Poem for Saturday

From "A Game of Henge"
By Philip Gross

A game of Henge, my masters?
The pieces are set. We lost the box
with the instructions years ago.

Do you see Hangman? Or
Clock Patience? Building bricks
the gods grew out of? Dominoes?

Your move. You're in the ring --
of the hills, of the stones, of the walls
of your skull. You want to go?

You want out? Good. That's
the game. Whichever way you turn
are doors. Choose. Step through, so,

and whichever world you stumble
into will be different from all the others. Only
what they might have been,
                               you'll never know.

--------

And a visual to go with the poem:


Ravens at Stonehenge, April

from yesterday:

1) Do you have any rare fandoms/pairings? If so, what are they?
I don't know how to answer this -- in the circles in which I run, none of my pairings are terribly rare, and the fandoms, while sometimes isolated, connect to much larger ones -- I don't know very many other people who've written Indian Runner fic, for instance, but I know hundreds who've written fic about characters played by Viggo Mortensen. And in the circles in which I run, Space: 1999 is practically unheard of, yet it's had a thriving fandom elsewhere for decades. My favorite DS9 'ship is Winn/Dukat, which practically no one has any interest in despite the fact that it was canon, but I can get people to discuss it with me just because the show's fandom is so large.

2) What is your favorite fandom to pimp? Why?
Aragorn/Boromir. The people I've met through it and the quality of much of the writing itself is superlative. I've read some wonderful Remus/Sirius but I've also read some totally crappy Remus/Sirius and have encountered more casual sloppiness (lack of beta etc.) and generally insane behavior even in the little corners of HP I frequent than in LOTR, though I'm sure my utter lack of interest in tinhats and laughing at people who think one of the actors is in love with them has helped there.

3) Do you remember to send feedback to authors of stories you recommend? Why or why not?
Yes. It's very rare for me to recommend someone with whom I haven't exchanged notes about why I like their work.

4) What attracts you to a character? Looks? Voice? Snarkiness? What?
Intelligence, emotional depth, a certain amount of humor, empathy...looks certainly don't hurt but I have never gotten into a character because I liked his or her looks first and foremost. I have also come to realize, much to my shame, that I get into relationships more than I get into individuals -- most of my obsessions were kicked off by a 'ship, not a single character, which I'm sure says something terrible about my lack of independence. But it was always Kirk WITH Spock, Janeway WITH Chakotay, John WITH Helena, Aragorn WITH Boromir and/or Faramir and/or Arwen, Remus WITH Sirius (and without Sirius, and maybe with Severus afterwards since the wicked has stuck that in my head).

5) How do you get a new fandom? Someone pimps you in? You watch the show? You're desperate for fic? What?
Usually I see a show/movie and fall for it, find that I am compelled to write about it and then to read about it and meet other people with the same compulsion. In a couple of cases (X-Files, La Femme Nikita) I got in ass-backwards -- stumbled across fic and only afterwards watched the show. I don't think anyone has ever pimped me into anything that I wasn't already aware of and somewhat enthusiastic about, though I was definitely helped along with HP for instance by the number of good writers I knew who were R/S fans.


Speaking of fandom-by-osmosis, even though I have been saying for two years now that Orlando Bloom is too young and is not my type, I think that between Ned Kelly and this picture of him as Paris, I have been utterly converted. Save me!

And a rec: 's "Destiny's Call". Because there is just not enough good Arwen fic.

Today we are taking the kids to a harvest and Halloween festival at my husband's parents' campground. Then we are barbecuing. I'm hoping the rain holds off. Actually I'm hoping it holds off all weekend so that we can go to the Renaissance Festival again tomorrow, but if we have to put that off till next week it's fine because there will be a jousting tournament and no Redskins traffic.