“The Collective,” A Tanka

It’s that time of the week and if the itch to write has turned into a slow burn… Get writing!

Join my weekly Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge and get your brain waves thinking in new ways. Write some poetry!

This week, I’ve used the word, “ethos,” as my synonym for character and “altruism” for the word, affection. The words led me back to the fairy nymph collective portrayed in my debut novel, The Heart Stone Chronicles: The Swamp Fairy.

Image Credit: The Swamp Fairy designed by Wendy Anne Darling of Bookxeedo Book Covers

The Collective rules –
in the fairy nymph ethos,
dictates altruism,
toward the care of the earth
predetermined by the gods.

©2018 Colleen M. Chesebro

In my novel, the Collective is comprised of seven fairy nymph clans who are differentiated by the color of their eyes which mimics the colors of a rainbow. I took some liberties with the Greek myths, to say the least.

I used the symbolism of a rainbow to represent the elements of the supernatural, hope, and enlightenment.

“In Thai (Theravada) Buddhist mythology, the rainbow represents a staircase linking the earth to the heavens which the nagas (member of a class of mythical semidivine beings, half human and half cobra) can descend to the earth.” (Khandro.net)

Nymphs are divided into types (here, alphabetically) and where they reside on the earth.

Alseids (groves) color: violet

Dryads (forests) color: orange

Hamadryads (trees) color: yellow

Meliaes (meadows) color: blue

Naiads (springs and rivers) color: green

Oceanids (the sea) color: indigo

Oreads (mountains) color: red

The Fairy Nymph Collective resides between the tears in the fabric of time called the horizontal realm. The nymphs were placed here by the gods to protect Mother Gaia.

My protagonist, Abby Forester received the gift of clairaudience from the gods for a reason. She acts as a liaison between the human world and the Collective.

Abby’s ability to communicate telepathically with the animals, birds, insects and even the fairy nymphs require her to shoulder a responsibility most teenagers wouldn’t be able to handle. Soon it becomes apparent that the blessings of an inheritance sometimes require the repayment of a debt.

Intrigued? You can find the novel here:

Thanks for stopping by! ❤