ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-05-06 01:26 pm

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

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 "Ethical Supervillains." 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 supervillains, superheroes, supernaries, blue-plate specials, wild young things, tricksters, contraries, rebels, adventurers, damsels/gentlemen in distress, mentors, historians, explorers, partners, teachers, leaders, teammates, ethicists, psychologists, folklorists, activists, queerfolk, other responsible rebels, using superpowers, building gizmos or super-gizmos, doing magic, breaking rules, refusing to stop just because solving a problem is illegal, exploring new territory, upsetting predictions, inventing things, trusting your best enemy, twisting tropes, flipping stereotypes, expecting the unexpected, researching, revising theories, parenting, teaching, adventuring, asking for help and getting it, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, experiments changing paradigms, adapting, improvising, troubleshooting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, coming out, running away from home, going off the rails, subverting fate, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, other fantastic activities, supervillain lairs, Triton Teen centers, SPOON bases, the forest primeval, underwater, underground, liminal zones, schools, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, apothecary shops, makerspaces, farmer's markets, foreign dimensions, other phantasmagoric settings, radical activism, radical trust, The Care and Feeding of Supervillains, gizmos or super-gizmos, zoomwagons, zipcycles, dirgecraft, dendropolycarbonate, magical artifacts, quests, enchantments, potions, reversals, contradictions, conundrums, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, inventions that change everything, time travel, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, polarity, weird food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, intercultural entanglements, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


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

Colors Fest Bingo Card 5-1-25


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia is about live happy lesbians in a quirky fantasy world.

Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household, where the line between truth and fantasy isn't always clear.

The Moon Door explores a women's chronic pain group and lycanthropy.

Not Quite Kansas has a helpful demon.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along and figure out how to make a functional society. Antimatter & Stalwart Stan are a cross-cape couple, and Antimatter essentially does science-based magic. Aquariana knows Steel, a supervillain whale; and the Kraken thread crosses this one with Thalassia. Berettaflies shows Stylet trying to clean up his act some. The Big One features several supervillains helping out during and after the earthquake. Calliope stumbles into partnership with the supervillain Vagary. Cuoio and Chiara are principled supervillains. Dr. Infanta is a supervillain or superhera depending who you ask. Fortressa is a supervillain with an all-female team. Officer Pink features centaurs and mystic shifters. Pain's Gray belongs to a gang of supervillains in Motor City. Shiv is surprisingly ethical despite his rough past. In Trichromatic Attachments, Tarnish is a supervillain.

Quixotic Ideas is contemporary fantasy where magic integrates with modern life in positive ways.

Or you can ask for something new.

Boost the signal to reveal a verse in any open linkback poem.


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 "Ethical Supervillains." 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: Each linkback will reveal a verse of any open linkback 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.


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. If donations reach $300, there will be a half-price sale in one series.


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 "Ethical Supervillains." 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 any open linkback poem. The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)

[personal profile] siliconshaman 2025-05-06 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
You know the counterpart to this would be a problematic Hero who believes that the end justifies the means, and that Super villains must be stopped by any means necessary. A cape fight between an ethical super villain and an unprincipled super 'hero' would be interesting to say the least.

Bonus points if we get a sideline commentary with popcorn.
Edited 2025-05-06 18:42 (UTC)

[personal profile] lone_cat 2025-05-07 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it has been a while since we've seen or heard from Jerk, I mean Jack, Union.
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)

[personal profile] siliconshaman 2025-05-07 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
I wasn't going to suggest him, not wanting to limit Ysabet.

[personal profile] chanter1944 2025-05-07 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
Was he the same towering twit who got challenged to a haka in New Zealand and went about it by actively destroying the landscaping, thus making a fool of himself and drawing local ire? I wonder if he's gotten half a clue. I'd bet not, though.

[personal profile] lone_cat 2025-05-07 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
Point.

Re: Poem

[personal profile] lone_cat 2025-05-07 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
Kicked in $10 toward this.
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)

Re: Poem

[personal profile] siliconshaman 2025-05-07 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
Kicked in the remainder, because why not?!
janetmiles: Cartoon avatar (Default)

[personal profile] janetmiles 2025-05-06 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
AM I remembering correctly that Dr. Infanta is a supervillain? Because she strikes me as being pretty ethical.

Or the Boogeyman from Monster House. I remember him taking on an abusive parent at some point.
nsfwords: (Default)

[personal profile] nsfwords 2025-05-06 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
2nd-ing Dr. Infanta. Many things happening in L-America would be ringing alarm bells from the past if only she could hear them.

[personal profile] see_also_friend 2025-05-07 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Doctor Infanta is actually both - some people see her as a superhera, and others as a supervillain. The Irish term for her roughly translated to 'piebald' instead of being a white cape or black cape. Personally, I would call her an ethical supervillain who does a lot of prosocial stuff.

[personal profile] chanter1944 2025-05-07 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
*Terramagne: Can we check in on the nascent teams that were forming during a previous Kraken poem? I know there were several trending toward not villainous at all - medics, firefighters, diplomats - and I'd love to see them too, but I recall there being one group that was okay with a certain amount of the rough stuff, between the poem itself and a comment thread about a couple people's powers. They sounded like they'd be on the order of 'first, get the victims of that abusive jerk out of the house, make sure to save any possessions they want to keep... then scare the poop out of the abuser and turn them over to the cops'. Ahem. Basically, how are the newbie teams doing as they coalesce?
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia

[personal profile] wyld_dandelyon 2025-05-07 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
I didn't remember this series, so I went and read it. I'd love to see what Hector got into once he got tired of poking holes in former villains' egos, or what the former princess now "inconvenient witch" gets up to. I loved the "hair retrieval spell", by the way. Does she ever get bored with basic black, or does she go for the whole matching blacks aesthetic?
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

Various Soups

[personal profile] wyld_dandelyon 2025-05-07 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Fortressa is a supervillain with an all-female team." I don't remember much about her.

Is there a queer Soup team?

Or perhaps some nonbinary soups, but not in terms of gender, rather in terms of rejecting the hero/villain binary?

I always like Shiv stories too.

Re: Various Soups

[personal profile] see_also_friend 2025-05-07 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
>>I don't remember much about her.<<

Mechanic/engineer with a battlesuit, and has an all-female pit crew. Got fed up with men after one too many bad relationships, and now doesn't really want anything to do with them. Sexual violence is one of the main causes she gets involved with, and she does have a running experiment on if a Groin Attack will consistently stop attempted rape. Currently in a queerplatonic relationship with one of her minions.

Also, Fortress-and-team are sponsering a fashion designer who makes practical women's clothes and works out of their lair. The fashion half of the operation also includes a femme ex-sexbot who works with the designer to model the clothes.
readera: a cup of tea with an open book behind it (Default)

[personal profile] readera 2025-05-07 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
I would love to hear more about The Care and Feeding of Supervillains. How often is it updated? Does Kraken publish it? Are there different versions with more & less possibly dangerous information to give out to the general public vs allies vs black hats?
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

Quixotic Ideas

[personal profile] wyld_dandelyon 2025-05-07 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
I read this title, and have a good feeling, but I couldn't find the poems to refresh my memory or pick out anything specific for a prompt. But maybe something in this setting?
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

Signal Boost

[personal profile] wyld_dandelyon 2025-05-07 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
I posted in LJ, here, Blue Sky, and Mastodon.

I even did a haiku:

When the "great" Heroes
Aren't what you wish they would be
Turn to the villains!

wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

Re: Signal Boost

[personal profile] wyld_dandelyon 2025-05-07 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
I like finishing poems, so that would be lovely!

(Anonymous) 2025-05-07 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
While Mallory currently qualifies as ethical, I'm not sure that Farce always was. What was the turning point? Or if you can't reach that far back in her history, it would be fun to see her doing something a bit more...active with her powers than just hacking Chinese computer systems.

Another option: what would Lawrence's reaction be to seeing Stan's sisters dressing up as supervillains (ethical, otherwise, or some combination of the two) for Halloween?

From your "my_partner_doug", who still doesn't have a DW login.
goatgodschild: (Default)

The Ice Was Here, The Ice Was There...

[personal profile] goatgodschild 2025-05-07 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
I think there's a lot of potential for stories on this prompt to involve Johan!

While he is not himself a supervillain, his powers manifested early, and when he "goes cold", I believe that he has an intense possibility for becoming an ethical supervillain.
fuzzyred: Me wearing my fuzzy red bathrobe. (Default)

[personal profile] fuzzyred 2025-05-07 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
I always love anything Shiv, who, it seems, has become more ethical than he used to be, and probably more than he realizes too. Boss White is also very ethical; perhaps a look at what kind of community work they do? I know they got involved with the public housing debacle, it would be fun to see more of that. :)

[personal profile] see_also_friend 2025-05-07 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
Anyone who can be trusted with defenseless or traumatized people unsupervised counts as ethical in my book.

[personal profile] see_also_friend 2025-05-07 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
>>…asking for help and getting it…<<
Or, when you need help, and son’t know it’s available, and someone manages to offer or provide it anyway. (In a way that is actually helpful nd respectful, not helpy.)

>>…observation changing experiments…<<
Anthropology and psychology and any sort of relationship, where your presence influences the outcome because people are really social.

>>…improvising…<<
What happens when one is so used to improvising that they just dive in and start making / fixing stuff right of the bat while everyone else is waiting around for the official channels and resources to work.

>>…upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible…<<
“Sorry for the inconvenience, we are trying to change the world.”

>>>>…radical activism, radical trust…<<
How about radical activism by way of radical trust. As in, whatever wild and crazy and seemingly impossible trick you are trying to pull, it will only work if you can get this total stranger to stop panicking, or this group of total strangers to stop what they are doing and follow you based on trust and social skills.

>>…schools, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, apothecary shops, makerspaces, farmer's markets, foreign dimensions, other phantasmagoric settings…<<

Campfires as an improvised laboratory.

Some of these places in Quixiotic Ideas would be pretty cool to explore.

>>…magical artifacts, quests, enchantments, potions…<<
This. Also, put down drinks before reading.
https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoon?searchID=CS632499

>>…the buck stops here…<<
Good leadership, including responsibility towards dealing with promlems, and underlings troublemaking.

>>…intercultural entanglements…<<
From a tag on AO3, Cultural Differences Handled Respectfully.



Specifically from Peculiar Obligations…

>>…wild young things…<<<

I wonder what Hector is getting up to… probably a bunch of cultural misunderstandings.

Also, what about the backstory for Spartacus and Allathyah… I remember at least one of the possibilities involved him being unable to be a tiny agent of chaos for awhile, and if they spent a lot of time together a that point, his adventurousness may have influenced her to be a bit more of an explorer as well. (I can PM with more details if that would be helpful. Being deliberately vague rn because potential spoilers.)

>>…damsels/gentlemen in distress…<<
Hostage situations and kidnappings are probably not uncommon, but for bonded symbiotes it is probably frequently resolved with ΅I knew you would find me.΅

>>…teachers, leaders, teammates, ethicists, psychologists, folklorists, activists, queerfolk, other responsible rebels,…<<
The challenges of teaching kids right from wrong when your society requires folkd to break the law and irritate powerful people.

>>…liminal zones…<<
If liminal beings count, what¨s up with Belisarius del Sol? I¨m pretty sure he is fluently bicultural in both hawk and dove skills and he has an interesting personality on top of that. So… backstory, current adventures, whatever.

These two fit the setting quite well…

1) >>…troubleshooting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, taking over in an emergency, saving the day…<<

2) >>…teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth…<<
labelleizzy: (Default)

[personal profile] labelleizzy 2025-05-07 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
How about Shiv meeting some Wild Young Things and "refusing to stop just because solving a problem is illegal".

And actually for the Wild Young Things I had in mind the story, I forget what it's called, about the two kids who were being trafficked (or sex-trafficked) and the van they were in crashed, and they ran, and met the Black Doctor? Because I'm curious about what happens next to/for them.
Edited (forgot to include half of my thought) 2025-05-07 05:59 (UTC)