Nice Poetry

Strange / interesting / terrible poetry from across the internet

[nicepoetry]

My shoulders curve like elbows in a nutshell encasement

I searched hard all over the internet, but I just couldn’t find another Dark Souls poem that could stand up the work of Jess Jenkins. So I’m posting another of her poems today.

This poem was written specifically about Dark Souls, but it could really apply to any video game. It’s about the strangely poignant experience of controlling a projection of yourself. Of exploring a fantastical world with nothing but finger flicks and button presses. Of sitting in mundanity and watching yourself (or at least a version of yourself) do something amazing. As someone who plays video games, thinking about this poem kinda blew my mind (in a good way).

Here’s My shoulders curve like elbows in a nutshell encasement by Jess Jenkins from Cartridge Lit:

My shoulders curve like elbows in a nutshell encasement, hammered in cuneiform

marks for small bones, set deep in rendered tallow and overlain with vellum.

Mind these small movements, a yoga with the injection mold plastic in my palm.

My avatar, she’s fitter, breathes fire has a denim,

Moony blue glow, I’m myopic in the moony blue of a monitor casting plasm

murk on my standard and predictable living room.

[nicepoetry]

Ghosts are where the bodies bled out

Today I found a Dark Souls fan poem from an honest to goodness poet! This professional author tackles the subject in a completely different way than my usual subjects do. Instead of just using couplets do describe the game itself, today’s author uses imagery from the game to describe something deeper.

In this poem, she examines the evocative “bloodstain” mechanic, picking apart its symbolic meaning and forcing readers to rethink the seemingly simple gameplay element of watching how other players died. She also starts and ends each line with a “g”—an elegant nod to the bloodstain’s recurring echoes.

Here’s Ghosts are where the bodies bled out by Jess Jenkins from Cartridge Lit:

Ghosts are where the bodies bled out, they are now in stereoscope coaching

gestalt methods on circumnavigating a throng.

Grainy replays throw strikes in air and shield up steps into depths or fog

garroting themselves on set traps so I can see before befalling

geographic fates, too. The ghost is a useful sprag

giving footstep followers ample time to rerig

[nicepoetry]

TEN LITTLE ESTUS FLASKS (bonus poem)

This poem doesn’t hold a candle to Alex Parten’s fan poem opus from this morning, but it is pretty fun to see two well-known video game journalists take a stab at the fan poetry game. Both Yahtzee and Jim Sterling really give it their all, and while the poems aren’t amazing works of art by any stretch of the imagination, they’re pretty funny in their own right.

I’ve actually featured some of Jim Sterling’s work here. His erotic ekans poem was one of my favorite posts ever, and it always brightens my day when I come across some of his unique brand of fan poetry.

Here’s TEN LITTLE ESTUS FLASKS and A DARK SOULS POEM by Yahtzee and Jim Sterling, respectively:

[nicepoetry]

Dark Souls 2 Poem

Today’s Dark Souls poem is truly an astounding marvel of fan poetry. It’s twenty minutes of uninterrupted rhyming couplets chronicling the entirety of Dark Souls 2—every zone, every boss, every character.

Truly an epic poem in every sense of the word, this work treats the game’s storyline as a grand adventure undertaken by a brave and undaunted hero. The author acts as a poetic bard, chronicling the legendary exploits of this hero in pristine verse. In the video’s description the author calls this poem a “labour of love,” and it’s obvious that he really poured his heart and (dark) soul into this.

Here’s Dark Souls 2 Poem by Alex Parten from Youtube:

[nicepoetry]

And So the Nightly Hunt Begins

I’ve spent so much time looking at bad fan poetry, it’s actually really refreshing to see what an author can do when they really put in the time to craft something special. Turns out, fan poetry doesn’t have to be terrible!

Today’s selection might be the best fan poem I’ve ever come across. It perfectly captures the eerie Victorian atmosphere, while getting clever with the rhyme-scheme. Instead of just the usual rhyming couplets, this author added a few internal rhymes that give the poem a brilliant uneasy lilting quality. Sure, there are a few flaws with the meter and one so-so slant rhyme, but overall this poem really hits its mark.

Here’s And So the Nightly Hunt Begins by Iosefka from Reddit:

Blood drip... drips on rain-slicked bricks and broken blackened bones are crunched beneath my boot-shod feet on hand-hewn cobblestones.

Inside their massive boarded manses, in little lamp-lit window-bays, the frightened huddled masses gather and whisper of the coming plague.

Outside a shrouded figure lurches, sharp of stench and dull of mind. He roams the streets of reckoning, gives out grief, and pays in kind.

No more sensibly a man, nor by and by is he a fool (is that how the saying goes?) but presently, unpleasantly, there is a beast within his clothes.

Whether man, or beast, or beastly man, it hardly matters either way, as the bells will toll then heads will roll and the hunt will have its prey.

Just as Sinners, sin -- and sinning, come to love the act of sin; Hunters... they must hunt. And so the nightly hunt begins.

[nicepoetry]

The Lords of Cinder

My mission to find good Dark Souls poetry is off to a pretty smooth start this week. While today’s poem makes a few small missteps on the meter, the overall rhythm actually works a lot better than the majority of the fan poems I’ve come across. The thrumming 5-beat meter brings to mind an aberrant militaristic trudging, which fits really well with the Dark Souls aesthetic.

Where this poem really shines, though, is in its descriptions of the titular Lords of Cinder. This author does a great job of tapping into the unique blend of imagery and emotions that makes each of these bosses so effective. I’m not sure this poem world be nearly as impactful to someone who wasn’t familiar with the lore behind the game, but it really works for me.

Here’s The Lords of Cinder by JudasBlitzkrieg from Fextralife:

Rise from your grave Oh, being of ash Your destiny awaits The one true call The cycle repeats The cinders you hunt To link the flames and Cure the unkindled

The Lords Of Cinder Once proud on their thrones Betrayed their own cause Corrupted their souls Return their ashes Accept their mantle Repair this world or See darkness reign down

Soldiers of the wolf In constant battle Reach within themselves To fight the abyss But their legion will Makes them one and all They lost sight of What they were meant to fight

The giant Lord hides Deep under the ground The grief consumed Left an insane shell Forsaken his shield He wills his own death At the hand of a friend Ruler of storms

Devourer Of Gods Leader of the Deep Sits high in sunlight By a princess throne He casts the darkness Consumed the Darkmoon Imbibe the last screams Taste the end of life

Cursed Prince Lothric With his wounded kin Bred for perfection Born sick weak and frail Refused the mantle Eschewed his fate Lothric dreamed of death Welcomed it with arms

The dark eyes will show The grand betrayal Give sight to the blind O’things I should not see The sliver of light A frightful image A world without fire A world plunged dark

Ashen One seek cinders The soul in the Kiln Five souls converge and Create a beast true Burning the first flame In Gwyn’s memory Cast the Soul down and Relink the flames

But what is your goal To betray the world? The darkness is coming The world becomes cold Ashen one, I see You have made your choice Farewell, mayst thou Thy peace discov’r

[nicepoetry]

Dark Souls Poetry Week!

Hey there poetry fans! I’m going to try a little experiment this week: Instead of trying to find the worst fan poetry on the internet, I’m going to look for fan poetry that’s actually good for a change! This might be impossible, in which case, I’ll just default to posting interesting/novel fan poems--either way, I’m going to avoid the blatantly awful stuff this week.

I picked the Dark Souls games as a subject for this test because I feel like it’s a series that’s practically begging to be put into verse. The atmosphere is so engrossing and the stories are so compelling, there’s bound to be tons of great Dark Souls poetry out there, right? We’ll find out together this week on Nice Poetry!

[nicepoetry]

Supernatural Poetry Corner (Bonus!)

I’m just gonna leave this here...

Here’s Supernatural Poem by Alice Jester from The Winchester Family Business:

[nicepoetry]

Dead in the Water (A Supernatural Haiku)

Haiku is one of the quickest and easiest types of poetry to write, but it may be one of the hardest to do well. That’s probably why it’s an obvious go-to for this blog. Fan haiku are reliably fun and earnest, which make them a delight to read, even (or maybe especially) when they aren’t written too well.

Today’s author devoted him or herself to summarizing each episode of the first season of Supernatural in haiku form, which is not a small feat. Even more impressive—each of the poems perfectly fits the 5-7-5 syllable requirement, which longtime followers of this blog know is surprisingly difficult for a lot of internet poets. I chose to share this particular haiku from the author’s series because it sounded the strangest out of context, but they’re all worth a read.

Here’s Dead in the Water by bardicvoice from The Winchester Family Business:

Old death in a lake Drowns new victims for payback. Dean bonds with sad boy.



[nicepoetry]

More Wincest Poetry! (Bonus)

I just couldn’t help myself! This morning's author was so perfect for this blog, there’s no way I could stop at just one poem. kansaskissedpoetry’s Tumblr page is the first blog I’ve come across that is devoted so wholeheartedly to erotic fan poetry (a sub-genre which is basically the Nice Poetry holy grail).

So, I’m posting three more of their poems this evening. Each one is beautiful and strange in its own unique way, so I’m just going to leave them here without further explanation. This work really speaks for itself.

Here’s three more poems by kansaskissedpoetry from Tumblr:

[nicepoetry]

Sam’s First Blowjob (Supernatural Poem)

Another day, another Wincest poem! As I was searching for some more Supernatural poetry to post today, I stumbled across a treasure trove of Wincest verse. kansaskissedpoetry.tumblr.com features dozens of Supernatural poems, ranging from deep and plaintive ruminations on death, to gross and titillating free-verse porn like today’s selection.

This poem is pretty icky for more than a few reasons. First off, the incest, which is always going to turn off a few readers. But possibly even more off-putting is the statutory rape; if Sam is fifteen in the poem, that would make Dean nineteen (yuck). If I was reading this work without seeing the rest of the author’s blog, I’d believe that this was simply written for the shock value. But, in the context of the rest of the author’s art, I’d have to say that he or she legitimately intended this to be erotic.

Here’s Sam’s First Blowjob by kansaskissedpoetry from Tumblr:

[nicepoetry]

Supernatural Christmas Poem

Welcome to yet another video poem Wednesday on Nice poetry. I’ve got a cringe-inducing poem to share today, so if you suffer from second-hand embarrassment, you might want to skip this one.

It’s a very halfhearted sing-reading of a very halfhearted Jingle Bells parody. Actually, maybe parody isn’t the right word. Parody implies comedic, but there’s not much humor in lazily replacing the words of Jingle Bells with Supernatural references. Though the poem is supremely stupid, a really enthusiastic reader might have been able to sell it. Sadly, this reader looks so embarrassed to be singing on camera that it’s impossible not to feel embarrassed for her.

Here’s Supernatural Christmas Poem by Toxic Tia from Youtube:

[nicepoetry]

Sam I Will.. (Supernatural poem)

It’s impossible to delve into the Supernatural fandom without talking about its strangest facet: Wincest. As far as I can tell, Wincest is a part of the fandom specifically devoted to the imagining the Winchester brothers (the main characters of the show) falling in love and having sex.

Today’s author was so moved by the idea of Wincest that he or she couldn’t help but put that feeling into verse. Too bad this verse is so shoddy—there’s no rhyme-scheme or coherent meter. It’s just another example of “free verse” as an excuse for lazy poetry. Unless you’re really, really into Supernatural incest, this lame list probably won’t do much for you.

Here’s Sam I Will.. by Handsabroad from archiveofourown.org:

Sam I will..

I will love you, because you were the very first thing that my eyes registered as love

I will devote my life to you, because there’s nothing more valuable for me than your existence

I will adore you, because there’s nothing more beautiful than your laughter

I will devour you when I make love to you, because I do not know if this will be our last

I will scream my love to you until I break my lungs and bones so heaven and hell can know about our true story

I will torture for you, because not a damn soul is more worthy to protect than yours, at any expense in any time

And I will marry you and consummate the ritual, because a 1000 Gods can see that this love is sacred, pure and meant to be…

[nicepoetry]

We LOVE Supernatural [Poem]

Internet fandoms never fail to surprise me. I’m sure all of you savvy readers already knew how popular Supernatural is on the internet, but it honestly shocked me to see so many people writing about what I thought was just another cheesy CW show.

Today’s selection is a treatise on the fandom itself. It’s a heatfelt explanation of why the author loves Supernatural so dearly, and how much of their life is devoted to the show.

Though it may be as earnest as can be, it’s a pretty cringe-worthy poem. First off, it’s the type of poem that’s really just a paragraph of prose with unnecessary line breaks—no rhyming, no meter, no recognizable structure. But perhaps even more damning, each line is more obnoxious than the last—the following tercet really says it all:

“We can quote episodes, We can name episodes, And we watch them repeatedly.”

Here’s We LOVE Supernatural [Poem] by genyva from fanpop.com:

We want to rock in the Impala, We want pie, and we love pudding, Because we know that crazy works. We hum Metallica on planes, Keep rock salt close at hand, And say "Cristo" to suspicious folk. We watched Dean go to hell and back, And when Castiel raised him from Perdition, Another love entered our lives. We stuck with Sam through his addiction, Though watching it broke our hearts. We cheered as Dean killed Zachariah, And cried when Sammy dived into the pit. We watch these two brothers battle against all odds, As they fight against destiny, heaven and hell. We've watched them die for each other, And kill for each other. We feel their pain, And when their hearts are broken, Ours break with them. We agonise over season finales; They leave us filled with questions, And dying for more. We can quote episodes, We can name episodes, And we watch them repeatedly. We are Supernatural fans, And we love it.

[nicepoetry]

Supernatural poetry week!

Time for a week full of poetry inspired by an old CW show! I’ve only ever watched the pilot so I don’t really have an informed opinion, but this show always seemed like pretty generic “monster of the week” type stuff to me. There must be something about it that really draws people in, though, because it still has a rabid following.

And as with any fandom on the internet, the Supernatural community has penned an astounding amount of poetry based on the show. I’ve already found a ton of great stuff that I’m super excited to share!

[nicepoetry]

Death Note poem

If you’re curious about Death Note but don’t like watching good anime or reading genius manga, I’ve got the poem for you! It’s a retelling of the complete Death Note saga in the worst format possible: poorly-rhyming couplets.

It’s clear that the author barely understands the story he's retelling, and understands poem structure even less. The meter is nonsensical, and he tries to rhyme “sought” with “note”—that’s not even a slant rhyme! The author’s pen-name is InsanePoet, which is fitting as this is a pretty insane poem.

Here’s Death Note by InsanePoet from allpoetry.com:

A mildly bored high schooler, strolling through the lanes, and then the book finds him, a book in need of names, designated to justice, this sophomore destined to sought- an unholy apparatus laying orphaned- a shinigami's death note. From the beginning of time, Light summoned his reign, a reign sworn to terror and order of fear by this teen, as he clasped his mighty pen, he engraved every letter, his writings painted fear , no man could've done better. But then the genius arrives; a man groomed for deduction, "L" so his name was, he was the best among the selection, while the world feared Kira, Kira himself feared L, and then the battle began, a powerful plot to tell. A battle smeared with wits and humor to top it off, L breaks his rule, to scrutinize Kira's laugh, insanely spot on! L fights his way through the odds, this poor genius might've lived if not for 'em death gods. And then the legend's death, empowers Kira's thought, this man, now tired, for it was L that he'd fought, the days grew darker, with L no more…. Light succeeded; made the world his lore, Committed to a hot model, with the eyes of Rem, Misa Misa! so they called her, not so smarter than them, Kira lets his guard off, for the legacy will bring him fear, this fifteen year old genius, and L named him Near. He broke the teacher's will, but what about the student? the student would retaliate better, he would too be prudent, mentored by the legend himself, Nate flogs his pride, this young and balanced maestro, with cold intents to hide. Mello and Near surpass L, bring Light to his death, Ryuk writes Light's name, before his final breath, L's death now avenged, Near will live to take over his helm, Light now wanders as a death god, in the Shinigami realm.

[nicepoetry]

L is for - A Death Note Poem

On Tuesday, I talked about how dumb acrostic poems are, but at least most acrostics take advantage of more than one letter. Today’s poem is an acrostic of sorts, but it just keeps on using the letter “L” over and over again. It ends up just looking like a list of all the “L” words that the author could think of.

The author tries to tie it all together at the end with a pretty feeble bit of free verse, but all that does is shine a light on how arbitrary the preceding list was.

Since the author packaged her poem on Deviant Art with a poorly photoshopped L fan art collage, I thought I should include that for full effect.

Here’s L is for-A Death Note Poem by livxuponxhope from Deviant Art:

L is for Leisure L is for Laughter L is for Linger L is for Luxury L is for Life L is for Lies L is for Learn L is for Love L is for Light L is for Lost In this leisurely world, full of laughter and tears, There are those who linger in luxury. But life is not what it seems for it is full of lies</i>. You learn to love and trust others. But get on light’s bad side and you will be swallowed by shadow. And then you are nothing more than a lost soul bound to journey on foreign shores.