The Silk Road Allies
This project features an alternate history in which China and Italy became close allies, beginning in the first century A.D. First, thesilentpoet posted a call for prompts in the Poetry for the Masses project. I left a prompt about a failed diplomatic mission from China to Italy in 97 A.D. From this came the initial poem, simply posted as Day 5 Poem.
Then marina_bonomi wanted to prompt the same setting for my next Poetry Fishbowl, which had a theme of "alternate history." So the three of us discussed this, and we decided to make it a shared world. The July 3, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl spawned several more poems. One of those, "The Lost and Found Legion," led marina_bonomi to write "Cai Luoma and the Parthians." This kind of cyclic inspiration is typical of shared worlds. And so it grows in the telling, like a traveler's tale passed down through the centuries ...
Then marina_bonomi wanted to prompt the same setting for my next Poetry Fishbowl, which had a theme of "alternate history." So the three of us discussed this, and we decided to make it a shared world. The July 3, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl spawned several more poems. One of those, "The Lost and Found Legion," led marina_bonomi to write "Cai Luoma and the Parthians." This kind of cyclic inspiration is typical of shared worlds. And so it grows in the telling, like a traveler's tale passed down through the centuries ...
Artwork
Illustrations for The Silk Road Allies may feature either Chinese or Italian style, or a combination of the two.
Visit the gallery page to see some examples.
There is also a LiveJournal scrapbook gallery for images from The Silk
Road Allies.
Visit the gallery page to see some examples.
There is also a LiveJournal scrapbook gallery for images from The Silk
Road Allies.
Contributors
The founding members of The Silk Road Allies project are Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith), Marina Bonomi (marina_bonomi), and Stefanie Maclin (thesilentpoet). The project is open to other people, so expect more contributors to appear over time.
Visit the contributors page to read their bios.
Visit the contributors page to read their bios.
Poetry
The Silk Road Allies began with a prompt by Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) in the Poetry for the Masses project by Stefanie Maclin (thesilentpoet) and grew from there.
Like the project as a whole, the poems span about two thousand years of history. Some of them derive from the Chinese tradition of poetry, some from Italian, and some from both. Others are outside narratives with a wider perspective.
Visit the poetry page for a list of poems, with links to those visible online.
Like the project as a whole, the poems span about two thousand years of history. Some of them derive from the Chinese tradition of poetry, some from Italian, and some from both. Others are outside narratives with a wider perspective.
Visit the poetry page for a list of poems, with links to those visible online.
Awards
The Silk Road Allies project was nominated for a 2013 Rose & Bay Award in the Poetry category. Special thanks to LiveJournal user wyld_dandelyon for this nomination.
Tips
If you enjoyed reading this, please feed the bards.
thesilentpoet has a PayPal button on the "Day 5 Poem" page.
ysabetwordsmith has a PayPal button on her LiveJournal profile page.
marina_bonomi has a PayPal button on her "Thinking of Home While on a Mission in the West" page.
thesilentpoet has a PayPal button on the "Day 5 Poem" page.
ysabetwordsmith has a PayPal button on her LiveJournal profile page.
marina_bonomi has a PayPal button on her "Thinking of Home While on a Mission in the West" page.
