Yes, I know, I have not posted here in a long time 🙂
I’ve been doing some writing but that too was in fits and starts. That might be changing again, but there’s a story behind it…
A few weeks back, Michael Whelan posted this.
I can’t believe that there are people who don’t know who Michael Whelan is — well, at least not people I know since most of the people I know tend to be SF/fantasy fans. And I can’t tell you how many memorable SF and fantasy covers Michael has illustrated over a long career.
All I can tell you is that I remember a lot of his covers vividly, even before I knew the covers were done by Michael. For example, there were several Robert Heinlein covers he did that I find distinctive — the most memorable being “Friday“.
Then there’s the book that I always come back to, “Destiny’s Road” — this Larry Niven novel has been so memorable for me for whatever reason. But I picked up the book because of Michael’s cover 🙂 And to this day, I remember Michael’s notes about the cover art from the book.
But I digress…
If you read the post I linked to at the top of this post, you would have noticed a reference to a creative writing contest. The contest was to write a short story or poem in 250 words or less inspired by Michael’s painting that appears at the top of this post.
Having been a big fan of his work, I couldn’t resist this opportunity. I clearly remember it being early in the morning, like 4:30 am or something when I read the post and if my email timestamp is to be believed, I had the poem written and off to Michael within two hours 🙂
I haven’t written poetry in a long time, but here, I felt it just worked. I didn’t think that I wouldn’t have been able to write a story in 250 words to do justice to Michael’s art, but I think the poem did, at least to some extent.
But I’ll let you be the judge and simply post the poem here.
Efflorescent
by Fahim Farook
Efflorescent, effervescent, there she sat blooming
I gazed at it in wonder, nightfall in the distance looming
It was the flower, the bloom, that I’d sought for so long
It’s allure able to break the will of even the strongI’d searched for it high, I’d searched for it low
Ever since I’d found the book with a golden glow
It had but one name ‘pon it, not uttered in ages
The name of a flower known to olden sagesA flower so rare, that it bloomed in secret places
Bloomed for a day, and withered away with no traces
Never to be seen, never to be admired
Never to get an artist inspiredI had found it, at last after all the searching
And I floated there my heart a lurching
All I need do was reach out and touch it,
But alas, I couldn’t reach it ‘fore nightfall hit!The cushion, that damned cushion ‘pon which I floated
The cushion which looked like a ruddy orange bloated
It had run out of the magical floatation juice
And I had to cut short my adventurous cruise!
