Freebie Mondays: Poems for Friends

During the summer of 2020, after the pandemic sent us all into deep lockdown, I finally convinced one of my best friends to start streaming on Twitch. She needed a way to interact with other people, and she’s always been fond of the stage. Twitch gave her a place where she could be herself, try new things and meet new people.

And meet new people she did! I’m shocked how fast we’ve developed strong friendships among the Twitch community, but I’m certainly not sad about it. Now my husband has started streaming and we hang out with several other streamers as well.

Being a wordsmith, I return over and over to a specific form of gift giving – words. I’ve taken to writing poems for different stream events, hoping to bring smiles to our friends’ faces when I recite them.

These are mostly just fun little doodles. They aren’t going to win any awards. But that, too, I suppose is a writing exercise. So I figured I may as well share them here, especially since I shared many of my older efforts.

The first stream friend poem I wrote was for the friend I mentioned above (FlutterDye), and the first other streamer we connected with, Cauliflumps! (We were playing Minecraft together, hence the content.)

Roses are red
violets are blue
I’m so very glad
To be part of your crew

You know how to mine
And also to craft
You give gifts to me
Who is so very daft

Its more than your techniques
Enchanted books and skills
It’s that logging in to play
Is always so chill

Flumps has patience
And Abner has tactics
Zero has tunnels
It’s all part of the antics

Ghost has a vision
And Wuf likes to explore
Flutter brought us together
Friends forevermore

In conclusion I’ll say
That you are all keepers
So please take care of yourselves
Don’t get killed by the creepers

Everyone was so excited by the first poem that I decided to give it another go at the beginning of this year. A couple of stream friends decided to do the One Chip Challenge. One was really nervous so I decided to surprise them with a poem as part of the celebration. So this one was written for the very lovely Slothsiren!

Moving slowly
But always with
Great purpose
Our wonderful Slothsiren
Master of emotion
Inspirer of devotion
Pillar of a community
Entwining all in unity
Here we have sass
Mixed with class
Laugher and sarcam
Plus the Jackbox jam
And a spicy rivalry
Never executed silently
This siren call of kindness
Exercises no blindness
So join this
Slooooooow Raid
Everyone’s welcome
Where love lives

Hot Chip night included some Jackbox party games (hence the reference). I also came upon some interesting rhymes while I was composing this one. For instance “kind” and “venetian blind.” (Couldn’t figure out how to reasonably fit that one in though!) Also apparently “slowly” rhymes with “ravioli.” I was going to try to work that in due to a specific incident in a game we played with Sloth but, ultimately, it didn’t fit.

Our good friend Val_kyir also took the One Chip Challenge on the same night, so I added a little something for her as well.

Behold!
Across the ice-covered plain
Stands a maiden with a shield
Strong of Heart
And strong of Arm
There is nothing in this world
She fears
For she knows
The ancestors’ tales
She is wise as Odin
Clever as Loki
And brave as Skadi
You cannot defeat her
But
If you can impress her
She may cry “Skal!”
And invite you to drink her mead

While none of these are particularly polished, they served their purpose and were fun to compose. Maybe I’ll do some more in the future – it’s a good muscle to stretch!