The Hymns of Tourach

A Note on The Hymns of Tourach

I didn't expect to be writing a poem rather than a short story. For a while, when I would write, I would aim for short stories in every sense of the word. If I felt a story ran its course over 500 words, it would end there; the same applies for ones that would get north of 2000+ words. But I found that my interests in story subjects shifted too frequently. I would want to write a story with this as the narrative, then a week latera new idea for something would pop in my head and I would want to do that.

Out of the blue, I decided to read through some of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a work I had last touched in high school, and barely at that. And when I read through the first couple of parts, something about it latched onto me. I think it was the concise nature of the stanzas yet still maintaining that feeling of total progression that caught me. It wasn't a large amount of detail, but it still worked well and conveyed what it wanted to. 

That was about when I thought of the idea of trying out poetry as a writing medium instead of short stories. It would allow me to maintain the narrative progression that I want, but I also wouldn't be worried about throwing up a 200 word poem and thinking it was complete like I would be with a 200 word short story. 

This isn't to say I'm a master poet/writer. I have spurts of writing in-between long periods of not writing. But when I have that urge and it hits like a bolt of lightning, I want to indulge it because I truly miss being able to write and express stories in a way that I know I can (based on past experiences with people who had read some of my stuff). 

So this is my first true attempt at a poem in any form since... middle school? It's not the most intricate or brilliant piece ever written, but I'm happy with it and feel it conveys everything I wanted to convey. And that's what I want the most in my writing. 

The story is very loosely based on Magic: The Gathering, as might be obvious by the name. Hymn to Tourach is a pet card of mine in that game, and while playtesting some Legacy format an idea popped into my head that was partially influenced by the card itself. It isn't meant to be an extension of the card or the lore of Tourach in the game, merely an inspiration. It's also partially inspired by The Music of Erich Zann by H. P. Lovecraft, whose work I admire much more than I do the man or his views of the world. A lot of my stuff will most likely come off as Lovecraftian, I love the style after all, but I also won't pin myself under that umbrella so occasionally I'll throw out some non-Lovecraftian stuff. 

If you'd like to check out a couple of other things I've written, @AleisterCain is my old account that I started around the time of the pandemic. The name is kind of embarrassing, I'll admit. I wanted a pen name, but one that fit what I wanted to write. And so, for whatever reason I had, I chose something that you might see a high schooler come up with while trying to be "edgy". But I'm not ashamed of it at all, just felt that a new account with a new name would fit present me more.