K. L. Van der Veer

Bardic Voices

The Warding Autumn 2000

The Warding was written as an experiment in Nordic verse. In keeping with the Nordic use of kennings throughout their poetry, the poem itself is a kenning. We should all take as much care to ward and nurture that which lies within us as we would with protecting our keep. And often, it is not the enemy without that brings ruin and destruction.

Soul-shadows dance in a dark-shrouded hall.... read more

The Shaping Spring 2001

This poem was first written in 1989 as part of a college level creative writing class and has been revised many times. The class was a disaster. Oh, I did well enough, but the instructor, and subsequently the students, were very negative in their approach to learning and creativity... there was a lot of what one should "not" do. For instance, my metaphorical approach to the blacksmithing was viewed only as a tragic inability to grasp reality. I must say that it turned me off to poetry and creative writing in general for a while. But then I realised that creativity isn't about grasping reality, it's about creating it. Reality is malleable, and each of us holds a hammer...

Outward swings the oaken doors.... read more

She Reached Out January 2002

It is fear that binds our hearts and keeps us from truly loving… Fear of failure; fear of loss; fear of the unknown. We grasp at everything, hoping to get a grip on something that will allow us to control even the smallest piece of the world. Fear not. Simply be. Once free of our fears, we cease our grasping and truly begin to love.

Written in the pantoum form.

She reached out and took my hand.... read more

Nightfall Summer 2003

“Nightfall” was not written about Galatyne. Rather, it is where Galatyne came from. The first draft was written several years before the paladin character came into existence (sometime in the early 1990s) and has been an influence ever since. From time to time, I will dust it off and rework it. This is about the fourth generation, and I have resigned myself to the fact that it will never be finished. Like the character, it evolves. The poem is a manifestation of an ideal, and Galatyne is but a continuation of the quest for that ideal.

In the beginning there was Light, and behind it hid the Darkness.... read more

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