Sand

Long ago, the two great empires fought for supremacy. The first was a land of old - a cold place in an even colder world. It clung desperately to tradition, while simultaneously striving to give its citizens the sense that all men were equal; that even the emperor was no better than a pauper.

The second was a land of progress and greed where anyone could get ahead if they were willing enough to crush his fellows. As new ideas filled the minds of its citizens, the old ones were tossed aside as junk relics.

The frozen empire had watched in awe the day the industrial empire had all but destroyed a small kingdom with their newest weapon, and it was only out of fear of this new power that the two empires never truly clashed swords.

They say that the frozen empire had collapsed in upon itself after decades of alleged equality, leaving the industrial empire to grow more and more. Though a vow was made that the weapon would never be used again, there are those that have their doubts.

They say a kingdom is beginning to flourish in the shifting sands, and they say that those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it.

Sylvia

Can you hear me,

You hollow shell of a person?

Can you hear me,

You memory of mine?

You, who raped my mind

And sent a crack

Down my heart like

A lightning-bolt, quick.

I know too true that this

Would be the way we ceased.

I knew I said forever,

But the pain was just too real.

Too real for the pretend

- Pandora’s jar’s last gift -

Too consuming for an endeavor

From which no just reward

Would possibly present itself

Or otherwise slide into my soul-

As you had long ago

When it was too late.

Too late to fix the mistakes

Of my own ignorance and

Adolescent obliviousness

I’d sworn to make things right.

My  best friend?

More married at times,

Despite the now obvious reasons why

I would rather be proven wrong

And sentenced to an eternity

of hell’s grand torture-

Placed on Lucifer’s frozen lake

With all the rest of the traitors.

Do you remember our “son”?

The orphan rabbit you found

Alone in the garden?

His mother dead, ten feet away?

I’ll bet you can’t remember-

Not even my face, or my name.

Admittedly you probably tried

To forget this traitor’s place.

I broke my vow to save my soul

And I can honestly say that I’m happy.

Can you hear me now,

You hollow shell?

I’m over our tragic tale.

Blissfully Terrified

For all my bitter cynicism,

Logic and rationality,

I must admit that I am a fool-

Planning meticulously, ridiculously

Far too much in advance.

I could look a person in the eye

And tell them just how truly

Incompetent I thought they were.

And yet, here I am.

Standing at the edge of a canyon

- A vast river some 500 feet beneath me -

And it is time for me to make a choice.

Do I hold Opportunity's hand and begin

To attempt to leap over the abyss

Risking a great plunge into the depths-

The only reward for my endeavor being

The knowledge that Opportunity did not escape me

Or

Do I panic and try to run far,

Far, far away from this Opportunity,

And in the process, surely falling 

into the bottomless pit alone,

Breaking every bone in my body

As my dark journey into despair

Proceeds ever onward towards the river?

I am frightened of my future.

I am proud to say that I am terrified.

I have chosen my course of action.

I am a blissfully terrified fool.

Chimera

Who am I? My heart?

My brain? My hand?

My pinky toe? My soul?

I am more than the sum of my parts.

If I break a bone, or sell my soul

I will still be here.

But some day, all my parts

Will cease to function

And that will be the end

Of my physical existence.

But the impact of my life shall live.

It shall live in the souls I’ve touched,

In the hearts I’ve warmed, and

The memories of possibly millions.

The future will look back on my life

And wonder who I was.

I Just Lost It

Through the years, all my

Hope has departed, taunting me- 

Ever present at the edge of my mind.

Going through the day to day,

Always waiting, at the ready to

Make me suffer, unable to kill it-

Ever present at the fringe of madness.

Used to Be

I used to be a banker, but now I am a piggy.

I used to be a politician, but now I could use some change.

I used to be a cantaloupe, but now I am a salad.

I used to be a danish, but now I am waste.

I used to be plastic, but now I am a chair.

I used to be a loner, but now I have a family.

I used to be an epic paladin, but now I am a non-player character.

I used to be happy, but now I am in love.

I used to be a newt, but I got better.

I used to be the worst pirate you ever heard of, but now you’ve heard of me.

I used to worry about the police, but now I sleep on a bunk under a big black man named Bubba.

I used to be dark and brooding, but now I am bitter and cynical.

Warden

The eternal question

Of such color and such stripe

Doesn’t seem to matter

To you, my ward.

I’ve held you close for

Oh so long, wrapped my arms

Around your neck.

It’s almost painful though -

I only ever saw you when

You felt that I was needed.

But, I know our bond is strong.

I’ve watched you grow

And have never left or betrayed

Like some others I could mention.

My love, my purpose,

Can you feel the warmth 

of my heart, spreading?

Protecting you from the cold?

My heart beating slowly

Until I see your face-

Waiting in anticipation

For that fated moment

In which my purpose is

Fulfilled once more.

I am guardian, and friend.

And though I know

That there will be times you

Will realize that you want me

I remain confident in you.

We knew I could not be together

Forever- that’s just not our way.

Though I surely wish we could.

Deep down inside however,

It warms my heart to see your

Love once more, this time for

Another- one who needs me.

Though we part now, in my soul

I’ve never been more proud of you,

My precious ward.

Your heart is so warm-

I trust you, my young ward,

To endure the cold alone.

One of These is True

I am totally prepared for a dinosaur attack.

I will not rest until my rival, Leaping Lizzy, is dead, and I have her magical boots.

In the event of a zombie outbreak, note that there is a katana located on the roof of the local cafe for your convenience.

I have read every single book assigned to me by my english teachers.

There is no place I would rather be than right-here, right-now. 

Oh, hi!

Alright, well, welcome to the first ever post to Semi-Fictitious, where some events, names, and locations may or may not have been altered to the point of being complete bullshit.

I’ll be your host/author/bane-of-existence for the duration of this blog.

Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions, and hopefully you’ll like what I have in store for you.

When it comes to writing I tend to lean a bit more towards the creative side, but frankly some mere social commentary can be pretty creative. 

So, if you happen to have something in particular you would like for me to talk about, by all means let me know, either by comment or email.

You can follow me on Twitter, if you’d like. Just do a quick search for “sgreenwell” and that would be me. 

Just don’t be upset if I don’t follow you. 

After all, I’m not going to be upset if you decide you don’t want to follow me. 

I certainly know that I wouldn’t follow me. I have no idea where I’m going.

For the foreseeable future most of my posts will be older creative pieces of mine that I found recently - reworked of course. 

I’ve improved quite a bit since then. 

At least, I would hope so.

I suppose if you’ve read up to this part, you’re probably wondering a bit about me.

My name is Shane Greenwell, and I am a Graphic Design major at Towson University. 

I’m thinking that I may be attempting to dual-major into something creative-writing-y.

 I am very much a nerd, but am lacking in my nerd culture for some reason or another. 

(Pst... That means that if you have any suggestions of things that I should see/read/watch/hear, I would love it if you would share.)

Beyond that, well, you’re going to need to get to know me a bit more. 

Perhaps maybe you’ll glean a bit of information about me from my writing.

How about you? Why are you here? Who are you?