Seasonal Dragon Poems (WIP Update #2)

Hi all,

I’ve been working on some dragon poems recently!

Rather than frequent WIP updates, I’ll be posting monthly reflections on how the dragon poetry collection is shaping up.

I’ve found that keeping my focus on the writing itself, rather than documenting every step, helps me stay more centered and creatively engaged.

I’ve also been wanting to try and post a bit more consistently on my voice notes mini-podcast: Microcast Musings.

Autumn Dragon Poem (from my teenage days)

I’ve always liked fall, even though I grew up in Singapore where there’s no four seasons.

So naturally, I guess I was daydreaming about what “autumn” might feel like, and that was the first seasonal dragon poem I wrote. I was in my mid-teens IIRC.

Here’s the original piece:

AUTUMN

Red and golden leaves
Swirl, caught in a dance as the
Dragon unfurls. An
essence of light and candor,
unbound by earthen
ashes as he rises to
the topmost branches
before he leaves and
all the trees will be
but
bare.

Seasonal Dragon Set #1 (refining)

I decided to write a Spring, Summer, and Winter version to accompany the first Autumn short poem.

I kept to the same number of lines and a couple of other structural things so that the set was more cohesive.

Spring was partly inspired by my recent Ireland trip. I wanted this set to be more literal with the seasonal concept.

SPRING

Emerald hills and daffodils
Sun glitter as
her mist-kissed wings
unfold.
Caressing the land with a
gentle warmth the
colour of happiness
earth stirring
with a familiar
returning
song.

SUMMER

Hot air rising from the
Tarmac, mini mirage as
ice-creams melt.
Kids shrieking, taking a dip
in the lake to cool off
Blissfully unaware—trespassing on the
water dragon’s hideout from the
burning sun—heavy thunderstorm
forming just on
the
horizon.

WINTER

Meandering and roaming
up the northern coastline, as it
breathed frost over
brittle tree bones.
Its ghostly talons sweeping through
the forest in the dead of night
All wrapped up, underground, or
hiding under the covers
The sun long gone
before
morn.

Screenshot of my handwritten WIP poems

Seasonal Dragon Set #2 (refining)

The first Winter dragon poem that I wrote is the one in this set.

It didn’t really fit the first seasonal set in terms of theme, so I wrote another three to accompany this winter piece.

Again, I kept to the same structure (except for the last two lines, which have two words each instead of one word each like in Set #1).

I wanted this set to have a more unique or original spin on the seasonal theme.

SPRING 2.0

Cherry blossoms—
the rush of a new romance
him, wanting to jump
all in
all logic out the window
She gently guided him back
took him under her wing
Reminding him to take it slow
get to know
for quality
over quantity.

SUMMER 2.0

“We’ll go where no man has gone before!”
He laid out blueprints
plans to rein in
the sky’s fireball
“We’ll seize the galaxy’s throne”
The dragon god emerged
to swallow
man and machine whole—
there was only room
for one
sovereign sun.

AUTUMN 2.0

You’re over the hill, they said
You need to get married
Now or never
She mulled it over, strolling
Never was a walk in the park
The dragon paused his play
with the dead leaves
to let her pass, deep in thought—
Would she choose freedom? Or dull her senses
to settle
for convenience.

WINTER 2.0

It hid and watched
in cold silence—the killer
covered up his misdeed
in cold blood.
Its whitehot fangs seized his
Soul before he could go
Keeping him off the street
Ending his streak of adding
another bone to his
collection with
morbid affection.

Dragon skull sketch I recently did, which partly inspired the “Winter 2.0” dragon poem

What’s a Good Number?

To any fellow writers or poets who may be reading this: do you have a preferred number of poems in a poetry collection?

I was originally aiming for approximately 40+ poems.

I’m open to doing a Volume II if I feel like writing more in future.

Resources

These two books have been very helpful on my current poetry explorations:

I also click around Poetry Foundation when I have the time!

Cool Winter Dragon Art

While we’re on the topic of seasonal dragons, here’s a beautiful dragon illustration by artist Ashley Stewart!