Caduceus Clay

    The Goldwires fill my morning cup

They taste earthy-sweet and full of love

I hug their warmth to my chest and walk the grounds of my Mother’s grove

Bluebirds chirp from the canopy and the grass bends to the morning breeze

I scan the foliage, inspect the trees

Perhaps a newly spun cocoon will give me meaning

My purpose will come from the rustling leaves

Or perhaps, as the owls sleeps in their nests

I should stay in mine

    The Orians make my midday brew

They taste of rosemary and raucous laughter

I hug their warmth to my chest and walk the grounds of my Mother’s grove

Bees buzz lazily from bloom to bloom and chicks chirp softly in the pond

I scan the springs, inspect the sky

Perhaps the flight of the eagle will give me meaning

My purpose will come from the bubbling brook

Or perhaps, as the fox chases the rabbits back home

I shouldn’t bother leaving mine

    The Paxleys give my nighttime tea

They smell of elderberries and generations of regret

The chill of undrunk tea cools me as I walk the grounds of my Mother’s grove

Crickets chirp musically in the darkness while fireflies light their performance

I close my eyes and simply listen

I hear nothing from the swishing of the willow leaves

And even less from the rippling spring

So perhaps, as the owl chooses to leave in the night

I should stop waiting for signs

Caleb Widowgast

    I remember the joy on my mother’s face

My father mirrored my pride

Bright

Son

Spark

Light

I was my family’s pride

    My town rejoiced it was one of their own

I couldn’t believe it was me

Bright

Son

Spark

Light

They couldn’t believe it was me

    I went to the school, I learned all I could

I worked to outshine the rest

Bright

Fire

Burn

Ash

He saw I outshined the rest

    Then my fire became too hot to withstand

It became too much to control

Searing

Inferno

Burn

Ash

He was the one in control

    Bright

Son

Spark

Light

Fire

Burn

Ash

Bright

    I couldn’t push him from my mind

And so I lost the fight

Searing

Inferno

Burn

Ash

My parents died that night

Major Arcana

    Pentacles, Swords, Wands, and Cups

Are my stepping stones through life

But the stones disappeared when you went away

    I was locked within a gilded cage

Furnished and made to look like a Home

And not even her love gave me reason to stay

    One became five, then slowly seven

We became nine, eventually eleven

I didn’t make the choice at first

You made it for us all

    We were forced into a war that wasn’t ours

Herded like cattle, used for our powers

We’re still fighting, struggling, winning, losing

Why did you choose this for us?

    I tried to follow The Moon and The Stars

And remember the Strength you taught me

But The Tower began to plague my thoughts

    The Wheel of Fortune spun around

But there was never a spoke for me

I felt my struggles were all for naught

    I sought out Justice, but found only hate

I’m trying to find you, but I fear I’m too late

I thought you were the one who wouldn’t leave

But I lost you like the rest

    Pentacles, Swords, Cups, and Wands

Are my torches to light the darkness beyond

I hope I can help you find your way

As you helped me find mine

Veth Brenatto/Nott the Brave

    The river flushed me out

The river pushed me in

Kicking and screaming

Kicking and screaming

I was hidden far away

I was thrust into the light

Kicking and screaming

Kicking and screaming

   I don’t recognize myself

I never wanted to show myself

She isn’t me

I’m not her

People scream when they see me

I miss the silence of obscurity

She isn’t me

I’m not her

   Every day I become more like her

I’m just the monster everyone fears

I can’t go on like this

I can’t go on like this

I can’t even face my own husband and son

She hides me away when they come around

I can’t go on like this

I can’t go on like this

   How long until I can meet them?

How long until my charm fades?

As long as it takes

As long as it takes

I want them to see me

They need to see her

As long as it takes

As long as it takes

   I want the courage to be myself

I wish I could give her that courage

Someday soon

Someday soon

I won’t be Nott

She will be Veth

Someday soon

Someday soon

Beauregard Lionett

   I punch shit with my fists

Add another column to the list

Of reasons why I cut my hair and cut my losses and cut my family ties

   I’m fine breaking the law

Scratch another tic mark on the wall

Of days it’s been since I’ve had a hand guiding me along

   The lightning springing from my wrists

Shocks my memory

And reminds me that excitement does exist

   The bruises on my knuckles fade

The purple and the yellow and the blue

Brings out the loneliness inside

   I’ve just been rolling with the punches

I’ve been running up the walls

I’ve dashed all over rooftops with no concern if I should fall

   Now I’ve been taught caution

I don’t make so many bets

I have friends I know will catch me

In a woven safety net

   The wine I made was sour

But I’ve found sweetness in the company I keep

The elixir of a chosen family

   I don’t need my family’s liquor

To believe that I can feel

For I’m drunk on fun and happiness and now I know it’s real

   I’m used to rolling with the punches

Now I have a way to go

I have a family who loves me at my highs and helps me at my lows

   Now I act with caution

I don’t make so many bets

Cuz I know my friends would miss me if I drew my final breath

   I used to see the world in shades of Cobalt Blue

I saw betrayal in red roses and envy in the trees

I saw manufactured happiness and lies in the sun too

I saw a spectrum of lies and loneliness around me

   Now I see Jester’s smiling face in the sky

I see the Veth’s buttons in the flowered meadows as our cart rolls by

Caleb’s hair shines like fire in the sun

Yasha’s voice carries like a summer wind rustling the trees

Fjord’s falchion sparkles like the sea

I see the love in Caduceus’s eye in every shining star

Starting now I see my family in the world

I see my family in the world

The world is my family

My world is my family

Jester Lavorre

    If you paint the world in golds and pinks

on your bedroom walls and floor

And your drapes are tapestries

displaying faraway lands and seas

When does the world lose its color

and fade into shades of grey?

     When you craft myths and stories

from the books upon your shelf

And the light filtering through the window

forms maps of distant towns

When does the world seem small

and undeserving of its fame?

     What does it take to show her the truth?

The Little Sapphire in her ivory tower

A prank gone wrong?

A furious lord?

A frantic escape?

A new friend?

     A friend who tears down the tapestries hiding the lands beyond

Who rips out the pages of false stories and myths

Who shatters the windows so she can see the street below

A red-haired boy with a lens to the entire world

     Soon the illusion melts away

The room loses its glamour

And slowly the world grows brighter, grays melting into blues and reds, pinks and gold

The Little Sapphire sees ruby red in the world around her

and accepts leaving the source behind

She takes the hand of the red-haired boy

And leaves to find new colors to paint with

Do You Ever Pity the Moon?

  Do you ever pity the moon?

She rises each dusk, gracing the world

with her smile in the night

She gleams for the life below and

gifts them her light

  Why would you pity the moon?

When she awakes and rises up

the stars come out to play

Her dear old friends surround her

at the closing of the day

  Give the moon your thoughts.

Her dear old friends blink out each night

right before her eyes

And all she can do is watch and hope

the stars can hear her cries

  Give the moon your love.

Each night her friends blink away

and more assume their place

The moon is desperate for new friends

to fill the empty space

  Now do you pity the moon?

She spends centuries watching her friends depart

and only her remain

At what point does she stop befriending the stars

to save herself the pain?

Persephone

    The flowers were pleasant for as long as they could be

But I can’t pick flowers for the rest of my life

They grow around my feet, they follow me

I wish for a place free of flowers

    My mother is content

She has the entire world: wheat, grain, grass, trees, bushes

She has her earthly children and their meek adoration

While I have the flowers nipping at my ankles

    One day I tried to escape the flowers

I picked them, but they were happier for it

They turned towards me as if I were the sun

Unstirred by the presence of my clippers and shears

    My mother expected me to be content like her

But vexation and grief weakened my knees

As I fell towards my mother’s green world

I saw a man emerge from beneath

    He was veiled and enveloped by shadows

With a chiseled face and a simmering gaze

He stood upon a chariot of obsidian and stone

He was not from my mother’s green world

    The flowers withered around the man’s feet

This sculpture of ash and decay

I found myself possessed by a hypocrite’s mind

And like a petal towards sunlight, I bent to him

    He gazed at me with fire in his eyes

Hot coals grazing over soft petals and leaves

Without a warning, he scooped me up and dragged me below the earth

I could have cried out, but I bit back my words

    Like his chariot, his world...his Underworld, was of obsidian and stone

A three-headed pup sleeps at the entrance, supposedly keeping watch

A withered man on a barge leads souls to their final resting spots

as their lord leads me to mine

    Hades brought me to his palace

A sparkling gem among shineless coal

He laid me down to sleep

on a bed of bones and souls

    The flowers here are made of gems; they stand still

They don’t chase me and nip at my ankles

I can’t shake the memories of the flowers above

At least I’m known to them

    I am a stranger here

I am no longer the sun, but a cold winter moon

I can feel my connection to my mother’s green world dying

along with the world itself

    I could have left

I should have left

But I yearned for home

and found a taste of home in the land below

    I slaked my yearning with the low hanging branches

A single fruit of the womb of my mother’s green world,

poisoned by the land below and

cursed to never return, as I am now

    The flowers here have begun to follow me

I wanted to find a place where I

wasn’t bothered by flowers

It was a silly wish

For those flowers were family

They were home

This is home now

Mollymauk Tealeaf

    I hear the whip of the carnival master

Like lightning, crackling across my skin

The bolts dance through the air, pulling taught

Now they’ve found a new puppet to dangle and hang

    The strings are digging into my flesh

Cutting off my blood, ensnaring each limb

Icy crystals form in my veins

To drown my summer heart in winter snow

    The carnival master won’t let go

I can only watch behind foreign eyes

As the empty vessel, once my own

Is claimed by a monster with nontupled sight

    We’re seeing red, we’re seeing nein

Dreams of screaming teeth and eyes

The body horror, twisted minds

Spiraled horns that pierce my spine

    I try to cry, I try to scream

I fight against this hellish dream

Twisting bodies, a ruby beam

Tomb Takers and their cerise regime

    I hear you trying to get through

I hear your calls, I hear your cries

I’ve cut my hands and bled my heart

Fighting against my strings

    His dream is a plague forced down my throat

I’ve choked on his arrogance and foolish whims

At least in death, the dreams won’t come

The red eyes will shut with mine

    All I hear is the hellish din

It slaughters the empty from within

Voices screaming, kith and kin

Trapping me in ninefold sins

    This is one I can’t, for the better, change

His monstrous ways cannot be swayed

I can barely fight within my cage

And so I pray, “Brief may he rein.”