"This Isn't Happening, You Say?" by Nindulgence ("This Is Not Happening" Challenge)

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

Title: "This Isn't Happening, You Say?"
Author: nindulgence
Characters: Wraith Queen, Sumner, Sheppard, Ford
Genre: episode-related (S1, pilot), villanelle
Warnings: exclamation marks, grandstanding



This isn't happening, you say?
How can you not have learned this creed?--
We're predators, and you're our prey.

So bright a life in such dull clay!
Determined not to break or plead,
This isn't happening, you say.

You're here. I'm real. This hand can flay
Your soul. No matter whence your breed,
We're predators, and you're our prey.

Your teeming billions you betray!
We'll find them, and on them we'll feed.
This isn't happening, you say?

Your weapons cannot make us stay
Our hands; they just increase our need.
We're predators, and you're our prey.

You fools! You've doomed your world this day:
My children wake even as I bleed.
This isn't happening, you say?
We're predators, and you're our prey.

~~~

Comments

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

Wow. So I wasn't the only one who got the urge to write poetry for this challenge. Mine is not going to merit the light of day, though, unlike this, which is very cool. You wrote a villanelle! I can't spell! Oh hell!

Yes, this is neat. I can't think of more to say than that.

Thanks for posting!

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

Hey there!--it's cool to see so many AoSers feeling the SGA-love these days. :-)

This challenge does seem to lend itself to repetition and refrain, doesn't it? I hope your poem does make its way into the light, and I'm glad you enjoyed this one--thanks for reading!

~

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

I know! So many AOSers over here. It feels like a fannish reunion.

When I was in HS we had to write riffs on the Canterbury tales, and I did one with a group that was stuck on a spaceship, and the character I wrote was a zealot obsessed with BOB (God), and so I had an urge to do the same thing for SGA and now I have (god help me) about 20 lines of rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter, but it is just so painful.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

now I have (god help me) about 20 lines of rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter, but it is just so painful.

Oh, I feel your pain, I do--iambic pentameter in itself isn't so bad, but with rhyming couplets you can't fall back on enjambment to help you out, because they're all about the end-stops.

Best of luck!

~

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I am happy to see that Wraith poetry is vastly better than Vogon poetry.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

Hee!

You know, I've been pondering making an icon (specifically for my occasional forays into verse) that reads I just write poetry to throw my mean callous heartless exterior into sharp relief. ;-)

Thanks for reading!

~

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

1) That's LOVELY. I can't do those to save myself, and you just... *flails*.

2) You MUST make that icon.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

As the postiest of April-poetry-bombarders on my f-list, you realize I blame you for this, don't you? ;-)

I'm delighted you found it flailworthy, and yes, clearly I must get to work on that icon (silly me, I had decided I wouldn't have any use for it for a while...).

~

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

I am MORE than happy to accept any and all blame for poems this lovely!

*posts more poems*

[etben.livejournal.com]

oh, nifty! poetry tends to be rather hit-or-miss, for me—sometimes I love it, but sometimes it just doesn't do anything for me. Fortunately, this piece is firmly in the former category. Rock on!

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much--I'm glad to hear this one worked for you!

~

[alizarin-nyc.livejournal.com]

I've got *chills*

Damn, this is amazing. Great work.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's lovely to hear--thank you!

I always feel a bit conflicted watching this scene in canon, because I find the Wraith Queen so over-the-top...and yet the situation itself (from Sumner's and Sheppard's POVs) is truly horrifying.

~

[taraamber.livejournal.com]

Oh! Poetry!

This is quite lovely.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it--thanks for reading!

~

[sweet-1.livejournal.com]

oh. my. god.
i can so see wraith chanting this to torment their victims as they stalk them.
just creepy.
wonderful job.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

i can so see wraith chanting this to torment their victims as they stalk them.

Oh man, that is a creepy image. *shudder*

Thanks for your comment!

~

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Villanelle! I love villanelles, including this one. And such a cool view of the Wraith.

[nindulgence.livejournal.com]

This is the first villanelle I've written--it's such an interesting form to work with.

I had originally intended it to be from Bob-the-Wraith's POV, but I couldn't quite make it work...and then the Wraith Queen started tapping me on the shoulder. ;-)

Thanks for reading!

~