Bombadillo under Willow (Poems and Essays and Things)

[Androthelm]

Hey y'all!
Sorry for reposting, but figured I was better off making something a little broader before I get too deep into that thread and it started bugging me.

Anyway, here we are! I'll post THINGS I MAKE and THINGS I TRY TO MAKE and hopefully most of them will work out well.
Also maybe hopefully posting things will keep me productive.
If not, there's always the Discord to distract me now. And scrolling through twitter. And just sitting on the porch, enjoying a beautiful summer day.

Oh, to go back to the days when I was young and obsessive and stayed inside all the time.

****

Hey, since I LOVE Taeth's Table of Contents, here's one of my own. Whose ready for me to break some links?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Essays
Christopher Tolkien has Passed Away -- part Eulogy, part Critique, part Praise Poem for the mythic power of humans to tell stories

Poetry
For Quiet Things -- a sonnet about my potato-basket.
With a Book -- a few silly stanzas about a homebody's love of adventure.
Autumn Fell -- a bit of Autumn poetry about the Doom of Doriath.

[Androthelm]

Starting out, here's an essay/eulogy I wrote about Christopher Tolkien's passing back in January. Now that the Plaza is back up (or, now that I've found it again) I suppose some of y'all might be interested. I have really complicated feelings about Christopher because while on the one hand he's responsible for a lot of what defined me growing up (after the original Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (of course), I also don't necessarily feel that his influence -- specifically when it comes to copyright and maintaining total control over the Legendarium -- has been an altogether benign one on the field of fantasy.

Anyway, here it is (if that blurb hasn't bored you yet ): Christopher Tolkien Has Passed Away

[Zôrzimril]

@Androthelm - Nice to see you posting again! I enjoyed reading your blog post. I myself personally haven't given much thought to the role Christopher Tolkien played outside of his unreal (in a good sense) role in compiling, annotating, and publishing works and writings of his father's that might not otherwise have been been accessible. But you make some fair points! Have you thought about sharing your thoughts in the Lore forum?

Hope we get to see more things you make/try to make soon!

[Androthelm]

@Tarawen Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad to be back:)
I have colossal respect for the massive work Christopher Tolkien did in bringing the world of Middle-Earth to the public! Really, I can't think of any example of someone who worked as hard and as long to publish something that wasn't their own original writing. I may an essay post in Lore, if I ever have more to say.

Re: Other stuff--Coming soon! I'm writing most poetry pen-and-paper nowadays, so transcription (and editing) is a pain.

(Un?)Fortunately a few pieces I'm particularly proud of are getting PUBLISHED in a journal fairly soon, which is SO EXCITING but also means I'm not free to post them here anymore

[Zôrzimril]

Oooo exciting stuff ahead, Androthelm. Congrats on the forthcoming publication!

[Burnt Toast]

Popped in to say congratulations on the publishing! That's really exciting. Shame to lose the ability to share them here; but I think it's a good trade off.

As for your piece shared above-- I really resonate with a lot of this. As an artist of various crafts, but primarily theatre-- I really find great importance in the art of storytelling, and the sharing of stories. My art / theatre in general / and stories in general wouldn't be what they are today without the sharing of them amongst one another, and the ability to recognize ourselves in them, and add those pieces in re-tellings, resharings, or recreations.

Obviously I'm not saying we just have full rights to say things are ours-- but there's something fascinating about the way theatre works-- the remounting of productions; which have been done hundreds and sometimes thousands of times-- are always different. We can still honor the original writer's work, but I've always loved the nature of theatre making in this way.

[Androthelm]

Thank you very much for both of your kind words! I was really excited -- I've had short stories published before, but not poetry, so this is definitely an exciting moment.

In response to your comment @Lucifer I can't help but agree -- I grew up doing theatre, and I think there's a lot to be said for the sense of ... communal ownership of the art, I suppose, that it seems to drive. That being said, procuring rights for the stage is also a nightmare!

[Burnt Toast]

Ha! It makes sense that you grew up doing theatre-- that philosophy really struck me as similar. Ha, procuring stage rights, oof. Especially for musicals.

[Androthelm]

@Sil’s Fool oh god, don't remind me. I was griping to a college friend about how I'd love to do one of my favorite recent-ish shows and they were like "why don't you just suggest it to [our college] for the Fall?"
That, I said... is not how things work.

That aside, I wrote a sonnet! I was sort of sitting outside and looking at our potato boxes and reflecting on them--but it's also a little Tolkien-y, so it's a good fit for here!
(Also, I don't usually write structured poems! Hope it works!

FOR QUIET THINGS
For quiet things that grow beneath the ground
till shooting up they suddenly are seen
for roots and sprouts that never make a sound
but shock onlookers with a sudden green.
A blossom laughing, flower bringing mirth
and few dwell on their slower seeming sisters,
which slumber long beneath a sheet of earth
and speak by secret ways their sweet whispers.
A piskie in a tulip is a sight
or fairy-dancers in a bluebell's light--
but my love to the gnome who secrets knows
of cavern hall in which potato grows.

[Burnt Toast]

Heyo! Nice new name, btw. ;) Ah yes, wouldn't it be a dream if we could just nab the rights to brand new musicals with ease? Ha!

I haven't dug into sonnets in quite some time; I really enjoyed this piece. I especially love the imagery of the line "fairy-dancers in a bluebell's light. I think the piece works quite well! (XD the only sonnets I've ever written were pretty goofy-- I think one was about a fly.)

[Zôrzimril]

@Bombadillo - I love your new name and your new thread title. This sonnet is lovely. They are a challenge to write so I give you a lot of credit here for the way this flows so lightly - I especially love the personification throughout! Hope we get to read more poetry soon. :)

[Androthelm]

@Sil’s Fool thanks! Love ol merry Tom. And ... yeah. It had never occurred to her that an ongoing Broadway run of something would affect the ability to put it on in a local theater. Definitely a realization on my part that theatre has a world of its own.
re: the sonnet--thank you again! I like some of the images which appear in the folklore which inspired The Hobbit especially, (where elves and dwarves are half-hidden creatures of the hills and forests). The bluebell line captures that, I hope.
And goofy sonnets are great! It's a weird form and deserves weird poems.

@Tarawen Thanks! Took me a minute to find a good one to suit the name, so I went back to the Books that brought us all here :smiley8:
Poems incoming (once I can transcribe some stuff)--although I can't promise they''ll flow as well as this one. Meter is hard, y'all.

[Androthelm]

snip :)

[Zôrzimril]

Love this, @Androthelm! It's definitely reminiscent of some poems from Fellowship of the Ring - the bath one in particular came to mind for me. I relate so much to enjoying being safe in familiar places!

[Androthelm]

Thanks @Tarawen! Yeah, total confession I have somehow found myself in the middle of...three separate rereads of the Books (two different book groups decided to do it, plus the Plaza one) and definitely had that early Bilbo poetry on my mind.
Again, structured verse is very much not my usual thing so it is interesting to try and experiment and get it out there.

[Eorlana Corvys]

@Androthelm
I enjoyed your sonnet and other poem very much. At heart, I'm very much a homebody (hobbit), even if I love the idea of adventures.

[Androthelm]

Thank you @Eorlana Corvys! I do think it's a common theme -- especially for those for whom the SFF genres mean something -- that we are fond of adventures (when we can safely return from them).

[Androthelm]

snap :)

[Zôrzimril]

@Androthelm - This is lovely! I can hear echoes of Tolkien's verse ("The Ent and the Entwife" comes to mind with the seasons as a framing device), but certainly with your own unique style. The ever-fading cries go a long way to building a melancholic mood. Bravo!

[Androthelm]

Thank you @Zôrzimril. I feel like I say this with every poem I post here but structured verse is not my usual style -- so you're right, just about everything I ever write with a proper structure is inspired either by Tolkien or Pushkin

[Taethowen]

Omg I am so late coming to your thread and only just saw your compliment on my table of contents!

I just read everything you've posted/shared so far, and it was all a delightful read.

The essay on Christopher Tolkien's passing was especially well done. I have felt some of the same frustration over the years both with Middle-earth and with other fandoms where an estate/author refuses to relinquish any control over a story. You're absolutely right in that stories--especially epic ones--belong to the community of readers, ultimately. To me, that's part of the joy of writing and sharing that work: eventually seeing what others make of what I've done. As a writer who really got started in fanfic, I eagerly await the day when someone starts writing fanfic of my works! (After I actually finish and publish some fiction, anyway.)

All of your poems are absolutely lovely. One of my best friends/writing partners is a poet, and the effort and skill that can go into making one just right is astonishing! Well done!

[Zôrzimril]

@Androthelm - I certainly don't mean that as any sort of slight on your work! You do marvelously with the form. <3

[Androthelm]

Ahh @Taethowen you're so kind! What would we do without people who know how to use the Plaza format better than we do?

I'm glad you liked the Christopher Tolkien essay as well. It's a frustration that's been growing for me -- especially with the recent drama over the Internet Archive and broader questions of "licensing" and "copyright" and all sorts of nasty words like that.

As for the poem, none of these are really just right yet -- though, maybe! someday! I'll do some more editing. Thank you, thank you

[Androthelm]

Well, I'll need to do some cleaning up around here. Spring cleaning, dusting the mantlepiece, and so on.

I've been doing art a little differently since I last posted around here — a.k.a. it's been almost three years, and I've gotten into rpg design! Doing lots of microgames with small mechanics and specific interpretive narratives... Here's one that seems Plaza-ish:

THE DWARFS

[Androthelm]

Over the years, I've gathered a dozen or so (less than a dozen) "old regulars," characters I RP'd (or meant to RP) here on the Plaza, who have appeared in various TTRPGs, who I made in LoTRO, and so on. I want to give them an index -- barebones, for now! But this space is all a work in progress. Call this a list of a few sorts of stories I want to tell, as I stretch back into using the plaza (and doing Tolkien fanwork!) after a long time away (and a long time moving across the country).

Dramatis personae (or, the members of the New Notion Club)

ANDROTHELM WHITEBEARD. Mannish. Wandering knight; old walker. Formerly of Rohan. Merry Odinesque.
BRAR STONEBEARD. Longbeard. A jeweler, long of the Blue Mountains. Old friend of A.
CAIRANG (sometimes known as ANGCAIR). Sindarin. Shipwright in the court of the Lord of the Havens. Old, old, old. Associate of B.
DURZHAN. Ironfist. A smith and a historian, enchanted with the lost craft of ancient days. Apprentice to B.
RHYS ELDSHAW. Mannish. A huntsman of the Bree-land. Friend of A.
FOLKNARR. Mannish. Of the Folk of Beorn and the Vale. Friend of B.
GILMECTARE. Noldorin. The Sword of the Star. Friend of C.
HOLFAST. Hobbitish. Gratified by simple pleasures. Cousin of I.
ISOBELIA. Hobbitish. Longs for something more. Cousin of I, friend of A.
KHAMUN. Mannish. Formerly of the Marchlands of Harondor. Friend of A.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Androthelm: Oh hey! You got a thread for yourself too! Some of your characters as Holfast and Isobelia I do remember as Hobbits active in the Shire. I am not surprised you were in RP design, a lot of us have done it over the years. But this is something else and not many of us have done. Wonderful! It is really cool you see popping in now and then.