Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Jul. 15th, 2025 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe 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 "anything goes." 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.
Note that our internet connection has been bad for well over a month. Sometimes it's down completely, other times things like Dreamwidth and searches won't run. So I'm losing a lot of work time and may only have access for half a day or less. Given this limitation, there's a higher chance of actually getting things written for prompts that use characters, settings, etc. that are already established.
Two poems recently attracted attention with regards to extending their story arcs, so anyone can ask for a followup to these:
"Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" -- Victor is displeased with Ghenadie shirking work assigned as fines.
"An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government" -- Frank the Crank accidentally gets elected to the City Council in Mercedes.
Stuck for ideas? You can find prompts by ...
* browsing planned poems for Aquariana and the Maldives, The Big One, Broken Angels, Calliope and Vagary, Officer Pink and Turq, Pips and Joshua, or Shiv. (Some of these I've already done, so they're not all up to date, but others I haven't done yet.)
* browsing my Serial Poetry page for favorite threads or characters.
* browsing my QUILTBAG list, Romantic Orientations in My Characters, Sexual Orientations in My Characters, Gender Identities in My Characters, or My Characters with Disabilities for favorites.
* naming a poetic form you'd like to see written.
* picking a prompt from my current bingo cards: Western Bingo Card 7-1-25
* picking some from the Bingo Generator prompt lists.
* looking up fun tropes on Fanlore.
* choosing an unusual word.
* plugging a favorite topic into your search engine and choosing a picture that looks interesting.
* anything short. I could especially use short poems today as other prompts are likely to run long.
* standalone ideas, if you're a fan of that rather than series.
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 "anything goes." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things of any type. 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 to professional 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.
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.
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 "anything goes." 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.) The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "anything goes." 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.
Note that our internet connection has been bad for well over a month. Sometimes it's down completely, other times things like Dreamwidth and searches won't run. So I'm losing a lot of work time and may only have access for half a day or less. Given this limitation, there's a higher chance of actually getting things written for prompts that use characters, settings, etc. that are already established.
Two poems recently attracted attention with regards to extending their story arcs, so anyone can ask for a followup to these:
"Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" -- Victor is displeased with Ghenadie shirking work assigned as fines.
"An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government" -- Frank the Crank accidentally gets elected to the City Council in Mercedes.
Stuck for ideas? You can find prompts by ...
* browsing planned poems for Aquariana and the Maldives, The Big One, Broken Angels, Calliope and Vagary, Officer Pink and Turq, Pips and Joshua, or Shiv. (Some of these I've already done, so they're not all up to date, but others I haven't done yet.)
* browsing my Serial Poetry page for favorite threads or characters.
* browsing my QUILTBAG list, Romantic Orientations in My Characters, Sexual Orientations in My Characters, Gender Identities in My Characters, or My Characters with Disabilities for favorites.
* naming a poetic form you'd like to see written.
* picking a prompt from my current bingo cards: Western Bingo Card 7-1-25
* picking some from the Bingo Generator prompt lists.
* looking up fun tropes on Fanlore.
* choosing an unusual word.
* plugging a favorite topic into your search engine and choosing a picture that looks interesting.
* anything short. I could especially use short poems today as other prompts are likely to run long.
* standalone ideas, if you're a fan of that rather than series.
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 "anything goes." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things of any type. 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 to professional 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.
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.
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 "anything goes." 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.) The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-15 06:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-15 07:16 pm (UTC)In my MLS program we studied the ways people go about gathering information, sorted into models like hunter, forager, weaver, etc. Dewey and its ilk are really only suited to the Hunter model of information seeking, which is NOT most people's first instinct. It's what we teach people to use, but most people start in Forager (physically or digitally browsing shelves to berry-pick similar or connected info) or Weaver (everything cross referenced on everything else) and pick up other skills later. Foragers like things in many places, so no matter what shelf they're foraging in they'll find something, they don't enjoy having to leave the section to go look up where the info they want is. Weavers really thrive digitally due to their preference for links (wikipedia is a Weaver's heaven), but they get turned off by excessive compartmentalization in systems that insist things don't link that do.
I'd also say that the Thalassian Library system is probably not Hunter-standard.
Poem
Date: 2025-07-16 04:22 pm (UTC)192 lines, Buy It Now = $96
Re: Poem
Date: 2025-07-16 04:52 pm (UTC)Poem
Date: 2025-07-16 10:48 am (UTC)192 lines, Buy It Now = $96
Shiv and Dr. G
Date: 2025-07-15 07:18 pm (UTC)-In "Energy Made Visible," Dr. G offers creme pastels in exchange for Shiv answering personal questions. I believe Shiv answered 8 the first time; it would be interesting to see him earn the remaining pastels.
-From your planned Shiv poems page: "Based on things the other inmates are saying, Graham realizes that they're starting to hit some roadblocks due to Shiv's absence -- things they need to say to him or address with him. Astute bargaining convinces Shiv to attend one therapy session with the other inmates. He finds it unsettling, but he gets through it."
I know you've written the negotiation scene, but I'm curious how Shiv does at the actual therapy session.
Re: Shiv and Dr. G
Date: 2025-07-25 04:32 am (UTC)410 lines, Buy It Now = $205
The Big One
Date: 2025-07-15 10:10 pm (UTC)>>The President calls Aquariana and asks her to come to his office, where he is organizing some of the soups for relief efforts. Dr. Infanta volunteers to go to the hospital and take care of the wounded brought in by teleporters. She also announces that the supervillains are sending the hospital ship Restitution to Los Angeles by way of Nautilus. Los Angeles has a 7.8 earthquake with intensity X shaking that lasts for 55 seconds. The President assigns Aquariana and the whale to go to Los Angeles and help with short-term marine rescue of ships damaged at dock or near shore. Seth stays in the Maldives to help coordinate efforts there. The Maldives offers to take in refugees, especially soups, Muslims, and people connected with Maldivian citizens or other residents.
After spending a few hours cleaning up, Aquariana and the whales retire to rest. Then they teleport to Japan to protect Taiji from the tsunami.<<
Re: The Big One
Date: 2025-07-30 09:44 am (UTC)259 lines, Buy It Now = $130
Re: The Big One
Date: 2025-07-31 12:54 pm (UTC)Japan's citizens calmly swing into action in response to tsunami threat - ABC News https://share.google/I5n3VlydVa00mXn1M
Re: The Big One
Date: 2025-08-01 09:24 am (UTC)Yay!
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-16 12:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-16 12:39 am (UTC)If not that, anything in the Path of the Paladins.
If not that, then the economic concept of a monopsony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopsony
?? In economics, a monopsony is a market structure in which a single buyer substantially controls the market as the major purchaser of goods and services offered by many would-be sellers. The microeconomic theory of monopsony assumes a single entity to have market power over all sellers as the only purchaser of a good or service. This is a similar power to that of a monopolist, which can influence the price for its buyers in a monopoly, where multiple buyers have only one seller of a good or service available to purchase from.
Poem
Date: 2025-07-22 01:28 am (UTC)"Strong, Competent, Capable"
A pregnant woman seeks refuge in Victor's valley, aided by two former poachers.
227 lines, Buy It Now = $114
"The Future by Consequence, the Past by Redemption"
Victor speaks with the former poachers about their presence in his valley.
381 lines, Buy It Now = $191
"Fed from So Many Sources"
Igor takes care of Amalia and discusses future options.
277 lines, Buy It Now = $139
ACK
Date: 2025-07-16 12:46 am (UTC)I'm looking for something comforting. Something short.
How about the village children's reactions to Ghenadie, safely AWAY from him?
Re: ACK
Date: 2025-07-16 03:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-16 03:15 am (UTC)How are the Tullnados doing? Are they settling into their powers?
Poem
Date: 2025-07-16 05:13 am (UTC)69 lines, Buy It Now = $35
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-16 03:47 am (UTC)*Frankenstein's Family: I keep wondering about Iancu and Ilie and possible active redemption, as opposed to simply not making the same mistake again, post the mess that Ghenadi dragged his friends into. Alternately, to tug on a dangling thread, the man Clyde recognized as potential trouble - Herr Weiskof? Weiskopf? anyway, what if he did reach the village, or a neighboring one?
*Terramagne: Mrrhow the Mercurial and Cayenne (yes, her too) leveling up, slowly but surely, in prosocial skills, while still being unapologetically cats.
*Terramagne: Can we meet the rest of the diplomatic team Do-Hyeon was looking to join? Or possibly see Slither, Pumps and company on exactly the mission that came up in prior comments - get the abuse victim(s) and everything precious to them out of the house and to safety, then make the abuser wet their pants.
Poem
Date: 2025-07-22 01:28 am (UTC)"Strong, Competent, Capable"
A pregnant woman seeks refuge in Victor's valley, aided by two former poachers.
227 lines, Buy It Now = $114
"The Future by Consequence, the Past by Redemption"
Victor speaks with the former poachers about their presence in his valley.
381 lines, Buy It Now = $191
"Fed from So Many Sources"
Igor takes care of Amalia and discusses future options.
277 lines, Buy It Now = $139
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-16 04:43 am (UTC)'dragon rider' trope.]
How would the Lacuna handle a severely autistic kid? By severe, I'm thinking communication and social skills haven't really grown in yet.
Quixiotic Ideas : Amputee merfolk (based on listening to the soundtrack from Epic and realizing that merfolk /with lungs/ won't automatically drown w/o tails...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dont-get-too-excited-about-viral-goldfish-wheelchair-1-180962571/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Goldfish/comments/625y6y/how_to_make_a_wheelchair/
NOTE : if the merfolk is strictly an air-breather, consider if a harness/life jacket style gizmo might need to turn them faceup while unconcious/otherwise unable to move.
DoA : crossdressing queer couple, as discussed elsewhere. (And if they /did/ want kids, they could always adopt some orphans.)
Peculiar Obligations : something with a bicultural person, or bicultural dyad/team? (Anywhere from the 'getting acquainted and working out the bugs' phase to 'fluent are-you-sure-you're-not-telepathic teamwork.'
Peculiar Obligations : brothels, proto-therapy, etc. It would also be interesting to see someone of the tomcats - the first ones especialy must have been fairly interesting folks.
Peculiar Obligations : It would also be interesting to see the inner workings of a motherhouse. Perhaps the one Mary Dyer had worked at? Or whatshisname from the curio shop incident? (Did he grow up/spend some time in one?)
You have that one series (trilogy?) with heritage languages being the only ones aliens can speak. What about aliens that could use a tactile sign languague? [We humans have prtactile, and there are some others that have visual/tactile...registers?dialects? ???]
I'm guessing an alien with sufficiently flexible tentacles might be able to mimic well enough... Star-nosed mole? A 'cave squid'? Something like a starfish or jellyfish?
Same 'verse as above, but was there a story with using talking drums to communicate w/ aliens?
Polychrome : Maldivian aquatic hospital (for cetacians and water-soups).
Polychrome : How are those ex-Taliban child soldiers doing?
Poem
Date: 2025-07-29 09:40 am (UTC)953 lines, Buy It Now = $477
(no subject)
Date: 2025-07-16 10:50 pm (UTC)Pulling from your Western card, aiming for short color/character pieces rather than Plot.
Horse: Kelpie sighting in the Monster House setting.
Firefly: the daughter of Monster House experiencing fireflies, perhaps with help from family&friends,
Gambling: Shaeth's the God of Drunks, and sometimes other addicts. Gambling's a different sort of addiction: how does it brush against his space? Or for something fluffier, betting chores on the outcome of a glass bottle army battle.
Firefly and/or Sunrise/Sunset: Fiorenza & Giacinto spend some time together.
Dodge: throwing or threatening with a broken bottle anywhere near Shaeth's temple is unwise.
Dodge: Shahana and Ari teach some self-defense skills between crises.
Wild Card: eight of diamonds.
ETA:
I'll Get My Revenge: One of the gods Shaeth's on speaking terms with now recruits him (and/or his followers) to help address issues (partially) in his new domain that were caused by him and/or his followers in his old domain.