#poetry. #TSOTD_note.
Another update for the curious. I now have 42 midquel The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. Still no wars, no battles, and no deaths greater than that of a fish. But there are bleak notes mixed in with the light.
Returning characters include Xau, his guards, his family, Tian, Donal.
Another update for the curious. I now have 42 midquel The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. Still no wars, no battles, and no deaths greater than that of a fish. But there are bleak notes mixed in with the light.
Returning characters include Xau, his guards, his family, Tian, Donal.
#poetry. #TSOTD_note.
Update for the curious. It's a month since I began this, and I now have 28 midquel The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. No wars, no battles, no new deaths. At least so far. Some callbacks to past war/death, but much of it toward the lighter end of what it's in the main book...
Update for the curious. It's a month since I began this, and I now have 28 midquel The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. No wars, no battles, no new deaths. At least so far. Some callbacks to past war/death, but much of it toward the lighter end of what it's in the main book...
#poetry. #TSOTD_note.
Update for those wondering. One week later, and I now have 15 The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. The first 8 are a mini sequence; the others are shorter sequences or stand-alone poems. I may get one more written by the end of Tuesday, then likely pause while my daughter's home.
Update for those wondering. One week later, and I now have 15 The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. The first 8 are a mini sequence; the others are shorter sequences or stand-alone poems. I may get one more written by the end of Tuesday, then likely pause while my daughter's home.
January 17, 2026 at 4:23 AM
#poetry. #TSOTD_note.
Another update for the curious. I now have 42 midquel The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. Still no wars, no battles, and no deaths greater than that of a fish. But there are bleak notes mixed in with the light.
Returning characters include Xau, his guards, his family, Tian, Donal.
Another update for the curious. I now have 42 midquel The-Sign-of-the-Dragon poems. Still no wars, no battles, and no deaths greater than that of a fish. But there are bleak notes mixed in with the light.
Returning characters include Xau, his guards, his family, Tian, Donal.
#TSOTD_note
- which brings us to the end of my notes on the poems in the book
- I'm sorry I failed to keep this in one long thread, but you can find the note for any poem by searching for #TSOTD_note and the poem's title
- I'm happy to try answering any questions people have about the book
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
- which brings us to the end of my notes on the poems in the book
- I'm sorry I failed to keep this in one long thread, but you can find the note for any poem by searching for #TSOTD_note and the poem's title
- I'm happy to try answering any questions people have about the book
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
December 27, 2025 at 3:05 PM
#TSOTD_note
- which brings us to the end of my notes on the poems in the book
- I'm sorry I failed to keep this in one long thread, but you can find the note for any poem by searching for #TSOTD_note and the poem's title
- I'm happy to try answering any questions people have about the book
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
- which brings us to the end of my notes on the poems in the book
- I'm sorry I failed to keep this in one long thread, but you can find the note for any poem by searching for #TSOTD_note and the poem's title
- I'm happy to try answering any questions people have about the book
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
#TSOTD_note Half-Caste
- the final poem in the book
- an autobiographical poem included in the About the Author section
- my father had a Chinese accent, my mother an Irish one, but I sounded like a rather posh British girl. I now sound like a slightly less posh, slightly less British woman.
✏️📖🐉
- the final poem in the book
- an autobiographical poem included in the About the Author section
- my father had a Chinese accent, my mother an Irish one, but I sounded like a rather posh British girl. I now sound like a slightly less posh, slightly less British woman.
✏️📖🐉
December 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
#TSOTD_note Half-Caste
- the final poem in the book
- an autobiographical poem included in the About the Author section
- my father had a Chinese accent, my mother an Irish one, but I sounded like a rather posh British girl. I now sound like a slightly less posh, slightly less British woman.
✏️📖🐉
- the final poem in the book
- an autobiographical poem included in the About the Author section
- my father had a Chinese accent, my mother an Irish one, but I sounded like a rather posh British girl. I now sound like a slightly less posh, slightly less British woman.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note At the Sign of the Dragon
- as the note in the book says, the story's title is in honor of a bookstore I visited often as a child and its owners, Marion + Richard Van Der Voort
- talking rabbits: especially Watership Down
- blind space poet: from Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth
✏️
- as the note in the book says, the story's title is in honor of a bookstore I visited often as a child and its owners, Marion + Richard Van Der Voort
- talking rabbits: especially Watership Down
- blind space poet: from Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth
✏️
December 26, 2025 at 1:45 PM
#TSOTD_note At the Sign of the Dragon
- as the note in the book says, the story's title is in honor of a bookstore I visited often as a child and its owners, Marion + Richard Van Der Voort
- talking rabbits: especially Watership Down
- blind space poet: from Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth
✏️
- as the note in the book says, the story's title is in honor of a bookstore I visited often as a child and its owners, Marion + Richard Van Der Voort
- talking rabbits: especially Watership Down
- blind space poet: from Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth
✏️
#TSOTD_note Two Weeks
- last poem in the main story
- "only memories, worn with use" may have arisen from Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove in which a character is worried about wearing out her happiest memory
- Keng and the kingdom reached a happy ending but not without loss
- thank you for reading
- last poem in the main story
- "only memories, worn with use" may have arisen from Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove in which a character is worried about wearing out her happiest memory
- Keng and the kingdom reached a happy ending but not without loss
- thank you for reading
December 25, 2025 at 1:09 PM
#TSOTD_note Two Weeks
- last poem in the main story
- "only memories, worn with use" may have arisen from Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove in which a character is worried about wearing out her happiest memory
- Keng and the kingdom reached a happy ending but not without loss
- thank you for reading
- last poem in the main story
- "only memories, worn with use" may have arisen from Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove in which a character is worried about wearing out her happiest memory
- Keng and the kingdom reached a happy ending but not without loss
- thank you for reading
#TSOTD_note Bath Time
It being holiday season, here's a small gift to readers curious about the midquel poems I've been writing for "The Sign of the Dragon."
First some caveats:
- these poems are meant for readers already familiar with Xau, Shazia, et al
- this is a minor poem, not a major opus
It being holiday season, here's a small gift to readers curious about the midquel poems I've been writing for "The Sign of the Dragon."
First some caveats:
- these poems are meant for readers already familiar with Xau, Shazia, et al
- this is a minor poem, not a major opus
December 24, 2025 at 4:35 PM
#TSOTD_note Bath Time
It being holiday season, here's a small gift to readers curious about the midquel poems I've been writing for "The Sign of the Dragon."
First some caveats:
- these poems are meant for readers already familiar with Xau, Shazia, et al
- this is a minor poem, not a major opus
It being holiday season, here's a small gift to readers curious about the midquel poems I've been writing for "The Sign of the Dragon."
First some caveats:
- these poems are meant for readers already familiar with Xau, Shazia, et al
- this is a minor poem, not a major opus
#TSOTD_note The Cat's Epilogue
- the last of the cat poems
- I am glad Keng eventually works out that she wants egg yolk
- I hope he also let her back on the desk
- thank you to anyone who has read this far. Only one poem left in the story (another two in the bits after the story).
✏️📖🐉
- the last of the cat poems
- I am glad Keng eventually works out that she wants egg yolk
- I hope he also let her back on the desk
- thank you to anyone who has read this far. Only one poem left in the story (another two in the bits after the story).
✏️📖🐉
December 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
#TSOTD_note The Cat's Epilogue
- the last of the cat poems
- I am glad Keng eventually works out that she wants egg yolk
- I hope he also let her back on the desk
- thank you to anyone who has read this far. Only one poem left in the story (another two in the bits after the story).
✏️📖🐉
- the last of the cat poems
- I am glad Keng eventually works out that she wants egg yolk
- I hope he also let her back on the desk
- thank you to anyone who has read this far. Only one poem left in the story (another two in the bits after the story).
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note The Sign of the King
- first published in Strange Horizons
- accompanied by the last of Gary McCluskey's beautiful artwork
- the horses Li has, Narson and Kuan, were Xau's, which (in my mind and suggested by Li having them) were left to Li by Xau
- this is one of my favorite poems
🐉
- first published in Strange Horizons
- accompanied by the last of Gary McCluskey's beautiful artwork
- the horses Li has, Narson and Kuan, were Xau's, which (in my mind and suggested by Li having them) were left to Li by Xau
- this is one of my favorite poems
🐉
December 23, 2025 at 2:41 PM
#TSOTD_note The Sign of the King
- first published in Strange Horizons
- accompanied by the last of Gary McCluskey's beautiful artwork
- the horses Li has, Narson and Kuan, were Xau's, which (in my mind and suggested by Li having them) were left to Li by Xau
- this is one of my favorite poems
🐉
- first published in Strange Horizons
- accompanied by the last of Gary McCluskey's beautiful artwork
- the horses Li has, Narson and Kuan, were Xau's, which (in my mind and suggested by Li having them) were left to Li by Xau
- this is one of my favorite poems
🐉
#TSOTD_note Coronation
- in the first complete draft of the book, the next poem, "The Sign of the King," was the final one.
- Lisa, my wonderful agent, suggested adding a poem to the end. I wrote 4 for her to consider, 3 of which ended up in the book: this one + "The Cat's Epilogue" + "Two Weeks."
- in the first complete draft of the book, the next poem, "The Sign of the King," was the final one.
- Lisa, my wonderful agent, suggested adding a poem to the end. I wrote 4 for her to consider, 3 of which ended up in the book: this one + "The Cat's Epilogue" + "Two Weeks."
December 22, 2025 at 9:14 PM
#TSOTD_note Coronation
- in the first complete draft of the book, the next poem, "The Sign of the King," was the final one.
- Lisa, my wonderful agent, suggested adding a poem to the end. I wrote 4 for her to consider, 3 of which ended up in the book: this one + "The Cat's Epilogue" + "Two Weeks."
- in the first complete draft of the book, the next poem, "The Sign of the King," was the final one.
- Lisa, my wonderful agent, suggested adding a poem to the end. I wrote 4 for her to consider, 3 of which ended up in the book: this one + "The Cat's Epilogue" + "Two Weeks."
#TSOTD_note Burial
- from an earlier poem about Shazia's funeral:
when the white-robed king
lights a white candle
for their white-wound child
- and now, for Xau:
his body shrouded in white,
the mourners robed in white,
white candles in his children's hands.
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
- from an earlier poem about Shazia's funeral:
when the white-robed king
lights a white candle
for their white-wound child
- and now, for Xau:
his body shrouded in white,
the mourners robed in white,
white candles in his children's hands.
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
December 21, 2025 at 3:42 PM
#TSOTD_note Burial
- from an earlier poem about Shazia's funeral:
when the white-robed king
lights a white candle
for their white-wound child
- and now, for Xau:
his body shrouded in white,
the mourners robed in white,
white candles in his children's hands.
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
- from an earlier poem about Shazia's funeral:
when the white-robed king
lights a white candle
for their white-wound child
- and now, for Xau:
his body shrouded in white,
the mourners robed in white,
white candles in his children's hands.
✏️📖🐉📖✏️
#TSOTD_note Addendum to the Recollections...
The peace between our countries
is anchored in that act.
- two lines establishing that Xau's death led to a good, over and above saving 14 lives
Perhaps the worst thing I ever did,
shouting at Li that day.
- two lines that devastate me on behalf of Li
The peace between our countries
is anchored in that act.
- two lines establishing that Xau's death led to a good, over and above saving 14 lives
Perhaps the worst thing I ever did,
shouting at Li that day.
- two lines that devastate me on behalf of Li
December 20, 2025 at 2:58 PM
#TSOTD_note Addendum to the Recollections...
The peace between our countries
is anchored in that act.
- two lines establishing that Xau's death led to a good, over and above saving 14 lives
Perhaps the worst thing I ever did,
shouting at Li that day.
- two lines that devastate me on behalf of Li
The peace between our countries
is anchored in that act.
- two lines establishing that Xau's death led to a good, over and above saving 14 lives
Perhaps the worst thing I ever did,
shouting at Li that day.
- two lines that devastate me on behalf of Li
#TSOTD_note Execution
The first draft ended:
Donal not the man he once was.
He wiped his sword.
He walked away.
- later, I deleted "Donal not the man he once was" as unneeded
- after the very start of the book, Xau changes little. He learns skills but has the same mindset. Donal changes greatly.
The first draft ended:
Donal not the man he once was.
He wiped his sword.
He walked away.
- later, I deleted "Donal not the man he once was" as unneeded
- after the very start of the book, Xau changes little. He learns skills but has the same mindset. Donal changes greatly.
December 19, 2025 at 4:39 PM
#TSOTD_note Execution
The first draft ended:
Donal not the man he once was.
He wiped his sword.
He walked away.
- later, I deleted "Donal not the man he once was" as unneeded
- after the very start of the book, Xau changes little. He learns skills but has the same mindset. Donal changes greatly.
The first draft ended:
Donal not the man he once was.
He wiped his sword.
He walked away.
- later, I deleted "Donal not the man he once was" as unneeded
- after the very start of the book, Xau changes little. He learns skills but has the same mindset. Donal changes greatly.
#TSOTD_note The Sign of the Dragon
- deleted from an early draft:
"Hold fast, Prince Keng."
With no further warning,
she raised her head and flamed,
wreathing him in fire--
A fire that did not burn him:
blue and white and gold,
heat licking him without hurt,
flames dancing over his skin.
✏️📖🐉
- deleted from an early draft:
"Hold fast, Prince Keng."
With no further warning,
she raised her head and flamed,
wreathing him in fire--
A fire that did not burn him:
blue and white and gold,
heat licking him without hurt,
flames dancing over his skin.
✏️📖🐉
December 18, 2025 at 3:22 PM
#TSOTD_note The Sign of the Dragon
- deleted from an early draft:
"Hold fast, Prince Keng."
With no further warning,
she raised her head and flamed,
wreathing him in fire--
A fire that did not burn him:
blue and white and gold,
heat licking him without hurt,
flames dancing over his skin.
✏️📖🐉
- deleted from an early draft:
"Hold fast, Prince Keng."
With no further warning,
she raised her head and flamed,
wreathing him in fire--
A fire that did not burn him:
blue and white and gold,
heat licking him without hurt,
flames dancing over his skin.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Mortal
- first published in Spillway
- there's usually a gap between how I hope my poems will turn out and what I achieve. This and the previous poem (Return) came close to what I wanted.
✏️📖🐉
- first published in Spillway
- there's usually a gap between how I hope my poems will turn out and what I achieve. This and the previous poem (Return) came close to what I wanted.
✏️📖🐉
December 17, 2025 at 10:18 PM
#TSOTD_note Mortal
- first published in Spillway
- there's usually a gap between how I hope my poems will turn out and what I achieve. This and the previous poem (Return) came close to what I wanted.
✏️📖🐉
- first published in Spillway
- there's usually a gap between how I hope my poems will turn out and what I achieve. This and the previous poem (Return) came close to what I wanted.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Return
- here's a deleted stanza from an earlier draft:
Return to where your hours
were not measured in meetings,
where your heart unfurled to your children,
where the scars of your past
pressed less hard.
- I am very fond of this poem, which calls back to joy
✏️📖🐉
- here's a deleted stanza from an earlier draft:
Return to where your hours
were not measured in meetings,
where your heart unfurled to your children,
where the scars of your past
pressed less hard.
- I am very fond of this poem, which calls back to joy
✏️📖🐉
December 16, 2025 at 2:14 PM
#TSOTD_note Return
- here's a deleted stanza from an earlier draft:
Return to where your hours
were not measured in meetings,
where your heart unfurled to your children,
where the scars of your past
pressed less hard.
- I am very fond of this poem, which calls back to joy
✏️📖🐉
- here's a deleted stanza from an earlier draft:
Return to where your hours
were not measured in meetings,
where your heart unfurled to your children,
where the scars of your past
pressed less hard.
- I am very fond of this poem, which calls back to joy
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Last Watch
A long time before Xau spoke again.
"Li. Stay. Until."
Li nodded.
A moment before he managed
to say the words he wished to say.
"Nowhere I would rather be."
He sat beside his king
beneath the wide clear sky.
- Li and Xau. ❤️
✏️📖🐉
A long time before Xau spoke again.
"Li. Stay. Until."
Li nodded.
A moment before he managed
to say the words he wished to say.
"Nowhere I would rather be."
He sat beside his king
beneath the wide clear sky.
- Li and Xau. ❤️
✏️📖🐉
December 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
#TSOTD_note Last Watch
A long time before Xau spoke again.
"Li. Stay. Until."
Li nodded.
A moment before he managed
to say the words he wished to say.
"Nowhere I would rather be."
He sat beside his king
beneath the wide clear sky.
- Li and Xau. ❤️
✏️📖🐉
A long time before Xau spoke again.
"Li. Stay. Until."
Li nodded.
A moment before he managed
to say the words he wished to say.
"Nowhere I would rather be."
He sat beside his king
beneath the wide clear sky.
- Li and Xau. ❤️
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Beast
Xau looked at the women, the children,
balanced their lives
against his
- a hard poem
- as graphic, I think, as the violence in the book gets
- to those fond of Xau (and Li), I am sorry, but the book was heading somewhere close to here from early in its creation
✏️📖🐉
Xau looked at the women, the children,
balanced their lives
against his
- a hard poem
- as graphic, I think, as the violence in the book gets
- to those fond of Xau (and Li), I am sorry, but the book was heading somewhere close to here from early in its creation
✏️📖🐉
December 14, 2025 at 8:53 PM
#TSOTD_note Beast
Xau looked at the women, the children,
balanced their lives
against his
- a hard poem
- as graphic, I think, as the violence in the book gets
- to those fond of Xau (and Li), I am sorry, but the book was heading somewhere close to here from early in its creation
✏️📖🐉
Xau looked at the women, the children,
balanced their lives
against his
- a hard poem
- as graphic, I think, as the violence in the book gets
- to those fond of Xau (and Li), I am sorry, but the book was heading somewhere close to here from early in its creation
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Comfort
Held him as the boy sniffled.
Thought of his own children,
how, if things went well,
he could be home by winter.
- Lisa Rodgers, my agent, made a broad, helpful comment about the latter stages of the book, and that stanza was one I added to try to address it.
✏️📖🐉
Held him as the boy sniffled.
Thought of his own children,
how, if things went well,
he could be home by winter.
- Lisa Rodgers, my agent, made a broad, helpful comment about the latter stages of the book, and that stanza was one I added to try to address it.
✏️📖🐉
December 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
#TSOTD_note Comfort
Held him as the boy sniffled.
Thought of his own children,
how, if things went well,
he could be home by winter.
- Lisa Rodgers, my agent, made a broad, helpful comment about the latter stages of the book, and that stanza was one I added to try to address it.
✏️📖🐉
Held him as the boy sniffled.
Thought of his own children,
how, if things went well,
he could be home by winter.
- Lisa Rodgers, my agent, made a broad, helpful comment about the latter stages of the book, and that stanza was one I added to try to address it.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Breath
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's superb art, including the lizard from the end of the poem, one of my favorite bit-part characters
- this poem is a favorite of mine
- Xau/Donal may be more entertaining (and I like it) but Xau/Li is my favorite friendship in the book
✏️📖🐉
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's superb art, including the lizard from the end of the poem, one of my favorite bit-part characters
- this poem is a favorite of mine
- Xau/Donal may be more entertaining (and I like it) but Xau/Li is my favorite friendship in the book
✏️📖🐉
December 12, 2025 at 2:30 PM
#TSOTD_note Breath
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's superb art, including the lizard from the end of the poem, one of my favorite bit-part characters
- this poem is a favorite of mine
- Xau/Donal may be more entertaining (and I like it) but Xau/Li is my favorite friendship in the book
✏️📖🐉
- accompanied by Gary McCluskey's superb art, including the lizard from the end of the poem, one of my favorite bit-part characters
- this poem is a favorite of mine
- Xau/Donal may be more entertaining (and I like it) but Xau/Li is my favorite friendship in the book
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Shards
Your life is worth more.
That is the way of things.
- in two earlier poems, Tsung, captain of Xau's guards before Li, also instructed Xau that "the way of things" meant Xau's life took priority
- Xau has difficulty accepting this, for which, of course, I love him
✏️🐉📖
Your life is worth more.
That is the way of things.
- in two earlier poems, Tsung, captain of Xau's guards before Li, also instructed Xau that "the way of things" meant Xau's life took priority
- Xau has difficulty accepting this, for which, of course, I love him
✏️🐉📖
December 11, 2025 at 10:27 PM
#TSOTD_note Shards
Your life is worth more.
That is the way of things.
- in two earlier poems, Tsung, captain of Xau's guards before Li, also instructed Xau that "the way of things" meant Xau's life took priority
- Xau has difficulty accepting this, for which, of course, I love him
✏️🐉📖
Your life is worth more.
That is the way of things.
- in two earlier poems, Tsung, captain of Xau's guards before Li, also instructed Xau that "the way of things" meant Xau's life took priority
- Xau has difficulty accepting this, for which, of course, I love him
✏️🐉📖
#TSOTD_note Game
Li's options stark. To defy the king.
Or follow him into the beast's trap.
An instant's indecision
before Li dipped his head to Xau.
- Li is probably my favorite character, certainly my favorite if it's not Xau himself, yet the end of this epic is very hard on him.
✏️📖🐉
Li's options stark. To defy the king.
Or follow him into the beast's trap.
An instant's indecision
before Li dipped his head to Xau.
- Li is probably my favorite character, certainly my favorite if it's not Xau himself, yet the end of this epic is very hard on him.
✏️📖🐉
December 10, 2025 at 11:02 PM
#TSOTD_note Game
Li's options stark. To defy the king.
Or follow him into the beast's trap.
An instant's indecision
before Li dipped his head to Xau.
- Li is probably my favorite character, certainly my favorite if it's not Xau himself, yet the end of this epic is very hard on him.
✏️📖🐉
Li's options stark. To defy the king.
Or follow him into the beast's trap.
An instant's indecision
before Li dipped his head to Xau.
- Li is probably my favorite character, certainly my favorite if it's not Xau himself, yet the end of this epic is very hard on him.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Besieged
Too late to flee.
Too late to worry
that his ally was worse
than his enemy.
- a helpful comment from my daughter led me to change "Too late to wonder whether..." to "Too late to worry that..."
- sometimes I vanish down rabbit-holes wondering about word choices.
✏️📖🐉
Too late to flee.
Too late to worry
that his ally was worse
than his enemy.
- a helpful comment from my daughter led me to change "Too late to wonder whether..." to "Too late to worry that..."
- sometimes I vanish down rabbit-holes wondering about word choices.
✏️📖🐉
December 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM
#TSOTD_note Besieged
Too late to flee.
Too late to worry
that his ally was worse
than his enemy.
- a helpful comment from my daughter led me to change "Too late to wonder whether..." to "Too late to worry that..."
- sometimes I vanish down rabbit-holes wondering about word choices.
✏️📖🐉
Too late to flee.
Too late to worry
that his ally was worse
than his enemy.
- a helpful comment from my daughter led me to change "Too late to wonder whether..." to "Too late to worry that..."
- sometimes I vanish down rabbit-holes wondering about word choices.
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Water
- a light scene in a bleak stretch of the book
- this is one of three poems in the book that mentions Xau's fondness for pickled cucumbers
- I was particularly partial to cucumbers (unpickled) as a child
✏️📖🐉
- a light scene in a bleak stretch of the book
- this is one of three poems in the book that mentions Xau's fondness for pickled cucumbers
- I was particularly partial to cucumbers (unpickled) as a child
✏️📖🐉
December 9, 2025 at 1:27 AM
#TSOTD_note Water
- a light scene in a bleak stretch of the book
- this is one of three poems in the book that mentions Xau's fondness for pickled cucumbers
- I was particularly partial to cucumbers (unpickled) as a child
✏️📖🐉
- a light scene in a bleak stretch of the book
- this is one of three poems in the book that mentions Xau's fondness for pickled cucumbers
- I was particularly partial to cucumbers (unpickled) as a child
✏️📖🐉
#TSOTD_note Desert
Day six, the spring on the map
dried up. Waterskins emptying.
Day seven, a second dry spring.
Waterskins empty.
- I have an inexact childhood memory of a woman we knew being stranded in the desert (after a vehicle broke down) and running out of water
Day six, the spring on the map
dried up. Waterskins emptying.
Day seven, a second dry spring.
Waterskins empty.
- I have an inexact childhood memory of a woman we knew being stranded in the desert (after a vehicle broke down) and running out of water
December 7, 2025 at 9:57 PM
#TSOTD_note Desert
Day six, the spring on the map
dried up. Waterskins emptying.
Day seven, a second dry spring.
Waterskins empty.
- I have an inexact childhood memory of a woman we knew being stranded in the desert (after a vehicle broke down) and running out of water
Day six, the spring on the map
dried up. Waterskins emptying.
Day seven, a second dry spring.
Waterskins empty.
- I have an inexact childhood memory of a woman we knew being stranded in the desert (after a vehicle broke down) and running out of water
#TSOTD_note Perspective
- deleted stanza:
And every man bowed then
to the scarred king
and rode with him
into darkness
beneath the patterned stars.
- which I like but which didn't fit
- this is a poem I'm unhappy with. It gives the reader important information but otherwise disatisfies me :-(
✏️
- deleted stanza:
And every man bowed then
to the scarred king
and rode with him
into darkness
beneath the patterned stars.
- which I like but which didn't fit
- this is a poem I'm unhappy with. It gives the reader important information but otherwise disatisfies me :-(
✏️
December 6, 2025 at 6:06 PM
#TSOTD_note Perspective
- deleted stanza:
And every man bowed then
to the scarred king
and rode with him
into darkness
beneath the patterned stars.
- which I like but which didn't fit
- this is a poem I'm unhappy with. It gives the reader important information but otherwise disatisfies me :-(
✏️
- deleted stanza:
And every man bowed then
to the scarred king
and rode with him
into darkness
beneath the patterned stars.
- which I like but which didn't fit
- this is a poem I'm unhappy with. It gives the reader important information but otherwise disatisfies me :-(
✏️