The Wordsmith's Forge

This poem came out of the January 3, 2023 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "Goat Song" square in my 1-3-22 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Kung Fu Robots.


"Goat Song"


Shif is considered
the most patient teacher in
the kung fu robots.

He will even teach
the clumsy human children
outside the temple.

The children tumble
over each other like a
herd of baby goats.

Ling watches and laughs.
"They can no more learn kung fu
Than a goat can sing."

Shif says, "Let them try.
Who knows, maybe someday we
will hear the Goat Song."

This poem is spillover from the January 3, 2023 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from redsixwing. It also fills "Geyser" square in my 12-1-22 card for the Wonders of Nature Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by ng_moonmoth. It belongs to the series A Poesy of Obscure Sorrows.

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The general fund currently contains $30. Everyone is eligible to vote in this poll. I will keep it open at least until Tuesday evening. If there's a clear answer then, I'll close it. Otherwise I may leave it open a little longer. Here are your options...


"The Heart's Best Tenant" belongs to the Steamsmith. Charlotte has good ideas. It needs $119 to be complete.

"Within the Souls of Men" belongs to Shiv and happens shortly after the Omaha Incident story arc. Shiv and Luci visit the Omaha reservation to unwind. It needs $331 to be complete.

We've reached the end of scheduled themes for the Poetry Fishbowl project. It's time to brainstorm some new themes! These are a few that I've jotted down earlier, ones that I've thought up or people have suggested, to give you an idea what kind of stuff might be suitable:

Dance
Ethnic Studies
Genderbending
Magic of Metaphor
Motherlode as a Genre
Prehistoric
Renaissance faires / historical re-enactment
S-risks and X-risks
Spirituality

What other themes would you like to see me write about? What would you like to buy? Suggest them in a comment below this post.

Later on I'll collect the suggestions and do some polling. The most popular topics will be added to the schedule for future fishbowls. I'm going to run the first large poll with checkboxes so you can express interest in as many themes as you like. I will then either pick from the most popular ones, or use that information to pull out the favorite themes for a smaller poll to select the ones which will appear in upcoming fishbowls.

You can also help by linking to this post so that more people will see it. Everyone is welcome to suggest themes. Everyone will also be able to vote for them later; prompters and donors will get extra votes. If you link to the call for themes, you can reveal a verse in any open perk poem:
"Let the Children Lead Us,"
"Pumpkin Spice Prosperity,"
"Delight in Another,"
"A Sense of Weather Changes,"
"Ouroboros Insects,"
"The Loving Embrace of Night,"
"Generations of Cooks Past,"
"Begin to Understand Ourselves,"
"Homefree and Clear, "
"One Bite at a Time,"
"Stars and Diamonds,"
"Mishpocha,"
"There's an Art to It,"
"The Glass Cat."