Squonk
Short Story/Poetry Writing
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Soul Dealer
[At midnight. A HOMELESS MAN stands centerstage beside an industrial can. He is watching fire burn at the end of a large branch. He circles it through the air as THE DEVIL watches from the dark of an alley.]
THE DEVIL
What makes the fire burn so bright?
[The HOMELESS MAN turns and holds fire out to see into the darkness]
THE DEVIL
Do you know?
HOMELESS MAN
[looks at his stick of fire and then back at THE DEVIL; uneasily]
No.
THE DEVIL
[walks towards the HOMELESS MAN]
Of course not; I would not expect you to.
HOMELESS MAN
[looks bewilderedly at THE DEVIL; he is obviously on drugs]
Who are you?
THE DEVIL
[stops walking and turns presumptuously]
I am the one who can save you.
HOMELESS MAN
[slowly]
You’re not God.
THE DEVIL
[smiles knowingly]
No. He cannot save you. Only I can.
HOMELESS MAN
[pauses, then with realization]
The Anti-Christ!
THE DEVIL
[smirks]
And yet you are not completely taken with the blind faith of your race.
HOMELESS MAN
[confused]
Why have you come?
THE DEVIL
[points to the stick of fire]
You are holding my sign. I am bound by the laws of old to answer.
[The homeless man extends his stick of fire towards THE DEVIL. THE DEVIL reaches his gloved hand into the fire and with a mysterious system of hand motions, manipulates the flames to dance with new vibrance. The fire glows blood red until he removes his hand. The HOMELESS MAN brings the stick of fire back to himself and reaches to touch the flames.]
HOMELESS MAN
[stops]
Why?
DEVIL
Why would I summon you to my service?
HOMELESS MAN
[chokes]
Yes.
THE DEVIL
[takes a moment’s pause before answering]
I deal with souls. [gestures upwards at the night sky] You see them all?
HOMELESS MAN
The stars...
THE DEVIL
[looking up]
Indeed. They were once men. Their souls now hang in the sky. Why they shine brightly, I do not know.
[A heavy pause]
HOMELESS MAN
[looks shiftily at THE DEVIL]
What did you give them all?
THE DEVIL
Their deepest desire of course. It is a wonder how much men are willing to do.
HOMELESS MAN
They all did it for greed?
THE DEVIL
Not all. Some hoped to save another, while others yearned for revenge.
HOMELESS MAN
[glances at his stick of fire still burning, then back at THE DEVIL]
Why do I wish it?
THE DEVIL
I cannot know. I may, in time...but for now it is your decision.
HOMELESS MAN
I’ve lost everything. My soul is the only thing I have left.
THE DEVIL
[to himself]
How often I’ve heard it.
HOMELESS MAN
If I sell my soul I will be nothing, I would not have the tiniest inkling of memory. Tell me dark one, what would happen to me?
THE DEVIL
[solemnly]
I am not bound to answer and will not.
HOMELESS MAN
But what do I have left? Why do I even want to be alive?
[falls to his knees, still grasping the stick of fire]
[THE DEVIL stands quietly watching the HOMELESS MAN as he undergoes an internal battle.]
It was them. They cast me out, sent me away from the clinic, told me I was good for nothing and would never make my mark on this world!
[turns wildly to THE DEVIL, who does not look startled]
Grant me. Grant me my life back!
THE DEVIL
[nods and with a flick of the wrist, calls the flames from the stick to his hand]
My contract.
HOMELESS MAN
My name.
[THE DEVIL throws the flames at the HOMELESS MAN and they engulf him entirely. Fade out.]
I wrote this play for English class. I really really wanted to write something that could make use of olde language.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Lothar, Part 1
Moritz tried to distract himself by studying the starlit gardens but in vain. Unavoidably, his mind returned to his helpless helpless situation. In a moment of panic and rage, he pulled off his family ring and threw it as hard as he could. The young man vaguely saw it land in a fountain far below. In the dim moonlight, he could just make out the statue that adorned the center of the pool. A beautiful marble Athena holding a pot; pouring water ever into the even pool below.
As a young boy, Moritz had never been intrigued by the fountain. In fact, he had not spent much time at all in the gardens, preferring to wander the forest, creating games that placed him as the king, the omniscient ruler of all around him. His make-believe had always centered around decimating invisible armies and mercilessly torturing nonexistent traitors. With long staffs, he had practiced the fencing his older brothers had unknowingly taught him. Moritz wa sthe youngest of his three brothers and had spent most of his life in the shadows. His father was Lord Everard Gerlach, a widely known and admired noble who was often called away from the Lothar manar to attend to "business". It had been assumed from the day of birth, that Everard would be succeeded by his first son, a golden haired boy the Lady fondly named Karsten. By an extraordinary work of God, Everard's wife was gifted with fertility and soon after her first child, gave birth to three more sons in succession. Everard treated his sons well and it soon became accepted in the surrounding country that the Gerlach house and name could be continued through generations. The next two sons, Berthold and Korbl, were also placed in the limelight as noble supplants in the future.
But Moritz was the fourth son.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Second Sonnet
Like ivy when it clothes the memory
Reflects upon the past as a still lake
Rip’ling in the wind harmoniously.
Revenge tonight is the road you must take
Weaving secrets as a unity holds.
Passion grips and gives way to ease of mind.
Willingness has already been foretold.
Wary should you be for all stories find
End. Now dawn awakes those precious moments
And those lost return in dismal led.
Distance breaks bonds and dissolves atonement,
Mountains take root with evil in your stead.
So passes journey of the last; remembered
And so your past becomes you forever.
And this one was for tenth grade english. The two sonnets are related. I want to see if anyone can tell how.
First Sonnet
Unforeseen rival surfaces from past;
Noises in the dark, whispers in the night.
Divinity holds answers for the last
When retribution is complete, take flight.
A savage work reforms supreme regime
A hostile act against authority;
Malice, vengeance, has settled in the scheme;
Fled from homeland, place across the sea.
Ungodly deed thy divine hath forgive
For treachery deserves its place in doom.
Revenge held part of plan and kill to live
So hidden deep, loneliness is a tomb.
And where has the twilight fade to darkness;
Gone has the evening, counsel I must seek.
I wrote this in ninth grade english class after we read Romeo and Juliet. I was one of the only people to get a 100. Tell me what you think the poem signifies.
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