Doki Doki Literature Club! Poem Challenge!

(WARNING!: This blog post contains spoilers from Doki Doki Literature Club. Proceed with caution.)

There was a point between late 2017 and 2018 when I was really into Doki Doki Literature Club. I mean, could you blame me? It was literally all over the Internet! Although the whole concept wasn't the most original concept ever (Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi did it before it back before it was even translated into English, and the demo for All For You - a Michaela Laws visual novel that seems to have similar themes - came out a month before DDLC), the way everything was presented was just stellar! It certainly helps that this game also has a gorgeous art style from Satchely, and the characters are all memorable, whether you like them or not. Because of the love I was developing for this game, I decided that I wanted to do something special for it, and my love for writing ended up coming into place.

In February 2018, I began the "Doki Doki Literature Club! Poem Challenge".

For this challenge, I re-played Act 1 of the game and took note of the words I chose during the part of the game where you write poems. In case you don't know, to basically represent the poem that the protagonist will write and bring to the Literature Club the next day, there is a mini-game where the player can select twenty words out of a selection, and each of these words is connected to either Sayori, Yuri, or Natsuki; the words the player chooses determines whose "route" the player will go down that day. (SPOILER ALERT: For the most part, it doesn't even matter. As for why, I'm not going there; go play the game yourself if you really want to know.) However, for the sake of my challenge, I didn't look up who preferred what word; I wanted it to be mostly blind. (I did know which girl preferred each word after the fact, though, since there are chibis of the three girls shown in the mini-game, and the girl who prefers the word you pick will jump when it's picked.) Anyway, after going through the mini-game once, I would write down each of the words I picked and write an actual poem, either using the words as a basis for how each line would go or actually using the word in that line. It wasn't the easiest challenge I ever did, but it did flex my creativity a bit.

So....why am I talking about this now?

Well....I actually just finished the challenge.

Yeah, for some reason, after I took note of the words I chose for the third poem, I just....forgot about the challenge. I wrote the first two poems, but somehow, I lost the words I chose to put these poems together. I'm going to try to guess exactly what words I picked for those poems and list them here, but I can't guarantee that I picked the right ones.

In any case, it's time to showcase the results of my challenge! Back when I made the challenge, I considered making a YouTube video about it, but I doubt anyone would ever watch that! (Then again, though, there are most likely fewer people who read this blog than those who watch my videos. To anyone reading this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!) Thus, I'll just write the results on this blog.

First up, poem #1! The following are the words I chose for the first poem, as well as the DDLC girl it is associated with. (I admit that while I was able to figure most out, some were just guesses.)

1. Fear (Sayori)

2. Essence (Yuri)

3. Cute (Natsuki)

4. Empty (Sayori)

5. Boop (Natsuki)

6. Nibble (Natsuki)

7. Eternity (Yuri)

8. Disown (Yuri)

9. Time (Yuri)

10. Marshmallow (Natsuki)

11. Contamination (Yuri)

12. Heart (Sayori)

13. Death (Sayori)

14. Judgment (Yuri)

15. Crimson (Yuri)

16. Existence (Yuri)

17. Silly (Sayori)

18. Anime (Natsuki)

19. Nightgown (Natsuki)

20. Climax (Yuri)

Assuming that I got all of the correct words that I chose back then, I ended up mostly choosing words associated with Yuri. I mean, I love Yuri and all, but the resulting poem was...twisted, to say the least, probably as much so as Yuri ended up being. How twisted? Read for yourself.

Philecrophobia

What could my biggest fear be?

It's to find the essence of the one I'm beside

And to let the cuteness of your smiling face

Fill up the emptiness inside

The cuteness would continue when you boop my nose

And I'd feel pleasure when you'd nibble my ear

I'd be tricked into thinking it'd never end

But then, you'd disown me and leave me here

Time would pass, but I'd stand still

Happiness and marshmallows no longer in my mind

Instead, darkness would contaminate my very core

A speck of light in my heart, I would no longer find

So I'd lose it. Many would fall by my hand

But then, the hammer of judgment would slam down on me

All I would think of is the crimson on my hands

And you, who ceased the existence of me

But it's only a silly fear. I should cheer up

I should watch a good anime and forget what I said

I should let my nightgown hug me in another's place

And be engaged in the episode's climax instead

....What. Was. I. Thinking?!

If anyone I knew read this poem, they would think that something was wrong with me, and honestly, I wouldn't blame them. I'm not sure if they'd believe me if I explained that I was writing this for a challenge that required specific words! Ah, well.

"Hold on a second. Where did you get the title 'Philecrophobia'?"

Honestly, I don't remember. I guess I was just trying to make up a word for the kind of phobia that the narrator of the poem was describing? I don't know. Anyway, onto poem #2! These are what I think were the words I picked, but I could be wrong.

1. Childhood (Sayori)

2. Amazing (Sayori) (It's also possible that it could have been "time", but I think "amazing" is more likely. Again, I don't remember for sure.)

3. Precious (Sayori)

4. Fireflies (Sayori)

5. Heartbeat (Natsuki)

6. (I honestly have no idea. If anyone has an idea of what word I might have picked, please let me know.)

7. Hope (Sayori)

8. Calm (Sayori)

9. Question (Yuri) (or whisper)

10. Secretive (Yuri)(?)

11. Misery (Sayori)

12. Marriage (Sayori)

13. Paint (Yuri)(?)

14. Together (Sayori)

15. Whirlwind (Yuri)

16. Music (Sayori)

17. Warm (Sayori)

18. Journey (Yuri)

19. Death (Sayori)

20. Peace (Natsuki) (or peaceful)

Yeah, as you can see, the words I picked back then were more ambiguous. Curse my horrible memory and the poem that came out of the words I chose back then.... Well, at least my grasp on my sanity is clearer in this poem. Enjoy~!

This Person

This person - I've known them since we were children

Thinking back, it's amazing how time flies

Thinking back, I see all of these precious times

Like one of two children catching fireflies

Yet why does my heart beat fast for them now?

When I see them, what am I running from?

Why am I overflowing with the hope

That, to calm me down.... you would come?

Then, more questions are whispered into my ear.

"Won't you just tell them about what you carry?

Are you sure you want to be miserable instead

Of seeing whom you'd like to, one day, marry?"

Then, I see it painted into my mind

Us together, after so many years

Caught in a never-ending whirlwind of love

And your voice, still music to my ears

Now, I turn and run back to your warmth,

Hoping you'd be willing to come along on my journey,

And although one day, death will do us part,

For now, there'll be peace between you and me.

The concept for this poem is basically someone facing the fact that they're in love with their childhood friend; since Sayori's words won by a large majority when I was playing the mini-game that time and "childhood" was the first word, I wanted it to involve childhood friends somehow. Although it's more ambiguous word-wise than the first one, I've always preferred this one; it's more wholesome. For a long time, though, this poem went without a name; I just came up with it right before I started writing this blog post.

Now, it's time for poem #3, written two years after the first two! Because I used the list to write it so recently, I actually still have it, so I can list the words I used with complete certainty!

1. Sunny (Sayori)

2. Pink (Natsuki)

3. Joy (Sayori)

4. Pure (Natsuki)

5. Heart (Sayori)

6. Fireworks (Sayori)

7. Romance (Sayori)

8. Bubbles (Natsuki)

9. Color (Sayori)

10. Vanilla (Natsuki)

11. Sing (Sayori)

12. Melody (Natsuki)

13. Wonderful (Sayori)

14. Comfort (Sayori)

15. Jumpy (Natsuki)

16. Pain (Sayori)

17. Uncontrollable (Yuri)

18. Prayer (Sayori)

19. Misery (Sayori)

20. Destiny (Yuri)

With the last one, I remembered that I tried my best to choose Natsuki's words, but I continuously ended up picking Sayori's words instead; I eventually just gave up and went with the flow. I guess this feeling of defeat was what demotivated me from writing the third and final poem in the challenge until two years after I chose the words. However, it's better than not writing it at all, right? Without further ado, here's poem #3, which I would say is the saddest of the bunch!

That Day

On that beautiful, sunny day,

What you said made my cheeks turn pink

The joy I felt at that moment

Was purer than you could ever think

I honestly thought my heart would erupt

Like fireworks would when launched into the sky

It was the moment our romance began

So when it popped like a bubble, I couldn't help but cry

I remember the color of the sky we watched

And the flavor of the vanilla ice cream we ate

I remember that we both sang along

To the melody of that song that was played on one date

Yes.... It was all so wonderful

Even when you got sick, I didn't mind comforting you

But still, I felt jumpy, in the worst kind of way

That painful day was coming. That much, we knew.

We couldn't control what day we said goodbye

But after that, I did choose to pray,

Even with the misery I feel at your loss,

For us to fulfill our destiny to meet again someday.

Before you ask, NO, the aforementioned illness isn't COVID-19; I was actually thinking that the narrator's love interest was suffering from cancer, and that was ultimately what killed them.

To be honest, I don't know if this is exactly what my past self had in mind, but when I looked over the words I had chosen back then, I knew that it was going to be the kind of poem that started out happy before spiraling into feels territory....just Doki Doki Literature Club itself, except it spirals into horror territory instead!

With that, the Doki Doki Literature Club Poem Challenge has finally been completed! I can't help but wonder some things, though. Would the player character actually write these poems? Would the DDLC girls actually like them or just say they do? Well, no matter what the answers to those questions are, I hope anyone whom happened to come across this blog enjoyed reading these poems! Have a good day!

Oh, and....

Just Monika.

(Yeah, I had to.)