Poem idea

This one’s more of a rant than a poem

20:94

I don’t know how

they’re getting in,

he smiled, all good natured.

They smirked back, glints

of victory and deceit

claiming the street and

its residents. No one

new was allowed to

settle here, who didn’t

do what they wanted,

who didn’t thank them

for their inconsideration.

Their loud arguments,

music, banging is the

rhythm of existence. If

you don’t praise it, you

are Satan. Try and protect

yourself and have a

brick through your dreams,

hope, security.

I don’t know how

they’re getting in.

They’ll always get in.

You cannot win.

Accept it,

and perish.

Poem idea

20:93

Tentative roots being placed

with every brush stroke.

There is resistance, at

first, from a house already

abandoned before. Backlash

is harsh, the hand shakes

and pauses for months

and months. A large

intake holds our world

in place, before a

defiant release shakes

it awake and renews

determination. The paint

is thicker, the root

stretching into the

foundation, wrapping

around and fusing their

cores together. It’s now

receptive to influence,

interior changing, atmosphere

of peace as a house becomes

a home once more.

Perhaps, this time, the

core will stay forever.

Poem ideas

20:91

I’ll do nothing,

because I can’t decide.

Too many choices

and they’re building up,

threatening to rise

and rise and

expose me, for

the fraud and

half-assed dedication

I have to my life,

my ideas.

I’ll choose nothing.

I am nothing.

20:92

Bees though my window

and floor, a route

they forge ahead, even

when the glass bars

their way. Dedication

to work, then die, for

a queen that dies

with them.

Do they ever feel

joy for life?

Do they know they’re one

death away

from extinction?

Poem idea

20:90

I have two great loves.

Both can never know the other,

so I keep them separate,

like a love affair.

I’m not sure which is which.

One is a passion throughout

my life, sometimes

all-consuming, second-to-

none…

Sometimes barely present,

any attempts to spark

fizz out and leave

only frustration.

The other came later,

unbreakable and endless

comfort. My world.

They met once, my

two loves, crossing paths

to please me. Constant

watched Passion, no

understanding, no connection,

only giving me a

humouring smile and

leaving us alone.

Passion uses Comfort,

sometimes with anger,

disappointment, love…

and endless need.

Always need.

If Comfort understood

Passion, would they

know me better? Or

is it meant to be that

only Passion knows me

fully, but never

stays by my side

to offer forever.

No one can know me

fully, even myself.

So I keep them separate,

like a love affair.

Poetry Readings on Youtube

So, I’ve been avoiding this for weeks because I am not a confident person, but I know this is something I need to start focusing on. When I just finished uni about ten years ago I was confident enough to go to readings and open-mic nights and read my work. I was nervous, and I didn’t read well, but I did it, and that was a big deal for me. The latest public reading I’ve done was a speech at my wedding nearly two years ago.

So to get better and more confident at reading my work, I’m going to start uploading poetry reading videos on Youtube. The quality won’t be great, but it’s something I need to get used to doing. When the world is normal again and I’m doing my masters course I’ll try attend open-mic nights too (if it doesn’t clash with my night job).

Eventually I want to start experimenting with music to accompany the readings, to help research my poetry and music idea.

So forgive the quality and my fourlough appearance, but if anyone has any helpful tips on reciting better, or maybe even suggestions for a good-quality webcam, please let me know.

Thoughts on Serena Valentino’s Poor Unfortunate Souls: A Tale of the Sea Witch, Villain Tales

I didn’t realise this was the third book in the series, so some of the content was a little confusing. The Odd Sisters storyline isn’t originally a fairy tale though, so I’m not going to comment on it and just focus on Ursula’s part.

            The Villain Tales series looks at the motivation and backstory of Disney villains, making them more sympathetic and relatable. In this book, Ursula is Triton’s sister. Their parents wanted them to rule together, putting half their power in Triton’s trident, and the other half in Ursula’s necklace. However, Triton abandoned Ursula when she was very young due to her preferred monstrous appearance. She had no memory of her family and was found by a human fisherman who raised her as his own daughter. When her power began to manifest the humans of the village tried to kill her. Her human father stood in their way, getting torn to pieces so she could escape.

            Ursula returned to the village when she was older, getting revenge by turning all the humans into sea creatures. Triton then appeared, claiming he was her brother and that she’d been lost to their family at a young age. She lives in Atlantis, but soon realises Triton only wants to prove she’s unworthy of the throne or kill her. He repeatedly calls her an ugly monster and insists she appears as a merperson rather than her true form. The only one kind to her is Triton’s wife.

            The book doesn’t say why Ursula is banished, which is disappointing. All we know is Triton rejects Ursula’s true nature, he believed her human father deserved to die just for being human. Ursula hates Triton mostly for the way he views her human father, but also for denying her a family and her place on the throne. Her hate for him consumes her, driving all her motivations to work against him.

            In the end her hate is her downfall. She breaks her contract with Ariel by trying to kill her and Eric, even when she’s already had her revenge over Triton. The idea that anyone could be happy when she’s suffered is too much, and she breaks her own rules.

            The book was short, but I liked the background it explored. I would have loved to have seen more scenes of Ursula in the past, when she was in Atlantis, rather than just hearing about it. But in a way this will motivate me more to write my own version to explore it further.

Reference:

Valention, Serina. (2018) Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch, Villain Tales, Autumn Publishing, Disney Enterprises.

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