death

Wintry night

Submitted by Christa on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 21:01
The world looked wild
This late at night
Trees darkly bleak
Against all that white
Frigid air stops
As though God hit pause
No sound comes through
This bitter Oz

No animal
Civilized or wild
Stirs the night
Opaquely bright
All in all, how strange!
What creatures could exist?
In this field so light
In this dead of night

Both life and death
Must wait for dawn
To break the song
I step back in
To the warmth of home
Cozy orange, a beacon

Den Vakre En/The Beautiful One

Submitted by Julie on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 01:58
Den Vakre En
The Beautiful One

Warded against
Weapons of foes
All swore the oath
Save mistletoe

Loki, disguised,
Learned of the plant
The bane fateful
To cause Balder’s death

Loki, the sly,
Laughing guided
Blind Hœnir’s dart
Heedlessly thrown

“Where did it fall?”
“Where did it land?”
Asgard fell silent
Aghast by fate

Mistletoe’s kiss
Murdered the god
Odin’s fair son
Asgard’s most loved

Balder the fair

River

Submitted by Julie on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 14:33

Step into the river.

Step into eternity.

Water licks about my shoulders, tugging at my hair so it swirls about me like water weeds. I take one step, then another. Lopsided pebbles wiggle under my bare feet, threatening to push my feet away. Fish peer out from underneath the overhanging banks. One brushes against my legs, leaving only ripples to show its passage.

The Nonsense Poet, 16-20

Submitted by Anna on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 21:58

16.
Two people dance and sway in the night
The boy tells the girl to look in his eyes
In his arms, she trembles and tries not cry
She knows it’s the last night they’ll have in this life
-so close-
The girl watches this dream, wonders who they are
Then she sees herself, and he’s holding her heart
She never knew how much pain it would bring them to part
Not ‘til the moment under the stars…

17.
Mercy so relentless it died a criminal’s death
Love so jealous it overcame every rival for her heart

Fever

Submitted by Julie on Sun, 01/17/2010 - 22:02

Fever

Once a bully threw a rock at me, wrapped in just enough snow to disguise its true nature.  Now I feel the reverse of that pain, with my loose skin barely holding the burning embers of my body together. I swallow screams down my parched throat, knowing each tear on my cheek stabs my mother’s heart like a dagger.

Images of dancing flames overlay my vision, sending up wisps of phantom smoke. A voice calls my name.

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