She sang of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, never telling that she haunted the waters

(idea) by stand/alone/bitch (6.3 y) (print) ? 8 C!s I like it! Mon Jan 29 2001 at 21:38:26

An experiment in random lyricism. Lawnjart sent me a line, (at the time I did not know it was a fragmented lyric) and I responded in kind. Next, I decided to give my own along with the first to others, see what happened. Lots of people played along, I did not tell them it was a game until I thought we'd played it out.

The results:
(Pipelinks that were part of the original /msg are marked with an asterix.)

Agent Jart:

lawnjart says

does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
stand/alone/bitch says

she never does but she hums the sound of four hundred days passing
lawnjart says

passing past the past and on into those days she nor I can see nor guess.
stand/alone/bitch says

drifting notes that dredge up the future none of us will face, dragging down a poster child.
lawnjart says

in limitless disgrace. yet the universe churns within her still, the threat hangs heavy that she'll give up,and she will
stand/alone/bitch says

but still she cried, and still the world pursued - for what is she (and what are we) but mortally wounded footsoldiers?
lawnjart says

burning meat and brittle bone held together, with steaming lie and brittle promise. shambling toward the box we call home.
stand/alone/bitch says

Home from the hill*, and the sailors home to the sea, and the home we seek shall crumble to dust and call us
lawnjart says

dry, cold, the funeral drum. the womb says "go", the grave says "come".
stand/alone/bitch says

and hearts like muffled marches beat the rhythm of our lives to a slow and steady halt
lawnjart says

beaten down the beaten path, beaten and still we march, march and still we die.
stand/alone/bitch says

beaten but not broken, we stumble as they fly, we crumble as they die - we are immortalized in speech and ephemeral tongues
lawnjart says

but it is the cryptic geography of dream landscapes that make us try from the mud. We will fly.
stand/alone/bitch says

and hence, the cryptic mythology of life's scrapes that urge us to try, and crying, we shall sally forth into a new millennium's heresy.
lawnjart says

eyes deranged, our heroes hanged, our leaders set upon us as fungi to the rotting leaves, we envy those who leave.
stand/alone/bitch says

and those who leave envy those that stay, for the ones that stay are the ones that can create a difference, it is the ones that stay who can sing of a new tommorow and the ones that stay who can tell of a truer sorrow. Thusly ends the story of us.

Matastrophe gives it a whirl:

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
stand/alone/bitch says

does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
mat catastrophe says

meow. Key lime pie.

And donfreenut:

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
donfreenut says

yeah, she did. it was a pretty good song, i guess, but not really my bag of oysters. i'm more into songs of jelly
stand/alone/bitch says

is it jelly donuts or calves foot of the same? Is it the glimmering shimmering wobblature?
donfreenut says

it's the cloven hoof and the canine woof, the pallish hare and the smallish snare. draw your own conclusions.
stand/alone/bitch says

the snarelike drums and fear that reverberates are muffled rhythmic chants that lure us deeper. Which do you follow?
donfreenut says

the fear that reverberates, and at the resonant frequency of the knot at the terminus of humankind's rope i writhe.
stand/alone/bitch says

and yet, those that follow the panic into this new millennium find they have less to sing of and more toil to create
donfreenut says

toil, toil, toil. not enough singing. fucked are they that toil and do not sing. That's my workday right there. except with less toil and more e2.
stand/alone/bitch says

and thus, all nonsensical roads bring us back to the nodegel that oils the cogs and the hub we call E2.
donfreenut says

E2: making sense of our lives without our consent.

alienhuman checking in...

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
stand/alone/bitch says

does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
alienhuman says

/me scratches head. Huh?

Knifegirl plays DIRTY!

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
knifegirl says

she ran off to california to be an herbalist.
stand/alone/bitch says

and the peace she sought, it came stomping after her in clumsy iron boots of doom?
knifegirl says

actually, she lived a charmed existence. my guess is she's screwing rock stars.
stand/alone/bitch says

I like the way you think. YOU PLAY NICE.

tandex:

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
stand/alone/bitch says

does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
tandex says

she did once, now she stares at him dubiously and wonders if the fish he talks about care or are just carnivorous predators and she's some kind of chum.
stand/alone/bitch says

the fish he talks of care more than she can dream in a lifetime, and he hums the tune of a thousand bears sleeping
tandex says

they lumber too close to the surface of thought though, she's just dangled before them... and he's just waiting for a bearskin rug
stand/alone/bitch says

her surface of thought is muddied by his meddling paws, his bearskin is bloody and torn with anxiety.
tandex says

if only she could read between the lines* maybe she'd have his skin in front of a fireplace
stand/alone/bitch says

but thought is ephemeral and such is the way of all humans - we grasp at slithery fish scales and come up with diamonds
tandex says

only the worst ones though. Sharks look smooth but if you're looking for those types of diamonds you're going to get scraped up pretty bad...is it danger in beauty?
stand/alone/bitch says

Does not all beauty have elements of danger? and is not love misused as beauty*? Who's to say which is more and which is less? Why do we follow these muffled rhythms?
tandex says

because diamonds are outside of our understanding, my view of them is to favor the flawed, the perfect are just plain to me. Love is just feeling, rhythms are just "sounds we have to listen to" at least once in a while, muted they may be...
stand/alone/bitch says

and thus endeth the story of us. we plod on like weary footsoldiers into a new millennium. Thank you for playing.

Insanity is not contagious, discofever:

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
discofever says

Stay away. You frighten me.
stand/alone/bitch says

fear is but an illusionary tactic lesser men have used to decieve
discofever says

Ha! What? Art sane? Art not distraught, lady, who hearest with joy the outrage to our royal house done, and art not at the horrid tale afraid?
stand/alone/bitch says

distraught beyond temptation, sane beyond belief, she hums a tune of three thousand yesterdays and blithely dries the rain as she turns the page and starts afresh.

GangstaFeelsHeadachy:

stand/alone/bitch says

Did she sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did he tell how she haunted the waters?
stand/alone/bitch says

does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
GangstaFeelsGood says

You make my brain hurt

birdonmyshoulder* needed a little nudge but she come through:

stand/alone/bitch says

did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
birdonmyshoulder* says

He told me how she tried to be a mermaid and lost her tail in the murky bottom, and she floats and talks of God when we're not looking (but we're never looking, all we ever do is fish and fuck around with the water)
stand/alone/bitch says

Foolhardy humans, lurking beneath her wings and slitting her tail for the price she will bring
birdonmyshoulder* says

and one day when she surfaces she'll find her tail on a president's plate and wonder who let him in, anyway
stand/alone/bitch says

then, only then, the truth will out: They loved her for her fishy elusiveness as much as her delicate legs
birdonmyshoulder* says

who knew she could be worshipped on such a scale?

(hee hee! get it? huh? huh? do ya?)
stand/alone/bitch says

I DO! Thank you for playing my game.

Kamamer:

stand/alone/bitch says

Does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
kamamer says

:-)
stand/alone/bitch says

YOU SMILED. YOU LOSE.

and good ole' Robinsloon:

stand/alone/bitch says

Did he sing of fantastic green islands, and sparkling fish, did she tell how he haunted the waters?
stand/alone/bitch says

Does she ever whisper in his ear all her favorite fruit, and all the most exotic places they are cultivated?
Roninspoon says

Clearly you are mad, as I don't know what you are talking about.
stand/alone/bitch says

What is madness, but a mere matter of perception? Speak: skip, gambol and frolic in these calm waters.
Roninspoon says

are you making metaphors in regards to childbirth and the classic madonna whore complex? If you are, that's pretty deep.
stand/alone/bitch says

And if i am? Where have you the stature to presume such self-righteousness? IT IS ALL PAIN AND WE WILL ALL SUFFER
Roninspoon says

Time for your meds, sweetie
stand/alone/bitch says

and i will take them gladly. Thank you for playing.
Roninspoon says

Do i get a prize? A fabulous vacation? A new car!? A box of rice-aroni?!!
stand/alone/bitch says

Noone wins in this mercenary game but those who play with malice aforethought.
Roninspoon says

You Bitch! I don't have a single malicious bone in my body!
stand/alone/bitch says

and that is why I win.

And lastly - upon being told it was just a game my scrambled mind had thought up: (what else could it be?)

knifegirl says

hot damn!

tandex says

by the way, please warn me if you would like to do that again. I about blew my brain out trying to contemplate this on the fly like that... on second thought I'd rather have no warning... much better interesting stuff, though - it's like being forced to write poetry at gunpoint

Roninspoon says

well, I don't like losing, but I dislike difficult competition even more. Although, I once saw monkies in a dime store window throw fire and brimstone down to the darwinians

printable version
chaos

Jane, you ignorant slut!	The unfortunate streamlining of the English language	A fine line between stupid and clever	Omegranite pomegranite pomegranite pomegranite pomegranite pomegranite pie
How much for the little girl?	This is the concept you will use to make yourself invisible	Here are some true pieces for you, anonymous, handsome.	Key lime pie
7 hertz - the resonant frequency of a chicken's skull	You, born of the water, could you ever live far from the sea?	We have nothing to fear but fear itself	Lego Zen
Still she cried, and still the world pursues	I still find strands of her hair in bed	Asterix	Every time I see a dead fish that isn't, I think of you. Happiness keeps washing over me like a wave. What do I do with it all?
winter	You lose	In the end it did not matter. The ocean was still there.	Simple and Clean
the Essex Green	Against my will it is seeping into me, this information.	Requiem	Jack Kerouac

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