The Wordsmith's Forge

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.

( Read more... )

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, May 6, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Ethical Supervillains." 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.

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.

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

This is today's freebie, inspired by wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "earth tones" square in my 4-1-25 card for the Aesthetics Bingo Fest. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

( Read more... )

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, April 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Cozy Coping Skills." I'll be soliciting ideas for caregivers, first responders, counselors, clergy, outreach workers, activists, volunteers, teachers, parents, college students, bohemians, comares, superheroes, supervillains, other people who teach or use coping skills, meditating, crafting, playing music, forest bathing, relaxing, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, offering crash space, helping someone move, BookCrossing, yarnbombing, planting trees, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, Triton Teen Centers, the Peace Store, charities, homeless shelters, sobering centers, mentor circles, support groups, churches, sharehouses, intentional communities, other polyhomes, life skills or family departments in schools, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, parks, community gardens, other peaceful hangouts, self-compassion, healthy touch, intentional neighboring, altruism, harm reduction, diversity, inclusivity, safety pin peace signs, interfaith work, family dynamics, alternative family structures, partnerships not based on sex/romance, emotional closeness, homemaking, hygge, hot tea or cocoa, comfort food, interspecies relationships, vivaria, trial and error, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.

34 Fuzzy Products To Make Your Life A Bit Cozier
35 Cozy Things For Every Room In Your Home
100 Simple Cozy Moments to Enjoy
150 Random Acts of Kindness
200 Coping Skills by Topic


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One has neurodiverse characters coping with life in space.

Arts and Crafts America largely copes with challenges using creativity.

The Blueshift Troupers take care of themselves and each other while traveling the galaxy helping colonies solve problems.

Clay of Life has a lot of cozy coping moments between a blacksmith and a golem.

Daughters of the Apocalypse requires coping skills for survival.

Frankenstein's Family encourages coziness and companionship over torches and pitchforks.

The Moon Door features a women's chronic pain support group, which is all about being gentle with each other.

Peculiar Obligations has Quakers, who are good at coping skills.

Polychrome Heroics is largely about self-care and people helping people. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.

Quixotic Ideas is fantasy with a high level of competence and compassion.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they take care of each other.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

Here are the character notes for "The Philosophy of the Sandwich" Part 2 Gables.

( Read more... )

This poem is spillover from the September 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from readera, jake67jake, and wyld_dandelyon. It also fill the "Neurodiversity" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, siliconshaman, and wyld_dandelyon. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem includes descriptions of delicious sandwiches that you might not be able to find or make (or supposed to eat).

( Read more... )

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It has been sponsored by lone_cat. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics in the thread dealing with the television shows East Is East and West Is West, starting with "The Greatest and Most Moving Chapter in American History."

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This poem is spillover from the September 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from see_also_friend. It also fills the "Addiction" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Not Until We Are Lost" and "Come to a New Point of View" so read those first, or this won't make much sense.

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Based on an audience poll, this is the freebie for the March 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl reaching its $200 goal. It came out of the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from alchemicink and also fills the "Our Special Place" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingofest. This poem belongs to the series Daughters of the Apocalypse.

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Here are the character notes for "The Intrusive Thumb of Male Privilege."

( Read more... )