Poem: "The Day of Their Calamity"

This poem came out of the October 4, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from callibr8, shiori_makiba (who had a wonderful summary of how people respond to Dr. Infanta, in a comment below the prompts), kelkyag, librarygeek, moongoddessgirl, and janetmiles. It also fills the "apocalypse" square in my 7-16-16 card for the hc_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by librarygeek. It belongs to the Dr. Infanta thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

WARNING: This poem contains material that many readers may find disturbing. Highlight to read the warnings, which are spoilers and also possibly triggers. This poem features references to historic butchery, disapproval of Israel's behavior, (which is not the same as disapproval of Jews in general), references to horrible events which occurred both in Terramagne and in local-Earth but happened a bit differently in each dimension, graphic description of war crimes, canon-atypical violence, child death, mass-casualty events, Israel is a bottom-ten country because reasons, desecration of an Israeli flag, Dr. Infanta is a person of mass destruction, and so is the Undertaker, and this is why you should not piss them off, killing soldiers via superpowers, deliberate terrorizing of Israeli troops, Dr. Infanta's self-image is also bent, imprisonment of a soup, healing Israeli casualties without their consent, destruction of the Wall, graffiti as the art of rebellion, hair-trigger reflexes, and other mayhem. (If you want to read some of my positive Jewish characters, see Clay of Life.) This poem is not a major plot point, and most of its content can be understood simply from previous mentions that Dr. Infanta is a person of mass destruction and Israel is a bottom-ten country; this simply gives examples of why. So no big gap if you skip it. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before deciding whether this is something you want to read.

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Poem: "The Best Place for Us to Be Now"

This poem is spillover from the July 19, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from technoshaman. It also fills the "make a list" square in my 7-1-16 card for the Winter Fest in July Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the Mallory thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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New Crowdfunding Project: Sunland Art Colony

A group of people are working to launch an artist colony in Cambodia.  They have thoughtfully laid it out in stages of development.   

Poem: "The Nesting Urge of Aluzza"

This poem came out of the February 2, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from capri0mni. It also fills the "disaster" square in my 11-3-15 card for the Disaster Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by nsfwords. It belongs to the series A Conflagration of Dragons.

Warning: Canon-typical violence and devastation ahead.

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Birdfeeding

Recently we bought a bag of premium songbird mix, which is mostly sunflower seeds with a bit of safflower and peanuts.  I'm using this to mix with the cheap seed.  This morning I saw a small flock of mourning doves on the fly-through feeder, and there was a male cardinal at the hopper feeder for much of the day.

I also saw a black cat wandering the yard, with the chunky look of a tom.

The weather has been cool, wet, and drizzly.  Puddles everywhere.  In December.  When I was little, it would start snowing in November -- not counting the occasional cold snap in October which sometimes flurried -- and we'd see the ground again in March.  Sometimes a January thaw would melt some of the snow but never all of it.  This area used to be Zone 5b and is now Zone 6a.  The differences are dramatic.  Zone 5 is the south end of north, and Zone 6 is the north end of south.  It's not as big a barrier as the frost line, but close. 

Holiday Poetry Sale Update

The Holiday Poetry Sale is officially closed, with allowances that participants can square up a day or two late if necessary due to holiday ruckus. 

I have 18 poems stacked into a planned posting order.  There may or may not be more added onto that as things settle out.

The pool has once again turned into a giant snarl of numbers and messages crossing in the mail.  O_O  I love how the pools generate lots of extra sales and postings.  I do not love the mess of numbers, and I have once again spent most of a day trying to hack through this.  I am a wordsmith, not a mathematician; numbers lead to mistakes, and mistakes make everyone unhappy.  Allow me to add that my partner Doug tried to help me with this and even he  got lost.

So the next time there is to be a pool: if you want to host one, you organize it, you carry the conversation on your blog or backchannel after the "I want to make a pool" announcement, you pick the poems with your participants, you collect the funds, and you send me ONE donation with a list of which poems it covers.

Meanwhile, I am doing pretty much what I put in the "Pools" description in the instructions for the sale: I made a list of the 7 original poems, added up their prices, added up the donations received so far, and compared the two.  We're $3.75 short of funding the last poem, which is pretty close, so yay.  There is one donor who planned to contribute but hasn't yet.  (Holidays will be holidays.)  So I've made a note of the other poems that a couple of donors said they wanted, and if more money comes in, then those will get funded and posted too.

The "extra" poems are:
"Between the Visible and Invisible" -- $29.25
"Friendships Are Like Clothes" -- $22.25
"The Best of All Instructors" -- $41.50 

If this doesn't come out exactly right , well, I've done my best and I hope the result will at least be legible.

Poem: "The Easiest of All Hunting Expeditions"

This poem is spillover from the September 6, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills Row 3 in my 9-2-16 cards for the Worldbuilding 4x4x4 Festival: B3 (current events), I3 (politics), N3 (careers and vocations), G3 (major cultural figures). This poem has been sponsored out of a pool including daisiesrockalot and technoshaman. It belongs to the Mallory thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem contains some intense topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It features a community with some severely dysfunctional elements, Mallory being justifiably uneasy about a town that reminds her of a sleeping drunk, assorted social awkwardness, several appalling attempts to bully Jules, Mallory quashing the bullies in slightly understated supervillain fashion, Jules stressing out over half the town hating him for no good reason, and his self-image is starting to show some damage, Mallory introducing Jules to BlackSheep, teen angst, and other hijinks. Also, spit warning: do not read this poem with your mouth full, as some of the supervillain quips are truly outrageous. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

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Poem: "The Rare Elements of Grace"

This poem is spillover from the June 7, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by redsixwing, shiori_makiba, and technoshaman. It also fills the "where we don't have to hide" square in my 6-1-16 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool including daisiesrockalot and technoshaman. It belongs to the Dr. Infanta thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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