Poetry Fishbowl Open!

[ysabetwordsmith]

The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED.  Thank you for your time and attention.  Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open!  Today's theme is "You must not be from around here."  I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for tourists, explorers, adventurers, spacers, aliens, xenobiologists, lost people, fish out of water, traveling caravans, fantasy species, nonhumans with superpowers, supervillains, superheroes, activists, diverse teams, genealogists, other people who go far from home, traveling, exploring, rescuing, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, making changes, making mistakes, cooperating, bartering, speaking, listening, taking over in an emergency, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, creating connections, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, foreign lands, alien planets, roads, bridges, ships, caravans, hostels, small towns, wilderness, rural areas, landmarks, supervillain lairs, fantasy worlds, other places far from home, maps, compasses, horses, swords, improvised tools and supplies, scientific discoveries, innovation, old tools in new applications, logic vs. intuition, sea change, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, confusion, independence, cooperation, values conflict, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Fall Festival Bingo Card 10-1-20

Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card 6-15-20


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One is set between the Galactic Arms.

A Conflagration of Dragons has the Six Races driven from their homes by dragons.

Feathered Nests has the humans and the Fifers meeting each other.

Frankenstein's Family includes werewolves, vampires, and two doctors all settling in a foreign valley.

The Godship Wanderers is about escaped slaves on a living ship.

Hart's Farm distinguishes between farmborn and outsiders.

Kande's Quest is about traveling to the demon world to rescue someone.

Not Quite Kansas features two men flung into another world.

Path of the Paladins involves wandering paladins.

Polychrome Heroics has many characters who travel.

Starfather is about adopting a baby alien.

The Time Towers involves traveling to different cultures in the past.

Tripping into the Future is all about displacement.
Or you can ask for something new.

I have a linkback poem, "Let the Children Lead Us" (10 verses, standalone).


What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "You must not be from around here."  I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things relating to that theme. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.


Cyberfunded Creativity

I'm practicing cyberfunded creativity. If you enjoy what I'm doing and want to see more of it, please feed the Bard. The following options are currently available:

1) Sponsor the Fishbowl -- Here is a PayPal button for donations. There is no specific requirement, but $1 is the minimum recommended size for PayPal transactions since they take a cut from every one. You can also donate via check or money order sent by postal mail. If you make a donation and tell me about it, I promise to use one of your prompts. Anonymous donations are perfectly welcome, just won't get that perk. General donations will be tallied, and at the end of the fishbowl I’ll post a list of eligible poems based on the total funding; then the audience can vote on which they want to see posted.

2) Swim, Fishie, Swim! -- A feature in conjunction with fishbowl sponsorship is this progress meter showing the amount donated.  There are multiple perks, the top one being a half-price poetry sale on one series when donations reach $300.



3) Buy It Now! -- Gakked from various e-auction sites, this feature allows you to sponsor a specific poem. If you don't want to wait for some editor to buy and publish my poem so you can read it, well, now you don't have to. Sponsoring a poem means that I will immediately post it on my blog for everyone to see, with the name of the sponsor (or another dedicate) if you wish; plus you get a nonexclusive publication right, so you can post it on your own blog or elsewhere as long as you keep the credits intact. You'll need to tell me the title of the poem you want to sponsor. I'm basing the prices on length, and they're comparable to what I typically make selling poetry to magazines (semi-pro rates according to Duotrope's Digest).

0-10 lines: $5
11-25 lines: $10
26-40 lines: $15
41-60 lines: $20
Poems over 60 lines, or with very intricate structure, fall into custom pricing.

4) Commission a scrapbook page. I can render a chosen poem in hardcopy format, on colorful paper, using archival materials for background and any embellishments. This will be suitable for framing or for adding to a scrapbook. Commission details are here.  See latest photos of sample scrapbooked poems: "Sample Scrapbooked Poems 1-24-11"

5) Spread the word. Echo or link to this post on your Dreamwidth, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social network.  Useful Twitter hashtags include #poetryfishbowl and #promptcall.  Encourage people to come here and participate in the fishbowl.  If you have room for it, including your own prompt will give your readers an idea of what the prompts should look like; ideally, update later to include the thumbnail of the poem I write, and a link to the poem if it gets published.  If there is at least one new prompter or donor, I will post an extra freebie poem.

Linkback perk: I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of the poem.  One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Dreamwidth or Twitter, rather than all on LiveJournal.  Comment with a link to where you posted. "Let the Children Lead Us" has 10 verses and stands alone.


Additional Notes

1) I customarily post replies to prompt posts telling people which of their prompts I'm using, with a brief description of the resulting poem(s). If you want to know what's available, watch for those "thumbnails."

2) You don't have to pay me to see a poem based on a prompt that you gave me. I try to send copies of poems to people, mostly using the LJ message function.  (Anonymous prompters will miss this perk unless you give me your eddress.)  These are for-your-eyes-only, though, not for sharing.

3) Sponsors of the Poetry Fishbowl in general, or of specific poems, will gain access to an extra post in appreciation of their generosity.  While you're on the Donors list, you can view all of the custom-locked posts in that category.  Click the "donors" tag to read the archive of those.  I've also posted a list of other donor perks there.  I customarily leave donor names on the list for two months, so you'll get to see the perk-post from this month and next.

4) After the Poetry Fishbowl concludes, I will post a list of unsold poems and their prices, to make it easier for folks to see what they might want to sponsor.

5) If donations total $100 by Friday evening then you get a free $15 poem; $150 gets you a free $20 poem; and $200 gets you a free epic, posted after the Poetry Fishbowl.  These will usually be series poems if I have them; otherwise I may offer non-series poems or series poems in a different size.  If donations reach $250, you get one step toward a bonus fishbowl; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four months in a row.  Everyone will get to vote on which series, and give prompts during the extra fishbowl, although it may be a half-day rather than a whole day. 


Feed the Fish!
Now's your chance to participate in the creative process by posting ideas for me to write about. Today's theme is "You must not be from around here."  See above for details.  If you manage to recommend a form that I don't recognize, I will probably pounce on it and ask you for its rules. I do have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco which covers most common and many obscure forms.

I'll post at least one of the fishbowl poems here so you-all can enjoy it. (Remember, you get an extra freebie poem if someone new posts a prompt or makes a donation, and additional perks at $100-$300 in donations.  Linkbacks reveal verses of "Let the Children Lead Us."  The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.

Comments

Prompts

[ng_moonmoth]

I'm fairly certain that even though the Lacuna recognizes that being open and honest about the monitoring duties they have assumed for their statehood is important, both Arms are probably naturally suspicious enough to send spies in to check for themselves -- and not realize how bad an idea sending spies into an area with a fairly large concentration of spies is. (I'd guess General Fallon is likely to sell the Carinans on the idea.) Who gets sent? What happens when they try? How quickly does the Lacuna work it out? Does the spy get escorted out, or does their experience turn them?

In any culture, there seem to be idioms, linguistic or otherwise, that are so much part of the culture that they are not commented on or documented anywhere. Yet someone coming into that culture, no matter how well trained, will inevitably not be aware of them and thus eventually become glaringly visible to the natives.

How quickly do neos get spotted on BlackSheep? What sorts of welcomes do they get when they are recognized?

Re: Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

This inspired the free-verse poem "The Fish That the Water Sees." A spy mission to the Lacuna is not as easy as it seems.

71 lines, Buy It Now = $36

[siliconshaman]

Terramagne is a really nice place...the best of all worlds maybe.. I wonder how they'd cope with refugees from another alternate Earth, since we've all thought of relocating there at some point.

Victor's dealt with vampires and werewolves among other thing. One wonders how Victor et al would handle an ancient Egyptian Mummy who proved to be rather less dead than is normal.

[bairnsidhe]

Seconding the refugees to Terramagne prompt. Perhaps a world swinging a glass hammer (aka minus an Alex) manages to make just enough of a crack for some evacuees to end up there? For that matter, if worlds without Alexes are glass hammers, what would an Alex do facing their own death, if they knew that would cause their world to become unstable? I'm picturing a Superman style "baby in a basket" scenario, but with a far bigger basket and way more babies.

[readera]

++ would love to see how Terramagne would handle refugees. Its nice to see more examples.

[lone_cat]

And considering that you've already written a couple such characters... /)

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your Frankenstein prompt inspired the free-verse poem "The Sublime Curiosity." When an ancient Egyptian arrives in the valley, he brings interesting opportunities.

864 lines, Buy It Now = $432

prompt

[dialecticdreamer]

I would love to see a stranger's reaction to the Mercedes Esperanto Club in the high school, and the Sankofa Club in the middle school, distributing printed copies of the "neat boycott guideline" they found online. Mercedes' reputation took some hits, and I want to see that rebuilt a bit after two years of hard work behind the curtain.

Re: prompt

[ysabetwordsmith]

This inspired the free-verse poem "Unu Hako Kverkon." A new teen in Mercedes observes the Esperanto Club and the Sankofa Club in an activist event against China.

230 lines, Buy It Now = $115

[zeeth_kyrah]

From Path of the Paladins, I'd like something about a character who finds themselves going on a vision quest or receiving a priesthood/shamanic call.

Alternately, from Conflagration of Dragons, someone meets an unfamiliar animal and has to learn about it for some reason, whether a stray encountering a nomadic herder's flock, or a newcomer discovering something about the biome they're in now, or some other kind of encounter.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your Conflagration prompt inspired the free-verse poem "Chasing Leaves, Catching Feathers." A Madhusudana girl encounters leafcats for the first time.

116 lines, Buy It Now = $58

[janetmiles]

Culture shock upon returning home from extended travel.

Invasive plants (or animals) get told off by other plants (or animals).

[bairnsidhe]

>>Invasive plants (or animals) get told off by other plants (or animals).<<

The Green Knight in a cape fight?

[jtthomas]

Kenzie grokking more and more of his new culture, and the ways in which he still startles at just how different it is.

Halley, and Italy in comparison with Mercedes.

Folks who don't need to be *from* somewhere to find their place just fine -- Aidan and Pips come to mind, among others.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

This inspired the free-verse poem "All the Right Spots." Kenzie wants to work for the tribe, so his friends help him seek a position. But his superpowers complicate the payment.

358 lines, Buy It Now = $179

[starbit]

something with maybe a fair coming through victor's valley (not sure if it has another name. the one from frankenstein's family) and bumping up against local custom. I'm thinking something of the not-bad-just-odd variety

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

This inspired the free-verse poem "In the Wind of the Carnival." Victor and Igor meet some interesting people at the fair.

457 lines, Buy It Now = $229

[erulisse]

Adjusting to living in a radically different climate (my first thought was literal weather-climate but could also be figurative such as political climate). Or biome. (Our recent move from Houston to upstate New York reminded me that if you far enough, everything is different - the trees, the parking lot weeds, the critters you see as roadkill, heck even the -light- is kinda different. I'm enjoying the radical change but it could also be disconcerting for some people....)

Cultural blending/fusion/diffusion.

Use of anthropology for good.

[readera]

++ adding another 👍 for Adjusting to living in a radically different climate

[bairnsidhe]

I'd be interested in some Schrodinger's Heroes shenanigans with out-world transplants. Perhaps someone who slipped through the Tef gets spotted because of something that's a little left of normal for the Core-verse? Or the reverse, the Core Tef crew get pegged as outsiders because of their behavior... (I know their general group dynamic would stand out as odd in Local-America outside certain communities, for example.)

[mama_kestrel]

True story. At one point the FBI was trying to catch some Jewish gangsters. They figured it would be easy enough, since the men would be at Yom Kippur services. So agents put on their suits and yarmulkes and went to shul. What got them into trouble? On a break, they went outside and had a smoke...which is forbidden on Yom Kippur.

[mama_kestrel]

(Hit post too soon.) The prompt is that it's the littlest things that can trip an outsider. How does that play out for Schroedinger's Heroes? Or in Love is for Children? And how do those who have to move to keep from being obvious, like Dr. Infanta, manage not to trip over it?

Prompt

[librarygeek]

Polychrome Heroics - grab one of the clergy teams: the students at University, or the ones (Rabbi, Muslim Imam, Pict) working together to save the abused children "child bride" from the supposed husband.

Drop them somewhere only one of them has any clue about the culture. They're still pegged as not locals.

Not Quite Kansas - Can Barb help the guys not seem quite as alien?

Re: Prompt

[ysabetwordsmith]

This inspired the free-verse poem "Embrace My Fate." Gideon and Raymond ask Barb for help with surviving in his world.

446 lines, Buy It Now = $223

[fuzzyred]

An outsider trying to get close to one of the Terramagne gangs (Ricasso, Boss White, the Marionettes, etc), possibly for nefarious purposes, and being pegged as "not from around here" because of their attitude. Bonus points if they get pegged as not belonging because their attitude is *worse* than the gang's.

[readera]

Confusion about local custom & speech can be an identifier for someone from outa town.

Ex: coke vs pop vs soda.
Taking off shoes vs not taking off shoes.

[(Anonymous)]

Or /where/ you learned the language.
You learn from your kids, you say "Whassup?" as a grown adult.
You learn from an older Boomer...and get asked by the Millenials to use the newer term, please.
You learn colloquial and slang...and get a 'Wait, what?' double-take 'cause folks are expecting scholar-talk.

[(Anonymous)]

Easy promots:
- You're not from around here and I like that. Let's be friends!
- How are those Terramagne aliens doing?

Harder one:
What if Pat and Chris fell into the 'verse where A Brother's Price is set? Only subverting the expected Reality Ensues, Pat uses his social skills to keep them out of trouble (and Chris follows along) until the rest of the team can arrive to be the 'platonic battle harem.' Maybe they also jump start a civil rights movement, or take a bunch of people back with them. (That place ain't nice unless you're female, one of the oldest-born, _and_ decently wealthy.)

Master-level:
This, maybe first contact?
"Now I want to see a scifi where the lingua franca isn't picked just because it's what the rich folks speak, but because it is what the rich folks (alien traders and diplomats) are /able/ to speak. And of course, these end up being very non-European, indiginous, endangered language isolates - or possibly a combination therof."
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/12524338.html?thread=40813106#cmt40813106

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your master prompt inspired a new series, the Sounds of Civilization. It has three free-verse poems.

"Clear as a Whistle" is this session's freebie.

"And Then It Clicked"
A new alien species, the Jikiki, follows the first but has different language needs.
39 lines, Buy It Now = $15

"The Flesh of Many Voices"
Humans respond in various ways to the challenges of communicating with aliens.
49 lines, Buy It Now = $20

[wyld_dandelyon]

I'd love to see more of Hart's Farm.

Little things matter, and they're not all things you can see or hear. Hand gestures, for example, or scent (both scents people wear and scents that people react to), habits relating to things like hiccoughs and sneezing, who eats first, who sits first, dominance behaviors and hospitality behaviors.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

This inspired the free-verse poem "Inside, Outside, on the Floor." At Hart's Farm, people often seek partners from outside.

54 lines, Buy It Now = $20

[kelkyag]

Fiorenza and Giacinto navigating the little differences between villages, or perhaps the larger ones if they find themselves in the city or further out on the road. (It's not an Italian fairy tale, but perhaps the musicians of Bremen (localized?) make an appearance?)

Shaeth's second temple, in a different area.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your Shaeth prompt inspired the free-verse poem "The Song in the House of Your Pilgrimage." Shaeth and his followers build a new temple.

104 lines, Buy It Now = $52

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

A backchannel prompt from Shirley Barrette inspired the free-verse poem "Small Town Greetings." Sometimes "You must not be from around here" means something else.

Hold for original prompter.

Done for the night!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I still have writing left, but need sleep now.

missing 🔗

[thnidu]

There's no link on "Not Quite Kansas".

Re: missing 🔗

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's because it doesn't have a series page yet, sorry.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

A backchannel prompt from Anthony Barrette inspired the free-verse poem "When the Call to Adventure Comes."

37 lines, Buy It Now = $15