CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Today sees the release of the second and final edition of 365 Days of Poetry . What's it About? It is a book of collected verse in various genres and styles.  From dragons to starships to lost colonies and deadly mermaids, this collection of poetry wanders through genres and settings 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. Where Can I Find It? You can find this book at: https://books2read.com/u/bWrzKD And the reading list for the series at: https://books2read.com/rl/Gw8Oaz   The cover art is by Jake at JCaleb Design .

This week’s verse moves from a science fiction poem about a hero returned from war to an urban-fantasy verse where a pixie's joke goes sour. It is taken from Another 365 Days of Poetry , a collection of mixed-genre poetry released in 2019. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Play-Dead Pixie The pixie in the cherry tree did not look alive to me until he stirred, gave me a wink then closed his eyes before I could blink. What are you doing, I thought to say but then all my words went far away For a dragon landed by the tree looked at the pixie, looked at me What, pray tell, does he think to do playing dead, and in the cherry, too? I don’t know, I started to say perhaps he just likes to play The dragon glared, the pixie knew his ruse was rumbled so away he flew. -----------------------------------------------------------------------...

An englyn is a form of Welsh or Cornish verse, with a reputation of being hard to master. It has several different variants, all of which are governed by strict rules. This week, we’ll look at the englyn cil-dwrn. The englyn cil-dwrn consists of a three-line verse. The first line has 10 syllables, the second has 7, and the third has three syllables or less. The rhyme is introduced in the seventh, eighth or ninth line of the first line. The fourth syllable of the second lines uses rhyme or consonance to echo the last syllable of the first line. The last line follows the rhyme of the first two lines. Travelling Through the Black Between the stars there is nothing but black There’s no going back, they sing they sing The solar winds throughout all space prevail Utter darkness makes hearts race beating pace A world within walls of titanium coscalium, something tough steely stuff Protects, keeps out the freezing death of space Gives us a place, to draw ...

An englyn is a form of Welsh or Cornish verse, with a reputation of being hard to master. It has several different variants, all of which are governed by strict rules. This week, we’ll look at the englyn cyrch. The englyn cyrch consists of a four-line verse. Each verse has seven syllables. The final syllables of the first, second and fourth lines rhyme. The last syllable of the third line rhymes with the second, third or fourth syllable of the last line. Full-Moon Frolic Pixies dance in the moonlight Unicorns romp with horns bright Dancing the long night away Dancing, a magical sight From the forest, satyrs creep Bring their pipes, their wine long-steeped Amidst fern-lined magic stills Laughter fills the forest deeps Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one englyn cyrch for each day of the week. You can find out more about how to write englyns from the following sites: http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/englyn.htm http://en.wikipedia.o...