Skip to main content

Swan Maiden?!?

 Sharing with The Sunday Muse #126.



Swan maiden? First it was goose girl,
child of the village who tumbles getting water,
lost in the dark forest hanging over the gate,
Born under a sign exploding over castle
Built a hundred years ago
And now? The swans are returning
Midnight-black and friendly as pigeons!
So I'm the swan maiden, 
the candle in the mine,
the peasantry's reparative marriage.
A flock of black swans follows me
Even in eider-white, 
Even when I'm barely taller
Than a heraldic wingspan.
Go find your fixes elsewhere!
Build a girl from tinker's bits
Or from the ripped aprons
Or from the forest's leaves!
I'll march this flock back to the stars
Before we fill the castle's pillows
With dreaming, darkwing down.

Okay. It's been a weird week. So far, I've had nightmares about having to shower in WalMart, my brother turning me into the cops for a joke so many times that the cops decided to go ahead and arrest me, and various other stressful situations. My brain is stressed about something and it wants me to be sure to know that we're stressed. Message received. Hope you're having a better week, good weather, periods of calmness, and the writing is going well. I may or may not be sitting here with a dog in my lap, watching the rain fall and waiting for my brain to leap out of a dark corner and attack. 

-- Chrissa 

Comments

  1. This poem swirled me into a magical fairy tale Chrissa and those last lines are captivating!! I can relate to your stressful dreams. I know how exhausting that can be. Wishing you a peaceful week ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The poem itself is very dreamlike, full of shifts and waves, and the swans are the perfect vehicle for it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice one Chrissa.
    Happy Sunday

    Much💛love

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dream or fairy tale - it doesn't matter, it's a wonderful escape into imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are an amazing "in your head" creative writer! This is pure evidence, Chrissa. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Have you had the COVID? We had shots and a booster but we still got it. Before that I could never remember my dreams, we all dream for the mind to sort things of the day out, but most aren't remembered. Now I am remembering my dreams. I like dreams but most I never remembered. Also I can't smell or taste and I forget names, names of places and people.
    ..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Once Upon a Future Past

  Sharing with The Sunday Muse #204 . It's too far in the afternoon, I thought but evening ran behind me dragons, demons, and the sleeping world; afraid to turn, to wake me. Power needs its horror stories, its ghosts. It's too far in the afternoon, I thought but evening followed close; a fantasy of goodness, where the gold is always covering bones. Power needs its fairy tales, its witches. It's too far in the afternoon, I thought but evening treads my hem, like an army from the dragon's teeth and all the lies therein. -- Chrissa

Not Slacking, Just Writing

 So. My actual screensaver called me out today. Have I been writing much poetry? Is the doggerel below P O E T R Y? Yeah, probably not. However. The real story is that I'm working my way through a few stories for Camp NaNoWriMo. At almost halfway through the month, I'm still not sure what will end up under the pen on a day-by-day basis but I've added to several.  My reading has been similar. Lots of initial chapters or initial handful of chapters but very, very few final chapters completed. I'm thinking about taking a day and just clearing out my zine basket. Summer heat settled in early, so I haven't been doing any outdoor reading, but zines are pretty quick and I should be able to finish several while the squirrels raid the birdseed. :)  Hope you're having a good writing/reading summer! It must have been a movie, black and white, Watched when I was younger, maybe sick, Glancing between Mom cleaning and the screen. A father and his daughter in a lighthouse New ...

Fearsome by Survival

  Sharing today with T he Sunday Muse #189 , where Shay is hosting. Come and read and share a piece! On a web-white, wool-quiet morning I found the girl our stories gave us The one who survived She wore the meadow, carded and sewn Long since burned for field Still, she knew me Her stories named me fierce, feral She might have feared  The one who devours Neither of us spoke, patient at morning Breath, warmth, silence Innocent of power We know the stories kill us both We know that we become Fearsome by survival Hello and welcome. It's 67 degrees outside this morning and a warm December weekend might seem like the kind of thing that would prevent me from following through on a plan to hibernate with a good book for the rest of the weekend...but it's the doomscrolling that's run down the charge on my phone that's preventing me from doing that. Also, I may have developed an intolerance to long stretches of quiet during the past year and a half.  Anyway. Looking forward to r...