Sky Full of Amethysts: Blogging Around With Rommy Week 42


I came through,
under the crust of possibility filled earth,
not quite right
for what I was expected to be.

I’ve had eons to learn
to fake a laugh
and joke loud enough
to distract from my flawed shaping.

I was told I was fated to lose 
because I'm a dull excuse for an amethyst.
I was secretly afraid
that was the reason I was left behind the others
without a chance to know the homeworld.

It’s true.  There’s a lot I don’t know.
But I’m burnished bright by my strange
and when the dross falls away, I see

I’m just as real an amethyst
as any of the others in this sky.



Liner Notes for This Groove: This poem was created for Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads, Just One Word: Burnish. It is also linked to Poets United's Pantry of Poetry and Prose.

So this soon after Nerdtino (a Latinx nerd convention), I had to go with something super nerdy. This piece is about one of my favorite characters in the cartoon Steven Universe, Amethyst. Though Amethyst hatched on earth, she’s part of an alien species known as Gems. There are several other Gems on earth, but she is the only Amethyst. This piece was meant to take place just as she was meeting other Amethysts for the first time. She was very nervous about it, but according to the official podcast of the series, meeting and getting to know other Amethysts (whom she now collectively refers to as "the Famethyst") “has allowed Amethyst to define herself with more clarity, leading her flexibility to become a choice rather than a reaction.”


There are so many great moments in this show
but Amethyst meeting the other Amethysts is one of my favorites.

Speaking of Nerdtino, I had an amazing time there. It was the first time I had ever been to that convention, and the first time I vended anywhere. I was so nervous, I forgot to have tea before I drove over. Fortunately, nerves work up a fair bit of adrenaline in the system. That and the really great atmosphere provided by getting together with other creative folks who are passionate about their art kept my energy high the whole day. Despite having trouble with my card reader for my cell phone, I sold out of all twenty-five of the books I brought with me.

Yes, I crashed as soon as I got home, settling myself on the couch the rest of the night and a-better-late-than-never cup of green tea. As Khaled Hosseini wrote in A Thousand Splendid Suns, “it's better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for one.” But I am so happy I went even if I did have my first cup of tea at 7 p.m.

So let me hear from you dear Groovers…have you done anything that made you a little nervous at first, but ended up being pretty freaking wonderful? Talk to me about it in the comments section and as always, if you want to take the conversation up on your page drop a link to your cyberhome in the notes.

Song Choices: DJ Awesomus Prime kept the convention dancing to so many great songs that day, but I have to go with the two that really got me and the people around me moving. Suavemente by Elvis Crespo and Make My Story by Lenny Code Fiction (the second theme for season three of My Hero Academia).

62 comments:

  1. I'm so glad Nerdtino was such a big success for you and your books! That's super!

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    1. It was such a blast! Can't wait to go again next year.

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  2. The kid who needed polishing. A lot of us do get the burnishing, many do not. Some are even disposed of. About all I needed was getting my ears taped back, which my grandfather made Mom stop doing. And getting my web toes which Mom declined doing.
    Now, I am glad that you did good there with your books. I will investigate this group. Years ago I declined an invitation to join Mensa, my Army AFQT score of 100 percentile had qualified me. Do you belong?
    ..

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    1. I've been told my SAT and GRE scores qualified me but I never filled out the paperwork. I suppose I should look into it.

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  3. We all of us are jewels of the sky and we all belong. Glad you sold out of your book! Hope you are set up to vend by email as well. Us nerds love to shop by email!

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    1. I'm happy to sell an autographed copy upon request, but Amazon and Barnes & Nobles have my book too (and in a couple of weeks so will some local shops).

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  4. Jewels aside, the most awesome thing is selling every single one of the twenty-five! !!!! Thats wonderful.

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    1. Thanks JC. I was pretty shocked it happened. :D

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  5. Everybody walking down the street has a perfect right to be there. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this for myself, and other times for the other person.

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    1. It's always good to have those reminders in place.

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  6. Rommy, this is one of the wonderful pieces by you. Sky Full of Amethysts, what a lovely image! Amethyst is a beautiful gem associated with royalty, and is also found in South Africa. So, I’m intrigued by Amethyst as a cartoon character. I checked out The Famethyst, absolutely cool.

    A big YAY for selling all the merchandise you took with to Nerdtino. See what happens, when we dare to leave our comfort zones? Freaking wonderful, I say!

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    1. Aw! Thanks. Yeah it was positively nerve-wracking on the drive over. LOL, Fight Song was the last song I heard on the radio as I parked my car and I took it for a good sign. I guess it really was a positive omen!

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  7. Congratulations Rommy on such a successful Nerdtino. How stange it is for some creatures to develop confidence and yet other are uncertain. I know Humans are so flawed but who would believe Amethysts could be as well?

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    1. I'm in awe of those to whom confidence comes naturally

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  8. It would be sad if an Amethyst can turn out not as shiny as any precious stone would. It would have to do something more for itself so as not to be left behind. Nice direction you took Rommy!

    Hank

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    1. Thanks Hank. LOL, I like playing with nerdy themes in my poetry from time to time.

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  9. Thanks for sharing for Nerdtino experience, Rommy; it’s the first time I’ve heard of it, and your explanation of your favourite character helped me appreciate the poem better. I especially like the opening lines – I know I’ve felt ‘not quite right for what I was expected to be’ – the whole poem conveys the way I felt in my first week of teaching!

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    1. It's a smaller and newer convention, but it's getting bigger every year.

      I imagine it must have been an adjustment when you started to teach, but it's cool that you did it. Good teachers are so needed in young people's lives.

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  10. I loved the poem at first reading, even though at that point I knew nothing of this cartoon character. It just happens that I love amethysts, and own a few. They are very individual, so it all made perfect sense to me!
    Great that you sold out of your books.

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    1. I happen to love the stone too. I realy want to get two little amethyst stud earrings one of these days.

      I am still over the moon that I sold them :D

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  11. Wow. Before I got to the Steven Universe, I was really mulling "I'm a dull excuse for an amethyst" which is quite a comparison. Really good and thoughtful. Nerdtino sounds so wonderful!!

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    1. Thanks Marian! LOL, I'm glad it worked on its own even without the backstory.

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  12. I loved it without knowing anything of Amethyst the character.. but I read it as a gemstone, and it still worked... you just have to find your inner purple to become precious.

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    1. Super thrilled it worked for people not acquainted with the cartoon. It's silly at times, and awfully cute, but it can be surprisingly complex.

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  13. Rising above it all .... the quintessential recipe for success in life. Love this!

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  14. Diversity enhances the jewel box. There is no need to be just like another, but to be exactly ourselves in a way that fills us. Then again, I am happily weird. So, my reply is probably biased.

    Still, I think Amethyst is very brave. To go out there, to meet and shine, even when her legs were shaking.

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    1. It was a mission that could easily have backfired. But then to have the other Amethysts not only accept her but immediately start including her in their jokes was just the sweetest thing. Again, it can sometimes be a terribly silly show (especially the first season) but sometimes it's striking in the emotional notes it strikes.

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  15. "I'm a dull excuse for an amethyst" what an awful thing for them to say! You shine with your own light.

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  16. not quite right
    for what I was expected to be.

    can relate to that on so many levels :)

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  17. What a wonderful conclusion - may you always shine

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  18. Interesting to learn about a cartoon amethyst and Nerdtino!! Sounds fun.

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    1. LOL, I am such an enormous nerd. I can't help doing these fan poems from time to time.

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  19. "I'm just as real as an amethyst." - A beautiful way of expressing it!!

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  20. This is exquisitely drawn, Rommy!!❤️ I resonate with; "I was told I was fated to lose because I'm a dull excuse for an amethyst." Sometimes people don't understand us because we are different and somewhat apart from the conventional norms .. they expect us to be predictable.. to function according to custom .. but what they don't get is that each of us have our own distinct way of blooming!❤️

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  21. To come into one's own shine all on one's own, shows real strength. Love the back story and congrats on selling out!

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    1. She's a pretty tough character. I ended up becoming fond of all the Crystal Gems as the show went on.

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  22. I love the being burned bright by your strange - and congrats on selling 25 books. Wow.

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    1. Thanks Sherry! LOL, I was pretty surprised by it.

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  23. How many of us "not quite right for what I am expected to be"? Makes of us poets and wonderful nerds. Thanks for this inspiring read, Rommy!

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    1. Here's to all of us, poets, nerds, and assorted oddlings!

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  24. I loved this from the first stanza--I didn't know about the character, but this feels so universal, that I am not sure I needed to know about the character to really get this--

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    1. I am super thrilled it succeeded on its own :)

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  25. "But I’m burnished bright by my strange" Oh, I love that line. I wish I could go back and tell it to the fifth grade me. Beautiful work!

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    1. I'd like to tell that to 5th grade me too. :D

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  26. A great story poem (even before I read the backstory). Congrats on your book sales!

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  27. Well, I love amethyst and thought your amethyst story: very cool. I grew up in Northern Ontario. There is so much amethyst there that (for years - not sure if you can still do it) you could go to the Amethyst Mine (where there was amethyst scattered all over the grounds) and rent a big bucket for $1.00, fill it with amethyst, and take home all the amethyst the bucket held. My kids LOVED it! The father of a friend of mine, covered the front of their home with stone laced with amethyst veins. Beautiful … especially when the sun hit it. Of course, on the spiritual plane it is said to promote peace.

    Congratulations on the book sales … that is an impressive accomplishment and one that I am in awe of. Being - I'm afraid - a bit of a Nervous Nelly about such undertakings … I am dazzled when I hear of others that are able to rise above their trepidations.

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    1. Oh that mine sounds lovely! I'll bet the kids had fun.

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  28. No need to visit the Home land, so "left behind the others without a chance to know the homeworld…" is not as threat anymore. Nice trip finding out.
    ..

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  29. Expectations... oh, that is a HUGE topic, isn't it? "by my strange"...hang on to it, as it often is what makes us truly unique. :)

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