DAY #45 - A Short Story from Mars

The Soldier's Wish

by Evelyn Held

  

It was my choice.  I walked away from quiet neighborhoods full of families going about everyday tasks, with everyday concerns about managing mortgages and raising families.  I have those concerns to, in my way.  But I also have others that they cannot even comprehend. I was no different from them once.

We used to romp together at the playground, concocting impossible adventures, or shooting hoops for hours that seemed like they could never end.  We dreamed about being grown up, wondered how to make a first date happen, survived classroom weekdays and lived for Saturday nights.  Somewhere, despite all those commonalities, I went a different way, and it changed me.

I wish I could say I knew it would.  Maybe I did in part.  I was inspired by honor, committed to service, compelled to loyalty.  As my curling childhood locks were shorn for the first time, I began to understand that the path of the warrior is different. It involved a suspension of self, a loss at times so powerful yet imperceptible at moments it shocks even now.  Discipline. Honor. Duty. There is no "Me" in that: only the dedication to service.

And there is death.  The unexpected relationship, the unseen member of our martial clan.  Death reviews strategy, drills earnestly, prepares for and joins the march - always unseen.  As we file off, rank upon rank, Death is there.  We never know exactly where or which. Then Death appears, in the smoke and conflagration, unexpectedly flanking, or even out of nowhere.  After a while, you come to know that the specter walks with you, every step, whether he hits your target, or the target of the other.

My family would like to understand, those that have never served.  They cannot, fully, and I cannot explain it to them. What they cannot comprehend they try to make up for in pride.  I know they are proud of me.  I feel their pride mixed in with their love like a soothing, curative balm that can never quite heal the scars I carry.  I know that they will never be healed, only adjusted to - absorbed.  I hope, with everything I am and everything I ever was, that they somehow begin to understand what my service - my sacrifice of self - really means.

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Poems and stories (2000w or less) can be submitted at the drop boxes on LEA 4, or by emailing them to caledoniaskytower at g mail (dot) com. And YES, feel free to illustrate your submissions!

DAY # 16: A First Look at Mars

Our newly opened Mars has its first poem today.

Soldiers of Stone

by Evelyn Held

I don't know what I expected -

carnage, bodies, blood.

The awful refuse of

righteousness marching

emboldened, confident.

I imagine them now -

all alike, yet different.

row upon martial row

intended to overwhelm,

subdue, awe-strike.

What tribute, thou Mars,

God of this devastation -

this relentless harvest

of tramping generations

What price you exact

of the earthbound ones

incapable of controlling

anger, greed, revenge.

I don't know what I expected -

not this emptiness.

This bleak silence,

a terror-filled void

with only stone soldiers.

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Poems can be submitted at the drop boxes on LEA 4, or by emailing them to caledoniaskytower at g mail (dot) com.

DAY #4: In Flight with Mercury

Don't Shoot!

By Evelyn Held

Busy, busy

round, and round.

So many delivered

above to the ground.

Busy, busy

fleet and fair.

Swiftly chasing

through the air.

Busy, busy

No time to stop.

Deals to make

all need to shop.

Busy, busy

fast and free.

I'm just the messenger

so don't shoot me.

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Poems can be submitted at the drop boxes on LEA 4, or by emailing them to caledoniaskytower at g mail (dot) com.

DAY #1: Opening and the First Poem

We had a terrific first day, with a terrific crowd for DJ Dano and his stellar music set.

This is an opportunity for me to give a shout out to some folks who helped me get Poetry of the Planets off the ground:

• Super "Minions" Shandon Loring and Rick Qargen, who backed me up, helped problem solve, kept me company, were my sounding board when I had to solution shop, and endlessly checked links.
• LaPiscean Liberty, my LEA Liason who always says "Yes Mam'" and sometimes hangs out to make sure I don't plummet from my own stratosphere.
• Armon Aeon and Dagmar Kohine, good friends who bailed me out when the respective Rose and Bubble crises hit.
• Bear Silvershade for the loan of his dance stuff . . .  yet again!
• Corwyn Allen for spreading the word, where ever he could, among those who poem in SL.
• And Dano Bookmite for just being so much fun as a DJ, and so easy to work with.

Thank you, one and all!

Here is our first submitted poem:

The Venus Illusion

By Evelyn Held

All so beautiful, so serene.

A softness that floats,

begs you to drift,

downy-winged and confident.

She never confesses,

smiles mischievous and coy,

of the facade of delight

the passionate tumbling.

Fragrant roses hide

a truth seashell brittle,

rough edged, that can cut

leave lacerating scars.

Love, true love,

the kind she does reveal,

not just at first,

does not float or plummet.

It waits, and grows slowly

fed by light, water, tender care.

And like the seed,

sprouting is never guaranteed.

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Poems can be submitted at the drop boxes on LEA 4, or by emailing them to caledoniaskytower at g mail (dot) com.