April 19, 2020

2019 Poetry



In honor of National Poetry Month, allow me to share with you a few of the poems I wrote last year. The shorter ones don’t have titles, so I’ve separated each poem by asterisks:

* * *


Look at me:
what you see
is a star
burning bright
and about to implode.


* * *


Lost my grip on Reality,
let go of its leash.
Now, I'm lost in the woods,
hounded by growling,
untamed Delusions
hot on my heels.


* * *

For the Record

Do you ever just feel like a broken record?
Do you ever just—
Do you ever just—
just—
just feel like a broken?
Spinnin’ around,
scratches on your heart,
on your vinyl,
on your—
Do you ever just feel like a broken record?
Skip—
Skipping ahead
or back
several tracks,
several rings,
spiraling
on your vinyl,
on your—
Do you ever just—
just—
just—
just—
...
pull the needle up and come to a stop?


April 11, 2020

Heroes and Villains are Not the Same

That's right, I hold the controversial opinion that heroes and villains are, in fact, not the same thing. Crazy, I know, but I stand by it. Let's step back a bit. Recently, I've come across a few writers and commentators saying something along the lines of "who the hero or villain is depends on who's telling the story". This sounds provocative, I guess, but it disregards a lot of standard terminology surrounding storytelling

Let’s talk about four types of character.

First, you have your protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist, obviously, is the main character. The antagonist is the character who works against the main character. Wikipedia puts it rather eloquently: "The protagonist is at the center of the story, makes the key decisions, and experiences the consequences of those decisions. The protagonist is the primary agent propelling the story forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles," while "an antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist".