National Poetry Month is upon us

This year I'll be observing it with (among other things) a project I've had in mind for some time.

In Neil Gaiman's Sandman (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, go get it), there's a single-issue story titled "Calliope". In which the Muse Calliope is enslaved and abused by a human, Richard Madoc (he's a writer, y'see). She calls for help on Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams. Morpheus appears to Madoc in a dream and asks (warns) him to let Calliope go. Madoc refuses, complaining that without her he can't write as he has no ideas.

Fine, says the Dream Lord. You want ideas? I'll give you ideas...

Waking from his nap, Madoc commences to babble as ideas crowd into his head. I won't explain what happens next: if you've read it you know, and if you haven't, I won't deprive you of the pleasure of seeing it work itself out.

But here's the thing: the ideas that Madoc babbles are good ones. Morpheus plays fair. So this month I'm going to try to write a poem around each of the ideas Madoc spits out. I'll post them under the label "Madoc", and eventually put up a final post with all of them (probably an expandable, as it'll be quite long).

Hang on. It should be a wild ride.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside