cut glass magic

Matt Holck · 20-07-2008 7:40pm #1

This a story about a medicines woman's daughter and a farm boy in a fantasy world.

The story starts where the human kingdom has a fragile treaty with the goblns and the forest.
The humans of the kingdom have their own factions: Wizards, Priests, Surfs and Royalty.

The two charcters are caught up in the broils of the human goblin relations.

The wizards and priests practice a magic through stain glassed windows.

I will start this story with a history of when the humans first came to land.

The first goblin wars

Long ago, the water flowed from mountains to the sea.
Mountain ridge corralled the clouds and fleece their waters free.

The forest grow robust watered by clouds caught from the sea.
The earth was think and lush across the spines of all trees,
and goblins flourished freely in the shade of many leaves.

Long ago, the boats sailed in with billowed cloth on rigid beams
and brought humans to forests lands to began a new regime.

They cleaved some trees and lined their spines into a fortress wall
and gouged the land under their plow around their new stronghold.
Still, skirmishes between goblin and man were few in days of old.

Long ago, the loggers trawled the lumber out to sea.
The human kingdoms expanded were the trees used to be.

A town formed round the fortress. Ports branched into the sea.
and farms sprawled across the land as far as the eye could see
and there was first war with the goblins over the rights of trees.

sitout · 21-07-2008 9:35pm

semi interesting in a b lord of the rings kinda way!

Matt Holck · 23-07-2008 8:26am

And the Goblins Sang

This unexpected company
is cuting away our shady trees
and out among the bare debris
we cannot see in day at all.

They cut their plows into lost grounds
and more sail in and build the town.
We must make them stop.

While the sun is high and hot
and has dried their feilds and browned their crops,
we'll set fire to every plot,
and burn the humans out.

And the humans straved in that winter
and grow mad in their hunger
and set fire to the forest
whose lumber was their bread butter.

And no one won and many lost
until borders were drawn
in a treaty for peace.

Matt Holck · 24-07-2008 11:11am

and peace stuck out like a sore thumb
like the crumbled remains of forest burned.
Though much of the forests remained,
the humans saw new land to be gained.

Across the burned cleared plains,
new farms sprang.
An industry to sustain the humans
as logging was no longer an option.

But by the treaty, that was not human land,
and they suffered raid by goblin bands.
Knights in armor to protect the farmers
became the lords of the uncovered lands.

Matt Holck · 26-07-2008 6:07am

Now, the goblins and ferries were familiar with human kind
for barbarians live in the mountain climbs
but the barbarians never cared to descend
into the forest lands.

Where barbarian elders go to die.

On the side of Mirror Lake Mountain,
opens the cave of black water well.
Elder barbarians explore the tunnels,
never to return again.

They shed their bodies within
and stir together in cavern winds.
The catacombs catch their soul, their breath.
The black water well collects their deaths.

…Those that enter hear the whisper…
“Come and ride the carousel
cradled in the caverns.
Put pain aside and shirk the bell
that once called to your hunger.
We will turn eternally
brushing through each other.
We’ve shed our skin to earthen walls
held closely in the under.”

image credit http://www.craftconn.com

Matt Holck · 27-07-2008 6:21pm

Wizards mix the liquid death within molten glass

The wizards know of the black water well
and built a portal next to the pool
that leads to where the wizards dwell
to tap the deaths shed by the old
for their magic spells.

They stir death into molten sand
and spread the mix on plates of gold.
Stained glass is cut to window patterns
and to the churches sold.

Death poured into glass
adds magic to the craft.
But a broken window,
spills a death as a shadow.
A shadow that seeks
to take life to be complete.
But of these deaths, not wizard or priest
dares to speak.

image credit
http://www.myglassshop.com/classes.htm

Matt Holck · 27-07-2008 6:23pm

/split/rays
cutpatterns/
c|a|g|e|s
L O O M

Matt Holck · 27-07-2008 6:29pm

Priest use the stained glass windows to watch their flock.

Filter rays defused through volumes of dust or smoke or vapor.
A light of depth hung in a cloud.
The dyes in window glass panes
filter colored colonnades
cut within the window frame.

Staring at the sun
shining though cut glass
priest could see over the land
wherever beams were cast.

The priests envy of the forest
shrouded from their eyes
for it is hard to trust
what they can't recognize

He watched her grow among fields of flax.
Her hair like fire flowing through rows
In morning light, she walked to the meadow.
unaware of the priest’s delight.

Beneath the trees she started to wander
leaving his sight for him to ponder
what he had missed with in the forest.

image credit http://streethopmagazine.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/killah-priest-set-to-drop-new-album-behind-the-stained-glass-window/

The watched do not know the perception to the priests.

butterflies dance across the sun
don't look! least you go blind
flying between sun and eye
out of reach with every try
like rainbows running in retreat
the way your shadow lies.

Matt Holck · 27-07-2008 6:31pm

An artisan working for the wizards

I’m the glasscutter.
With a di(A)mond wheel g_l_i_d_i_n_g in Oil,
a single stroke /
stritches a fissure

I gently Tap beside the line
deepening the grooVe
until with a ~twist of the wrists~
I separate /
the glass as planned.

Matt Holck · 01-08-2008 12:33am

Land's Teeth

The map describes
a ridge of mountains that scrapes the clouds of water.
The clouds remains pass like scattered bones over the pallet of inland desert.

The ocean laps the bay
where the humans have built their city
further inland lay the fields and fiefs
beyond that the forest
beyond that the mountains
beyond that nothing but desert.

This is a story about Tim: a surf on a barley field.

"Tim's wrote:

The sun cuts through the naked dome
and bakes the earth to stone.
Keeping my eyes cast on the ground,
I push the plow tip down.

Life is like a furrowed field:
line next to line next to line,
and I will keep on plowing
until the end of spring

Matt Holck · 02-08-2008 9:59pm

Now,
One might believe Tim bitter
being trapped in a cast system
tending a farm for his master
with no hope for change in position.

But Tim was a descendent
of a soldier in the fields,
and though they'd lost their pendants,
Tim had fight in him still.

Still, he could recall the day
that his family had moved away.
The failure of his father
and the cruel pride of his lord.

Tim wrote:

My dad, he was a squire
for the lord of this land.
He fed and groomed four horses
with strong and skillful hands.

My dad, he was a dreamer
escaping within sleep.
And when he had a moment,
he lay down within the keep.

The lord was hunting goblins
that festered from the forest.
When his stead was hobbled,
and my dad missed his request.

With no fresh stead to ride upon,
the goblins got away.
The only justice dealt by the lord
was on my dad that day.

Now, my dad ‘s a farmer
for his knight he failed
for dear old dad was sleeping
among the flaxen fields.

Matt Holck · 09-08-2008 11:08pm

As stated earlier,
Mona is the daughter of a medicine woman living in the meadows near the forest by the river,
and she like all others is watched by the priest while under the sun.

Mona's days are filled with gathering herbs for her mother.

Mona wrote:

low down on the ground
the world is so much fuller
with reeds and beads and crumpled leaves
holes and tunnels and roots
labyrinths winding through the grass

and every plant has magic
kept secret until discovered
with my spade I will uncover
the roots of remedy
and take them to my mother.

Mona is coming of age and experiencing ministerial cramps.

After fetching the water from the well
She searches the meadow beyond the plowed fields
To gather the medicines that the wild plants yield

eyebright seeds are crushed to powder
bloodroot's pummeled to pulp
rooted at the river bank
the aching will not stop

bent over rolling current in pent under stomach strain
dropping in the river, her sweat fell like the rain
and rumbling soft down under, the river began to sing

The River wrote:

O mistress I am honored,
to carry salty kisses away
but might I suggest that blue cohosh
would help your burden drain

travel up into the forest
to blue buries with webbed leaf
the root of the blue cohosh
will bring you some relief

And listening to the babbling brook,
Mona's life was changed from then.
She enter into woodlands
seldom visited by men.

likhary · 11-08-2008 4:28pm

Across the burned cleared plains,
new farms sprang.
An industry to sustain the humans
as logging was no longer an option. :P

likhary · 11-08-2008 4:30pm

eyebright seeds are crushed to powder
bloodroot's pummeled to pulp
rooted at the river bank
the aching will not stop

Matt Holck · 11-09-2008 8:10am

the fairy Barron dies Mysteriously

Outside and around them,
the world keeps on moving.
An ambassador visits the forest when
listening to a the babbling brim
of a rivet tumbling within
tells of secrets of the goblin games.
And he sold those secrets to the wizards.

Now, when this was heard by the fairy Barron,
he forbid the ambassador to enter the forest.
But that upset the interest
of wizards invested
in the ambassador's visits.

And than, the Barron died with out reason

Matt Holck · 12-10-2008 7:05am

as fallen leafs are gathered

Goblin Captain
shackled in irons that burned his wrists
led on foot in the blinding sun
"what have I lost? what I have I won?
have I led them to death for this?"

Mona
scarred along the entire side
scarves to cover her face
"who would look upon me now
and not retch over this patch work lace?"

Tim
On his own to watch the farm
though he'd won back his coat of arms
"what's the point of this honor
when I am on my own?"

The Priest
helpless as he watched from the sky
to protect the girl from the fire
"why did I let them get by ....
....?"

Rene
wringing my hands to pull apart,
these bones that grind together
I feel the fall crawl underneath
as fallen leafs are gathered

Matt Holck · 14-10-2008 2:05pm

there's a leaflet blowing round the town
dancing in deserted alleys and gathering in gutters
to advertise a hanging of a horrible monster whom had lit a girl on fire
come one! come all! To the stage under the spire
and see that justice is still practiced

and the crowd gathered at the gallows at high noon

Matt Holck · 15-10-2008 3:53am

I apologize that this story jumps about
I know what is going to happen
so I write what comes to mind through out the time line
___________________________________________

Goblin Captain in a cell

they put me in the dark
but for me the dark is lit
they put me in hole
but a hole is where I dwell
if only I could gnaw
my way out of these stone walls

Matt Holck · 16-10-2008 9:51am

The gift of a white horse

Tim wrote:

an untamed pest
a wild beast
this white horse
a taxing gift

to watch him nip
upon the tips
of crops
I worked to get

He can't be stopped
the fence, he hopped
he's eaten all the lettuce up

"I won't be tamed"
he screams in vain
like a chick in an abandon nest

Matt Holck · 19-10-2008 12:00am

the last line on the last poem
will be edited to
"like a chick (left) in an abandon nest"
as "chick in" sounds like chicken

this is poem proceding the last

Tim receives a second horse

the sun was highest in the sky
the day my father died
the crops reach for it on their own
after the planting I had done
the nights are short the days are long
and all I do is run

when coming before the dawn
my lord brings another horse to the farm
and warns
"caution this is a ornery stallion
his mother died when he was young
and no one has yet tame him
yet, you are brave and strong
and your father was a gentle man"

"So take this beast here off my hands
and say not I'm an unjust man."

19-10-2008 11:37pm

Uhm. I feel bad for even interrupting the flow, but this is pretty damned good!

Matt Holck · 26-10-2008 2:20am

Mona Dances at Night

what does it matter that they can see?
overlapping maps traced within my skin
let the harsh wind brush against each crease
just as it rushes over sea and plains and moutain peaks

I am the kingdom so let the rain fall
as the sun turns above
I turn below

and in the night, the cratered moon is not alone
fire fly stars dance way up high
and race with me out in the night
and mother sighs and laughs

Matt Holck · 12-11-2008 8:46am

The Goblin Captain on his way to the Gallows

He chewed the leather away
and bound before the crowd
spit out the gag and spoke aloud.

"Our lord exiled the wizard's bard
because the scribe revealed how we hide.
The wizards murdered the fairy baron
because the scribe spied for them."

For a moment, no one said another word.

There are other goblins in the City

So they know how we hide.
Doesn't mean they found all our holes
At night, we stealth about the town
and at day beneath the crown.

The rope fell stack when the trap to gaped.
They helped soldierless captain escape.

Matt Holck · 12-11-2008 9:24am

The Wizards discard accusations that they murdered the fairy baron.

Suspicion from the goblins comes from history.
For fire for glass filled cauldrons, we burned the goblins' trees.
And I can clearly understand the accusations of the goblin captain
but I'm forced disagree.

The fairy baron was our friend.
He had hammered out the treaty.
He brought peace between our lands
by defining territories.
We morn his passing
and hope his gift is everlasting.

Matt Holck · 12-11-2008 9:38am

The Priest discount the messager

priest wrote:

we cannot trust those hiding from sight
and walk the earth while we sleep at night
the goblin spoke those words to spite those of us who live in light

It was no wizard that smote their lord
just his time for death and no more

Matt Holck · 06-12-2008 5:08pm

The King's Proclamation

the goblin escaped death through the trap door
after accusing the wizards of murder
'til the king took the stage
and silenced the rage
to be sure that his words would be heard

The KING wrote:

We will not let this sheet torn from our eyes
allow our anger to rise.
Though many are shaking that one was taken
right from under our eyes.
I tell you that goblins
escaped down holes.
We'll find everyone one of them
and each of them close
and bring our proud city
back into control.

And I am sure, that some of you heard, the goblins terrible words.
So I call a court ,to sort this out, and find out what he's talked about.

I want you know
that you have the control
of safety over your homes.
Take the time
to find the holes
where the goblins tunnel below.
And to your neighbors, say "Hello"
and let the city guard know.

Matt Holck · 12-12-2008 8:07am

meanwhile in the forests,
the goblin that survived the battle returns with his account
blaming humans of tricking them into fighting at the river bank during the day

at the fairy court

problems
rumble
goblins'
death toll

contrived
by he
survived
to flea

ambush
is claimed
rehashed
and blamed

on humans'
alluring plans

09-02-2009 12:03pm

Any more to add to this Matt? I'm really enjoying reading it!

Matt Holck · 11-02-2009 3:14am

allright, but bare with me
I'm going to have cut through the knots that tied the city folk

there's a hole in cellar of the local tavern
The bar keep says "No"
but good citizens know
and followed the stairs down below.
they smashed all the barrels
and did find the hole
where the goblins tunnel below

now to a human, a goblin's small
and through the hole, a solider crawled
with his lantern lit, and short sword drawn
he came across stick, barring the way on
he didn’t stop to think, and broke it with his arm
and was buried thick, beneath the town tavern

©

Matt Holck · 14-02-2009 5:06am

an accident of war

Priest wrote:

we all knew that Billy Bob Joe
was a stalwart soldier that defended our land
and when he heard of the evil down below
he made damn sure, he was at hand

he died a hero, he died for a cause
the make sure, we are safe from our foes
they buried him below
for into the hole, he was willing to go

Still Billy Joe would want us know
that our safety was worth dying for

Matt Holck · 27-02-2009 4:17am

this is verse about Tim riding his new horse

And when he would release the reins,
the stallion strode across the plains.
As ties whipped freely in the wind,
the horse was breathing in the stream.

where that house would if Tim let go and just rode
round the edge of the forest
cross the sands of beach coves

cut glass magic

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