I decree:
I am the Queen of Cooland.
See me shimmer and shine.
Bling me with stardust.
Bring me gold and silver sugar crystals
to savor upon my tongue.
Bring me dime store diamonds
glitter glue, sequins, and bangles too.
This bench, my throne.
This broken branch, my staff.
I fling riches upon my subjects,
kernals of golden corn their joy.
Why do you not share your riches with me?
No bows, no smiles, no understanding.
Can you not see me?
How can you pretend I do not exist?
My royalty wrapped in newsprint,
I wear the remains of your misdeeds.
Can you not feel shame
as I mutter my royal decree?
Pigeons shit on my command.
They coo at my feet,
jewel my crown.
I am the Queen of Cooland.
This is my decree.
The End.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets, where Paul hosts today, asking us to write a poem that somehow deals with “the end.” Pub opens at 3 pm. Come imbibe some words with us!
Excellent! Dark! Beautiful! Emotional! 🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀
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Love the attitude of the voice in this!
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Well your Grace, Queen of the Shitcovered Benches, Breaker of Paper Chains, Ruler of the Seven Coolands…I loved this Lillian!!
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I liked the final line. It fits the prompt in an unexpected way as the end of a degree.
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Wow! What an epitaph! I love ‘I wear the remains of your misdeeds’ Very emotive for me.
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Must be issuing bundles of commands to those pigeons. A really interesting take on th eprompt. Thanks Lil.
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Wow! I am without words–literally. A shocker. : D
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Wonderful and I am still smiling. Cleverly done.
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Love ‘Cooland’ and its Queen’s spirit in spite of all the misdeeds around 🙂
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That’s a great title, Lillian, Queen of Cooland, an interesting poem and a wonderful final stanza!!
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“I am the Queen of Cooland.” ~ And we humbly bow before this piece. ❤
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Thank you, Maria. Glad you enjoyed!
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There’s a crazed dignity in this poem that I love. It reminded me (in a strange and possibly inexplicable way) of Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman.
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And here I thought I was the queen of Cooland!… But since you claimed it in a poem and decree, I humbly bow to your sovereignty. Great voice in this poem!
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Hah! I think everyone is reading this as Cool-land rather than Coo-land, meaning the land of the pigeons. I was too subtle!
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Oh, but Cool Land is so delicious! Just north of La La Land, and ever so much, well, cooler! 😀
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Good one! I’ll go with either … and they could also be near the Yellow Brick Road or on the same route as Neverland ❤️😊😎
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Amazing character voice in this piece! I love “My royalty wrapped in newsprint” which gives just the right amount of insight in this Queen.
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So glad you enjoyed! It was a fun one to write. Well….maybe “fun” is not the right/write word here?
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It’s just hard to get any respect at all from minions now days . At least they offer jewels for your crown lol
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Ah yes….the adage is that shat upon by a pigeon brings good luck…in that case, with her crown, her luck should turn.
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I haven’t been lucky that way 😃
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It took me few reads but I finally got the essence and it is beautiful. How you came up with it, an excellent job!
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Thank you. You know, sometimes my pen just rumbles through on the page of my journal and my brain goes stream-of-conscience style. When I pause, I look down and am surprised at what I wrote! Glad you enjoyed this one. There are layers here….
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Love this and very cool too! Am sure the young would love its dark and scatological edges! I should try Queen of Hotland at the moment as I can only lounge on a lounger in the heat of the day.
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….and hopefully there are not pigeons near to crown thee in thy sunny glory 🙂
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No, but the bee eaters might as they swoop nearby for insects. My garden seems to work for attracting insects and then the birds come! Have to sit under a sun shade so not likely to get crowned!
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It is that bench again…we currently have a visiting pigeon who isn’t a wood pigeon. I think he is lost.
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Oh my…..
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