The Return Of The Muse

(Mercury and Venus, 605-602 B.C.)

            The Egyptians left Mercury in 605 B.C. with 400 wooden sailing ships intent on farther injuring the Assyrian war giant. The Assyrians at that time controlled 360,000 people on Venus. The Egyptian empire only numbered 140,000. Their size was limited by the natural difficulties associated with living on a planet where the oceans evaporated two times per every Earth year.

            When the fleet arrived they were met with strong resistance and superior numbers, but they battled on with determination, hoping that with enough pressure the Assyrian forces would collapse in on themselves. Unfortunately for them, this never happened. Still, they did manage to inflict heavy losses on the Assyrian space fleet. Also, they encouraged the natives on Venus, who began their own offensives on the ground. By 603 B.C. Assyrian control had shrunk by 25%.

            But in the end the Egyptian fleet could not win. In fact, it had been stupid for them to engage the Assyrians in the first place. Eventually the Assyrians were able to fortify their defense perimeter around the Venutian orbit streams and completely fend off the invaders. Then, finally, it became their turn to attack.

            Mercury would face their vengeance.

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

Our featured poet today is a rather unusual character who calls himself “Odin the Wanderer” or “Wanderer 7.” He is a self proclaimed mystic who writes many philosophical posts at http://wanderer7.gaia.com/. His beliefs, as far as I can tell, are somewhat in line with eastern philosophies.

            The reason I have chosen to feature him is for one, because he has contributed many comments to this website, and because he, like me, has written something that resembles an epic poem. I am not sure if it could be called a true epic or not because it seems to be more of a collection of musings than a narrative, but it is an incredible piece of work nonetheless. It embodies many of the ideas of the poetry revolution in the sense that it is another example of a poet that is brave enough to write something beautiful despite the best attempts of modernism to shut him up.

His poem is called the journey of the wanderer, and here is how it begins:

wanderer, o wanderer

tell us a tale

of where you have been, what you have seen

the things done, the things learnt.

you have been to far-off lands,

talked to people

heard their stories and lived their lives

you have experienced much.

the wanderer awakens, he was dreaming

always thinking and dreaming

he doesn’t feel at home either here or there

his sandals are bare

the call comes like a lighthouse beacon

across the waves, across the seas

it booms in his ears, rocks his world

the wanderer is called

this is his sacred mssion

accepted long ago

to go perpetually here and there

his sandals are bare

The poetry revolution is a phrase that I coined when I wrote my science fiction epic poem The SkyPath Crusade. It tells the story how two English knights traveled through outerspace in 1100 AD to help defend the Roman inhabitants of Mars from an alien invasion.

(Mercury and Venus, 612 -605 B.C.)

            After news of the Assyrian downfall reached Venus in 612 B.C., there were many on Venus who wanted to return to Earth and defeat the Babylonians. In fact, some historians think that a couple thousand soldiers may have actually returned in 610 B.C., but as soon as they discovered how much the political landscape had changed, they turned around and sailed back home to Venus.

            Once on Venutian soil these troops presumably warned their fellow Assyrians of the power of the Babylonian armies. It was assumed that they would some day invade outer space themselves: they were well aware of the existence of the skypaths. In fact they were the direct descendants of the Chaldeans, which made them next of kin to some of the tribes that the Assyrians had conquered on Venus.

            But in the meantime the Assyrians had more to worry about than the Babylonians. The Egyptians on Mercury had learned about the Assyrian defeat, and they were intent on exploiting it to the fullest. For 150 years now they had watched the Assyrians attempt to dominate Venus with anger. Now that a chink was discovered in their armor, the Egyptians were finally ready to engage them.

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

(On Earth and Venus, 725-612 B.C)

            The Assyrian land wars began in earnest in 725 B.C. when the invaders sent a force of 10,000 men including 550 chariots out to battle the Chaldeans. They moved directly towards the Chaldean city of Uzza on the plains of Tarma, which was hundreds of mile deep into hostile territory. Therefore they sent along another 1100 horse archers and light cavalry to conduct maneuvers around the army’s flanks, in order to protect it from attack while in transit.

            The battle was met and eventually the Chaldeans were defeated. Then they battled again, and again, and again. By 719 B.C. the Assyrians had achieved complete victory. The Chaldeans surrendered and became their subjects.

            For the next few decades the Assyrians slowly moved forward, carving up the surface of Venus piecemeal, annexing new provinces. By 650 B.C. they effectively controlled 45% of the non-Assyrian population of Venus. Very soon they would have enough power to easily conquer the entire thing.

            But this was actually the beginning of the end for their offensives of Venus. This was due, in part to their defeats on Earth. In 631 BC emperor Assurbanipal died on Earth. As a result, the Babylonians broke away from Assyrian rule and eventually conquered the empire in 612 B.C.

            The result of all this was that no more supplies or men could be sent to the soldiers on Venus. In fact, the colony on Venus was all that remained of the Assyrian empire.  

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

(From Earth to Venus, 745-725 B.C)

            For twenty years the Assyrians continued to build their cities on Venus without making any major attempt to conquer the others. They flooded the planet with not only soldiers, but families from Earth—both Assyrian and conquered peoples—to produce a permanent population. Meanwhile the natives on Venus began to get restless. The fleet in orbit around them had grown to 750 vessels, making it impossible for them to leave or contact Earth. Fleeing or calling in reinforcements was out of the question. So in the meantime there was nothing left for them to do but stop fighting each other and wait.

            And so they did. Those years before the Assyrian land wars were some of the most peaceful that Venus had ever seen. Their population began to grow at an astounding rate. From 745-725 B.C. it rocketed from 490,000-640,000. Their total armies were about 63,000.

            By 725 B.C. The Assyrians had 104,000 people on Venus. Their army number 41,000. They knew they could wait no longer to attack. The population of their enemies was spiraling out of control.

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

Some time ago I started working on a series of posts entitled “unsung heroes of the poetry revolution” where I attempted to highlight one blogger every day who was pursuing the same dream of a poetry revolution that I was. Finding such bloggers was no problem—there are lots of them—but my posts never progressed very long because of an internal flaw. They had taken on an artificial tone due to the fact that I tried too hard to come across as a literary critic. Let’s get one thing straight. I am NOT a critic. I am a writer.

            Nevertheless, I still want to revive my old posts because I want poetry revolution bloggers to realize that there are others out there. My definition of a poetry revolution blogger, is someone who writes poetry that revolts against narrow modernist and post modernist guidelines. Specifically, I am looking for poets who write poetry that seeks to entertain and enlighten. I know this hardly seems revolutionary, because this has been the target of most poets for the past several thousand years. However, in the 20^th century, this philosophy was attacked for being too primitive.

            But it’s not primitive. It’s natural, and it’s coming back. Poetry Revolution bloggers prove it every day.

            So that’s said I want to start where I left off with a poem written by Peter at http://petersonion.wordpress.com  It’s entitled: “Samuel (A Humorous Poem).” I like it because it contains formal poetry structure with an original flavor to it. This, to me, is the heart of the poetry revolution. I’ve included an excerpt below. Click here to read the entire thing.

Piqued by presently vague impressions
He removed the covers to observe a girl
Who wore upon her face expressions
About as pellucid and blank as pearls.

She had no mouth; her eyes were black;
A nightgown hung loosely on her shoulders;
Her hair grew halfway down her back;
A liquid flame seemed to enfold her.

Given the hour a little effort
Could explain away his vexing guest
As consequence of a late dessert —
Allowing him to resume his rest.

Nevertheless he could not ignore
A series of facts, both clear and dim:
Her feet refused to touch the floor
And she radiated a besotting vim.

That is, her being sui generis did so —
A marvel like the lightning bug
Whose bioluminescent glow
Provokes in wonderment a shrug —

In contrast her countenance provoked
A sense of soft and wan disquiet,
Like after long evenings of drink and smoke
Or wicked calms that follow riots.

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(From Earth to Venus, 745-725 B.C)

The Assyrian set up their capital city above the straits of Irtrús on a smaller, inland ocean about the size of lake Michigan. They were stationed 1,900 miles from Uzza, or 700 miles from the nearest inhabited city. The only dwellers near them were the original desert nomads who still referred to everyone besides themselves as “Mishnakites.”

            The Assyrians started by building a great ziggurat to their gods in the center of the city that rose almost 600 feet high. They decorated it greatly and surrounded it with garrisons. It took them 4 years to build it. Truly, they had no intention of ever leaving.

            And so the Assyrians began to spread across the face of Venus like a cancer, preparing the necessary infrastructure for total conquest. Some of the other nations sent raiding parties against them, but it was a futile gesture. The Assyrians themselves would be the only ones to decide when and where the real battles would take place.

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

(From Earth to Venus, 745 B.C)

            As the Assyrians finally began landing on Venus, they took lots of care not to repeat the same mistakes that the Egyptians had made 353 years earlier when they should have been able to put it under the control of Mercury. Rather than assaulting all the major cities initially, the Assyrians used their control of the ether portals to land supplies in remote areas and build new bases for themselves. They set up garrisons near rivers, oceans, and other natural resources. They began building permanent cities right away and developed new battle tactics to fit the Venutian terrain. They were still planning to conquer all the existing nations, but they were going to be patient.

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

(From Earth to Venus, 745 B.C)

            As the battle progressed, the smaller Venutian space craft were able to penetrate the fleet of invading Earthlings. The Assyrians, though more numerous, were taking significant damage to their ships. But they were determined, and it soon became obvious that they would win through brute force.

            After a couple hours of fighting, the smaller coalition ships decided it was time to withdraw. They were unable to retrieve all of their men, many of which were still locked in sword-fights on the Assyrian ships. These men had been given orders ahead of time not to surrender, but to fight to the death. They were told to assassinate as many ranking officers as possible before they were destroyed.

            By the time the coalition forces retreated, the Assyrians, although smarting from the indignity of their heavy losses, were clearly in control of the orbit streams. The coalition forces had survived to fight a day (they did not send their entire armada to the original battle) but the tide of war in the orbit streams was favoring the Assyrians. Still, it would take several months for them to consolidate their control of the orbit streams. In the meantime the planetary landings could begin.

            Earth had officially invaded Venus.       

Click on the “Story” page for the table of contents

This account is based on the SkyPath Crusade Epic Poem

The new epic poem The SkyPath Crusade is getting rave reviews from ordinary bloggers across the internet, many of whom don’t even like poetry. Although its appeal sweeps across the board, the strongest attraction seems to be coming from those who enjoy reading science fiction or fantasy novels. Here are some of their comments.

-jacqueline

-Amor-de-angel

-Laughing Lunatic

-Ophelia

-Beautifully tragic

-Wanderer7

Thanks to everyone for their input! If you want your review to be deleted, just drop me a comment. Thanks again for reading my poem.

-The Author