Lily's NAPO '17

Novels, short stories, poems, essays (anything original and not derived from existing works)

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Lily of Archenland
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Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:41 am

Ok, so. A bit behind, but here's what I've got so far.

Second-hand box
[4/4/2017]
My paint-box was made to store bullets,
Camo-green, sturdy, and smelling of gunpowder ghosts.
It gleams with an art student’s copper phoenix sigil
And remembers the shapes of brass shells.
Its contents have laid low duck and deer and
Gallon jugs, painted rings;
Shed blood and broke bone and
Tattered cardboard boxes, shattered shining glass.
I’m taking it hunting through fairytale forests.
I’m setting my sights down the length of a brush,
And hoping to take down a piece of my soul.


Friends on a screen
[4/4/2017]
I can be caught up in faceless affection;
feel a surge of love at a glimpse
of just that shade and color you use
to mask your face, as if it were
your eyes catching the light,
the corners of your smile curving up at me.
I don’t know if my parents have ever learned
what this is, this touch of tenderness and wonder,
a hand on my heart from a hundred
or a thousand miles away.
White fur and red robe changed to daffodil yellow
shares a love of worlds in books,
sends me favorite music, reminds me I am more
than what I can make or do.
A blur of tan and forest green in a flowering archway
co-authored five years of adventure story.
Wide black cross on cyan shared his poetry,
complimented mine, and prayed for
my frightened teenage heart.


What are we?
[4/5/2017]
We were talking of friendship tonight,
I don’t know why;
Of kinds of love, trust, who feels right,
Or who might lie.
---
You guessed I might not call you close at all.
I’ve always known you’d catch me if I fall.
These days we may meet seldom—in my mind
It’s a rare chance we exist. You’re my kind.
You are kin of my kin, muse of my muse.
It warms me to know that you’re living near.
When we first tangled our dreams and stories—
Supermen, travelers, alien glories—
The fireworks felt worth living for,
My dear.


Bright moments
[4/5/2017]
There’s something like a song in the color of the light,
And light in the tenor of a song.
Somehow when the shadows play
With dawn-pale white or evening gold,
Or sparks bloom from a few plucked strings,
Pool with the ripple of a line of keys,
The world can’t be entirely wrong.


This body’s not a womb.
[4/6/2017]
Some say this body was made for children.
I say they’d speak a lie.
Are my mind and heart not body, too?
---
My friends move on with life,
Post miles of photos to Facebook,
Make records of first words,
Introduce small hands to first pets,
Share picture books with little ears and eyes,
Hang lights and hide gifts and share stories of wonder
To shape those first few Christmases
Which will never come again.
I’m happy for their families,
Do not begrudge their choice,
But do not envy.
---
I’ve never longed to see this belly swell
To hold a life, sex and eye-color unknown;
Never wanted to feel first kicks,
Hear tiny heartbeats;
Push out a body in blood and pain,
Wake late nights for their cries,
Change their diapers;
Carry the frightening weight of their world,
Be their first trust, first teacher, heart of their home.
When my sisters or ex-boyfriend asked for names
I chose for the love of words and language,
And not for hopeful anticipation.
---
In childhood games with dolls,
Mine weren’t my children.
They always sprang full grown,
(Or half-grown) from my mind—
Old enough to be playmates,
Not my offspring—
To dance with me, sing with me,
Go to balls and teas with me;
Or join in adventures, ride horses,
Dodge evil witches’ spells to reach their quest.
---
I am not built to child-bear.
Do not ask when I will change my mind,
Contradict my nature;
Do not ask if my spouse
Will change it for me.
But I’ll love your children with you,
Bring gifts, read stories.
Call me sister, playmate, aunt, or friend,
Not mother;
God never planned for me to take that name.


There’s no such this as a…
[4/8/2017]
I’m a moth circling passion,
A match waiting for a spark—
All the clichés are true
When I see it’s you
Shining in the dark.
I’m drawn in by a heart on fire,
An earnest face,
A truthful voice—
A hope of a new world comin’ in,
Anger at what shouldn’t be.
God tell me who’s this
Young string-plucking prophet?
I’ve heard sermons say less
Than a three-minute address
Made half of chorus,
Half seeing the broken.


Late night
[4/9/2017]
In my shadows, there’s no need for talking.
Just cooking prep smells and painted colors,
Library books and half-finished stories,
New discoveries of old music.
---
I’m alone in a full house.
My hour is when they are sleeping.
My secrets their dreams are keeping.
In the world’s wall I’m the mouse.
---
Until I hear a creak of footsteps walking,
Broken rhythm, quiet’s cullers,
Reminder these aren’t my own territories.
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by hobbit_of_narnia » Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:00 pm

These are very cool, Lily! A couple of them touch very close to my own emotions and thoughts. :)
Image
If somebody has an idea for a Narnia comic that they weren't planning on making themselves, I <------ This offer still
would be so grateful if they would send it to me in a PM. I am running appallingly low on ideas...! <-- stands. :)
Lily of Archenland
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:04 pm

Thanks, Hobbit! :)
I'm glad some of `em are speaking your language.
Lily of Archenland
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:20 am

I am so far behind.

Tick, tick...
[4/15/2017]
I’ve been letting the minutes glide past,
Glide past,
Not waiting to see if they’ll last—
My mind’s been a-roaming
I haven't been homing
On seconds that I don’t see
Trickling past—
On jewel-bright grains of lost time.
If I would but listen and breathe,
I might find a reason or rhyme.
My moments might not swiftly leave.
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:59 am

While I'm up...

This one may require some explanation. Not going to rec the book that inspired it on here, because there is some mature content, but the part that brought about the poem... Main character's father was basically the kingdom's evil grand vizier. He was incredibly messed up, and doing harm on a national level, but his one weakness was that he legitimately loved his daughter. And his daughter wound up having to be the one to defeat him because of that, and felt very guilty afterward because, well - he did love her.

Cansrel
[4/15/2017]
A monster may know love, yet monster be;
So learned the fire-haired daughter from her lord.
One builds a cage and still gloats he is free.
A heart may both embrace and be abhorred.
If all was music, all was laughing trust,
What fear would grasp for friendship, fight with minds?
If all was rage, control, and power’s lust,
Would it have cut her less, to break his binds?
Perhaps none but a fool could hope he’d change,
But fools may hold hope fast for father’s sake;
Although that father’s heart is passing strange
Through years of trials, begging him to wake.
A fool for love broke free from hope at last.
And monster’s student struck, and monster passed.
Lily of Archenland
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Sun Apr 16, 2017 4:41 am

Saturday Night
[4/15/2017]
I am not safe, and I don’t know if I’m good.
I’m toying with paints on the edge of a story of blood
And long dark waiting, hoping to be found
By new life rising beneath the stony ground.
This night is different, although I wear
Old clothes and flick a paintbrush and I hear
Familiar songs and noises; tomorrow’s dawn
Is a song I’ve never heard, a victory won.
And I am not safe, on the cusp of an old new world
Before the seal is broken, light unfurled.
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by hobbit_of_narnia » Sun Apr 16, 2017 6:08 am

These are all so good, Lily!! :)
Image
If somebody has an idea for a Narnia comic that they weren't planning on making themselves, I <------ This offer still
would be so grateful if they would send it to me in a PM. I am running appallingly low on ideas...! <-- stands. :)
Lily of Archenland
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Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:45 am

Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Sun Apr 16, 2017 6:44 am

Thanks, Hobbit. ^_^

...It's not Technically morning yet. But. There was a sunrise photo I had queued up for social media for Easter and I started feeling sunrisey feelings and poetry happened?

O Morning Come!
[4/16/2017]
And so
The sky awakes with a cry, with a shout,
With a splash of bright and liquid gold;
Gold heady and warm,
Gold as Autumn dying and Spring flowers rising
And gold as the streets they say’re in Paradise.
And so
The night is over like Winter is over
Like there’s fire in my heart and no frost in my veins
And when the morning sings
My wings
Are stretching and beating and aching to fly.
I remember a time when the clouds felt like hope.
I remember I looked for a coming friend,
A new beginning with no fear of an end.
Lily of Archenland
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Mon Apr 17, 2017 9:28 am

Strange hope (v2)
[4/17/2017]
There’s no poetry in pain
In the moment when it hits you,
No fancy words for broken trust
Unless the ache is past.
Someone deserving better
Than glib phrases for their issues,
Than a tin-eared carnival auctioneer
Selling quick hope in a flask,
Will not stop to hear a sonnet
Or some well-meant refrain.
You can’t sell a skull a limerick.
There’s no poetry in pain.

But when words fail, what then?
Wise men say “look for the helpers.”
Even amidst the ugliness,
Blood in a broken grin—
Your heartbreak is an echo
Of a peaceful army, healers,
Rescuers, fire-breakers;
Makers of safe harbour
When water's closing in.
Hold fast onto your despair:
Though it burns your hand, it’s a lifeline.
Remind yourself this is the time
For actions, silent words.
When words fail and no poetry’s
Enough to numb the aching,
That’s a signal flare, a promise
To those who still remain—
Our hearts were knit for a reason,
To see what’s lost, and to regain.
Lily of Archenland
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Re: Lily's NAPO '17

Post by Lily of Archenland » Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:16 am

...I touched up the wording a couple of times on that last one and I think I have the words about where I want them but it still doesn't scan right when I read it aloud, should I be changing up the line structure and punctuation to accommodate?
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