Tag: creative writing

Greetings From the Happy Poet

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Hello,

It’s been a while. I haven’t posted anything since June with my Creature in the Forest series but I’ve read a few books, more recently Circe which I kind of enjoyed kind of didn’t toward the end (story = meh, but the writing is good).

On the weekends, I’ve been writing less and playing Hogwarts Legacy – this is the reason behind my lack of presence via blog and social media. It’s enjoyable to get lost in another world on my days off, relax, and stop obsessing over writing. I’ve had time to breath and in the process start gearing up for this year’s NaNoWriMo.

Even though I haven’t had the itch to write these past few months – I’ve been working on three poems (really one long one that keeps morphing into two then back into one again and a faceless third). I even dared to edit a couple of chapters of my NaNoWriMo project from 2022 (it’s half of a book about, surprise, witches).

Everyday I’m thinking about my novel and as for the future – trying to decide which journals/publications I want to submit some of my work to.

Besides Hogwarts Legacy (which I won’t even talk about right now – there’s too much to say), I’ve been going to a movie or two a week just to get out. The Little Mermaid was captivating in a weird nostalgic way while Oppenheimer was meh. I loved Barbie, enjoyed the latest Spiderverse and want to see TMNT.

Between it all when I’m commuting I’ve been listening to anything I can think of from Doja Cat to Muddy Waters, 80’s New Wave, and Frank Sinatra. All over the place really, I’m in an exploratory mood and looking to shake up my routine.

What’s next? I’m not going to promise anything besides you’ll be hearing more from me closer to October/November. Until then, here’s a poem for the day, my August 2023 spotify playlist, and what I’m currently reading.

Signing off,

Alina

Creature in the Forest (Part 6)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I’m hungry.

The men have been scouring the woods for five days. I’ve stayed hidden, climbing up into the trees when needed. They stink and their clothes and boots are loud when they move.

I watch them, trying not to breath, they are ruining my forest. They have scared all the other animals away while they look for that man wedged in the rocks.

I think about leading them to him, I think about eating them, but both ideas make my stomach turn.

I want them to leave so I don’t have to flee to the north where it is so cold and there isn’t as much food. I don’t want to have to sleep for years again when the weather is bad.

I will wait.

Creature in the Forest (Part 5)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

-8 Months Later-

I’m drinking from the belly of a doe I just tore up. I like chewing on the fleshy parts just underneath the fur, it is elastic and keeps me preoccupied. The aroma of blood, the dissipating essence of death has already left her.

In the distance, I hear a growl. Not from an animal but something else. Something I had forgotten. There is a grinding and a roar, it’s getting closer.

I rip some meat off the doe’s thigh and run toward my shelter about a mile away.

It’s trucks.

A whopping sound above belonging to a bulbous metal thing, the blades spin in a circle, keeping it afloat. Helicopter, that’s right. They had those in the city.

The men used them to hunt for other men.

They must be looking for the body I left in the boulders. I had forgotten all about it.

Creature in the Forest (Part 4)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I picked up his body and hauled him deeper into the woods. I can smell his blood still, it’s left a trail I’m sure the cougar and maybe a wandering bear will pick it up soon.

I threw him in between the crevices along the jagged boulders that line the river heading north where there is snow year-round, where there aren’t any men, no humans up there. It will take a while before he is picked clean by the things that live in the rocks but it is a good place for him.

If anyone comes looking for him, it will be difficult to get him out, whatever is left. Giving me time to flee if needed even though I don’t want to leave my home. The forest has been my home for so many seasons, I’ve forgotten how many.

When did I first wander up here?

Creature in the Forest

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Below the mist, I lay on wet soil among the rubble and ruin of past selves. Crisp outlines of shadows
dance with the fall leaves and cascade into the still lake beside me. A scuttle of creatures, the movement of stones, as they scurry to the water’s edge to drink or clean bloody claws.

I am waiting for the moon to rise, to peak out between the mountain scape so I can join the owls and other night animals in their hunt for fresh flesh. Once, I lived in a city, now I’m just another thing gnawing on bones. What am I?