[This is very much still a work in progress.]

Dark horses crash through my dreams
Crushing grasses and wildflowers
Muddying meadows
I run, clutching my fraying rope
Determined to catch hold and surmount
Tripping on roots and rocks
Bloodying my hands and feet
Panting, gasping, I run
With the dark horses
Finally, finally, atop my borrowed thestral
I turn back, always back, weeping for
The flower here, the grass blade there
That survives

Survives until the scraggly
Ravenous, sneaky day wolves
Devour the world
The pack hunts so quietly, so efficiently
Even my thestral, tethered,
Falls beneath their multiple mouths

No rope, no whistle
No charm, no psalm
No cross, no garlic
No holy water
Sprinkled sparkling drops
Banishes these memory hunters
These future eaters

Forgiveness is no kind savior
She does not offer herself for me
She will not still the horses
She will not feed the wolves
She will not carry my cross

She waits, crouching behind
One small flower growing
In the fork of one twisted tree
Almost out of reach
She waits
For me to stretch
Yawn, open my eyes
Rub away the sleep and tears
Stretch up and grasp
Her flowered home

[Just having some fun today, after watching the second episode of the trilogy that Peter Jackson created from The Hobbit.]

Hansel and Gretel
Adapted for Peter Jackson

Episode One:
The Family Menace
Wherein
A young man
Dominated by his
Secretly evil mother
Meets a brave young warrior
A good witch
Who gives him the courage
To join her fight
Against the Dark Web
A league of evil
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Two:
Attack of the Gnomes
Wherein
The good witch
And her brave
But psychologically damaged
Warrior husband
Lead the fight
To keep the forest free of
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Three:
Revenge of the Dark Web
Wherein
Our valiant pair
Fight on
As more of the forest
Falls to the Dark Web of
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead
(Pausing only
For the good witch
To birth her children
Hansel and Gretel)
Spoiler alert:
The good witch dies

In between Episode:
Rogue Witchkiller
Wherein
Another valiant
But doomed
Mismatched pair
Find love and adventure
Stealing the plans
For the Candy Cottage
Being built by the Dark Web of
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Four:
The Children Lose Hope
Wherein
Ten years later
Our widowed warrior
Unhappily remarried to
A beautiful but evil
Warrior witch
Trains his children
In warrior ways
While his wife
Tries to kill them
With help from
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Five:
The Witch Strikes Back
Wherein
The evil stepmother
Tries harder
To kill the children
With the help of
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Six:
Return of the Children
Wherein
The original fairytale
Is contained
In its entirety

Episode Seven:
The Gold Awakens
Wherein
Fourteen years later
Hansel and Gretel
Use their magical gold
To finance an army
To destroy
The bigger, better
Candy Castle
Being built by
The Darker Web of
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Eight:
The Last Witch-burner
Wherein
Gretel’s daughter fights
(Can you guess?)
The Really Very Dark Web of
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead

Episode Nine:
Working title: Black Gold
Not yet plotted
But we know
There will be
A good witch
A troubled man
More
Witches and warlocks
Goblins and ghouls
Orcs and ogres
And the Walking Dead
And possibly, probably
A bigger, better
Candy Citadel

[Rebecca’s challenge for today, the middle of April, was to write a poem around the idea of a middle. The background of this poem is a tragic bus accident that killed 16 young men who were all members of a Saskatchewan youth hockey club. The poem is about this video]

“For the boys in the west
And all their parents
And everybody hurt”
In the middle of an empty
Hockey rink
Beneath the
Canadian flag
High on the far wall
A man
Chunky in dark clothes
Plays Amazing Grace
On his harmonica
As 16 young men
Skate invisible circles
“For the boys in the west
And all their parents
And everybody hurt”

[The “official” NaPoWriMo prompt for today was “…to write entries for an imaginary dream dictionary…” using one or more of several words. I was having fun, so I used all of the words.]

Teacup:
Tempest cup, my world and worries
Spill over your brim, into my dreams
Brewing ground for nightmares

Hammer:
Thor’s hammer, you strike my fears
Nail them into my dreams
Tethering bolts for nightmares

Seagull:
High flying gull, you carry away my pain
Soar me through sleep’s ether
Gripping talons for sweet dreams

Ballet slipper:
Soft slipper, you firmly tie my longings
Bind them for my waking
Dancing shoe in night’s sonata

Shark:
Sharp-toothed shark, you pierce my failures
Chew up my efforts on razor edges
Blood-drawing carnivore of regrets

Wobbly table:
Uneven table, you hold my hopes
Balance them on too few feet
Shaking confidence in myself

Dentist:
Fearsome doctor, you excise my wisdom
Hold it up for me to mourn
Exacting physician of folly

Rowboat:
Oared boat, you challenge my love
Dare me to risk the deep
Offering room for one more

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[Rebecca’s challenge to us today was to write a poem “answering” another poem. I chose to answer Dylan Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night]

I hope to come gentle into Your good light
Though now I burn and rave all my days
As I rage, rage against the rule of might

Though wise women know power is not right
Because their words drown in warriors’ brays
I hope to come gentle into Your good light

Good women, my last hope, shining so bright
Their bold tangos dance in rainbow bays
As I rage, rage against the rule of might

With wild women who sang the goshawk’s flight
But learned, too early, of jesses and hooded ways
I hope to come gentle into Your good light

Laughing women, wanting life, grab the radiant sight
Bound no more, our comets’ trailing fires blaze
As I rage, rage against the rule of might

And You, my Mother, there on Your glad height
Bless me now with your sweet smile and gaze
I hope to come gentle into Your good light
No more to rage, rage against the rule of might