< clockwise from you >

[rayheinrich]

       




                                        < clockwise from you >
                                       
                                        the board lies before us
                                        the earth awaits
                                       
                                        the forest spreads
                                        the roots interlock
                                        the game begins
                                       
                                        we each select our totem
                                        lion, ant, scorpion, unicorn...
                                       
                                        some silver
                                        some polished wood
                                        some gold
                                       
                                        you pick the wolf
                                        i pick the crow
                                       
                                        the gorilla builds the walls of the city
                                        the unicorn guards its seventh gate
                                       
                                        the heretic enters the city
                                        the spider picks up stones
                                        and the scorpion waits
                                       
                                        the sphinx prays in the temple
                                        the sanctuary sprouts eyes
                                        the walls grow teeth
                                       
                                        the crow clings
                                        to belief
                                        to the wolf's mane
                                       
                                        the lion pursues
                                        the gazelle flees
                                        the next season
                                        promises solace
                                       
                                        as the dance continues
                                       
                                        the fly
                                        comes out of the closet
                                        and the frogs
                                        are all mouths
                                       
                                        the family
                                        proclaims its innocence
                                       
                                        the heads
                                        lean in
                                       
                                        the lips
                                        part
                                       
                                        the mouths
                                        eat
                                       
                                        the night comes
                                       
                                        the deer stumbles
                                        no one sees her
                                        but the wolf hears
                                       
                                        the night comes again
                                       
                                        and the unicorn
                                        buries her daughters
                                       
                                        and the leopard
                                        never makes it home

                                                - - -





image: mage.com/ray



Ancient Board Games:

Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history.
Physical sets of Senet were found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt,
c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively. Senet was pictured in a fresco painting found
in Merknera's tomb (3300–2700 BC).

Hounds and Jackals, another ancient Egyptian board game, appeared around 2000 BC.
The first complete set of this game was discovered in a Theban tomb (1803-1649 BC)
This game was also popular in Mesopotamia and the Caucasus.

Backgammon originated in ancient Mesopotamia c. 3000 BC.
Ashtapada, Chess, Pachisi and Chaupar originated in India.
Go and Liubo originated in China.
Patolli originated in Mesoamerica and was played by the ancient Aztecs.
A board game was also found in the royal tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia c. 2600 BC.

From the Wikipedia Board Game article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game

Permissions:

Please feel free to go as off-topic as you want.
I most prize comments that describe what you thought and felt when you
were reading the poem, irrespective of the content of the poem.
As well as corrections to grammar, spelling, and suggestions for improved wording of lines.
Also encouraged are off-topic comments (what you had for breakfast this morning
or anything about cats).

[TranquillityBase]

Image of the boardgame is stunning.

The stanzas about the ant and the racoon kinda ruined what otherwise I thought was some very cool lines.  I think you could lose those and actually enhance the power of the remaining lines.

TqB

[rayheinrich]

Image of the boardgame is stunning.

The stanzas about the ant and the racoon kinda ruined what otherwise I thought was some very cool lines.  I think you could lose those and actually enhance the power of the remaining lines.

TqB

Yeah, you're right; it's a better poem without those two stanzas so I took them out.
I sort of wanted something crude to change the poem up a bit, but they don't fit the
temperament, religious nature of the rest of the poem. Thanks

P.S. I liked the image too. You have no idea how many times I had to modify the prompts
and them give up and figure out new ones until I got mage to make one I liked.
The stable diffusion stuff (the process mage uses is notorious for not doing bodies
that well, but with the mood of the poem the misshapen bodies were exactly what I wanted.
(What stable diffusion does with bodies always reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch paintings.)
But when I'm interested in normal bodies it's a pain. I'll get a mage image I really like
only the person has six fingers or the horse has three legs. If I really love the image enough
I'll erase and redraw them in Photoshop. It's not that easy for me as body parts are hard
for me to draw so it sometimes takes a few hours to get rid of a finger. It's not just cut
and paste because I have to move the other fingers and alter the hand so the proportions
are correct. Haha, but it's fun.

[Tiger the Lion]

Image of the boardgame is stunning.

The stanzas about the ant and the racoon kinda ruined what otherwise I thought was some very cool lines.  I think you could lose those and actually enhance the power of the remaining lines.

TqB

Yeah, you're right; it's a better poem without those two stanzas so I took them out.
I sort of wanted something crude to change the poem up a bit, but they don't fit the
temperament of the rest of the poem. Thanks

P.S. I liked the image too. You have no idea how many times I had to modify the prompts
and them give up and figure out new ones until I got mage to make one I liked.
The stable diffusion stuff (the process mage uses is notorious for not doing bodies
that well, but with the mood of the poem the misshapen bodies were exactly what I wanted.
(What stable diffusion does with bodies always reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch paintings.)
But when I'm interested in normal bodies it's a pain. I'll get a mage image I really like
only the person has six fingers or the horse has three legs. If I really love the image enough
I'll erase and redraw them in Photoshop. It's not that easy for me as body parts are hard
for me to draw so it sometimes takes a few hours to get rid of a finger. It's not just cut
and paste because I have to move the other fingers and alter the hand so the proportions
are correct. Haha, but it's fun.

I'm a fan of this one too. The image is worth the price of admission and the poem doesn't disappoint. Sometimes these prompts encourage enough interesting research, that the actual poems become secondary. At least 5 or 6 poems this month have led me down a path of learning something I never knew.

[rayheinrich]

Image of the boardgame is stunning.

The stanzas about the ant and the racoon kinda ruined what otherwise I thought was some very cool lines.  I think you could lose those and actually enhance the power of the remaining lines.

TqB

Yeah, you're right; it's a better poem without those two stanzas so I took them out.
I sort of wanted something crude to change the poem up a bit, but they don't fit the
temperament, religious nature of the rest of the poem. Thanks

P.S. I liked the image too. You have no idea how many times I had to modify the prompts
and them give up and figure out new ones until I got mage to make one I liked.
The stable diffusion stuff (the process mage uses is notorious for not doing bodies
that well, but with the mood of the poem the misshapen bodies were exactly what I wanted.
(What stable diffusion does with bodies always reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch paintings.)
But when I'm interested in normal bodies it's a pain. I'll get a mage image I really like
only the person has six fingers or the horse has three legs. If I really love the image enough
I'll erase and redraw them in Photoshop. It's not that easy for me as body parts are hard
for me to draw so it sometimes takes a few hours to get rid of a finger. It's not just cut
and paste because I have to move the other fingers and alter the hand so the proportions
are correct. Haha, but it's fun.

I'm a fan of this one too. The image is worth the price of admission and the poem doesn't disappoint. Sometimes these prompts encourage enough interesting research, that the actual poems become secondary. At least 5 or 6 poems this month have led me down a path of learning something I never knew.

A lot of the time I do quite a bit of research while writing a poem. Just recently I figured out:
Well, what the hell, why not paste that below the poem... And yeah, sometimes when I'm
writing a poem the research is more fun than actually writing the poem. An image with the
poem and commentary afterwards... Maybe I should consider that all part of the piece.

[Tiger the Lion]

Yeah, you're right; it's a better poem without those two stanzas so I took them out.
I sort of wanted something crude to change the poem up a bit, but they don't fit the
temperament, religious nature of the rest of the poem. Thanks

P.S. I liked the image too. You have no idea how many times I had to modify the prompts
and them give up and figure out new ones until I got mage to make one I liked.
The stable diffusion stuff (the process mage uses is notorious for not doing bodies
that well, but with the mood of the poem the misshapen bodies were exactly what I wanted.
(What stable diffusion does with bodies always reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch paintings.)
But when I'm interested in normal bodies it's a pain. I'll get a mage image I really like
only the person has six fingers or the horse has three legs. If I really love the image enough
I'll erase and redraw them in Photoshop. It's not that easy for me as body parts are hard
for me to draw so it sometimes takes a few hours to get rid of a finger. It's not just cut
and paste because I have to move the other fingers and alter the hand so the proportions
are correct. Haha, but it's fun.

I'm a fan of this one too. The image is worth the price of admission and the poem doesn't disappoint. Sometimes these prompts encourage enough interesting research, that the actual poems become secondary. At least 5 or 6 poems this month have led me down a path of learning something I never knew.

A lot of the time I do quite a bit of research while writing a poem.  Just recently I figured out:
Well, what the hell, why not paste that below the poem... And yeah, sometimes when I'm
writing a poem the research is more fun than actually writing the poem.  An image with the
poem and commentary afterwards... Maybe I should consider that all part of the piece.

When the OP presents it that way, I consider it all part of the piece. In most cases I would prefer the reader do the googling, but sometimes a full presentation is appropriate and charming in its own way.

[TranquillityBase]

 You have no idea how many times I had to modify the prompts 
and them give up and figure out new ones until I got mage to make one I liked.

Who or what is the mage?

Sounds like you've got a wizard on standby. Am I understanding you created that board?