Sunday, July 6, 2014

Modern Steampunk

Modern Steampunk

You rivet and clunk—
Cogwheel
Defective and dangerous—
Like HAL
Runs the erratic rhythm of
Time and space

We can only marvel—
Cower
At the jolts of power—
Sparking
Even when muffled
Not exhausted

Wicked Witch of the West—
Withered
Extinguished by water—
Your coals
Roar unrestrained
Scorching scars

As you barrel out of control—
Careen
I fumble for the emergency brake—
Will YOU
Ever
Run
out
of
S
T
E
A
M
?

- Theresa Milstein






44 comments:

  1. If it never runs out of steam, hope it doesn't run out of track!

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  2. Modern Steampunk - great title and very powerful verse. Well done.

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  3. ha. maybe he will or wont...and maybe that will keep him alive for years to come if he can handle the turns at that speed....smiles.

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    1. Brian, something tells me that he's going to keep speeding along.

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  4. Yes, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" And then youth gradually transforms into maturity.

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  5. You're very talented Theresa! Love it.

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  6. WOw!! Theresa!! this is so nicely versed!! the way the words drop down n stanzas and are yet emphasised !! amazing!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. I tried to give it a train rhythm in the right places.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thank you, Jessica! That means a lot coming from you.

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  8. Replies
    1. Thanks, Cleemckenzie. This is the closest I've come to writing steampunk.

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  9. I like it, especially the part about the emergency brake. If only there was an emergency brake in real life!

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    1. Neurotic Workaholic, I'd also like an emergency brake in real life sometimes.

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  10. Hope you never run out of steam, Theresa...

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  11. Those verses were so hot they took a lot of slowing down before you forced them to run out of steam. Loved it ~ Eddie

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  12. riveting ..barreling out of control can be dangerous..running out of steam who knows???

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  13. Ahh , the poor time travellers wife " , have you seen the steampunk tarot deck ? Very cool

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    1. Kutamun, I haven't seen the steampunk tarot deck. I'll have to look for it.

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  14. Love the poem. :) I wish I knew more about steampunk. I've read Jules Verne, and that's about it.

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    1. Medeia, I don't know much either. Hopefully, I faked it well enough!

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  15. Beautiful! I'm still not sure what steampunk is, even though it's been explained to me numerous times.

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    1. Stephanie, neither do I. I read one middle grade steampunk. I used that and what I've heard in popular culture to tackle this one.

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  16. Powerful and such fun to read. Love the train rhythm. Wow, steampunk. I didn't know that about you, my friend.

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  17. radical piece of poetry, girl! enamored of it!

    and thanks for supporting my BBF blog tour!

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  18. Thank you very much, Tara! Good luck with your book.

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  19. Very clever Theresa .. that's a brilliant expose of SteamPunk ... and I enjoyed your Solitaire one too ...

    Clever - cheers Hilary

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