Work Text:
Twenty Short Poems For A First Fantasy
i
Where are you now
Halfway between gutter and fame?
A thief, a mage, revolutionary, runaway
your home is nowhere, your home is everywhere
A lone but not alone,
Wandering.
No hero, but worthy nonetheless
Where will this road take you next?
ii
A boy came to you
In feather and wings and smoke
You made him blood
You see all
Miss nothing
The ages speak to you
And you talk back.
iii
What are you?
A real hero with a false name
A false lineage
A false life, a real father
Around you stand the pieces to destiny
In your hands, you begin the game
To unlock your past
Your lineage
Your role in this all
iv
you, a king
A crown upon your head
An empire at your feet
But you wave away such dreams
For they are beneath you.
v
you once had purpose
He gave meaning back to you
young man, lord of swords
vi
point
aim
fire
point
aim
fire.
pain dulls an itchy trigger finger
revenge sharpens it
And your past is a whetstone the size of a continent.
And you have time.
and anger enough.
vii
a love forbidden
they threw you out, disgraced
not for your actions
not for your lack of valour
but for love
freely given, hesitantly taken
for love
you lay in the dirt, letting life wash you
Like a pebble in the current
down and out
a hand reached out
Pulled you to shore
And gave you love, open and free
a sword
a life together.
valour, actions,
All for the crownless queen
viii
a crown
rent in two.
between a fool
who plays soldier
and a boy.
who plays peacemaker
a kingdom torn to its seams
for selfish means
All for a crown
And the head it sits on.
ix
crow
carrion
crow
disaster
crow
assassin
crow
merciless
crow
father
crow
disowner
crow
puppet
crow
master
Cave.
x
ah,
What is a rose
by any name as sweet
by any thorn as deadly
by any means
a blue rose
of pain
it blooms
it withers, and withers
but you endure
you
alone.
you dream
and you dream of him in blue roses
in red.
xi
paint them red
for red is such a beautiful colour
it brings out your eyes so nicely
brings out your screams so beautifully
I do so love the way it looks on my clothes.
Such a shame
You won’t be able to admire it.
darted eyes
lover mine.
xii
he sees you
haloed in gold
lying there
And he cannot get you out of his head
no matter how he tries.
no matter the distance between you
And birds of a feather
so often find each other.
xiii
what an age to live in
where a boy is hunted by his brother
and the empire falls
for a family’s fault
Not on your watch
not on my life.
I am old
but I have one role yet to play
xiv
Tricking the trickster is a tricky art
Gaming the gamer harder
goddess of luck am I, you fool
all games call me master.
you may have burnt my shrines
you may have cursed my name
but ideas are harder to kill
and I too wild to tame.
xv
a bird without song has other uses
quiet, drab, Unnoticed
and you slip
from place to place
like a shadow.
who needs song when you are so good
as using theirs against them?
xvi
you are an egg
a good egg?
a bad egg?
Who cares!
You’re an egg!
xvii
A boy
A girl
A boy who wants to forget everything
A girl who can’t forget anything
what an odd couple they make
the heroic unheroic
not a mere cog in a plan
but the wrench that stops them dead
xviii
you are a sword
A scots-sword
Though you don’t know where Scotland is
And you’ve never been
Ae there quests?
In Scotland?
Ye don’t know
And ye don’t care
For you are a scots-sword
tho’ ye never been.
xix
Silly Tam,
Quests are for kids.
xx
HWAET
how we have heard of the might of kings
D6, roll three times. 5s or above hit.
for, when April, with its showers sweet
Up Up
Down down
Left Right
Left Right
Select
Start
the cruellest month
movement is 6 inches, combat radius is 1 inch from the model’s base.
alack, alack
A.
C stick down.
C stick up
A
C stick down
C stick up
I wonder
IT befell in the days
What would happen
D4 Damage.
score and five years upon the journey of my life
if I were to write a comic…wherein all my friends
Arms, and the man who
were characters in a JRPG
C’mon newcomer. Follow me
Would people read it
the impossible
would people want to read it
press start
Yes.
is possible
Five D6s, remove the lowest
tonight
A fantasy
First
A First Fantasy.