For Want of Words

A Wayward Writer's Home

[wellknownwolf]

Hero Meeting

Billy Collins told me 

and two hundred of my friends

that most poems, once begun,

are not worth finishing,

and I have been paralyzed

ever since.

[wellknownwolf]

Mouse

I wish you would go quietly.

I would not hold this intrusion against you.

I’ve shown you the cat,

left the door open,

sealed up the food,

tried to stop this house from

feeling too much like a home.

But every day now,

you make noise.

You make eye contact.

You chew away at what is mine.

You take the poison I leave,

and you do not die.

And I am afraid that you are not going

to let this end without me

getting my hands dirty

as if I have to prove I can.

[wellknownwolf]

Death, Grief, and Sunless Tanner

I knew that upon

reading about writing

poetry on Death and Grief,

I would suffer a signature seizing

of my throat

and want to turn my eyes upward to

roll tears back to whence I seem

to think they come.

I did not anticipate how quickly

I could snap out of the murk

when tears spilled and my immediate response was

to wipe them away so that they did not

ruin my developing fake Tan,

a whiplash-inducing vanity

that felt so honest and differently human that

I had to laugh.

[wellknownwolf]

Oh my stars, I’ve been tagged! @missingparentheses wants to know the first ten songs that come up when I shuffle my Spotify favorites playlist!

RULES: shuffle your playlist and list the first ten songs and then tag ten people everyone

1. “Bad Memory” by K. Flay

2. “Ides of Fall” by Jared & the Mill

3. “Black Mambo” by Glass Animals

4. “Here with Me” by Susie Suh & Robot Koch

5. “You’re Mine” by Phantogram

6. “Keep that Letter Safe” by Highasakite

7. “Kings” by Tribe Society

8. “Oh My Dear Lord” by The Unlikely Candidates

9. “Waiting Game” by Banks

10. “Bellyache” by Billie Eilish

Almost every song on my playlist was added during a writing session, so there are some distinct story-based memories associated with each one. Fun!

[wellknownwolf]

Cardinal Direction

I refilled the birdseed

while he watched through his mask,

a red relief on green woods.

I can’t know what he chirped

once we assumed our places,

on the feeder and front porch respectively,

but as I picked up my book,

I said, “You’re welcome,”

just the same.

[wellknownwolf]

Oh no.  I’ve started listening deeply to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors.  Stevie is next, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see the internet again after I dance off into my vintage woodsy shawl-filled witch life.

[wellknownwolf]

R&R: Edward is exhausted after a particularly grueling Fight Night and goes looking for respite from his life in the Narrows.

[wellknownwolf]

Two weeks ago, me, to me: I'm really digging those little 1,500 word bite-sized fics lately. I think I want to write one, get myself back in the saddle.

Today, me, to me: Almost finished, and...12,000 words is also fun. Less of a bite, more of a meal.

[wellknownwolf]

Jacks

We say we named you for our heroes:

Sparrow, McCoy, White, the rest

(Yes, even Skellington

Hence the white fluff we call Zero).

We hoped to give you

brave and just and creative and curious

shoes to fill.

But I also know my Golding,

and so I

do not

assume.

[wellknownwolf]

At Sea Again

There are other

bluer

eyes

in which

to drown oneself.

[wellknownwolf]

Grief 2

Even in the bright morning hours,

a fist slips

through the bones,

clutches the silk

that encases the heart

and twists.

[wellknownwolf]

Grief 1

The bottom is mud.

It is decaying leaves and

Erosion and

Darkness,

And a foot seeking purchase

Is sucked down into it.

The pull is paralyzing.

Seconds drag.

And almost inevitably,

A foot kicks free,

Goes on propelling a

Body in motion.

But under the water,

Where the sun doesn’t see,

The mud clings between toes

For so long it’s forgotten.

And almost inevitably,

The lake is left,

And the muck of the bottom

gets the chance

To walk around in the world

Until it dries and flakes away.

The surface sparkles in the sun,

Promises weightlessness

To those in desperate need.

The water holds up

What cannot hold itself.

But the bottom is mud.

[sixohthree]

I’m a Pisces and that’s why I gotta go home.

[athanatosora]

i am an aquarius and that’s why my life isn’t working out

[xxtc-96xx]

I am Scorpio and the time of the day you have to go find something else to eat

[lonesplashy]

I am Gemini and I wanna die

[zim-kinnie]

I am a pisces and I was like oh yes but I’m still a little bitch that you don’t like

[photochoco]

I am a Scorpio and that’s why I don’t think I can make it to the meeting tonight

[andzia101]

I’m capricorn and that’s why I am not sure what to do with it.

[queermosapien]

i am a taurus and that’s why y’all want me too much

[sparkle-fingers]

I am a cancer and that’s why I am asking for a friend and I will just be the same thing then 😔😔😔

[ardentlake]

I am a libra and I am so happy for you to be here

[sass-and-panache]

I am an Aquarius and that’s why you are not going through a whole new thing.

[its-mike-kapufty-deactivated202]

I am an aquarius and that’s why I was asking for a friend to talk to.

[darkmythicality]

I am a Gemini and the best way to get the most important thing is to be honest.

Excuse me w h a t

[peachworthy-deactivated20250702]

I am a Capricorn and a beautiful man on the side.

B R U H 😂

[ladyelle57]

I’m a Piscis and I don’t know what to do

[wellknownwolf]

I am a libra, and that’s why I’m going back to the end of the world.

[wellknownwolf]

Final

The greatest insult of all

is that the sky is

no less blue

for your absence.

[wellknownwolf]

What’s to be Learned from the End of the World?

Chapter 19: Talk

[wellknownwolf]

xxx

[wellknownwolf]

xxx