In Defense of Fantasy

At first glance, fantasy seems to be a frivolous genre. Certainly it’s entertaining to some people. Why else would avid fans devour the latest Harry Potter novel in one day, stand in line at the theater for hours to see The Hobbit at midnight the night it comes out (which I might have plans to do this Thursday), or, if they’re really hard-core, dress up as their favorite characters and take their frayed, dog-eared books to ComicCon conventions? But aside from the entertainment value, fantasy as a genre is not widely regarded as great literature. By its very nature, it focuses on a different reality than our own. But good fantasy does explore themes relevant to our world and allows us to think about our perceptions of reality in a way no other genre does.  

Back Then: Poetry Prompt

Since our last prompt appealed to fiction writers, we decided to put up a poetry prompt this time around. I like this prompt because it encourages you to explore desire, nostalgia, and maturity all at the same time.

"Back Then"
In his poem “Refrigerator, 1957” (originally published in the New Yorker, July 28, 1997), Thomas Lux writes about a jar of “lit-from-within red” maraschino cherries that, as a boy, he never ate from. Write a poem about something that you longed for when you were younger, but was always off-limits.

Have fun exploring your imagery! My response to this prompt is posted below.

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Ornament, Angel

By Lilly McGee

The crush of glass beneath your shoe is like:
grinding pepper, splintering bone.

Cherub of china,
birthed with thousands of seraphim sisters in a
faraway factory. Sold, packaged in crimson, green, tissue.

Clone of cherub,
one in thousands, hits the
floor and becomes thousands of ones.

Winking,
slivers like eyelashes,
shimmering shards of merstone.

Keep the child
away from the angels.
Hang them higher on the pine.

You know
she only wants to bring them to the floor,
and crush them with a sole.

Post by Lilly McGee