is muffled, and the worst:
The ringing never fades away.

My hearing comes and goes, and I
Sometimes wish it just would stay.
“Good” days hurt, all amplified;
The ringing never fades away.

If all around is calm and still,
It grows and grows—I can’t downplay
How high-pitched, and e’ermore shrill,
The ringing never fades away.

OctPoWriMo 1 - What is Time?

Today is the first day of OctPoWriMo 2016. The prompt today is "time." A couple of days ago, I found this article about the physics of time, and thought it was a fascinating look at how science views time. What does "now" really mean? It's an ephemeral concept that is constantly changing. While I write this, "now" is a different time than the "now" when you read this, yet they are both "now."

I decided to use the form Minute Poem today, since it's crafted to be a reflection of the measurement of time, so I figured it's appropriate. With 60 syllables, it's meant to take about a minute of time to read. Though, of course, I'm a super fast reader, so it takes me around 30 seconds to read it. And it took a lot more than a minute to write.

What is Time?

To say you live within the now—
Well, really, how?
When, oh, so fast
It is the past.

What is time? Can we explain?
Can human brains
E’er apprehend
And comprehend?

Always moving, never still;
I swear I will
Take time for rest
To ease the stress.

Review of The Thirteenth Hour by Joshua Blum

The Thirteenth Hour by Joshua Blum

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

In a lot of ways, this book is cool and different, taking overused fantasy tropes and turning them on their heads. However, it is also quite tell-y. Some of that could just be the style, but it always rubs me the wrong way while reading something that tells me instead of showing me. The spelling and grammar are mostly smooth and well-done, with a few typos scattered throughout, however the characters don’t talk like real people. Huge sections of beautiful prose are interspersed with awkward, poorly written, sections.

Each time the POV changes, the text colour changes too. While this makes it much easier to follow than some books I’ve read that are full of annoying head jumping, I personally found the different coloured text to be distracting and affected. Also, several times pages end in the middle of a scene… or even a sentence. This tells me that whoever formatted this into an ebook needs to do a bit more work making it read smoothly.

Besides the dialogue sounding like they’re constantly quoting something, many of the conversations are very difficult to follow. With only dialogue and no ‘stage directions’ it’s hard to keep track of who’s saying what, especially if there’s more than two characters in the scene. However, there are a few lines that I really liked. For example: ‘he held up a finger as if to say, “I’m not finished yet,” which had always seemed like an asshole move to me.’ Yes, I’ve always thought that’s an asshole thing to do.

The epilogue is pretty much an elongated moral like at the end of Aesop’s fables. I think the story would be better if the epilogue was cut back a lot or trashed completely. This could be simply personal taste, though. Maybe there are people who like to read a long moral at the end of a book. I found it boring.

Overall, this was a pretty good story, though it could use a good edit to tighten it up and cut a lot of the words. It took me a lot longer to read than a book of this length usually does, and I think a good cut would make it easier and faster to read. However, if you like a fantasy but are sick of the tired old tropes, this would be a good choice.




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Why You Gotta be so Mean?

I really don’t understand why anyone has a problem with caring about others’ feelings. When I speak up in favour of other people, I’m labelled a Social Justice Warrior (SJW) which is somehow a bad thing for some reason. Well, let me tell you something: I would rather be an SJW than a jerk. When did justice become a bad thing anyway?

My brother told me that ‘racist’ and ‘racism’ are buzzwords that don’t mean anything. Well, I don’t agree (and neither does the dictionary). I think if you are cruel to someone because of their race, then you are being racist. And yes, not all bigotry is racism, but that is not the point. Racism is a real thing, and it’s a huge problem.

My brother likes to claim that he’s simply being rational and accuse me of being emotional. I’m human. A big part of being human is having emotions. My emotional response tells me that being cruel is wrong, and I trust that. You can pretend all you want that you don’t have emotions but you do, and if you are cruel to everyone you will alienate them and when you need emotional support there will be no one there for you.

Cruelty leaves you alone. Being kind costs you nothing. Being cruel costs you friends and makes you enemies. So why wouldn’t you want to be kind?

June 12, 2016

Today she would be sixty-three.
On June 12th, 1953,
A baby girl was born, and she
Grew up, and she gave birth to me.

Today she would be sixty-three:
The one human who always loved me
From the very moment she
Learned my birth was to be.

I learned to love, I learned to be
The woman I was meant to be,
And she was very proud of me.
Today she would be sixty-three.