Janet Miles

This poem is spillover from the February 2025 crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Experimentation" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Big One and Kraken threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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This poem came out of the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from mama_kestrel and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Violent Behavior" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

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This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from gothfvck and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Resist Oppression" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

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Today is sunny and cool, almost warm -- too warm for a jacket even.  That's warmer than even the January thaw used to get.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I filled the trolley twice with twigs from the parking lot brushpile, then dumped them in the firepit in the ritual meadow.

I saw a flock of mourning doves in the trees around the ritual meadow.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.

I've seen a fox squirrel running through the trees.  I heard a woodpecker but didn't see it.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.  I think I've actually removed all the ones with berries that I want to burn, so the rest should be free for other uses.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today I'm making rosemary-lemon holiday cookies, somewhat inspired by this recipe, but I'm using lemon powder and Maine pine bitters. The dough tastes good, at least. It's currently chilling in the fridge before I attempt to roll it out and cut little evergreen trees. Cutout cookies are not what I do best, but rosemary cookies just deserve that shape.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- The cookies are done! \o/ They turned out quite delicious. The first bite just tastes like sugar cookie, but then the lemon and pine flavors bloom. Rosemary cookies are tricky to balance. Too sweet and they're just sugar cookies, not sweet enough and they taste like crackers; too little rosemary and they're sugar cookies again, too much and it tastes like you're baking with floor wash. But these are perfect.

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These are the content notes for "Along These Sympathetic Fibers."

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Here are the timeline notes for "Along These Sympathetic Fibers." They compare divergences between local-Caribbean and Peculiar-Caribbean events in history.

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This poem is spillover from the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from see_also_friend. It also fills the "Rainbow" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

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This was too good to pass up.

 

What Would It Take to Approve a Housing Permit in 24 Hours?

In its Housing-Ready City Toolkit, Strong Towns recommended a 24-hour turnaround for permits. That's not an exaggeration.


Before reading onward in the article, here's how I would set it up...

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Today is cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds.  I put out a new suet cake.  I've seen a huge flock of mostly sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I filled the trolley twice with berry-laden twigs from the brushpile in the parking lot, and put those in the firepit.

I saw the great horned owl fly from somewhere near the parking lot into the trees around ritual meadow.  I heard woodpeckers squeaking but didn't see them.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Unicorn Door"
Poem: "The Coracle in the Forest"
Poem: "The Unknown Depths of Our Lives"
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Today's Adventures
Poem: "Creativity, Ingenuity, Compassion, and Perseverance"
Space Exploration
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Economy
Poem: "The Community Couch"
Poetry Fishbowl Report for December 2, 2025
Poem: "Mamalokshen"
Unsold Poems for the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl
Crafts
Safety
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 12-19-25: Languages and Linguistics
Dinosaurs
Moment of Silence: Gil Gerard
Birdfeeding
History
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!
Early Humans
Hard Things

Food has 47 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.


The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale has closed, with a massive amount of material to post. It will take me a long time to get it all online, so please keep an eye on the sale page.


Winterfaire 2025 is still open!.List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.


The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, and two mourning doves.

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It was inspired by the "Twilight" square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Coracle Shores and follows "The Coracle in the Forest."

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Here are the content notes for "The Coracle in the Forest."

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These are the character notes for "The Coracle in the Forest."

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This poem came out of the November 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from helgatwb. It also fills the "Journey" square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It begins the new series Coracle Shores. Its sequel is "The Unicorn Door."

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We did our Yule ritual tonight. :D

These are the content notes for "The Unknown Depths of Our Lives."

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These are the location notes for "The Unknown Depths of Our Lives."

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