Multifandom Poetry Fest 2021

[minutia_r]

Welcome to the fifth annual Multifandom Poetry Fest, a prompt fest for poetry for all fandoms! Have fun, and feel free to promote it on your journal/community/tumblr/discord server/whatever if you want. You can copy the code in this box wherever HTML applies:

<a href="https://minutia-r.dreamwidth.org/69423.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/IVQgWF9.jpg" /></a>

Rules

1) Leave a prompt in the form of fandom, characters or relationships, prompt. If you don’t want to specify the fandom or characters, you can say "any." One prompt per comment. Leave as many prompts as you like.

2) Reply to other people’s prompts with poems. The poems can be any length or form, or no form. Quality isn’t important--the point is to have fun, not to produce deathless works of art. (Any deathless works of art produced are just a bonus.)

FAQ

Q: I want to write a sonnet/haiku/villanelle/limerick, but I’m not sure how it goes.

A: You can find a good list of poetic forms and their structures here.

Q: Can I write fills without leaving any prompts, or leave prompts without writing any fills?

A: Go ahead!

Q: I want to fill a prompt, but someone else has already filled it.

A: That’s okay, prompts can be filled multiple times.

Q: I want to write explicit erotica, or a poem with potentially disturbing themes, or a poem that spoils recent installments of canon (or make a request for the same). Is that okay, and what sort of content do I need to warn for?

A: Sure, that's fine. Warnings are considerate and appreciated, but they're also up to the discretion of the individual poster. Consider this a warnings-optional space and read at your own risk accordingly.

Q: Can I prompt/write original works?

A: Original works are a fandom! If you want, you can specify genre and character types while prompting, like so: original fantasy setting, female elf/female orc, next time I won't miss.

Q: I want to participate, but I don't have a dreamwidth account/I'm shy.

A: That's okay--anonymous posting is on.

Q: How long is the fest going to be running for?

A: Currently, I don't have any plans to close this post to comments--I figure we'll keep going until everyone gets bored and wanders off. I reserve the right to change my mind, though.

Q: Is there a collection on AO3 where I can post my poems?

A: Right here.

Q: I want to participate, but I suck at writing poetry.

A: Aww, you’re probably not as bad as you think. But even if you are, it really doesn’t matter--like I said, the main point is to have fun.

Comments

[minutia_r]

Critical Role, Pumat Sol, looking for something?

[minutia_r]

MDZS/The Untamed, Jiang Cheng, golden

Afterimage

[the_leaky_pen]

There are nights you lie awake, tracing
the path your lingqi takes
through your meridians, again,
again, again,
the way you traced each character your mother wrote —
your child hands, her wooden brush, ink ground
by your mother's hands;
Nights you wake up with old smoke in your nose,
your parents' blood staining the wood on which you kneel,
you cannot feel your core, until —
You wake, remember, breathe that old smoke out,
and trace, trace, trace the warmth spilling
out, around, and through —
Your lower dantian's full, and full of light.

[minutia_r]

Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot (& any), new season just dropped

[kiraly]

Through the wormhole the transport world-hopped
Humans all want to know why we've stopped
ART said 'please, if you need
to make use of the feed
keep it down, the new season just dropped!'

[(Anonymous)]

The Magnus Archives, Michael & Sasha (or Michael/Sasha), another coffee date

[(Anonymous)]

Nirvana in Fire, Mei Changsu and Xiao Jingyan, clandestine meetings

[minutia_r]

A hanging bell--
A passage underground--
Words double-edged, devices deeply-laid--
Words double-edged, that cut
Friend, enemy, and self.
How deep the passage? How shallow
The graves of memories?
A word--
two-edged--
Disturbs the grave-dirt, then denies.
In darkness, how can truth be seen?
Draw blade, and cut the cord.

[(Anonymous)]

Any fandom, any character/pairing - quiet comfort

No Fandom

[(Anonymous)]

like slash marks on concrete
city rhythm cacophony
days pass in blindsight
black on blue on red and white
missing ending; crescendo-searching
no pausejustplay
s p i r a l i n g

kaleidoscopic fever dream

night’s eye: your
heartbeat.
steady breaths.
lighter’s flick,
smoke-covered city.
behind the curtain just:
Us.
wordless-dissolving
into
you into me into
.
and quiet gravity.

(memory rewind)

[llonkrebboj]

Nirvana in Fire, Fei Liu, snow/icy

[the_leaky_pen]

My name's Fei Liu
and wen I see
the snow fall on
the orchard tree —
Su-gege gives me
carte blanche:
I clime the wall;
I pick the branche.

[llonkrebboj]

Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, peace

[kiraly]

Murderbot Diaries, Ratthi/one or more of Ratthi's hookups, cheesy pickup lines

[kiraly]

Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot & Amena, fried vegetable crunchy things

[kiraly]

Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot, no emotions just a poem

[minutia_r]

10 create new object: "2.0"
20 upload doc "helpme.file"
30 set sarcasm ratio
40 put that back, ART //don’t compile
50 define "killware" object class
60 set directive: "targetSys"
70 security bypass
80 //just one shot, so don’t you miss
90 copy parent: "murderbot"
100 // shut up, it’s a term of art
110 move fast, and don’t get caught
120 //parent??? //shut up, ART
130 initiate upload
140 no emotions, only code

[kiraly]

The Queen's Thief, Any, memorable lines from Cenna's play

[kiraly]

The Queen's Thief, Costis/Kamet, 11 days in the Taymets

[minutia_r]

Open my lips; my mouth will speak:

Gods dwell on peaks, for men to climb
Is reckless pride and courting death.
Step over step, your hand in mine,
A fight for every stolen breath--
Night falls too fast. The setting sun
Takes with it any warming spark.
We share our cloaks, and one by one,
I name the stars that light the dark.
Mercy’s goddess, smile on two
Fugitive souls in lands unknown.
My humble self, and my friend who
Within his arms, I find my home.

[kiraly]

The Queen's Thief, Gen's sisters, poetry battles

[kiraly]

Any, Any, the sea between us

Sunless Sea

[(Anonymous)]

First: a fact. You have no home on land.
You traded it for rooftops in the wind.
That too, you left, to seek a second chance
where maps are treacherous and tales begin.
Now in your third-hand coat, frostbitten, free,
you’ve seen the Mountain’s light and Storm untamed.
Four things have kept you from the drowning zee:
a ship is steam, is steel, a heart, a name.
Is safety, too, far past Fifth City lights,
where life is measured out in fuel burned.
Six times you’ve ventured out into the night.
Six times you’ve seen your death, six times returned.
Your seventh now. Your last, and all you’ll keep
is glimmering of false stars in the deep.

[(Anonymous)]

Any, any, first sign of spring

Original Haiku

[(Anonymous)]

Through thick snow, petals:
Soil's parting gift to winter.
Crocuses in bloom.

[(Anonymous)]

MDZS, Any, the price of a smile

"Things Owed, Things Given Freely" - Wen Ning & Wei Wuxian

[the_leaky_pen]

Because Wei-gongzi smiled
at a red-robed stuttering boy, complimented
a lonely archer, defended him
to his contemptuous cousin,
Wen Ning, in return —

Took out of Lotus Pier
his brother and two bodies — three masters of Yunmeng Jiang;
rowed steadily, a river journey to Yiling;
pressed Wei Wuxian’s shoulders down
into wet mountain earth while he screamed and screamed
and Wen Ning’s sister reached inside, took one
brother apart to make the other whole;
walked up Carp Tower’s steps to trade his life
for all his kin, yes, but for Wei Wuxian;
told Jiang Cheng nothing;
told Jiang Cheng everything;
killed without mercy or awareness;
came awake when he spoke;
raged when he played;
calmed when he played;
fought viciously — an ancient goddess;
fought the dead — nameless corpses, Song Zichen, Nie Mingjue;
stopped fighting;
stayed close;
stayed away;
protected those he loved;
smiled, a little, too.

[(Anonymous)]

SHL/TYK, Wen Kexing, behind those eyes

Wen Kexing, behind those eyes

[hhimring]

Behind those eyes,
too many memories.
Blood on white cloth.
I have searched too long
for butterfly bones,
eyes turned to me
in a living face.

Here you are,
too late.
Yet, how could I not
attempt to walk the path to further grief
alongside you,
every step?

Raise a cup to the moon.
Time is not on my side.
Yet one day with you
is more life
than four seasons with ghosts.

You might yet
teach the philanthropist
to forgive mankind.

[minutia_r]

Howl's Moving Castle, Howl & Calcifer, hands and hearts

Howl's Moving Castle, Howl & Calcifer, hands and hearts

[amber]

Wrist licking, smoke curls thickly.
Fingertip kisses with sparks.
Coal crackles with debt's shackles.
I carry your heart (I carry it in my hearth).

[minutia_r]

Greek Mythology, Eros/Psyche, labor of love

[minutia_r]

Original Works, librarian/library ghost, the rustling of pages

File under: BF1444-1486

[kiraly]

Now the clock is striking twelve,
all the lamps are burning low,
as the day's last book I shelve,
comes your whisper, soft and slow,
Must you go, alone to leave me,
You alone who can perceive me?
Or may
you stay
'til the breaking of the day?

I must leave and lock the door,
walk into the rainy night,
You who lived and died before,
tempt me not with words so bright,
I, who read your whims and rages,
in the rustling of pages,
must go
although
your sweet voice it lures me so.

If you love me leave me not,
what are we but words and wind?
I whose bones were left to rot,
You whose kiss was never sin,
Stay tonight and stay for always,
haunt the reading rooms, the hallways,
and we
will be
bound in death, forever, free.

[(Anonymous)]

The Magnus Archives, Jon/Martin, future.

[the_leaky_pen]

The Untamed/MDZS, Lan Sizhui, cenotaph

[the_leaky_pen]

Machineries of Empire, any one of Cheris, Jedao, or Hemiola + self-aware

[the_leaky_pen]

Leverage OT3, high up

FILL - Highku

[(Anonymous)]

The Eiffel tower in June -
Alex said his yes
Handfasted to either hand.

"Now," said Parker, beaming,
The foie gras intact.
(One Eliot shrug. C'est la vie.)

She dove, a hawklined dove,
Her whoopee a suncry,
While their hearts sipped vertigo.

(Miles and miles away Sophie
In a new gold ring
Closed her eyes in sympathy.)

"Next stop, Everest!"
"Never ever." "Shush, brother."
Heartbeats soaring still.