Poem: "The Transformations of Terror"

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here is the latest epic in search of cosponsors. This poem came out of the October 13, 2009 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from janetmiles, siege, and wyld_dandelyon (posting for her niece). These folks all got me thinking about what would frighten an inorganic shapeshifter, and why. Ulterior inspirations include Madelaine L'Engle (kudos to janetmiles for correctly

Comments

[fayanora]

Scary! Kinda like Cthulhu in space.

*laugh*

[ysabetwordsmith]

Kind of like, yes. There's a related poem that I really should write up, if it comes together.

[janetmiles]

I just realized another allusion -- the dragons of the ainniq in C.S. Friedman's This Alien Shore

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes and no. Yes, in that they are perceived the same way. There is an ancient and widespread archetype of monsters attacking unwary travelers, especially when people venture into unknown and mysterious realms. Sea monsters guarded the oceans; dragons and rocs guarded the skies; and when we had pretty well conquered the Earth and started writing about star travel, we followed through and put dragons and malicious energy beings into subspace and hyperspace and all sorts of other places. The ainniq dragons are one representation of that archetype, very well done.

And mine, well, things aren't always what they seem. There are competing truths in play here. I wanted to do something a little different with this motif.

[fayanora]

At first IT just hangs there, folding into and out of itself
Like a tesseract made of meat.

That second line is my favorite. I had to have kengr explain a tesseract, but the image is so... awesome.

I love this so far! Poor spacecraft.

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad you like this so much. It's fun to watch the tale unfold as new verses are added.