Category: entertain

A Lesson from a Lumenstone

.Reading time 2 minutes.

 

My characters wrote poetry several years before I gave it a serious try. Several pieces of their “works” survived the adaptation that is now The Legends of the Lumenstones. Poetry has become a part of my weekly writing expression and an important part of how I learn and grow. In celebration of the softcover going live for sale at Amazon, I thought I would share a couple of the surviving pieces, both taken from Chapter 7, “The Gat’s Gathering”. The first four lines form a riddle provided by Mattoby the Gat. The rest are lyrics from a song. They are a few of the colorful threads that help form a rich, storytelling tapestry.

~

Long the night at Dorghorn’s height,
There was a tiny glimmer.
Fortune’s right and great delight,
Held in the hand, did shimmer.*

~

Did you see my Adrianne?
On the far end of a dream,
Searching for me in the light,
My footsteps vanished in the stream.

Did you see my Adrianne?
Did you hear her cry my name?
All is darkness now and weary.
‘ round my waist there is a chain.

Did you see my Adrianne?
Always wondering where I went.
Lost to shadows, sold to darkness,
This the tomb where I was sent.

Here in the night
of darkest gloom,
We work the mines
of Dobbin’s tomb

Here in the night
of darkest gloom,
We work the mines
of Dobbin’s tomb.

If you see my Adrianne,
Tell her please and not to cry,
I have found the way to exit,
For I must work until I die.

Here in the night
of darkest gloom,
We work the mines
of Dobbin’s tomb.*

~

(*Taken from Chapter 7, “The Gat’s Gathering”, The Legend of the Lumenstones: The Lightbearer)

words and photo © 2017 Tanya Cliff

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on sale now

Found

.Reading time 1 minute.

“We are lost.” *

It is a new beginning, an adaptation of my old fantasy novel, unearthed under mounds of verbal dirt. My writer’s brain grew. My editing skills sharpened. Like a painter learning a new medium, I have cultivated my storytelling skills in poetry and repainted the old tale on a fresh canvass. The rambling paragraph that once started this tale has been scrapped.  I’ve burned the dross off the plot and allowed my characters to carry it.

The book has a new cover and a new name. Loni and Dovni may be momentarily lost in the first chapter, but the story has been found.

Next week, I will be sharing the first four chapters of the book and providing a link to the eBook on Amazon as soon as it goes live. This summer I will follow with the next two books in the series, both in final rewrite.

*Opening line of The Legend of the Lumenstones: The Lightbearer

Words and cover art©2017 Tanya Cliff

Posted in books & Legend of the Lumenstones.

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My Intergalactic Trip

.Reading time 1 minute.

I tried to visit a planted called #MAGA
in a galaxy far, far away
applied for an intergalactic Visa
but I was rejected
on the grounds
of my planet’s
dark brown coffee beans

#MAGAns exclusively lap vanilla cream
from crystal bowls
on silver platters
they’ve placed an interstellar ban
on all forms of caffeine
and caffeinated beverages
like me

so I stole away aboard a pirate space ship –
“The Percolator” –
in hopes to steal of view
of a #MAGAn or two
while some dark roast was traded
on a black market
to #MAGAns grown weary
of vanilla cream

we sailed an orbit all around #MAGA
only to discover
an impenetrable, atmospheric barrier
erected
to keep our brew away

our captain, Java the Hutt,
laughed maliciously
as we flew through space
in search of a market –
a weary planet in need of a jolt

Captain Java bellowed,
“Foolish #MAGAns!
In fear of the indigestion they think caffeine will bring,
they have severed their sole supply of vanilla cream.
With milk delivery routes from the planet Magnesia
entirely stopped up
the entire #MAGAn civilization is doomed
to thirst, ache and explode.”

~

Words and Photography ©2017 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

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Dear Donald #1

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Dear Donald,

I understand that you are building a wall to keep dangerous Mexicans off our soil, and you have bravely banned humans of seven scary Muslim countries from entering our great nation.

While you are busy signing executive orders to make America great again, I was wondering if you would consider the following:

1. a ban on all grasshoppers
2. a nationwide flight restriction on mosquitos, especially the kind that carry the Zika Virus
3. a prohibition on plant blight
4. a restriction on drought that covers all except the designated desert plains
5. an immediate halt to the entry in United States’ air space of any cloud even thinking of forming a tornado vortex
6. an offshore boundary prohibiting hurricanes from coming within 200 nautical miles of our fine country’s shores, or else
7. an immediate ban on all forms of cancer
8. a strict restriction on flooding in urban or agricultural districts
9. an executive order calling for the immediate halt of all traffic accidents
10. a ban on the flu virus, something that would save millions of dollars annually in vaccines alone

I can think of many other items to put on this list; but, between your ban of people from those Muslim countries and your wall to keep Mexican people out, I don’t see how there will be enough working humans left in America to complete the tasks already mentioned.

Thank you for your time.

A Concerned Citizen

~

Words and Photography ©2017 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

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