High school sucked. I hated, hated it to the point of missing weeks at a time because of panic attacks. I started writing poetry to cope. Bad, sad poetry. I still like some of it, actually, and reading it back was such a kick that I decided to string some of it together as an ebook. This really wasn’t anything more than an excuse to learn something new (I thought formatting would be a breeze, but it took more than an hour and three uploads until I was happy with it) but if you or someone you know enjoys this kind of thing, you can download it for the e-reader of your choice here. Bonus: It’s free.

Ten years ago, Mekenzie Larsen was an awkward freshman struggling to make friends. Writing was not only an escape but a way to vent. Here is a short collection of poems written between 2001-2002 that best showcases the author’s feelings during that first year of high school as well as her budding love for angst, the color red, and mermaids.

• New Orleans! I spent two days there with my dad last month. Hit up the French Quarter, fell in love, then overheated and almost passed out at Jazz Fest. Big crowds and pot haze don’t agree with me. But the next morning I felt much better and now I’m dying to go back. A more detailed post about our trip is forthcoming.
• Hawk Cam. Really, who isn’t watching this?
• The Single Most Ridiculous Movie Premise Ever Made via Cracked.
• The Book of Mormon soundtrack gets more amazing the more I listen to it.
• For fans of Sailor Moon, particularly the horrid English dub, the abridged series is a riot.
• I’m the proud owner of a shiny new Kindle. I can never part with my beloved books but this really is the next best thing. E-book recs, anyone?
• Go the F**k to Sleep, a bedtime story for exhausted parents. I’m tempted to buy a copy.
• The Shakespearean Insulter is fast becoming my go-to source for random exclamations of disgust and disapproval.
• Interested in self-publishing? You should check out this blog by Lindsay Buroker.
• Requires Only That You Hate – specfic geekrage!
• Looking for something new to read? Try What Should I Read Next? and BookLamp. A shame the latter seems stuck in beta.
• 10 things we want to see in the Dark Tower adaptation. With one exception (leave the ending as is), I disagree with everything on this list.
• MYTHPUNK! It’s exactly what it sounds like. Here, have a few more links.
• Read this: The Rumpelstiltskin Retellings: A Series of Poetic Blogs by Keyan Bowes, Choose Your Own Adventure by Kat Howard, The King of Cats, the Queen of Wolves by Mike Allen, Nicole Kornher-Stace, and Sonya Taaffe, & Fox Fire and Gold Coins (Disney smut with Flynn Rider and human!Robin Hood? Count me in!).
• Etsy finds: Corina Dross (beautiful “protective playing cards”), Dame Darcy, Latherati Soup Foundry (scents based on books), BellaLili.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe —
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
“Where are you going, and what do you wish?”
The old moon asked the three.
“We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!”
Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea —
“Now cast your nets wherever you wish—
Never afeard are we”;
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam —
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
‘T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought ‘t was a dream they ‘d dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea —
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one’s trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field

]]> http://bludfellow.com/2009/01/14/where-are-you-going-and-what-do-you-wish/feed/ 0 http://bludfellow.com/2009/01/06/27/ http://bludfellow.com/2009/01/06/27/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:41:44 +0000 http://bludfellow.com/?p=27

Hidden, oh hidden
in the high fog
the house we live in,
beneath the magnetic rock,
rain-, rainbow-ridden,
where blood-black
bromelias, lichens,
owls, and the lint
of the waterfalls cling,
familiar, unbidden.

Song for the Rainy Season by Elizabeth Bishop