Sunday, August 11, 2019

Jeffe's Earliest Writing (More or Less)

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is a challenge. I'm not sure who proposed this, but it goes: "Share tiny snippet from earliest writing of yours that you can get your hands on. This is kind of a dare, and also I'm nosy."

It IS quite the dare because it's kind of scary to show this super old stuff.

Fortunately, about the oldest thing I could find is SERIOUSLY old. I'm not exactly sure how young I was but I think this poem is from when I was about eleven. I'm pretty sure this is the summer before 17th grade - and I turned twelve right before school started - when I'd gone to a summer enrichment program for gifted and talented kids. I'd taken a poetry class there and had just learned this kind of free form style. I entered several poems into a library contest, at the branch that I could walk to down the street.

(Back then I went by "Jennifer Mize" because I was trying on "Jennifer" as being more adult than "Jeffe," my childhood nickname, and my stepfather hadn't yet adopted me.)

And I won 3rd Place! I have no idea who the judge was, but they were generous to me.

For those unenthused about slogging through the photo, here's the text:

Night

The lady Night is a sorceress, appearing
  joyously in her magic,
    touching things to make them hers.
Her gowns are rich, dark velvets,
                her crown is woven of stars,
                               her wand is a shaft of moonlight -
                     transforming what she wills.
Donning grey, or black, or purple,
               (depending upon her mood),
    she ventures forth forever
                                 dancing in her age-old spells.
Some creatures know her beauty through stirrings
                                          felt in the soul,
               but others know only her darkness,
                                  who can't see the rich black glow.
And her dress lightly rustles as she glides
                                on through my life.

I resisted any edits or corrections. Weirdly enough, I recognize a lot of my current themes and imagery in this.

An interesting exercise, nosy SFF Seven mate!

3 comments:

  1. You're right about recognizing a lot of your current themes and imagery, wow! Goes to show it's always been inside you. :)

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    Replies
    1. If you'd asked, I would've said that wasn't the case, but... go figure!

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  2. Interesting that you started out with poetry. Your writing has many lyrical qualities, this shows that you had talent all along.

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