The last Baldur’s Gate 3 fan poem I wrote was “The Emperor,” shown at the link. Well, tonight’s another Sitzfleisch Poetry Hour, where some poet friends and I sit in a silent zoom and don’t talk to each other while we write our own poetry.
“Anyone can write poetry for ONE HOUR A MONTH!” quoth we!
She-Devil Dances
by C. S. E. Cooney
(for the BG3 creators at Larian–particularly the artists, writers, and voice behind Karlach)
as the wise mother tells her wide-eyed child,
so I tell you now:
“look for the piercings, look for the ink.
watch for the curling horns, smell that sulfur stink.
it’s not what you think, my darling; it’s not what you think.
the betrayed and stolen who’ve reclaimed their skin?
those who’ve crawled through hell and back up again?
when you’re in trouble, go to them.
run not to the guardsmen, cruel with authority–
but seek out the urchin, grown cunning, gone hunting
for the very devils others take her for.”
I see her, radiant creature
standing on a hill, alone.
her heart, a liquid nickel candle
her heart, a pulsar, unarmored
friend-hungry, eager, that flame-bright flower!
flesh and iron, restless, ardent.
she fidgets unceasing, her foot filled with longing,
humming… something.
I sing along.
who can help but love her, who know her?
how a hope-star smolders in the stifling dim?
that’s her grin.
how a child, bladder-full and irrepressible, dances?
that’s how she dances.
April 1, 2024
And since Carlos and I finished our TWO-HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO HOUR play-through of Baldur’s Gate 3 last night, I thought I’d commemorate the occasion by writing a few of those other poems I had in mind on my previous list. I did them long-hand in my journal: “Open Box, Close Box” and “She-Devil Dances” and “Rite of the Wild Priest.” I’d like to do more, and maybe I will…
…NOW THAT I’VE STARTED TO PLAY AGAIN, THIS TIME BY MYSELF! It won’t be AS FUN as with Carlos but… MORE LOOTING! MORE SHOPPING! MORE KISSING! And also, I want to get at good at Combat and Puzzles as he is.
C.S.E. Cooney 