Meet Me In A Dream Of This Hard Land

[mmerriam]

I have taken down my previous post.

I try to be a person who doesn't throw gasoline onto raging fires. It's not professional.

So I've deleted it, but I will post this part of it here, because it is true:

Watching the sfwa community is like watching a 100 car banana train derail and roll down a hill in slow motion as it inexplicably bursts into flames and smashes on the rocks below only to be swallowed up by the rising tide.

If that community was suppose to help SFWA reach out to neo-pros and semi-pros and explain why they should join, it's done pretty much the opposite from where I'm sitting.

Enough said.

It's poetry month. Here you go:

Nobody lives here anymore
But once...
Children's voices flew through the yard
Like rain swept lightning.
Laundry fluttered in the afternoon air
Painting a thousand butterflies of cloth
Dogs barked and the lawn was mowed
The weathered boards were merrily painted
A bright yellow, so bright
Sunflowers cringed and were shamed.
Roses burst apart beside the porch
To show their faces to the world.
People lived and loved here
And quickened the house with spirit
Voices sang songs of hope and despair
And hate and love and now.
The world was good in this place
Back before
Weeds and rats and time and memory
Claimed it for their own.

Comments

[dragonmyst.livejournal.com]

I agree. I'm convinced I don't want to join em.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Someone would have to give me a pretty compelling reason to join at this point.

[wordswoman.livejournal.com]

Lovely poem...bittersweet and beautiful.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I wrote that about 20 years ago, back when I worked on the lit fic and poetry side of the fences. None of the fic survives, but some of the poetry was good enough make it in lit journals.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask who wrote the poem.

Awesome, Michael. You are a very good poet. :)

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Thank you.