nbassman

Bio- //-illogical //-graphic //-luminescent //-degradable //-tic, tic, tic

Prose Challenge of the Week #52: Pick a classic poem and re-write it, modernize it, and share your poetic interpretation of the piece. The winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria, this includes: fire, form, and creative edge. Number of reads, bookmarks, and shares will also be taken into consideration. The winner will receive $100 and will be placed first on our Spotlight page and the runner-up will receive 1000 coins. When sharing to social media, please use the hashtag #itslit

nbassman

95 reads

sappho #31 (poem of jealousy / φαίνεταί μοι)

That man is like a god

just sitting near you listening

close to your voice—delirium—

your laughter dripping mercury

between my ribs and into

my kinetic heart. You turn

to me and I am god and

godless, full of words and

voiceless as my tongue dies and

lithe flame ignites beneath

my skin, consuming light and

sound from senseless

senses sweat erupts and

shivers grip my shoulders I

am paler than the palest grass

with swelling tiny deaths.

Challenge

Prose Challenge of the Week #41: Write about change through chaos. The winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria, this includes: fire, form, and creative edge. Number of reads, bookmarks, and shares will also be taken into consideration. The winner will receive $100. When sharing to Twitter, please use the hashtag #ProseChallenge

nbassman

85 reads

waterfall

from the moment of your inception

you unmake yourself

into what you were made to be

behind the glimmering veil

you wreak lovely havoc

against your own foundation

carving out your own stomach

in the dry season

you’re a jut harsh and bare

most exposed in safety

peace does not become you

you are the sculptor and the sculpture

the marble, the chisel

and the dust that falls away

Challenge

Write a HAIKU using "red" in the first line, "white" in the second line, and "blue" in the third. Have fun! And tag me!

nbassman in Poetry & Free Verse

86 reads

i stared down, silent.

"don't whitewash this," you pleaded,

sweet as blueberries

Challenge

Prose Challenge of the Week #32: Write a piece of micropoetry about regret. The winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria, this includes: fire, form, and creative edge. Number of reads, bookmarks, and shares will also be taken into consideration. The winner will receive $100. When sharing to Twitter, please use the hashtag #ProseChallenge

nbassman

91 reads

reminders

when you asked me to recite

the reasons why you loved me

i thought it was to lift my self-esteem

but you were looking for reminders

Challenge

Prose Challenge of the Week #30: It's Independence Day and the aliens have invaded. You have one chance to save the planet by describing to them what Independence means. Share that speech with us. The winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria, this includes: fire, form, and creative edge. Number of reads, bookmarks, and shares will also be taken into consideration. The winner will receive $100. When sharing to Twitter, please use the hashtag #ProseChallenge

nbassman

142 reads

Mythos

Independence is the most sacred myth of our people. We worship the idea that we can transcend the needs of our bodies and souls, transcend each other, depend upon no one and nothing. To be Independent is to be unmoved, unfazed, uncontrolled. Independence is a form of power that relies upon disentanglement and disengagement.

We are a proud people. We are a harsh people. Many of us sacrifice our gentleness in pursuit of this elusive Independence. Empathy dies on the altar of Independence: the price for compromising our supposed escape from suffering.

I come to you today in the hopes that this myth has not polluted your culture as well. Learn from us, and do not follow our example. Do not believe yourselves so grand that you would stand to benefit from our destruction -- for the only true Independence is death. Let us instead revere harmony, solidarity, and the absolute vibrancy of life; our intertwined fates depend upon it.

#ProseChallenge #SciFi #exceptionalism #americanmythos #empathy