Blank Verse Blog Week starts tomorrow

[petra]

For anyone interested in observing it, here are the details.

In the past, I have offered to write for various fandoms in iambic pentameter in honor of the week, and sometimes my poetry isn't ridiculous.

If you want to know what I'm up for writing, try my list of fandoms. I'll take requests in comments. I tend to find writing for people simpler when they have a specific character + scenario or pair/group in mind.

Comments

[jjhunter]

Ode to Competency, any fandom.

[petra]

In all the worlds and all the songs and tales,
there are no phrases sweeter than the one
that goes: "I know exactly what to do."

It's up there with "I love you" for pure joy
for while we mortals muddle through our tasks
and try to learn from our mistakes each time,
in fiction there are answers, black and white,
and expertise impeccable exists.

Why else could one contest that in a fight
between Clark Kent and Batman, it's not Clark
who wins the day, despite superlatives
galore that wreath his name and grace his chest?

The hero of the hour is the Bat
because whatever Super-Thing Kent does,
the competence that reigns is Gothamite.
In rain or snow, a breath of ice or gale,
against the burn of searing eyes of fire,
there is and always will be some defense.

Don't ask me what they all are! I don't know.
But what I know and venerate is that
ability to plan for anything
epitomized in folklore of Bruce Wayne.

[kaberett]

This is glorious! Thank you.

[petra]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[hannah]

A good old-fashioned window-entry love story, in any fandom, Marvel movies for preference if nothing else grabbed you first.

[petra]

He knows she's there. She smells good. Always has.

She smells afraid. She sounds excited, too.

He doesn't mean to smash the glass. It goes
like spiderwebs when he lifts up the panes.

She says a name: his name and not his name.

When he says "Betty," she should smile at him
but she looks hurt. The glass is gone, and still
she does not reach for him. He says her name
again, and still she stands and stares and stares.

He cannot cry. Not now. Not here. Not green.

He reaches for her through the shards of glass,
and moves them all aside like fairy dust
to make a space for her to walk that's safe.

His words are not his own. He has no "Please"
and nothing that could ask her to approach.

She takes a step, another, towards the wall
(He does not breathe, as if she'd blow away)
and reaches toward him, finally, her hand
against his fingertips, and then her arms
around his neck, the smell of her like home.

They fall together in a sort of heap,
his stretched-out pants too large, around his knees.
She laughs and says, "I missed you, God, so much."

He kisses her at last, at long last, takes her hand.
"Come home with me," he says.

"You have a home?"

"I had a place to stay. You'd make it home."

She looks up at her windowframe, her room.
"We'd better go now," then the rising drone
of repulsors fast approaching drowns
her words, and they look further up as one.

"That'd be my ride," he says, and offers her
his hand--not metaphorically, not yet--
"or ours, if you would like to come--"

"Of course."

[hannah]

Okay, everyone on three: aaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww. Oh, Bruce.

[petra]

I'm so glad it works for you, since it wasn't quite what you asked for. \o/

[hannah]

Believe me, it obeys both the letter and the spirit of the request. <3

[everbright]

Oh, this so cute! Betty is lovely here, scared but brave, and Bruce actually trusted the Hulk enough to use him for The Plan. :D

[petra]

Thank you! I like it when they work together, and Betty deserves a knock on her window from the right sort of person.

[jadelennox]

awesome.

[petra]

Thank you!

[kiezh]

Hmm. I see Cyteen on your list. Poetry for that bunch seems like quite a challenge, but if you're inspired...

Ari 2, Justin, and Grant; relationship negotiation.

[petra]

BASE ONE: A CONTRACT (ACCESS LOCKED)

Rule One: We will discuss the past at need.

J hates the things She did, and so hates her--
but She is in the room, and in our heads,
In G's deepsets, and in A's everything.
If we ignore her, like some platythere
She'll crush us flat and never even know.


Rule Two: We will not hide our pain, lest it
grow worse and strangle us or what we've made.

A does not confess missteps publicly,
while J is prone to hiding everything;
damn born-men, one and all, for learning that
all problems will be painful, worse when shared.
In turn, G swears he won't go dumb annie
to mask the complications of his mind.


Rule Three: We'll make the time to find our peace.

Both J and A decline to swear to "joy",
while G suggested "pleasure," easier,
but perhaps too simple of a term.
A hedonistic moment or a day
require only base indulgences;
companionship and friendship--dare! Say "Love"--
need planning, careful work, and maintenance.
It's a blessing that we're all designed
by genes and tape, by deities and--Her--
to stubbornness that stretches human bounds.
If "Love" is what we seek to build, we shall;
through flux and logic, we can learn to trust.

[kiezh]

Ooooh. That is so cool. I love that Ari 1 is a shadow over everything, because of course she would be, and those last lines are killer.

If "Love" is what we seek to build, we shall;
through flux and logic, we can learn to trust.

Expert brain-hackers and problem-solvers unite! Your project: build love, with the resources you have on hand. :D

[petra]

Thank you! I can't think of Justin and Ari II without Ari I; she's always there between them.

Love is a *worm,* but it is a worm they are more than capable of designing.