The first thing which I'll honestly admit that has changed, is my growing poetry. I'll be frank with everyone who's new towards who I am: I started with prose (as all or most of you anyway), but of all the prose I have written:

this was my best work. Bar none. I rarely go back and read my own works, I admit that... but sometime back in December, I decided on re-reading this particular prose. I admit, I'm impressed - I was shivering, somewhat depressed, and the ending was honestly least expected. But all in all, a good prose. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, I'm saying this because of the praise people poured on this piece. Frankly, that changed my opinion about it.

However, my 2013 has been a poetry year for me. A big poetry year. The understanding of syllable count, and a sharpening of rhymes, internal rhymes, metaphors, idioms, adverbs, and transitions, literally changed that. This year... I discovered formats I would not have even believed in 2011 (or even in 2012) I'd be experimenting with.

Those formats included (among the ones I'm remembering right now): ottava rimas, sonnet, terza rima, villanelle, haiku, tanka, quatrains, rub'iya, triolet, concrete metric blank verse, rispetto, nonet and two invented forms: one was a twelve line format I'm going to call the "palindromic duodecim", and the other is a 5-7-5-5-7-5 syllable count poem I'd like to call a "di'aku" (or two haikus). There was free verse this year, but it was much more mature than the first few poems I wrote back in 2011 and the poems I was pouring out in 2012. And this proved to be the best development of my life, because of my first DD. Honestly I wasn't expecting it, but it happened lol.

These poems being:

Mature Content

The Ottava Rima of Jean BelfastThe Ottava Rima of Jean Belfast
Oh Emerald Isle, thine struggles forlorn
Which leaves the hills and plains baptised in blood
Men, Women, and children, bitter and torn
As they make their way to heaven - a flood...
Oh Erin, thine call 'gainst the King is worn
A wreath worn: protect the Celtic bud
A struggle for your identity, lost
Another page in history, embossed...
Jean Belfast (1789-1848) was a French-Irish poet of humble origins. Having seen his father struggle with depression (he fled Paris during the reign of terror, living in fear of being caught and executed by the Napoleonic government) and his mother fighting for the Irish cause (a staunch Catholic who had aided in the numerous incarnations of the Irish Republican Army), Jean maintained a satirical neutrality on matters concerning the political atmosphere of Ireland at the time. An unknown writer whose published poems were of limited scope, he faded into obscurity. He died in Alsace in relatively decent conditions (earning a su Haiku IIII am the Master
Who guides the Covenant to
Oblivion's Gate Rub'i of a MaidenThere waits a perdition, a requiem for dreams.
Where the maiden arose, in sorrow it seems
Her tears fill the lake, melancholic they tell
Of her waiting, a rhapsody of ice gleams A Pearl's TrioletI watch miles on end, the emptiness
These jaded shades of the sea, ancient
Astray, like shells lost o'er shores ageless
I watch miles on end, the emptiness
These shades of blue in numerous hues
In a lost world, she resides, sentient
I watch miles on end, the emptiness
These jaded shades of the sea, ancient Gather the Roses, my Love, And Fly AwayGather the Roses, my Love, And Fly Away
I hope to awaken in autumn one day
And find myself alone, like these withered leaves
Gather the roses, my love, and fly away
Fate came, and tore us - thus were we set astray
Too late were we, for this weight that would not leave
I hope to awaken in autumn one day
The waves of the sea, their tides striking the bay
An undefined weight, a hard burden they heave
Gather the roses, my love, and fly away
This soul is lost, its cries led by the wind's sway
A heart taken, its pieces lost from each cleave
I hope to awaken in autumn one day
Markings left show life, as you would always say
The sea which cared for me, a friend who would grieve
Gather the roses, my love, and fly away
I waited by the sea, here is my last stay
I make my last wish, by the end of the eve
I hope to awaken in autumn one day
Gather the roses, my love, and fly away Quatrain VMy Lord Sent Me Isabella
From the Lord's commandment, gifted from His Hearse,
and thence birthed, as enchanting as Persian verse;
from His noble poems, a beauty carved with love -
Sweet Isabella, pearlescent drops from the Kingdom Above By the CloudsBy the cloud
I can see this clear sky from here, Mom
Its as green as the valleys in
This paradise, where you prayed...
Mom, will we meet again
I hope that we do....
I cannot wait
Look, Mom! See...!
Told you!
Rain! The Curse of Loving an AphroditeI wait by the pillars, 'lone at night-time;
calling out your name, in painful disdain...
Lo! My precious, I atone for the crime,
for not loving you, leaving you in vain...
Bear witness, m'dear, that ounces of my tears,
I sell to calm my sorrow deep within;
Others mourn as well, for alas they fear,
as I do, pain's horrible, ugly grin...

Mature Content

Shadows of the Colossuscolossi roaming
the island undisturbed in
acceptance of a
purposeful fate when
the shadow will encompass
their absolution
legends will speak of
them as the voice of their god
will call out their names
when darkness will fall
and mountains will be bathed
in their memory
for they are not carved
in stone - they epitomize
an ancient credence
as holy as the
heavens from where they had come
and whence they'll return
many wanderers
came and went, but one prevailed
and faced the sixteen
harbingers of Man's
divine destiny - from them
have we earned our peace
the first was patience;
the second was existence
the third - tradition
the fourth was conquest
the fifth was truth's harbinger
the sixth was mercy
the seventh was fate
the eighth was humanity
the ninth - purity
the tenth was bondage
the eleventh was struggle
the twelfth was piety
the thirteenth was rage
the fourteen was harmony
the fifteenth - bravery
the last was Judgement
for accepting the purpose
of the Colossi SheShe - the dreams that once told me of...
Could she have been what I sought?
As evanescent as the stars in the night sky
As crystalline as winter snow pouring lightly
Like the dreams that told me of her
Like my nightmares where she saved me.
Was I truly alone? Did I atone
For these lullabies and reveries
Dreams as I watch her fly
Towards me, away from me
Like Newton stones, keeping a balance
As fragile as the crystals in winter
As luminescent as the stars in night
My darkness, my light
Frozen in time, she is my abstraction
Watching over me, waiting for me to come
And lead her onward, to where the path lay
Not to trek gently, by the shades of the night
Not to halter in my way, as I watch her, a dream
A dream like no other
Could she be a dream? Could I be flying?

Mature Content

Requiem - Last of the Idol Spirits
I am surrounded by withered
idols of an ancient era
gone, forever lost in annals
of human lore. Their presence a
reminder of a forlorn time;
a bygone era when the world was
devoid of any uncertain
circumstances which would lead to
the death of our ancestor's words
that bespoke to the heavens for
guidance and jurisprudence with
which they would beckon their people
to good acts of kindness and comfortable
sanctity. Alas
These sad artifices are the
only reminder of their existence;
for when passion grew
too much for their fellow man to bear,
when their voice became much more than
a petty cry to oblige
the gods that they had chosen to
accept as the masters of their
fate, only the turmoil that came
eventually could resolve
their problem - for goodness only
brings so much hope to those who can't
seek more than what they can manage
with their humane capacity
to comprehend the beauty of
life's bounties; where in the elders
could not stop the inevitable
from occurring. They saw as the
fall of t

Of course, all of 'em were concluded by a poem, in the Trijan refrain format, I would undoubtedly consider the best curtain close for 2013 I was least expecting:

Of course, it would not have been possible, if I didn't have such an increased exposure to the community here on dA. And to them I am genuinely grateful. People like:

AyeAye12 , PuzzledHeartBox , ArthurCrow , Laeneris , LaColombeDeDeuil , acetyl-choline , AlizaFoxx , allsparra , 3wyl , Kamal-Q , The-Archaeon , TheGalleryOfEve , thelitbeast , brokengod--veins , Exnihilo-nihil , wordeea , nightshade-keyblade , Pauper-Circumstance , PaulVonGore , tuiskulumi , raspil , Feanor-the-Dragon , LadyOfSilver , Sammur-amat , PoetryOD , Somnolent-Droid , tickersymbol , Honestly-Not , Zark123 , Lethus1 , World-Inside-Me , Figarro-Luv , Malintra-Shadowmoon , MissMonie , Lady-Yume , your-methamphetamine , PoppySeedz , threedayweekend , ThomClyma , DannyMechanist , onibox , TheSilverSunbeam , JerryLangdon , JoyDivision4 , DeeTay , DorianHarper , chromeantennae , bethcould , br0kenbutterflies , SaintOfTheDragons , Justin-East , darkallegiance666 , DarkestEbony101 , dragonawakener , grafffite , Quippers-United , inkclaw88 , JassysART , LightOverpowers58 , MintyMintamin , NotenSMSK , prettyflour , OfOneSoul , neonxaos , namenotrequired , lizzicess , FlamingScarlet , NervIris , NathanielFlyingOwl , NotenSMSK , seven11ART , SereneCyrene , Manouilidis , BellzBlu , smokedragon , Spiritomb1231 , xXVegasGirlXx , xKrittterz , XaraaKay , nosedivve , HugQueen , UnThai , UnspecifiedUnknown , melodysnow , empty-lungs , Jade-Pandora , JWA2277 , Aerode , imaginative-lioness , Dratheus , 0hgravity , SeaPlume , DearPoetry , ArikaRinkishika , Taralitha , pascal-prevost , Ewa-a-nie-chce-spac , Themoonofmyheart , RoseScarlet , Little-Red-Hat , UntamedUnwanted , SaTaNiA , Chardove , 

Other changes which happened... Head of the Critique department of , Promoted as head of , and a whole year as a critic on . It was a good experience, especially after starting the Critique Newsletter (which will release its third issue this month).

Another major change was my being placed in collections . Seriously, my favs were a mess. I brought down my favourites from around 10 or 12 pages, to 5 pages - all or most of the works were placed in the necessary collections.

Speaking of collections, this was the year that I also had a DD suggestion accepted as well that was unexpected, but it was nice. That work deserved it.

What else? Oh yes! One of my poems got published in "the rag poetry magazine" in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was "melancholic tendencies".

All in all though, I'm glad I've been on dA for another year running. Its been the best place to go to in my eyes, and I'm glad I met all of you.

I hope that 2014 turns out better than 2013, and I hope to see more of your awesome works. Take care. Cheers.