Since everyone seemed to enjoy “Tea with Trolls” (PDF, by the way, is now available for download on the page), I did a quick poll of what you all wanted to write about next, and dragons won by a landslide. Which is fitting, since the year 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, specifically the water dragon.
I will take small poems until Wednesday December 28th about dragons and/or water and/or fire (something to warm us in the middle of winter) to prepare a post for New Year’s Day. As before, I will take up to 5, and you’re guaranteed at least one poem just for sending me something!
Theme/What to write about: Dragons and/or water and/or fire.
What form: Haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka, gogyōka, renku, haibun, haiga (doodles most welcome!), small stones, etc.
How many: As many as you want! I will take as many as 5 and no less than 1.
When: Send them in by Wednesday, December 28th (I will wait until the whole world has reached the 28th); I will post a PDF on this blog on New Years Day.
Where to send: Either leave a comment to this post or send an email to aubriecox [at] gmail [dot] com!
Other important stuff: Things you should keep in mind/include:
• Most journals will consider these works published
• If your work is already published, include the publishing credits (it’s kind of important and a nice thing to do)
• You, as the writer/artist/poet/etc, retain the rights to you work before and after it appears on my blog/in the PDF.
• If you want me to link back, please send along the name and link of your blog/Twitter account/website/etc! Also, make sure your have your name listed as you would like for it to appear.
kitchen dragons
steamed in Christmas pudding
Happy New Year!
~Merrill Ann Gonzales
Merrill Gonzales @ twitter
Fun! I will be sure to include this. Thanks for playing, Merrill.
Hi,Aubrie, I hope some more dragons pass through so I can send in some more!
[...] Don’t forget about dragons! [...]
[...] here there be dragons. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged novpad, [...]
[...] I jumped aboard. Hope it’s been fun for you as well! Also, don’t forget to look into dealing with dragons. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
[...] of the new year, be sure to send me your poems about dragons and/or fire and/or water by December 28th! GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
[...] of my poems toward the dragon New Year’s Day post! Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged [...]
[...] a shrine on this claw marked wood bridge— this is a river where dragons dwell Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged [...]
[...] Psst! Here there be dragons. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged aros, small stone [...]
first frost
we practice breathing
the breath of dragons
water dragons
watch over the sword
of Dozmary pool
Goen Bren
where Fowey river rises
dragons sleep
Oh, what myths are born from haiku such as these! Wonderful, Susan…:-)
Thank you snowbirdpress, Yes, or re-discovered perhaps
Susan, these are lovely. I would like to use this one for the collection:
Goen Bren
where Fowey river rises
dragons sleep
Susan Shand
Is there anything you would like me to link back to in return for you?
Thank you Aubrie, please help yourself.
I don’t have a blog running or anything like that so probably not on the links, thanks anyway.
[...] forget about the dragons! Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged [...]
~
campfire stories
with winged soar
his flamed eye
Hullo! Thanks for sharing.
Love the parallels between the campfire and flamed eye. What about…
campfire stories
with soaring wings
his flamed eye
campfire stories
with soaring wings
his flamed eye
Thanks, and Yes! I really likes the edit.
Terry
Great! I’d love to include it with the others to be posted on New Year’s.
Is there any site you’d like me to include, Terry? And how would you like for your name to appear?
Thanks, it”s all yours Aubrie
Terry O’Connor
[...] forget! There’s one week left to send me your dragon poems! Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged doodleku, haiga, [...]
Aubrie, how about this one for your bloog:
a fire breathing dragon
tattooed
on her cold shoulder
Johnny Baranski
I also have a haiga but will have to send that via e-mail.
I look forward to seeing it, Johnny! You can email it to aubriecox [at] gmail.com
[...] still four days left to send me dragon poems! Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Tagged haiga, [...]
asthmatic coughs
from the cave
the dragon misfit
Hmmm…tried to leave a reply to add on another, but not sure it worked. Let’s try again…
pitter-patter
from the cobblestone
dragon hunt begins
Brandy, this second one is so adorable. I’ll take it!
how my little niece
gobbles up strawberries…
snapdragon breath
once upon a time
a Nguyen prince slayed
the dragon in the lake…
how I once believed
I was born out of royalty
I do believe you are!
I love this…!
Thank you!
This is the one I love, but the other one is nice too…
For the other tanka/kyoka: My mother told me a story about that when I was young. The dragon was an ally to that Nguyen prince; it is the key to the Nguyen Dynasty. Without the dragon, there will be no future king. It kind of reminds me of Prince Arthur. Without magic, there is no future king (or Merlin for that matter) in Arthurian literature. However, the prince’s adviser urged him to kill the dragon, and so the Nguyen Prince did. Because of that, it was the downfall of the Nguyen Dynasty, and now a king no longer exists.
The funny thing is that Nguyen IS my last name, a very common last name as it is to Smith or Johnson. It also depicts the last of the dynasties in Vietnam.
I love telling stories in my poems. 
What a great story! My last name is Cohen and in certain places, many people have that name too so I guess we have something in common, LOL…
Forgive me, I love the snapddragon breath…
Yes, I understood which one you were mentioning.
Kathy—I’d love to include “how my little niece” and “once upon a time”!
I’d be honored, Aubrie!
I’m also enjoying the linked verses we’re all writing from this lovely theme! 
from the smell of campfire embers winter light
wetland chill
a patch of ripples disappears
http://tinywords.com/haiku/2006/11/16/
Oh yay! tinywords!
I remember those archives. Enjoyed reading this one too. “a patch of ripples” = Gorgeous!
I thought I would experiment and use that wonderful science fiction movie “Forbidden Planet” which has certain similarities to the “Tempest” “and has that incredible monster from the id. The particular scene I am interested in is where the viewer sees only the monsters footprints appear in the soil of the planet Altair IV and bend each step of the space ships boarding gangway. I thought of tweaking my “wetland chill” attempt like a film editor, just a small tweak, into this…
Dragon blood paddy
a patch of ripples reappears
There is in Viet Nam rice that is fragrant, has a reddish hue, and the common name of it is Rice Dragon Blood…
Oops, I see I am too late for this one for Aubrie to consider…
My apologies for posting it…
Martin,
No need to apologize! People can post all they want.
Yes, the cutoff date was yesterday so I can get everything together and neatly arranged. But don’t let that interrupt the creative flow!!
~Aubrie
I’m excited to read this feature!
I didn’t know they call it Rice Dragon Blood. I’d always eaten it, and yes, I know the rice you speak of from Vietnam (at least I’m sure this is what you’re referring to). It is called xoi, or steamed glutinous rice (some like to call it sticky rice). http://www.vietnamfood.org/entry/xoi-steamed-glutinous-rice.html It is lightly sweetened and is eaten as a snack (I don’t know why that article says it’s fast food. Maybe for much poorer areas in Vietnam and with sticky rice, it’s easier to carry around). Here in America, of course, it is more abundant in the Vietnamese communities.
along the cobblestone
the dragon dances
past platters of xoi
I pray for good fortune
from the heavens
I love this prayer…. Just what I needed today! <3<3<3
I love this one!
How the “winter light” rolls in after “embers”.
Martin, I would very much like to take this one along with:
winter silence
on crystal chess pieces
the dragon’s spine
How would you like for your name to appear?
By this one I mean the “winter light” one!
martin gottlieb cohen, thanks Aubrie…
Gee, you’re like me, lol.
drawing the dragon
on the fourth day of Christmas
Holy Innocents Day
winter silence
on crystal chess pieces
the dragon’s spine
in the darkness the dragon
bows to the star
Epiphany Peace
Your haiku brings thoughts of a terrible night in German history… and the world still mourns… and we still pray as best we can to follow the path of peace and love.
Kristallnacht, Ah yes…
I had no intention to allude to that event in my attempt. Unfortunately, it continues and free democracies, especially us do not act to stop it even with military force. For example, Cambodia with Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, Kosovo and finally, we acted, but not for Rwanda, Darfur, and it goes on and on… Thank goodness, we acted in Iraq to stop the slaughter of the Kurds and the draining of the Iraqi Marshes by Saddam Hussein in revenge against the Shia Marsh people. I agree with the late Christopher Hitchens that the war to remove Hussein was necessary to prevent genocide against the Kurds and the starvation of the Marsh people of Sothern Iraq.
drained Iraqi Marsh
the cracked lips of children
This time of year, when our awareness of perfection collides with the reality of what our actions and in actions have caused create images in our mind that are triggered with a word here or a word there… So much of the world can not be changed and yet it changes all the time, every moment, and each of us are asked to find the way to peace…true peace within each of us. I had just been drawing my dragon at the same time preparing for Epiphany…and your use of the word crystal with chess pieces … seemed to rise to the power of a symbol.
first killing frost
the cancer patient – my friend
denied fuel assisance
I surely hope we do better in the coming year.
Wow, that ‘ku certainly is powerful. Do you mind if I share it on Facebook?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CAIRing-in-Health-Medical-Poetry/109411262473151?sk=wall
red horizon
in the Da lat paddy
rice dragon’s eye
so large
sees everything – wisdom
knows the silence
I am enjoying the collaborative linked ‘ku between you and Martin, Merrill! Lovely yet profound.
Funny how Martin’s haiku brought me across the line from myth to history to felt experience…. A word here or a word there will do that… Thanks.
Da lat Christmas
up and down the tree
fireflies
little brother
thinks he’s a dragon
climbing the tree
on this park bench the braided light of snow and thoughts
friendless
in the land of Honah Lee
a rain of green scales
~~Think Peter, Paul and Mary…