Ave, Sandum citizens!
The Sandum nation has long been a supporter of artists and poets alike. Our culture is built upon these expressions. A few weeks ago, this Office dared its citizens, its residents, and its friends and allies alike to work with us to build a work more open to topics of humanity and nature. You need not to read the myths of Demeter or the works of Thoreau at Walden Pond; no, you should, instead, look inside your mind and your heart about this expression, as Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Rumi did. Here, in Sandus, we uphold our values of liberty and individuality for each and every person in expression and conscience. Here are some people who, like Apollo’s shining glory, were blest by the Muses, especially that beautifully-voiced Kalliope, to share with us some of their poetry.
There once was a guy called Tallini
Who, though a god, acted much like a bambini
He huffed and he puffed,
And he ranted and coughed,
And in the end choked, while eating panini.
Emperor George Cruickshank of the Empire of Atlantium and his “Ode to Tallini the Bambini”
Blue cat
Red cat
White Cat
Swedish Cat (assembly required)
Technical Cat
Soviet Cat
No Cat
Where is my cat?
Grand Duke Haakon Lindström of the Grand Duchy of Zealandia and his simplistic, yet profound, poem that will pique any cat-lover’s interest
On Theme:
So few, so mighty few, presented poems on theme: nature as a parable of human existence. Like Odysseos, here are those brave few poems:
«Seashells»
Wash against the shore
And sparkle in the summer sun
Thrown up from the watery depths
You bake on the hot sandAs children charge towards you
The pretty ones are snatched up
Smooth and shiny with bright colors
Squeals erupt at the sight of such treasuresPut on display the pretty ones will be
On a dry shelf in a lonely room
Waiting as they crack and break
To return to the seaA wave sweeps you up
And drags you back to the water
Tumbling over and over in the flying sand
Suddenly bliss and calmSettling down in a sandy niche
As small fish swim by
The sun breaks through the clouds
Casting rainbows off their scalesThey dive into the dancing seaweed
As a magnificent octopus drifts by
Feeling its way with its powerful arms
And you can’t help but marvelYou see the beauty and the life
And pity the pretty ones
They have been taken away from all this
To waste away in solitudeYou can spend hundreds of years
Never changing never fading
In the deep cool water
That is your home
«Seashells» by Kremlum Sandus resident Danielle Ortmann.
I’ll take you out to the sea and hide my eyes,
I’ll listen to the crash of the waves and the churning of seafoam,
You’ll see the world with an opened mind, and I’ll stay below deck.
I’ll care only to feel your lips pressed against mine and your breath hot on my neck.
And once you’ve had enough and the sails are worn and tear with fatigue,
I lose myself in the depths and liquid blue of those eyes and I’ll know,
I’ll see all you’ve seen, through your eyes held open wide,
and you’ll look back into mine and see happiness in simplicity, the lack of wonder that’s trouble those so overwhelmed with it years ago.
When the wonder of one can crash like a wave over the wonder of all, and you’ll see me then, and you’ll know.
A poem by Kendall Carson, the Sôgmô’s dear childhood friend, explaining how love can overcome desire.
The Sôgmô’s Poems:
«La Pluie Tombe»
The rain falls to the ground,
Dressing the earth with tears.
Can’t they see? They all belong to me,
These tears are mine and theirs,
Soaking me all the way to my heart.
«Spring Leaves»
Spring leaves blow in the wind,
Wishing to join you.
Feuillae de printempo, ti volete ad Onta.
Search, leaves, for a soft river to settle
And let us hope it is on the far side of Lethe.
Feuillae, souffle-ea la-bas.
(lines in Sancta, respectively: ‘Spring Leaves, you fly to Her.’; ‘Leaves, call me there.’)
«A Single Bird»
A single bird around the heavens
sings,
Sings of the signs of the new dawn
Where his new nest shall grow
A new world of warmth.
Happy Spring!
sandus.org 