EVERYONE: Feast of the Wolf (autumn 2023 one-shot)

[airmail]

Feast of the Wolf

My aching feet now trouble inbound;
winding, dark woods who ache for the sound
of waving banners of ribbons red
To cast away the beast whose hills I found

With eyes aflame inside his head
Haunting paths I have since fled;
What wicked, wailing cries he gave!
He who drove me to lands unfed;

To open doors like yawning graves
that world which left Lycanroc unslain.
Bewitched they are; their dancing feet
beckon forth sharp teeth who crave.


And yet as night grows crisp and sweet
my eye upon those soon to meet
his starving jaw, his wretched claw
their lilting voices bring drought to sleep.

By searing mists I wake with awe
of sunsoft windows fresh in thaw,
and in icy dew upon the sill,
lay a fish gifted from the beast's own maw.

Spoiler: notes

Fun fact: the reference to red ribbons was an actual tradition in old wolf hunting! Since they're such skittish creatures, people would tie strings of red ribbons in an enclosed space because the wolves refused to cross them. Makes me terribly sad to think about, but it's a fun visual for poems! ^^;

 

[Welkamo]

It’s nice to see poetry on the forums again! I could only think of a few examples of poetry fics (@Nori ’s collection first comes to minds).

My interpretation of this poem (and feel free to correct me if it’s wrong lol) is that the Lycanroc appeared dangerous to the speaker, only to show kindness to them. It’s a very cute premise; autumn brings with it the cold and the dangerous, which creates opportunities for kindness that nicely contrast the weather.

The prose was really nice! It reminds me a lot of the poems I read in school, the ones that one would incessantly annotate in the ten minutes you’re allowed to discuss the piece. The imagery and metaphors were really interesting, especially the red ribbon stuff!

Fantastic work overall.

 

[lisianthus]

Airgale!!! This was a really interesting entry, and like, my applause to you for putting yourself out there and submitting poetry to the contest! Like said above, it feels pretty rare to see around here, although we could always use more? So I'm not extremely well-versed with poetry myself, which led to me having to reread this more than a few times... but this was just such a neat choice.

I loved how you put your passion in life and intertwined it with your entry — like you're really knowledgeable of just about everything to do with wolves (given that you work with them duh!), and I just found it to be quite charming.

As for the poem itself — I don't know, I feel like it takes talent to rhyme like that LOL, and that might be all I can give in terms of proper critical analysis... your imagery here really, really shone. The length of this aside, I think it all fit together really nicely, which feels like it'd be super difficult to do.

Thanks for the fish, Lycanroc, and congratulations for winning our judge-picked first prize!!

(airgale please post more fics here oh my god, bonus points if they're poetry LMAO)

 

[airmail]

thank you both !! it was definitely daunting to put myself out there and actually show people my writing, but i'm glad i did. seeing how people interpret and receive it is something i've missed out on in the years, but getting to see everyone's thoughts has been.. really fun and motivating! it makes me want to work harder to improve even more.

i'd definitely like to write more in the future, so hopefully once i get some free time i can sit down and compile things to post here!