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Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "anything goes." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

Note that our internet connection has been bad for well over a month. Sometimes it's down completely, other times things like Dreamwidth and searches won't run. So I'm losing a lot of work time and may only have access for half a day or less. Given this limitation, there's a higher chance of actually getting things written for prompts that use characters, settings, etc. that are already established.

Two poems recently attracted attention with regards to extending their story arcs, so anyone can ask for a followup to these:
"Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" -- Victor is displeased with Ghenadie shirking work assigned as fines.
"An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government" -- Frank the Crank accidentally gets elected to the City Council in Mercedes.

Stuck for ideas? You can find prompts by ...
* browsing planned poems for Aquariana and the Maldives, The Big One, Broken Angels, Calliope and Vagary, Officer Pink and Turq, Pips and Joshua, or Shiv. (Some of these I've already done, so they're not all up to date, but others I haven't done yet.)
* browsing my Serial Poetry page for favorite threads or characters.
* browsing my QUILTBAG list, Romantic Orientations in My Characters, Sexual Orientations in My Characters, Gender Identities in My Characters, or My Characters with Disabilities for favorites.
* naming a poetic form you'd like to see written.
* picking a prompt from my current bingo cards: Western Bingo Card 7-1-25
* picking some from the Bingo Generator prompt lists.
* looking up fun tropes on Fanlore.
* choosing an unusual word.
* plugging a favorite topic into your search engine and choosing a picture that looks interesting.
* anything short. I could especially use short poems today as other prompts are likely to run long.
* standalone ideas, if you're a fan of that rather than series.

What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "anything goes." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things of any type. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

(no subject)

Well, I spent way more than my self-allocated 15 minutes today on clearing stuff away. I picked up my two tech recycling boxes at the post office this morning, then a bit later I started the process of packing up the various computers and cables to go into the boxes. First I had to scan a code (a separate one is included with each box) so I could print a UPS free delivery label, and before I could do that I had to put new ink into my printer. That took longer than it should have because I kept getting error messages from the printer ("Your device is busy" - huh?) when I tried to align the new ink cartridges. Eventually I got the printer working and printed the label for the first box, but I still have to attach the label and seal up the box, and then I have to go through the process again for the second box. It should go much more quickly the second time around though.

Yesterday in the late afternoon/early evening we had a dramatic thunderstorm with a lot of very heavy rain. (We had more than two inches in an hour or so.) The rain was so heavy that it washed some pieces of wood someone had put out for trash collection today some metres down to my car, where they stacked up against the front wheel. At least I assume that's why there were some random pieces of what looked like bed frame wedged against the front wheel of my car.

I went for a run this morning; the humidity at the time was around 95% so I was dripping with sweat after an hour of running.

LJ is *still* being weird for me, taking forever to load my friends feed.

Tuesday

I've gotten into this annoying pattern of bad sleep on Mondays and Wednesdays and, sometimes, Fridays. The night before volleyball. Maybe it's because I sleep too late on the other days - usually it's only an hour longer if that. Or sleep too well. Last night was also interrupted by Hazel. John is back in the hospital and she'd forgotten to bring home the phone number and wanted to call him but also couldn't remember how to work the phone. Mainly she was just exhausted and frazzled and worried. I was in bed listening to my book when she came in. So we went back and I played her voice mail messages for her and found the number and we called John. And she seemed much more calm and settled when I left. Her son is coming over this morning. They cannot seem to control John's excess fluid retention. Hazel says he's peeing every 30 minutes but is still swollen up everywhere like a whale. Heart or kidneys, I'm sure and neither option is that good at 89.

We talked some last night and she said she understands that this may be it and she's prepared. That was comforting to hear. They've been together for 65 years.

Laundry is laundrying.

I watched most of the home run derby last night so I could see Mariner Cal Raleigh and his family participate. His dad did the pitching and his 15 year old brother did the catching. It was cute. And he won which was cool since no other catcher had ever won. That's it for baseball for me until Friday.

When they were here, my friend, Scott, used my phone number every time he was asked for one. It was just easier than saying no. For some reason, it tickled him to use it at Walmart to get the receipt. And now, every time they stop at Walmart, I get the receipt. They are buying some weird shit and not nearly enough Krispy Kremes but it is fun to track their trip which I am now dubbing the Walmart/Family Dollar Tour. He sent me a text yesterday that they had found HUGE Dollar Tree and he hadn't spied Julie in a long time. I told him it was 911 and not 111 for emergency if she never showed. They are off to Soux Falls today.

It's house cleaner day.

And I have an Amazon return plus I am perilously close to running out of mayo so a stop at Safeway is in order. I would wait until house cleaning time but I think I'll go when the clothes are done in hopes that it will be a little less hot.

Three About Food

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fiction

“in my dreams / i know i’m gonna be with you / so i take my time / are you ready for it?”

The last time I posted about Yue Xia Die Ying, I had just read one of her xianxia novels and really enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve read two more of her historical romances. TL,DR: two thumbs up.

The first one, Like Pearl and Jade, is a more serious, if low-key, drama with romance. Technically the female MC is a transmigrator, but this identity has zero impact on the story and is used only as a framing device. The story and romance are both quite good, and I like how the frequent small digs at the patriarchy build to (small) actions that improve the status of (some) women. This is about the same size as I Am Average and Unremarkable, or about half of Journey to the West.

The second one, though, this one is a delight. The half-again longer* The Times Spent in Pretense I can only describe as a Chinese analog of Georgette Heyer. Its tone is relatively light, despite a redonkulous number of assassination attempts,** with a sheen of satire. More to the point, the male MC is outright Heyeresque, one of her Mark II models by Heyer’s classification, and his several brothers are as eccentric as any Heyer cast.*** The female MC, meanwhile, spends most of the first half playing several roles that are funny enough in themselves, but that eventually start colliding with each other, resulting in comedy gold.

Unlike Like Pearl and Jade, its feminism is baked in from the start. The female MC’s parents are both generals and military heroes. Her mother in particular is a badass beauty, with adoring female fans who proposition her in public — behavior viewed as more déclassé than scandalous. Way less hetereonormative than usual for a straight romance from mainland China. Meanwhile the female MC’s initial life goal is to acquire an estate near the capital where she can “raise male pets,” i.e. collect a harem of consorts — and her family quietly supports this, as it’s not an unknown hobby for noblewomen, though not one that gets publicly flaunted. The differences from our history are highlighted by contrast with a neighboring kingdom with traditional NeoConfucian values, where they look down on this degenerate place (while being baffled at how happy and prosperous it is despite its grave moral lapses).

I am also greatly amused by a minor character, part of a rival’s girl posse, who makes repeated metatextual commentary based on genre tropes.

Possibly best of all, though, the female MC never fades into the background, as happens all too frequently in Chinese historical romances, but is an active plot participant all the way through the climax.

Both recommended, the second highly so.

* So about three-quarters of a Journey West.

** Spoiler: not a single assassin succeeds.

*** My favorite is the would-be painter. The female MC’s first reaction to one of his landscapes is “What on earth was this painting? A bunch of heavily inked blobs and lightly inked blobs mixing together as friends?” Which is funny enough, but eventually it comes out that everything about this scene are even more examples of pretenses.

---L.

Subject quote from …Ready For It?, Taylor Swift.

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just one thing

Just one thing: 15 July 2025

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

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In which the wine is damned good

What went before: That was a quick 1000-ish words. I must be on the right track. The WIP entire now tips the word meter at! +/-55,075.

I'm done for the day. Tomorrow's treats include the arrival of Ideal Electric, to subject the generator to its annual inspection, and, in the evening, needleworking at the library. We will also be looking for temperatures in excess of 90F/32C, which is never fun.

And on that note -- everybody stay safe. I'll see you tomorrow.

SNIPPET:
"The wine is well-chosen," she murmured in Liaden, then slanted a look up into speculative silver eyes, and added, "Damn, that's good."

"That the refreshment pleases you must gratify me," Shan answered politely. He sipped, sighed, and murmured, "Ain't it, though?"

Tuesday. Sunny, already warm, and aimed for hot, the first of three. Curtains are closed, station air is on; trash and recycling are at the curb.

Breakfast was roast beef and Swiss on whole grain bread with a side of cherries. Lunch will be, err, something.

Trooper is currently in the bathroom, eating his second snack on the day; my second cup of tea is to hand.

I woke up just before 7, but did not start the day with jets hot. There was, for instance, Tali to be stroked and murmured to, as she's decided that a little morning spoil before arising is good for her complexion, then Rookie got shut in the bedroom closet -- I swear to GHU I'm puttin' a bell on that cat -- Firefly made a Formal Solicitation to be brushed, Trooper had to have his first snack, and so on.

Looking at the to-do list, I may not get any writing done today, though if things go faster than expected, I may be able to grab an hour.

I called a critter removal service yesterday, but haven't heard back yet. I'll give them today, then move on to Number Two on the list.

And that's it -- another day in the exciting, drama-filled life of a working writer.

What's your day looking like?

Flashback to yesterday afternoon: All paws wanted to inspect my new haircut:

Thunderstorms!

Gosh it's thunderstorming out there!

**********************************

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Arcane Zoning Laws

I'm bored with grieving.

Brian would have thoroughly sympathized.

Brian was one of the least sentimental humans I've ever met.

###

Daria & I are sentimental enough to want to do a memorial. Flavia is not interested at all in doing a memorial, says Brian wouldn't have cared one way or another, which may or may not be true, but anyway, even if it is true, is entirely irrelevant: Memorials are for the survivors.

Flavia's reluctance does raise some issues, though. Like is she reluctant because she is too prostrate with grief to participate in anything? As the kinda/sorta Official Grieving Widow, will she resent it—consciously or unconsciously—if two survivors lower down on the Grief Ladder seize the initiative here?

No real plans have been made other than a vague commitment to the third or fourth week in September, a date far enough ahead in an indeterminate future to seem doable.

But if we really want to do it, we're gonna have to begin to make some concrete plans sooner rather than later. Pin down an actual date; pin down a venue. New Paltz is the obvious venue, but I've also been wondering about Norma's, BB's & my favorite cafe in Wappingers Falls, or Tranquili-Tea, that adorable little rabbit hole in (of all bizarre places) Middletown that we stumbled across that day:

I had a busy weekend: Democratic Committee meeting, D&D with the Boneyard BoyZ, & a tea party that doubled as a Democratic fundraiser. Also I baked a sour cherry pie:

The aesthetics are off. As I say, I am just terrible with crusts! But the pie tastes great.

I hadn't exercised in 10 days, but yesterday I trotted off to the gym and today I plan to tromp before it gets too hot.

###

I've been trying to think of a plot to graft on to the Neversink backstory.

Of course, it should focus on the animosity between the folks who've been farming in these parts for three or four generations and the recent emigrants from the Big City, 'cause that's a very real dynamic in these parts plus the whole water theft—They drowned our homes so their city could have water!—demands it.

Possibly a young, idealistic Brooklyn immigrant runs for the village planning board? Maybe there's still some arcane zoning law that she opposes that allows stores to be built in the middle of the reservoir? (But why would she oppose it? There are tons of arcane laws dating back centuries in every town in these parts! People just ignore them.) And, of course, on the actual night of the election, the reservoir recedes so you can see the chimneys & spires & mercantile towers of the drowned town.

Writing style I'm aiming for is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Susanna Clark does a most excellent job of integrating fantasma into everyday.

I will mull it over some more.

But not too much. Some things just naturally work themselves out while you're writing.

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I have no idea what I'm listening to

Okay, so I LOVE having the radio on, just, all the time. BACKGROUND MUSIC FOR MY LIFE, YES PLEASE. (Unnecessary backstory cut for time.)

My go-to station is WXRV THE RIVER, heck yeah! But it's gone to at least 50% static the last few weeks, and I haven't bothered to try moving my radio around to see if I can improve the reception. (I know, so old school: an actual radio!) And then we lost the power for a few minutes over the weekend, and I had to reset the radio station anyway, so I just picked one nearby to WXRV that came in well.

I think it might be the local university station? I don't think I've recognized a single song, which is genuinely great, although there have also definitely been times when I've walked into the room and thought 'WHAT in the world is this music???' In the cinematic experience of my life, this sure is a thematic shift!

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Interesting Links for 15-07-2025

1. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem: (tags:people comics ai doom communication )
2. How old are you in your head? (Mid 30s for me): (tags:age psychology )
3. Reddit will start verifying the age (but not the identity) of UK redditors: (tags:uk age reddit regulation internet )
4. "Autism" is at least 4 different syndromes, each with distinct biological and genetic pathways.: (tags:autism genetics )

Current Music: Saint-Saëns Sonata for violin and piano #1 in D minor

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bings

I am on vacation, by which I mean that I have no appointments at the clinic until the end of July. I had to go so many times in April, May and June. It was a lot for a tired person.

I'm not on vacation from illness though. Still chronically ill. Everything takes more effort when your body doesn't work properly. You have to pay more attention just to do ordinary things.

Many things that used to seem important to me no longer matter. I think this might be a normal consequence of getting old. Or perhaps it's because of illness.

The past five years brought a lot of grief, loneliness and fear to me. It's not that these feelings are gone. They are like my cats; they live with me, but mostly they ignore me. At any time they might wake up, make noise, make a mess. Living with a lot of solitude can include cats, feelings, little joys, big griefs, etc.

Nature report:
1. 2 baby thirteen-lined ground squirrels and a baby rabbit having a stare down.
2. 4 young orioles at the jelly feeder being fed by the adults.
3. A red tailed hawk high in the dead ash tree, watching the action at the bird feeders.
4. An adult bunny running full speed in circles in the drive. Also levitating.

Today's perfume: Cherry Punk, which wakes up vivid memories of a particular summer when I was about 12, involving long drives to get to the beach, picnics that included peanut butter sandwich cookies, and a feeling that the future would be ok. (That feeling did not last.)

Scent awakening memory is quite Proustian. I'm listening to a Saint-Saëns Sonata, which I associate with a summer I was reading Proust. I had a little hideaway, a second story screened porch, protected from the wind. I slept out there even in the fall and only came in when the snow fell.

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Daily Happiness

1. Back to work today. Not too much going on. I got stuff done and was able to get home at a decent time, so that was nice.

2. When Carla was in Chicago she saw the Mitsuwa there was selling Tokyo Banana, which is really hard to get outside of Japan. She regretted not buying any, and didn't see it at Mitsuwa here, but when I googled, I saw people saying H-Mart was selling it, so she went to H-Mart today and they had it in stock! Alas, we'll have to wait until next year in Japan to have the sakura version again, since that's seasonal, but I'm sure the original will be just as delicious (we actually didn't try the original in Japan because the sakura one was too good and we just bought more of that instead).

3. Lately everyone loves to hide in this box. Only one I haven't seen using it is Jasper.

Current Mood: busy

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Fossils

These 545-million-year-old fossil trails just rewrote the story of evolution

A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ancient trace fossils, researchers uncovered evidence of complex, mobile organisms thriving 545 million years ago, well before the traditionally accepted timeline. These early creatures likely had segmented bodies, muscle systems, and even directional movement, signaling a surprising level of biological sophistication. Their behavior and mobility, preserved in fossil trails, offer new insight into how complex life evolved, potentially rewriting one of the most important chapters in Earth’s evolutionary history.

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Trick or Treat MJV Week [Oct 3rd - Oct 9th 2025]

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#Lysiclaude2025Bingo starts this week! (7/17~24)

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Current Mood: busy

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Magpie Monday

dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Surprises and Celebrations."

I write mostly gentle fiction (with warnings when I skirt more aggressive elements, of course) which doesn’t exclude drama. With the theme of “surprises and celebrations,” readers can offer negative surprises. The range for prompt ideas is as wide as the readers can explain. “Cold Cash is surprised when he is brought in for questioning by the Feds after the attempt to kidnap the Cort twins,” is a legitimate prompt idea. It is not, however, planned for the story arc.

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photo,
sadie

Fuzzy Baby

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: The Proof is Out There

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challenge,
music

Mom, I don't feel well

So say I as I get in the car to come home. We met Lucky Uncle's wife. It was her birthday over the weekend and in a few days it'll be the first anniversary of his death so we took her out to one of her favorite restaurants: Chinese. Always dicey for a diabetic but I usually do decently in selection. This one had a dish that was represented by a hot pepper and a ginger sauce. I ended up with a sauce so sweet it was ridiculous (it also had no heat and no ginger) but my aunt is like Sheldon and is already a mess so I didn't want to send it back and give her reason to go off. I figured it won't be too much worse than general tso's which I can eat with a mild bump in sugar.

This one sent my sugar so high it was beyond what a Dexcom could read. (Yes I took my insulin, yes I'm fine, it's back down to under 150).

Okay this ride in the graphic looks like fun

Challenge #4

Fun House
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.
Creative: Write from the perspective of a house or other location.

Not much is making me smile. However I DO have a list of things I love to talk about. As for a story, well I don't have that either BUT I did finish an original horror story today that has a cabin in the woods as a central location. It's not quite on point but there you go.

1. Books My genres are mostly mystery SF/F/UF and horror (all of these both adult and YA) see me on wednesday for my current reads

2. music, I will listen to almost anything. see me on mondays for music

3. cooking, I don't share recipes as much as I should. I watch a ton of YT cooking channels

4. history, it's my jam. Love historical books fiction and nonfiction, also follow history YT channels

5. Museum, I love them even little ones. Yesterday I went to a local one for a town next to where I grew up and learned Jay Livingston wasn't the only famous person out of McDonald PA, we have one woman who won 8 emmys and one pulitzer prize winning photographer

6. gardens, I will try to make gardens and museums cornerstones of my tourism but it's not just about the big beautiful gardens and conservatories, I do garden (not as well as I used to now that I'm getting old and more disabled) but I love talking about it

7. science and medicine, I am a doctor and now a biology professor, I love science and sharing links. I'm good with biology and chemistry. I'm not great with physics, astronomy and archaeology fascinate me

8. writing, I'm a published author (points to the above reading genres), I love talking about writing, looking for beta reader/critique group members in search of a group, see me on Sundays for writing links and open calls

9. cats! Well animals in general but I'm a cat person. I take care of the outdoor cat (who does not want to be indoors which sucks because he's FIV+) Rocket refuses to be inside but he is also the most amazingly friendly cat. Some jerk dropped him off. I tried to rehome him then (4 years ago) because I was barely walking after nearly losing a leg and didn't want to be tripping over a cat just then. See how well that worked out (He's also cat number 42 I've rescued from this place)

10. My fandoms! Star Trek is my forever fandom. My biggest fandoms (in terms of me getting eaten alive by them and me writing scads for) were Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the series, Fullmetal Alchemist (still my absolute favorite anime/manga), Prodigal Son (I am still bitter about its cancelation), The Owl House (ditto about the bitter) and my current obsession, Hazbin Hotel. I'm into a lot more (especially manga/anime) so if any of those are yours let's talk (or if there's a mystery/cop drama, SF/F/Horror show, anime/manga I haven't mentioned ask if I'm into it)

And it IS Musical Monday. I'm currently doing the alphabet using the last 5 years only (But you can share from whenever you please). I'm up to O

( Ooooooooo )

Current Mood: busy

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Poem: "Meeting in the Middle"

Based on an audience poll, this is the free epic for the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was spillover from the April 5, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

rix_scaedu. It also fills the "communication" square in my 4-4-22 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

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