Young Writers Society

2/8/24

prosody
prompt from a convo with Liminality!
(i'm not sure if i'm using prosody 100% correctly, but it's a very cool word xD)

your prosody tells me nothing.
purple prose, but purple fades to gray,
and is delivered in an autogenerated voice.
each syllable with equal weight. (i wait,
but there is no way to weigh your words.)
intonation like the calmest pond,
nonexistent stress. (i didn't know you were
a master at meditation. i mutter at media
and meet my end while you are mediating,
always neutral, always in the middle.)
perhaps that figures. you are only a figure
in midtone shades, a figment of imagination.
(but who's to say i am not as well?)

2/8/24

tw: negative emotions

misery.
me sorry.
i'm sorry i let you down, i'm sorry i stumbled and stuttered and-- stop,
is what my team would say. and i know we should spotlight our growth
and scores are subjective but it still sucks. i wish we had done our best
but wishes are worthless and it doesn't lessen the pain to explain that
we did well (because i didn't, and take a guess, i'm a bit of a mess). i
thought we had a chance. and i can blame and complain but it's still like
a lance stabbing me in the chest. sigh. i'll try not to obsess. luck is a
loser and loss is not all. i love my team, and that is what matters.

formatted differently:


...okay my surprisingly rhyme-y rant is over and i have affirmed with my team how awesome we each think each other are and i am feeling alright. xD but yeah, even though scores haven't come out yet, this hit me harder than it has in four years of mock trial lol.

not in the supset (sad/upset) mood anymore but this was also smth i wanted to write poetry about so:

don't tell me i did well. don't say you're proud of me.
don't force words through your facade of happiness.
i'll know it if i genuinely did well, and your words,
well-intentioned as they are, don't determine that.
so the only thing is that the disconnect between
your words and reality rubs me the wrong way.
please. please don't praise me unless i deserve it.

2/12/24

empathy (and my lack of it)
alt title: (em/a)pathy (credit for apathy part to herbalhour)

i have written poetry about being spoiled before.
(i am fortunate. i try to be grateful, but i forget.)
i have food to eat, clothes to wear, can go to school,
can live without fear of persecution because of who i am.
i am neurotypical, cis, questioning but possibly pan
(so if i end up dating a guy, i could pass as straight).
i am not part of a racial minority in my immigrant-filled area.
yes, i am a woman in stem and there is a gender gap,
and i have been the only girl/one of a few in tech clubs before,
but i have never experienced harassment.
i am able, i do not have depression nor anxiety,
and i do not believe i have experienced burnout (yet).
i have not experienced true grief.

i know, i'm fortunate.

i wonder. is not having experienced significant challenges a good thing?
i feel like i should immediately counter that point by reminding myself
that it's better than the alternative and that i shouldn't be ungrateful,
but i also feel like it creates a gap between me
and those who have gone through trials and tribulations.
(these thoughts have filtered through my mind recently:
i do not understand people.
nor do i truly understand myself.)
much as i try, i cannot fully empathize. if i say "i get it" i feel like a liar.
i try to offer comfort in the only ways i know how,
but i am blind as to whether it's ineffective or simply makes it worse.
(do i even have any right to use the phrase "i am blind" when i am not?)
i am not wise. i am book-smart, not street-smart.
there is still so much i don't know

except that i'm fortunate.

what did i ever do to deserve this?
aren't there others who'd deserve my life more than i do?
don't i have some kind of obligation to use the resources i have to make the world better?
but how? how can i do the most good? if i haven't experienced big problems, how can i solve big problems?
i struggled with college applications because i had no major challenges to write about.
i've been complimented for being mature but i think they confused mature with obedient
because i feel like a child aware of things beyond their bubble of safety but only aware in the nightmare-sense and knowing that they will wake in their bed where their parents have tucked them in, safe and sound.
i do and i don't want to pop my bubble.
truth is, i'm a coward.

but i'm a fortunate one.

mint i *know* this is ur thread but can i post a poem in rrsponsr to empathy !! you got my gears gearing

go for it, @herbalhour xD c:

reform (and it's path of hope)

i have always read what you have written
(though, you must know that poetry is all i consume)
and my mind is tracing back what you have said--
about spoiling yourself/being spoiled
you know that you have food to eat
water to drink
air to breathe
yet do you truly forget?
do you know how grateful i am for you
do you know the path you have made
reform in its tracks
and maybe, you haven't experienced true grief
but you have empathy
i am gay, asian, adopted
i have seen death
i have seen hate
but you can share those feelings,
no?

you know, you aren't alone

i remember, never trying to have to wait for food
i still don't
should you ever have to wait?
fame and its results
its tiring feelings
its trials, bring hardship
its tribulations, bring friends
you say that you haven't empathized
have you seen yourself?
you empathize with so many people
regardless of situation
(intelligence reaches past street smarts.)

you're empathetic, you know?

i wonder, if you never have been empathetic,
what was that?
what was all your condolement?
a reaction?
a fake?
oh, you say you aren't empathetic
that is hypocritical
(having known you,
and what you have said,
this feels like a lie)

except, you are empathetic.

what didn't you do to deserve this?
your life is its own,
others have theirs
(fate chooses for us,
do not wrap your mind around it.)
feel obligation to live,
and with doing so make reform
it is not a bubble of safety
it is simply how fate wrote your story
(knowing me, knowing you,
aren't you blessed?
and be grateful
even if you feel you don't deserve it)
truth is, you're reforming and remaking

and you are empathetic.

herbb i literally teared up a little while reading that T-T thank you. 'tis a lovely poetic response <333

2/13/24

potato

imagine a potato.
dusty brown skin, blemishes dotting it like pits on a meteor.
firm to the touch, a little rough.
imagine it peeled.
smooth, pale, slightly moist.
fried.
crispy. orangish-golden-brown on the edges.
mashed.
creamy and buttery with a sprinkling of chives.
chips.
crunchy. thin, crumbly, salty and flavorful.
potatoes are so humble, yet so versatile and loved.
i joke about being a chair potato and
people equate couch potatoes with laziness but
maybe it's a high compliment to be called a potato.
maybe my goal in life is just to be a potato.

mint

i chose this name because i like mint chocolate chip ice cream.
but there could be symbolism in it (as there's symbolism in everything).
it tastes fresh / i like creativity and originality, especially in wordplay and flipping tropes
it's sweet / i try to be kind, because at least i can nurture humans with words, even if i fail to water and nurture plants
chocolate chip chunks / i like to be a jack of all trades, with a variety of interests
but also, i just like the flavor of mint.
(shush, mint haters. >.> mint doesn't taste like toothpaste; it's the other way around, and be glad toothpaste tastes minty fresh rather than like rotting banana peels or smth. =P)

symbols

if i were to build a house out of symbols, i'd start with the foundations.
an underscore, perhaps. _
add walls, like brackets and vertical bars. |_]
and a roof, of course. |^_]
[this may not be much of a house, but i can call it abstract art.]
funny how we use symbols for things. letters are symbols that represent sounds. we should have symbols for common words, not just words like "percent" and "dollar." imagine the collective time we would save if "the" was a simple symbol?
shorthand is very cool. i wonder what the most efficient language or writing system is?

Hey mint, just some random comments --

Love the sensory imagery in 'potato' "imagine a potato . . . imagine it peeled" is an impactful transition.

mint doesn't taste like toothpaste; it's the other way around,

^ This is true.

[this may not be much of a house, but i can call it abstract art.]

Deconstructed House, Spearmint (2024)

This is a great poetry/musings thread!

Ah thanks for the comments, @Liminality!!

^ This is true.

YES thank you for the validation XD

Deconstructed House, Spearmint (2024)

hehehe :3

My new goal is being a potato, lol.

(Also, you are quite empathetic... empathy is about connection and understanding, not necessarily lived experience! )

My new goal is being a potato, lol.

As it should be ;D

(Also, you are quite empathetic... empathy is about connection and understanding, not necessarily lived experience! )

<333 Thank you, @Snoink ^^

papas fritas

yessss

anyways, uh, random things because i'm bored and i'm using this thread as a place to dump idea drops from my various brainstorms XD

because it's valentine's day...

places i would go on a date/hangout:

• a bookstore or library
• a cafe or restaurant
• escape room my beloved <33
• science museum !!
• archaeological museum
• open-air market
• stationery or crafts store
• around the campfire at camp half-blood
• movies (depends on the movie)
• gardens
• cloud watching or stargazing or seeing an eclipse
• center of the earth (provided the travel vessel is safe)
• hiking
• karaoke
• castle in the clouds
• one of the virtual worlds in ted chiang's digients short story
• staples or home depot
• 1000 years in the future (assuming there hasn't been a nuclear war and climate change hasn't killed us all)
• mysterious/maybe magical ruins on a mountain that i don't want to visit alone but would gladly drag someone along to visit with

places i would not go on a date/hangout:

• aquarium
• circus
• a middle school
• deep under the sea (well.... i could be convinced otherwise if the submarine was safe >.>)
• beach
• inside an active volcano (i don't like too much heat)
• dinosaur times
• any place i have to wear makeup or high heels at
• accounting firm
• stinky public school bathroom
• sewers, unless they have magical creatures living in them or smth
• most high fantasy novels (no powerful rings for me, thanks. *shudders*)
• dystopian novels (except maybe the giver)
• parties at places that don't have libraries i can escape to
• tropical island
• desert
• middle of a highway
• 6-year-old's birthday party
• marvel cinematic universe (as a non-superpowered bystander, my life expectancy seems rather low)

2/28/24

getting back into poetry after a week-long break with some whimsical stuff xD


origami

i/you/we crease a fold.
make a mountain. the paper
shifts and whispers and she/he/they
blows softly to shiver a breeze.
(carbon dioxide floats,
but not being a living tree,
the paper doesn't absorb it.)
the folds are sleek and wrinkle-free,
like carefully ironed clothes.
you & others flip the form.


nonsensical e.e

i never believed in a world without seas.
dear me, what are we?
please, i need to see
the heather leaving the moor along with trees.

& so we weave grief
into cookie-cutter sweetmeats
and we eat wheat + leaves + green peas.


annnd another list! :]

careers i would consider instead of smth in computer science

• architect - i like sketching buildings and making models >.>
• author - ...kinda self-explanatory, seeing as this is a site for writers xD
• rocket scientist - just so i can own a mug that says, "actually, it is rocket science"