365 Days of Poetry: C.M.'s Collections

By C.M. Simpson

From dragons to starships to lost colonies and deadly mermaids, this collection of poetry wander through genres and setting and poetic forms with happy abandon. It explores worlds and settings and reflects on the way things might have been or might become.

 

2ND EDITION NOTE: This edition is a renewed version of Edition 1, with the main changes being the new cover, new front and back matter, Americanization of spelling, and some minor word changes. Outside those changes, most of the content remains unchanged.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.M. Simpson
• Release date: May 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393588726

C.M. Simpson

I spent the first twenty years of my life living in different parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory. My father was a teacher who liked to travel, so he took teaching appointments in all kinds of places. I don’t think I stayed in one place for more than four years at a stretch. I wrote stories for most of that time, drawing on the different landscapes we encountered and giving a hyper-active imagination somewhere to run. Seeing so many different places gave me a lot of food for thought as I stepped into the world of adulthood and took my first full-time job, and I never stopped writing and exploring the worlds in my head. So far, I have written four collections of short stories and poetry, and a number of novels, with many more to come. I hope you have enjoyed this part of my journey.

Book preview

365 Days of Poetry

––––––––

C.M.’s Collections #2

––––––––

C.M. Simpson

––––––––

From dragons to starships to lost colonies and deadly mermaids, this collection of poetry wander through genres and setting and poetic forms with happy abandon. It explores worlds and settings and reflects on the way things might have been or might become.

––––––––

2ND EDITION NOTE: This edition is a renewed version of Edition 1, with the main changes being the new cover, new front and back matter, Americanization of spelling, and some minor word changes. Outside those changes, most of the content remains unchanged.

––––––––

2nd Edition

Copyright © May 26, 2021 C.M. Simpson

Cover Art & Design © November 1, 2020, Jake at JCaleb Design

All rights reserved.

––––––––

License Notes

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase a copy for your own use. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

––––––––

For all those who believed in me enough, that eventually I had to believe in myself.

––––––––

Thank you.

Table of Contents

––––––––

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Author’s Note

Other Work by C.M. Simpson

About C.M. Simpson

January

––––––––

1st January

––––––––

A New Year Dawning

––––––––

This poem was started on January 01, 2013, for 365 Days of Poetry, and completed on January 02. It is, appropriately, a new year’s poem.

––––––––

A new year,

a new day is dawning.

What sort of hopes

do we wake up with

this morning?

Do we dream

of a world much better

than the old one

with which we went to bed?

Do we dare

believe

that the trials of the year

just gone

are over—

—done?

Do we step forward,

into a brave new dawn,

to face the old foes

and believe

we have a better chance,

this brand new morn?

––––––––

2nd January

––––––––

Fires in the Medilo

––––––––

Written on January 2, 2014, for 365 Days of Poetry, this poem reflects the December 2013 flash fiction of a similar title.

––––––––

I saw the fires fly,

deep in the Medilo,

saw them scatter,

join,

and guide me

deeper into the Medilo.

I saw the snap-trap plants,

deep in the Medilo,

walked their edges quietly,

following the fires

deeper into the Medilo.

I saw the stripper bugs

walking in Medilo,

nose to tail,

feelers twitching,

mouths their acid dripping.

I froze,

glared at the fires, leading me

deeper into Medilo.

I saw the lotus blooms,

lilies sweet and gleaming white,

floating in a pool dark and deep

in the Medilo.

Skipping stones woke the blooms,

the lily dragon roaring,

swamp waters shifting,

soaring,

settling to stillness,

deep in the Medilo.

When all was once more quiet,

I crept

back through the Medilo,

away from dancing

will ‘o’ wisps,

leaving their lights

to flicker-fly.

No fool was I,

to be drawn again

into the depths

of the Medilo.

––––––––

3rd January

––––––––

The Summoner Pays

––––––––

Written on January 3, 2013, for 365 Days of Poetry, and inspired by the collection theme for A Collection of Sorcery and Older Magic, this piece explores what price beyond blood might be demanded for the services of the dead.

––––––––

She called the spirits from their sleep.

She called the souls a-weeping.

She summoned forth the mothers’ song,

set the harvest for the reaping.

She apologized for all she’d done.

She asked them to forgive her.

She begged their understanding

for the reasons that now drove her.

She called the spirits from their rest.

She cried for those a-sleeping.

She called the haunts,

the warriors proud,

and asked them for their keeping.

Those who’d come were not her friends.

Her people they were killing.

Only the strength of those passed on

would stop more blood from spilling.

She summoned forth the peoples’ dead,

the good, the bad, the holy.

She asked for them to drive away

the invading foreign army.

The spirits came,

the banshees, too,

and reaped a holy war.

And at the end the woman waited;

their aid must still be paid for.

She stood and faced those summoned.

She begged for their forgiveness.

She bent herself to what they willed,

and at the end she lived among us

But she could no more go a-summoning

in the dead of night or brightened day.

Those passed over had revoked that gift,

and demanded that she pay

for their service, now, with all her life,

all her endless days,

for they would not let her join them,

until the war wounds healed,

and their enemies were made to stay away.

––––––––

4th January

––––––––

Metamorphosis of a Space Explorer

––––––––

Written on January 04, 2013, for 365 Days of Poetry, this piece explores what it might to be someone who helps discover planets for others to settle.

––––––––

I live for summer days,

for the smell of sausage frying.

I love the clear blue skies,

and overhead the starships flying.

I live for touchdown,

the sights and scents of a brand new world.

I love to reach into the unknown,

and watch the colonists’ dreams unfurl.

I live for lift off,

for stretching to the stars,

to watch the world diminish,

and hear its progress from afar.

––––––––

5th January

––––––––

Dragons from the Story Leapt

––––––––

Written on January 5, 2014, for 365 Days of Poetry, this acrostic poem explores what a dragon is, and how they might return to the world.

––––––––

Dangerously unpredictable,

Raging infernos of gold fever and treasure lust,

Avaricious to the extreme,

Great beasts of legend

On this world unseen

Newly minted, they spread their story-given wings and rise

Skyward they leap, giving life to the skies.

––––––––

6th January

––––––––

Who with the Hero Be?

––––––––

Written on the 6 January 2001, this poem contemplates a fallen hero, or every hero has fallen or bled for his country.

––––––––

Who watches

while a hero bleeds?

Who takes his place

once his fire has died?

Who weeps

by the graveside

of a hero

dead before his prime,

pushed beyond

this life

to serve another’s need?

––––––––

7th January

––––––––

Purity Falls

––––––––

Written on January 7, 2013, for 365 Days of Poetry, this piece was inspired by the anthology, Cinquains and Succubi, using the 2, 4, 6, 8, 2 formula, designed by Adelaide Crapsey.

––––––––

Beauty

Demon fomented

Lust at first sight, demented.

A knight, pure as the new snow,

Blinded by an enchanted smile,

Fallen.

––––––––

8th January

––––––––

Wasted: A Poem for Two Voices

––––––––

I think this poem was based on a news story about a Kachin boy who was saved by the Americans, and who then who couldn’t be saved a second time. I can’t remember what it was about, but it touched me deeply at the time. This poem was written on January 8, 2004. It is another poem for two voices.

––––––––

Voice One

Together

Voice Two

There are

Good things

Bad things

To throw in the fire

As a...

As the

Kachin boy discovered.

The first time

The American hospital fixed him up

The second time

He died

The Americans

His village family

Grieved

Those hearing of

Those reading of

The tragedy

Who had known

Who had remembered

Him

Grieved

The incident

The tragedy

The waste

The war

It happening at all.

––––––––

9th January

––––––––

The Dragon Lands

––––––––

Written on January 12, 2014, for the January 9 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this poem returns to one of my favorite themes—dragons.

––––––––

Heavy wings beat.

Hot breath shines,

steam awash with treasure

sparkles in the sun.

Bronze eyes,

flecked with gold,

bronze scales shimmering

with touches of green and blue,

the dragon lands atop the rocky outcrop,

tucks its wings,

and warms its body in the sun

––––––––

10th January

––––––––

The Troll Slayer’s Flight

––––––––

Written on January 11, 2014, for the January 9 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, and themed for the Of Sonnets and Slayers collection, this piece takes another look at the hazards of hunting trolls.

––––––––

The troll slayer came,

stumbling through the dawn,

clothes ragged, steps weary,

armored-skin torn.

Haunted, her eyes

watched the sun gleam,

edging the hilltops,

while she ran from the screams

of outrage and hurt,

of hunting troll-kin,

which rang through the valley

in the half-light,

before morn.

Pursued by the troll-kin

she’d not managed to slay,

she ran through the remnant night,

fled towards day.

The troll slayer ran

watching the dawn,

not looking back

at the oncoming shadows

of the troll vengeance storm.

We hid in our houses.

We’d been told not to look,

but we could not hide our eyes

from the last stand she took.

She took to the tower

at the end of the street,

barely able to run more,

hardly lifting her feet.

She came to the top,

as the troll-kin they climbed

up the high stairs behind her.

Their skins were sweat rimed.

She fast donned the harness

she’d left up so high,

and leapt from the edge

touched by sunlight

Intent on their prey,

one goal blinkered their eyes.

Charging straight to the tower edge,

the trolls died in sunrise.

––––––––

11th January

––––––––

The First Hit

––––––––

Written on January 11, 2014, for 365 Days of Poetry, this piece is also themed for the Of Haiku and Hitmen collection.

––––––––

Target found,

the shooter watches,

Aims and fires.

Target falls.

Bodyguards cover

where he lies.

Shooter waits,

sees the search begin,

relocates.

––––––––

12th January

––––––––

The Zombie Dawn

––––––––

A zombie-inspired haiku, written on January 12, 2005.

––––––––

Long veils trail,

the zombie dawn wakes,

ghost rain falls.

––––––––

13th January

––––––––

Saturn Mine

––––––––

This short verse was written on January 13, 1998. The inspiration is lost to time.

––––––––

Saturnine,

Saturn mine.

Dark face,

darker grace,

full

within my hands.

––––––––

14th January

––––––––

Elves, Humans and the Stars

––––––––

Written on January 14, 2014, for 365 Days of Poetry, this verse explores ways of mixing science fiction with fantasy.

––––––––

Elves have always had the stars.

They were never as forest bound as they seemed.

Humans have always looked skyward,

the distant stars are full of dreams.

Elves vanished from a spell-dried Earth,

gone to an Otherworld, rarely seen.

Humans slogged through the dark times,

and looked to the stars for their hopes and dreams

When elves returned on a magical wave,

’T’was to a world of science with starships born,

and humans found that magic, too,

could amongst the stars and mankind, find a home.

––––––––

15th January

––––––––

Red Earth through White Wine

––––––––

Written on January 18, 2014, for the January 15 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this piece was inspired by observing a picture that featured the red earth of the Australian outback. The golden color of the wine did, indeed, turn pink, and it made me wonder how someone would feel observing it that way.

––––––––

I look through the glass,

observing the landscape,

the red dirt, red rocks,

everywhere

taint the golden wine pink.

Reminding me

of my homeland,

of the blood

of my forebears.

––––––––

16th January

––––––––

Australian Summer

––––––––

Written on January 18, 2014, for the January 16 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this piece was inspired by the fourth or fifth day of 40-degree Celsius temperatures in a row. For Canberra this is extreme. A cool change is coming, and we wait for it, praying it comes early.

––––––––

Blasted heat,

hot-soled feet,

wind-blasted,

furnace hot,

the breeze brings no relief.

We watch for clouds,

pray for rain,

see no mercy

in the blue above,

no mercy,

no water,

no cool.

We wait.

––––––––

17th January

––––––––

Pixies and the Aussie Summer

––––––––

Written on January 18, 2014, for the January 17 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this piece was inspired by the incredibly hot weather we were having, and the consideration that pixies come from temperate lands and a different climate.

––––––––

The pixies melt

in the forty-degree heat,

screaming,

not meant for summers here.

I shelter them,

bringing them inside the house,

crying,

for their pain.

They reward me,

though I ask for nothing more,

laughing,

as ev’ning breezes come.

The sprinkler rains

on grass wilting from the heat.

Pixies

dance with joy.

––––––––

18th January

––––––––

Spring-Time Dragon

––––––––

Written on January 18, 2014, for 365 Days of Poetry, this haiku is again about dragons.

––––––––

Cherries bloom.

The spring dragon wakes,

a-roaring.

––––––––

19th January

––––––––

The Dead and the Feather of Ma’at

––––––––

Written on January 20, 2014, for the January 19 entry of 365 Days of Poetry, this piece explores beliefs surrounding the dead of Egypt.

––––––––

The crypt is cool,

defiant of desert sands,

but buried beneath them.

The body lies in state

in an open sarcophagus,

staring at the ceiling of stone.

None can see its face,

its hands,

its feet.

It is wrapped,

and perfumed divinely,

embalmed in death.

Its spirit hovers,

occasionally venturing beyond crypt walls,

to peer at the lands of the living.

Its soul walks boldly,

in the lands of the dead,

its heart weighed,

balancing the feather of Ma’at.

––––––––

20th January

––––––––

The Fey in Two Lands

––––––––

Written on January 20, 2014, for 365 Days of Poetry, this piece returns to the idea that creatures of folklore travel to new lands with the people who believe in them. It uses a 7-4-3 pattern of syllables in