Jo Walton ([info]papersky) wrote,
@ 2009-03-15 08:46:00
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Nine things about oracles.
Nine things about oracles?

Let me try to be clear.
The first thing is that nobody wants to know,
and yet you can't stop asking.
The second is you all want reassurance:
be better off with a fortune cookie.
The third is that I don't owe you anything,
you're not what it's about.
I see the tiles, sideways, sometimes,
tessera, tesserae, the way the pattern
plays out in fifths, the beat falling
unchangeably, a glimpse, a riposte in sixte,
and what will be set, sept, set down in stone,
the colours always ambiguous
even in the moment the threads part,
the owls crying in the october meadow
gods and time and weight, wait,
that one instant of vision, the curtain
falling, parting,
there is a whole ocean
crashing towards
that ninth wave.


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[info]parsleigh
2009-03-15 02:07 pm UTC (link)
Really nice!

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[info]casacorona
2009-03-15 02:08 pm UTC (link)
Damn. This makes me want to buy it for you. But no, I can't.

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[info]papersky
2009-03-15 08:17 pm UTC (link)
It's silver, it wouldn't be right for me. Somebody can have it and can have the poem too.

But thanks for the thought.

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[info]txanne
2009-03-15 02:12 pm UTC (link)
Wow.

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[info]melopoeia
2009-03-15 02:20 pm UTC (link)
I was going mad to find four and eight and then thought, aha, Greek and Latin!
Those are smoothed in nicely. Six and seven, less so. The fencing imagery doesn't seem to go with the classical imagery; am I missing something? Nice use of the mosaic though--I find myself thinking of the sort of pattern recognition you see in Gibson, or of mandelbrot designs.

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[info]txanne
2009-03-15 02:57 pm UTC (link)
What I got from "sixte" was that the Renaissance was all about the classical era--so maybe oracles didn't end with the Roman Empire. (I liked "sept" because, and here's my geekitude in full flower, "set" was the Old French word for "seven." They didn't put the P back in until the Renaissance and its classical book larnin'. Here endeth the Reader Bringing Unintended Things To The Party.)

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[info]melopoeia
2009-03-15 03:01 pm UTC (link)
Squee! Many thanks for giving probable insight into those. Yay for geekitude.

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[info]papersky
2009-03-15 08:23 pm UTC (link)
If you can see through time, you can see through time, and a swordthrust seemed like the kind of thing you might see. Also, as [info]txanne said.

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[info]papersky
2009-03-15 11:30 pm UTC (link)
The "eight" is in "weight" too, incidentally...

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[info]redbird
2009-03-15 02:28 pm UTC (link)
Nice.

I like the way this plays with the number words.

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[info]lizzibabe
2009-03-15 03:04 pm UTC (link)
This is breathtaking. thank you!

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[info]sovay
2009-03-15 03:38 pm UTC (link)
there is a whole ocean
crashing towards
that ninth wave.


Oh, lovely.

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[info]serenejournal
2009-03-15 04:43 pm UTC (link)
Oh, wow, I really love this one.

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[info]maribou
2009-03-15 05:07 pm UTC (link)
I don't actually read your journal *for* the poetry - and yet, when you post a poem, I frequently have trouble remembering all the other wonderful reasons why I like to read your journal. Because the poems are just THAT good.

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[info]casacorona
2009-03-15 05:33 pm UTC (link)
Tappan says "tell Jo that's incredible".

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[info]rushthatspeaks
2009-03-15 05:38 pm UTC (link)
Oh, that's good.

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[info]ashnistrike
2009-03-15 05:52 pm UTC (link)
Thank you--I was wondering last night what the nine things might be, and here you are this morning to explain.

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[info]selidor
2009-03-15 06:05 pm UTC (link)
the owls crying in the october meadow
gods and time and weight, wait,
I really like the rhythm on this.

This poem made it a very pleasant morning.
::sits back happily with cup of tea::

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[info]athenais
2009-03-15 07:49 pm UTC (link)
Now I'm happy.

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Nine things about oracles...
[info]papersky
2009-03-15 08:34 pm UTC (link)
[info]dhole's response and [info]noveldevice's response.

So Elise, me, Alter, [info]noveldevice... we need another five.

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]melopoeia
2009-03-15 10:09 pm UTC (link)
one more

http://melopoeia.livejournal.com/1247158.html

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]asakiyume
2009-03-16 11:35 am UTC (link)
That was marvelous--here is what I started to leave for you on your journal:

Wonderful! I'm loving this stream of inspiration (I jumped in at [info]shweta_narayan, then swam back to [info]papersky and [info]elisem, then forward to you and the others).

Loved your blinding geometries, your fragile cities, your ladder of fire, and your numb tongue (not so very numb!)

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]shweta_narayan
2009-03-16 08:24 am UTC (link)
Squee!
Love this. It makes me happy.

Also, one more from me, though my post here didn't seem to go through...

http://shweta-narayan.livejournal.com/18983.html

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]shweta_narayan
2009-03-16 08:35 am UTC (link)
Then it showed up.
So I deleted it.

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]dorfird
2009-03-16 09:09 am UTC (link)
Seven.

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]kaolinfire
2009-03-16 10:53 am UTC (link)
If it's not imposing, I was inspired by [info]dorfird's mention you needed two more:

as a reply to Shweta's

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Re: Nine things about oracles...
[info]yunitsa
2009-03-16 11:37 pm UTC (link)
I was coming back here to tell you how much I love this poem and how it develops, and instead I...seem to have written another thing about oracles, even though I haven't written poetry in years. I don't know if it counts as one, but I'm still happy I gave it a try.

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[info]patty1943
2009-03-15 10:03 pm UTC (link)
Wow! You write poetry too! Good poetry!

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[info]eub
2009-03-15 10:29 pm UTC (link)
Very pleased by the way you unravel and tie back.

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[info]telynor
2009-03-16 01:08 am UTC (link)
This is lovely. Thank you.

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[info]kate_nepveu
2009-03-16 01:11 am UTC (link)
Neat.

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[info]davidgoldfarb
2009-03-16 04:47 am UTC (link)
Wow.

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[info]elisem
2009-03-16 08:16 am UTC (link)
Ah, Jo. Life is good.

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[info]kaolinfire
2009-03-16 10:41 am UTC (link)
very cool. smooth yet jagged. :)

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[info]asakiyume
2009-03-16 11:27 am UTC (link)
Lovely sounds--here via [info]shweta_narayan.

love your fifths, sixte, sept, and your owls in the october meadow

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[info]txanne
2009-03-16 02:00 pm UTC (link)
Nine things about oracles. I hope Elise is planning a sequel to Glass Bead Games.

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[info]icecreamempress
2009-03-16 03:45 pm UTC (link)
Lovely!

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[info]marydell
2009-03-17 03:18 pm UTC (link)
Ooo! *shivers*

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[info]asakiyume
2009-03-18 05:47 pm UTC (link)
Your ninth wave is coming in:

There is are manifestations here and here.

--dang, just realized they are probably locked. I'll ask the journal keepers if they'd consider unlocking...

Edited at 2009-03-18 05:49 pm UTC

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and another
[info]asakiyume
2009-03-18 08:33 pm UTC (link)
here

(oops, HTML)

Edited at 2009-03-18 08:34 pm UTC

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[info]pgdudda
2009-03-25 06:46 pm UTC (link)
Not nine things, but a response with five senses: http://pgdudda.livejournal.com/216271.html

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[info]ajodasso
2009-03-30 05:01 pm UTC (link)
That's beautiful, and has a strangely delicate feel!

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