#ask me about poems

[qrowscant]

When a house is both hungry and awake, every room becomes a mouth. 

(poem is “ash”, by tracy k. smith)

[olliegolliegee]

there are like two or three topics that are fucking scary to rant about even on tumblr. like gahhhhhh what if im just whining. or i'm being really weird. or whatever it is is really weird.

[definitelynotshouting]

saw this post assigning devastating quotes to each life series members, got incredibly inspired, and decided to try my own hand at it but specifically with snippets of the poetry ive personally written throughout the years :] thoughts and musings on several of my choices will be under the cut if you're interested in that sorta thing!! Enjoy<3

Bdubs: "it's all so blue. so blue, so wet, so cold, but you've got a fire in your heart like a hundred rockets. you aren't hungry, but you could eat the dead, / cut your teeth on a rotting corpse."

BigB: "SOMETHING HAS FRACTURED HERE AND IT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. EACH DAY YOU WILL CHASE THE FAULT LINES LOOKING FOR A BRIDGE ONLY TO FIND IT ALREADY BURNT."

Etho: "I am above myself, hovering, pressing pale fingers into the dull bruise of yesterday to test its lingering ache. Is this all that's left?"

Gem: "what are gods if not the mothers of our own inventions. we are the avatars of violence and love and hope and fear in equal measure."

Scar: "I think I want to live. I know one day, I must die. In the cosmic wheel of fortune, I am a gamble in the making, gentle breath washing a little luck over the dice."

Grian: "Within the shape of my clawed fingers are knives: scrabbled dirt; scarlet lines; the escape route / Between a fence and / Tall grasses."

Impulse: "Life's bitter, stilted offering / Is that every person we meet / Will one day become a perfect stranger."

Martyn: "Dangerous beasts must earn / Their survival. / You are no different than a knife / In the hands of murderers."

Lizzie: "When I think of the egg-tooth, / I revel in purple glass; the lightning; the shatter; the knife-slip between / Death, and a wake."

Mumbo: "This is your life now, / Found in the cracks and crevices, scraps pried between laughter and reckless abandon."

Pearl: "I am begging, raw in the face of absolution— do not hate me. Please, keep watering me in your garden, / Despite how closely my heart resembles a weed."

Ren: "— and sometimes hearts are forged in violence /— and sometimes blood cannot form scabs / — and sometimes wounds carry half-hearted sutures / — and we are all but living fragments / —"

Skizz: "Just a little longer. Please. / There is light pooling at the bottom of the flower vase."

Scott: "I can only hope that with the rising of the dawn / I will pass through darkness and return to day, / Where I am a solar ray blinding— teeth and claws sharpened, the stretch of my skin carrying gold / Above the dull, dug out earth"

Joel: "Tamed by nothing, no one, I lose myself to the shattered chains; / Yes, there is a loss."

Jimmy: "for year after bloody year, i clung to life with aching fingernails, grasped at every straw, took every scrap of double-barrelled hope and shot myself in the chest with it."

Tango: "every time you claw yourself from the ashes you insist it will never happen again. every time you reach the breaking point, it happens a little bit faster."

Cleo: "It's about catharsis, not letting go. / Because a part of me wants to hold this, / A swelling hurt deeper than tides, / Hotter than stars. The kind of rage / A mother might raise against her own child."

I dont share my poetry on here very often, partially because it tends to end up coming from a very personal part of me, but since this was actually a lot of fun maybe i'll start posting my poems more often here :]] i think what i found most interesting about this exercise was that as i scrolled my notes app and cherry-picked quotes for each character, it felt like the ones i chose naturally became part of a larger conversation-- as if the characters were speaking to me through my own words about their lowest points, about their ultimate views on the games filtered through the lens of a red life.

It felt enlightening; i dont often feel like im speaking to characters or being informed about their plots/preferences, etc. the way many other writers discuss in workshops or casually online, but by the end of this exercise i felt like i just... understood them, better than i had before. There's something inexplicable about reading your own words and consciously finding ways to apply them in a way that encapsulates them down to a character's core that just... truly highlights the specific qualities that resonate most with you. And i think stumbling upon that organically was a very vivid and incredible experience for me

Admittedly, i did struggle on Scott, Ren, and Etho a lot-- im not as familiar with them as characters, and for a while i couldn't quite pinpoint what exact themes they tend to carry with them throughout all their life seasons. But when i started to really look at everyone's quotes as a whole, i realized they felt like a story, like the response to a question-- as if i was being TOLD what they felt and how, and that that was how i needed to frame the rest of my selections. So Scott's ended up being about control, and the desperate hanging onto of it; Ren's is about the acceptance and bitterness of what he cannot change; Etho's is a quiet resignation rounded out with softer disbelief. The more i looked at these choices, the more they felt correct to me-- and while i still think i have a ways to go before i fully understand these characters, i feel like this has helped me a lot with that ultimate goal :]

Of all these poetry snippets, though, i think Scar, Skizz, and Joel's are my absolute favorites. Skizz's poem is actually the whole poem in its entirety (as is Cleo's, funnily enough)-- it's a short, very simple poem that is incredibly close to my heart for many reasons, but the main one being because it was written at one of my lowest points a few years back. Its about clawing for hope when there isnt any, and finding even the smallest of beautiful things to hold onto, and begging yourself to keep holding onto that at any cost. The pure, clean beauty of watching light refract through a vase of flowers, and knowing that sometimes, that's all there is to live for-- I felt like that really spoke to Skizz's life series character as a whole: finding the beauty in every tiny thing, no matter how small, and scrabbling for more time to appreciate it.

Scar's snippet comes from a much longer poem of mine about the difficulty of reconciling the idea of a future when you havent had to think of one before (incidentally, Etho's snippet comes from this poem as well). I think out of everyone, this quote encapsulates him the best; i like how it subtly references that inner well of vivacity he draws from that many other characters struggle to find, and how that in turn ties in with the lore that he never died a final death during Secret Life. And i love how it simultaneously manages to encompass the way he utilizes the social game in each season as well-- Scar's an incredibly intelligent social player, and i think the imagery of a gambler breathing their luck over the dice as they cast it, and as he casts himself at others for alliances and enemies, truly does fit him.

As for Joel, the full poem his quote comes from is one im particularly proud of, especially for its final lines. I think, quite honestly, i can let this poem stand for itself in its entirety:

They say transformation is letting the light in, But in my mind it's a violence. A coarseness, a fracturing, the bloody vowels between a scream And a howl. How do you transform without killing yourself? When I am a lion, my hands and feet Grow claws; my teeth sharpen. No longer do I spark— I ignite. Tamed by nothing, no one, I lose myself to the shattered chains; Yes, there is a loss. To transform is to leave behind a body And eat its still-breathing corpse.

I find myself referencing this poem a lot even in my daily life-- as longterm readers of mine already know, one of my favorite themes is that of replacing yourself and permanent transformation. This poem really is just about how changing, in any shape or form, alters you forever; how you can look back on yourself from even just a few months ago and feel like a completely different person despite remaining the same. Connecting it with Joel's character, and how he acts during his red lives in each season, was a natural and intuitive progression once i really sat and thought about it.

Alright thats enough yapping from me 😂😂😂 im not used to writing meta nor delving into my poetry on here, so this was a bit of an experimental post for me. If youve read up until this point, i both applaud your patience and really hope you enjoyed this window into my personal works and thoughts on them :]] cheers, and thanks to @/chipperchemical the op of the original post for inspiring me!!!❤️❤️❤️

[crossbackpoke-check]

blessed be (lorscher bienensegen) | telling the bees (wiþ ymbe)

"Bees" [remixed, abridged], Claudia Emerson // "Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now" [remixed. abridged], Matthew Olzmann // "Letter to my Great, Great Grandchild" [remixed, abridged], J.P. Grasser | Len Redkole, Nina Weiss, Brian Babineau, Christian Peterson, Mitchell Leff, Dave Isaac, Megan DeRuchie

[anotherpapercut]

the democrats long term plan cannot just be "win every election for the next several decades" without doing literally anything at all to secure votes and protect voting rights. it is shocking to me how many of y'all just play along with this and blame VOTERS instead of the people who have power and refuse to even pretend to use it

[blaithnne]

You’re 12 years old the first time your father leaves. You’re 26 years old when he comes back. You’re 6 years old and your parents adore you, you’re 10 years old and they hate each other more. You’re 13 years old and your mother moves you out to the wilderness, packed into the back of her rusty little trabant-six-oh-something. You’re 13 years old and you have a new room, but you miss your old one. You’re 14 years old and you still haven’t gotten your period, your mother says it’s nothing, but you think she's lying. You’re 15 years old when your father comes back, and he loves your sister more than you. You’re 15 years old and you just want him to love you. You’re 15 years old and he tucks you into bed, kisses your forehead, and leaves before you wake up. You’re 16 years old and you know he doesn’t want you, you know he never did. You’re 12 years old and your parents won’t stop fighting, you’re 13 years old and you miss the noise. You’re 12 years old and you want to run away. You’re 12 years old and your father does. You’re 11 years old and you have a crush on the boy next to you at the station, and he hands you a cigarette and makes you feel special. You’re 13 years old when your mother finds out and convinces you to quit. You’re 16 years old when your father asks you to buy him a pack of cigarettes, and he doesn’t come back to smoke them himself. You;re 16 years old and you can’t bring yourself to let them go to waste. You’re 26 years old and you only smoke once a week, but you know you’ll never break the habit now. You’re 12 years old when your father runs away, you decide to do the same. You’re 12 years old when your mother tells you she’s pregnant. You’re 13 years old when your little sister is born, and you can’t believe there was ever a world without her in it. You’re 16 years old and you give her your favourite scarf, you’re 26 years old and she still won’t give it back. You’re 23 years old and you’re back in the city, you have a new room but you miss your old one. You’re 14 years old and you take the train back and forth from Trolberg every weekend on a supply run, you feel important, needed, special. You’re 16 years old when you have your first kiss, 17 years old when you have your first break up. You’re 19 years old when you find out you’ll never have children, you’re 26 years old when you have your first. You’re 23 years old when you meet the love of your life, still 23 the first time she kisses you. You’re 25 years old when you decide you’re going to marry her. You’re 23 years old when you meet the best man at your wedding. You’re 25 years old when you buy your own house, and you don’t miss your old room, you’re not alone in this bed. You’re 23 years old and your girlfriend lives in a van, you’re 26 years old and now she lives with you. You’re 25 years and your little sister’s afraid you’re leaving her, you’re 26 years old and you’ve converted your attic to a bedroom for when she sleeps over. You’re 25 years old when you open a cafe. You’re 25 years old and your mother is your first customer. You’re 26 years old and your son calls you mum. You’re 26 years old and sometimes he calls you dad. You’re 12 years old and you think your life is over, you’re 26 years old and it’s only just begun. You’re 12 years old and your father doesn’t want you. You’re 26 years old and he changes his mind, but you don’t need him anymore. You never really did.

[aurae-rori]

in another universe, i kissed your freckles like they were stars and unclothed you at the altar like you were my god. in this one, my hands are stained with your blood and i carved out every inch of your skin to find nothing inside. a hollow deity, and a blind follower who carried out his own demise.

[vulpinesaint]

I really like your writing style. Do you have any literature you can share that you use as inspo?

going to start by disclaiming that from a specifically stylistic approach, i don't know if i have any writers that are distinctly similar. i do have writers that i find inspiring, though! if none of these are helpful for style, i hope they can inspire you in the same way that they make me aspire to achieve fantastic things with my writing :) i am always a poet first and foremost, whether it's poetry or prose (which is often just poetry hiding in a longer form), so most of my recommendations are poems; i have a few books at the end, though, just in case. everything that i link here should be free to access!

i am like 90% sure that anyone seeing this will already know that i keep all my poetry over at @trickstersaint, but just in case you're coming direct from a quiz, that's the place to read more of my writing! now. onto my list of a bunch of other trans poets with tumblr platforms 🖤

keaton st. james (@boykeats), i think, was the first modern poet that i really found and loved. stumbling across some of his dictionary poems as a younger poet was so revolutionary to me, and reading his poetry changed the way that i thought about and approached poetry as a whole. inspiration in the way of seeing the things that someone can do with poetry. opening up all the limits. this is what every good poem will do for you a little bit, i think, but keaton st. james is always my first recommendation for a modern poet. highly recommend his collections growth and light (i personally really love light. guy who is normal about religion voice) and rural boys watch the apocalypse is to me what that one richard siken poem about being in a car with a beautiful boy is to everyone else haha

other poets whose work i really enjoy and admire include silas denver melvin (@sweatermuppet) and dante émile (@orpheuslament)! recommending the poems an impractical marvel and dioscuri from them, respectively. sweatermuppet also has a full collection called grit, and orpheuslament has one called misplaced organs and various saints (this particular one isn't free but linking it here!) :)

my favorite poem since high school has been gravity by maura o'connor. life-changing. that poem is just like me for real.

for more of a narrative style, if you've read + liked my piece aromanticism, i definitely recommend with those we love alive by porpentine! really gorgeous twine piece with a kind of mysticism to it that could definitely tie back into the kind of stuff you'd see in my little quizzes too :)

if you're looking for actual literature-as-in-books, i can point you towards our wives under the sea by julia armfield and white is for witching by helen oyeyemi. both are novels that i've enjoyed for their kind of eclectic and poetic writing recently! i will also take any chance to recommend my favorite book, which is the hours by michael cunningham; regardless of similarity or inspiration, i find the writing of this book gorgeous and heartbreaking and i think it scrapes at the human condition in a way that draws blood. gently. if you know what i mean.

i hope this was helpful! i constantly feel as if i don't read enough poetry so if anyone has any suggestions they want to give me. i am more than happy to hear them <3 happy reading everybody!

[cottaegecore]

lucy ives

[hersurvival]

And I poured,

Spoke of how it hurt.

And he kissed me,

All over.

[not-poignant]

Do you have any advice for writers looking to work on their sentence structure? I find myself repeating the same kind of sentence over and over, finding it challenging to diversify and keep flow. No worries if you don't feel like answering.

Hi anon!

So I would say the main thing is to find examples of how you want to be doing your sentences. Like, writers who use varying sentence lengths in their writing.

Then, look at one of your own paragraphs where everything is the same length, and practice shortening or lengthening some of those sentences. If you're already writing, you have examples of your own you can practice rewriting.

You can start experiencing firsthand that longer sentences can feel like a run-on thought, or someone spiralling out of control, or feel like infodumping etc. Short sentences can feel like a hard stop, making a point, increasing pacing.

Not all paragraphs call for highly variable sentences. But it does help to have variety!

Recognising that you are writing the same kind of sentence is honestly a huge part of the battle, and the fact that you're noticing means you're already probably trying to think of ways to solve it. From there, it's finding the examples that you most want to emulate.

Practice reading those sentences aloud. How does it feel to read different sentence structures / lengths? And don't forget to look at music, which is a good example of changing things up.

The thing to keep in mind as well is that if your writing disrupts flow, sometimes that's deliberate! A one word sentence to make a reader pay attention at that sudden 'O.O' moment, or a really long sentence to make a reader feel overwhelmed and like they're spiralling down with a character, etc. means you can vary your flow. Things shouldn't feel 'constant and the same.'

Sometimes it can help to think about what you're wanting your readers to be feeling in the moment. If it's intense and choppy, you probably want faster sentences and less attention to specific detail, like a character who can't take everything in, you might focus more on physical sensations, like a heart thundering, etc. If it's languid and relaxed, you might have longer sentences, and more descriptive prose.

A lot of the time the sentences and structures we use play into how we want a reader to feel, and how the experience of reading achieves that.

You can get on the ground experience with that by going back over your favourite things that you've read by other authors - whether that's fanfiction, or webtoons, or novels etc. Think about how the scene is being delivered to you. Sit down with the source text and think 'well this made me feel really excited, what sentences / what was happening here to cause that?' or 'this section felt really slow, why did this feel really slow?' Sometimes you might not know at first, other times you'll know straight away!

Sometimes you'll also see places like 'I'm pretty sure the author wanted me to feel this way during this scene, but instead I felt like *this* - I wonder why it was different and what created that in the writing.'

Also, consider exploring the wonderful world of good poetry. Poets are the masters of sentence structures and fragments, and using very few to create very big feelings and images. It doesn't hurt to start exploring some poetry basics to see the masters at work, and I really do feel like studying and writing poetry myself really helped my prose a ton.

[hearty-an0n]

The proof that i’m reliable during an emergency.

[evannhansensletters]

I never hoped for love,

My heart never cared for affection,

I never dreamed of kindness,

Never longed for gentleness,

I never longed for soft touches,

And never yearned for compassion.

I never felt a desire,

Never yearned to be wanted,

Never longed to be held,

Or to be caressed,

I never wanted the bliss of affection,

Never dreamed of warmth and comfort.

I have only ever lived in constant pain and fear, Forever tortured by the endless weight of self-hatred.

I have only ever known loneliness.

No, I never hoped for love.

Because, what was the point of waiting for something I already knew would never arrive.

No one ever wanted me,

No one ever cared,

And no one ever will.

Okay I’m going to bed now,,

[indecisive-dizzy]

Bestie bestie

Regarding your Latter x Eddie ideas, how do you think Eddie would fall for Latter?

This is a toughy, but only bc I don't know how to explain it! Including Frank bc purple and yellow poly <3

Eddie falls in love with Latter the same way he falls in love with Frank, in a way. Of course there's differences, they're different people after all! But what I'm focusing on is: Frank sees Eddie, Latter listens. (not saying Frank doesn't listen to him, trying to be poetic lol)

Latter is genuinely interested in the things Eddie has to say, appreciates and praises how hardworking he is even if he's not there to see it, and encourages his creativity! Even if he's not there in person, Eddie knows Latter cares.

Eddie knows Frank cares through actions. Frank brings him a glass of water, saves him from the beetle, and offers him an umbrella. Frank sees the hard work Latter hears about and acts. While Latter will verbally acknowledge and praise him for it over the phone or in a letter.

Eddie Realizes he's fallen for Latter when he finds himself rereading the suddenly not so subtle love poems and day dreaming. Eddie's not oblivious to love, he knows when he's in love and it hits him like truck! Then like two trucks when he realizes those feelings also apply to Frank!

Latter and Frank fall first, Eddie falls harder twice over <3

Bonus! Pet names Latter calls Eddie <3

My Radiance

Sunshine

My Sweet Summer's Day (very sappy, gets Eddie good)

[poems-of-the-anentomologist]

suffocating 

I’m doing the dishes again

Staring into the water

At that boy

How can I call myself a girl when the face that stares back

Is just another random boy

You’d see playing on a subrban corner

My name isn’t my name

People don’t call me by my name

I’ve been cut off

From everyone

If I died tonight

Nobody would notice

Just another kid

Just another teen suicide

It’s better than the alternative

To suffocate in this form

Would be preferable

To living in a world where nobody sees me

It’s better than the alternative

[canisalbus]

Hi um, I know you're cool with fanart, but would fanfic of Vasco and Machete be okay and if so can we tag you when we finish it? 👉👈 Weeeeee... kinda wanna write like a BILLION words about these two from seeing all your art and canon about them.

-Stars system

Absolutely! I love seeing other people's interpretations of Vasco and Machete and I'd consider it an honor if they inspired you enough to want to write something about them. If you do, tag me or dm me a link please, I wouldn't want to miss it.