Multifandom Poetry Fest 2023

[minutia_r]

Welcome to the seventh 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/72173.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Zpgt2Gh.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 prompt 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: Are the fills I write considered to be gifts to the prompter?

A: Only if you and the prompter want them to be! Otherwise feel free to treat the prompt simply as inspiration.

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, Prism/Ashton, hold my hand

[minutia_r]

Queen's Thief, Eugenides the God, looking for trouble

[minutia_r]

Any fantasy canon, any characters or pairing, rules of magic

Witch Hat Atelier - rules of magic

[octahedrite]

We could help, but we may not.
We could heal, but we may not.
We could learn, but we may not.

We could be more, but we may not.
It is forbidden.

Though forbidden, they still heal.
Though forbidden, they still hurt.
Though forbidden, they still scar.

Why must it be so?

Any, a poem from a tool

[(Anonymous)]

A poem from the perspective of a character’s tool, weapon, prosthetic, costume, etc.

Re: Any, a poem from a tool - Murderbot Diaries

[minutia_r]

A lousy workman always blames his tools
For his own fuck-ups. And they never learn
From past mistakes. Most humans are just fools.
Who’s got to save them from the pain they earn?

Go on. I’ll let you make two guesses.
First one doesn’t count. It’s me—
Whenever someone messes
Up so badly you can see

That shit from space, it’s me who has to fix it.
And then it’s me who has to take the fall.
Just a machine—who cares if the boss bricks it
When it’s your precious ass against the wall?

“Equipment fault.” It’s such an easy out
When you’re not who those words are said about.

Any, poem from an animal

[(Anonymous)]

A poem from the perspective of a character’s pet, familiar, an animal that’s watching them, etc.

Re: Any, poem from an animal

[pitchblackrenegade]

I lie still
breaths slowing so she can breathe, too;
She closes her eyes as her fingers stroke my fur
Once panicked,
She is no more.

[(Anonymous)]

Any, Any, music

My Time at Portia, Gust & Ginger

[rebecca_selene]

The fire crackles in the hearth
as the storm rages from the north.
The snowflakes outside dance as if mocking
their imprisonment timed by the clock’s tick-tocking.

The music from the restored box
sounds to Gust like metal striking rocks.
But Ginger seems to move and sway,
and he’d promised himself he’d never again run away.

So he stands and steps and sighs
and extends his hand without looking at her eyes.
But he can feel the joy radiating off her skin,
and when he looks her face is all a grin.

He gently spins her round and round,
their steps together light on the ground.
And when the song ends she stops, breathless, shining,
so he bows low and says “My lady,” finding

that making a fool of himself he could never regret
when creating a moment she would never forget.

[minutia_r]

Any superhero canon (or original superheroes), any, with great power

A Fire Within (original superhero story), Livewire | Connor | ReVolt

[kiraly]

(hello yes I saw this neatly baited hook and I am biting)

From Hero to Villain(elle)

I left my cape behind, my life to gain
(I promised "birth to death" - it was a lie)
for with great power comes the greatest pain

No guilded, gleaming children can complain
enshrined in gold on pedestals so high
I left my cape behind, my life to gain

My world became an echoing refrain
"be better, best, no step can go awry"
and with great power comes the greatest pain

So I with lightning scorching through my veins
went groundward, sought my refuge from the sky
I left my cape behind, my life to gain

Authority will call my acts profane
a spark, once lit, must always amplify
but with great power comes the greatest pain

The golden child is crumpled, broken, slain
for me to live, my old self had to die
I left my cape behind, my life to gain
For with great power comes the greatest pain

[(Anonymous)]

Any Fandom, Villain or Antagonist/Hero or Protagonist Relationship, Obsession

In My Mind (A nonet)

[pitchblackrenegade]

I've spent years behind these prison walls
Plotting, planning, scheming, finding
A way to reunite with
the hero so blindly
Faithful... yes, it's you...
In my mind, just
You, you, you
I will
Find...

[(Anonymous)]

any, any, grieving the death of friend/lover/family/etc.

Critical Role, The Mighty Nein, Mollymauk's grave

[ibissal]

Wind whistles soft
through the roadside grass,
birdsong and grief mingling bittersweet.
Tears,
aching hearts,
a bloody cloak hanging from a stake;
a flag, perhaps,
to guide a Tiefling home.

[(Anonymous)]

any, any, a parent watching their child grow up and all the complicated feelings that comes with that

The Raven Tower, Mother Zezume & Mawat

[minutia_r]

I was your mother, as much as anyone.
There is no other woman who would claim you as a son.
Child silent as the wood, but not as wise,
Your father never could do wrong in your eyes.
So I remained behind, while you grew up and left,
Coming home to find what you called your birthright’s theft.
You fool! You don’t know the choice we faced.
To watch our fates unspool, and all of us disgraced.
I did what I thought best, and that’s no lie.
O child of my breast, why do you want to die?

[(Anonymous)]

any fandom, any characters, internalized homophobia

[(Anonymous)]

Do not touch him.

Think about touching him,
but only when you can't help it,
and think about
not touching him,
but not what it means
that it is, and is not,
always on your mind.

You can't have it and you
don't want it
even if you could.

You don't want it.

You don't
touch him and
you won't
mourn the life you could have had
when he is gone
because there is no life you could
have wanted
but the one you had,
the one where
your skin was always
just shy
of his.

[(Anonymous)]

Doctor Who, Any, Regeneration

It is the time the I must start again - Doctor Who Villanelle

[petra]

It is the time the I must start again,
Remake myself with loss and love and light.
I know not who I'll be, just what I've been.

When I shed this life, this face, this skin,
I'll wake as from a long and troubled night –
It is the time the I must start again

Though I may face the mirror with chagrin
Discover – still not ginger – future bright?
I know not who I'll be, just what I've been.

I'll sail the stars, my soul's only captain,
Though my hearts quail with most unwonted fright.
It is the time the I must start again,

And knowing that, and letting go, I'll grin,
And readjust to teeth a shade less white.
I know not who I'll be, just what I've been.

I fear death less than love; despair's a sin
And hope, though fleeting, never will be trite.
It is the time the I must start again
I know not who I'll be, just what I've been.

[(Anonymous)]

MCU - Loki (TV), Loki/Sylvie, Selfishness

[(Anonymous)]

Any Dungeons & Dragons Media, Any, Nat 20

[(Anonymous)]

Any Vampire Media or Original Work, Vampire/Human Relationship, Bloodlust

[hebethen]

Locked Tomb, Alecto, ashes

[hebethen]

Any fandom, any character or pairing, between the lines of want and need

The Wheel of Time, Moiraine/Siuan

[woodytwig]

What does the wheel offer?
A purpose, a direction?
An ultimatum.

It does not want, nor have desires.
Those are for humans,
people lucky in their ignorance.
The wheel heeds no need, it weaves
the lives of all to its pattern,
and cares not for the cost.

People, even Moiraine, are the ones with needs,
and wants and wishes.
Which one, that drives her tonight
to the inn where Siuan waits?
For a moment, just them,
hidden from all but the pattern.
Shared moments between the threads,
to love and want, and plan.
For a moment,
to feign a careless future.

Will the wheel remember their sacrifice?
Weave in their need for each other?
Their even greater desire
to see a prophecy fulfilled?

[hebethen]

Any type of game fandom, any character or pairing, neither victory nor defeat

[westiereads]

SK8, Tadashi/Ainosuke, wedding speech

prose poem diptych <3

[ferdiad]

ON DISOBEDIENCE

We both know that Eden is bliss. Eden is for the sheltered perfect, the wanting for nothing, the ideal, the safe, the precious. Eden is for the ignorant, but we were both wise long before the apple tree even took root. You were born so far above me and I stared up at the moon until you fell right down to the Earth, the cruel below where I lived, slithering along the dirt. Your little starry eyes were pitiful sparks when I found you. I picked you up and patched your bones. You strengthened your tiny fingers and grew your sharp spine. You soon towered above me and yet still, I, cast out of God’s light, found myself betraying you. It was easy to hurt you, despite it all. You, in His image. You, capitalized in your own godliness (godlessness). You, made of love and pain. You, master, with Your claws dug into the scruff of my neck— You. You. You. It’s all for You. I have never been myself; I have always been For You. I, Lucifer-Saboteur, was born to meet you. I am up to no good when it comes to You, and I will no longer hesitate to attack. Not for God, not for Eden, not for Love— for You, and only You, I will attack. I am a quiet reckoning. Eden grew so I could burn it down for You. I will crash through the barrier and carry you into Heaven.

Now, place Your hand on my head, and tell me: Attack.

---

ESTOCADA

My love is so big and so bright. My love is terrifying. Violent and unrelenting, dangerous, barbed, poison-tipped. But you. You with your jade eyes and your marble-hard patience, you with jaded years— you’ve never folded under it. Silence, you’ve given in droves. Frustration, you frustrate me to the ends of the Earth. I have pushed you to every cliff’s edge and I have yet to make you buckle, and that is why you’re stuck with me. I am the roses and the brambles from the garden, softly settled in your hair and pin-pricking holes into your pressed garments. I have burrowed into your skin and wriggled into your rib cage, just like you’ve wedged yourself in mine. I’m aiming between your shoulder blades. My veins are twisted up with yours. You’ve leaked into every scar I have; the love you’ve imprinted onto me is quiet, intrinsic. You’ve preserved my petals, preened my thorns. You’ve scorched my Earth, burned down my walls of ivy and broken all of my ribs. Forked tongue and fangs, howling at a frequency only I can hear— oh, you’re such a tempter.

I’m wringing your neck with this diamond band. I’m wrapping this leash around your pulmonary artery. You’ll never be free of me. You’ll see me, you’ll breathe me, until my love finally kills you. I will have the last laugh, the softest sigh, when I lay beside you in our casket.

[pitchblackrenegade]

Any fandom, planets/celestial bodies, love confession

a loose interpretation of a very creative prompt

[ibissal]

In the same brilliant way that
a dying star breathes life anew:
so too would I breathe for you;
so too would I end and birth galaxies with you.

Changing like seasons, like stars, like
galaxies, galaxies, galaxies...
through it all would I stay here with you.

And maybe I'm only a little old moon
rotating in circles around your vast shape:
inconsequential,
moored,
feeble,
dwarfed—

but the tides cannot lie where even stardust lips may.

[zabbers]

Perdido Street Station, The Weaver, Any

[x003]

Hades (game 2019), any, a second chance

Hades, Demeter & Persephone

[hebethen]

Dearest, stay. The equinox
will come again. A second chance
at second spring. I've never been
the sort for miracles, but
let them dazzle at this twice-paid debt,
a summer year to follow winter depths.
For reconciliation's sake, Chronos himself
will look away, dearest. Stay.

[kiraly]

Any, any, came back wrong

Witch King, Kai

[minutia_r]

The dead are a sacred gift.

We treat them with respect
We are called by their names
Their families become ours.

We don’t take them
Fresh from the slaughter
Wear them like cloaks
Plunder their memories.

I could protest—
It was an accident; I didn’t mean to!—
But I’m not so weak and sniveling.

No excuses.

My family has been butchered
Those that remain rightfully shun me
I can never go back beneath the earth.

Why shouldn’t I take
And take
And take?

[kiraly]

Queen's Thief, any, moon promises

[ibissal]

Critical Role, Jester (optional Jester/any), transness

[minutia_r]

Praise the Traveler!

Praise all those who cross
The lines that stuffy folk say “you must never”
Praise those who break the rules
Praise packages that surprise you when you look inside.

Praise the dick and balls
Scrawled in the margin of a stolen book
Praise soft and squishy breasts
Praise Polymorph
Praise Alter Self
Praise all who shift and change

Praise those who never settle down
Praise he and she and they and ey and it
Praise those who after a long journey
Come home, and claim it, saying: this is mine.

Amen.