June 2015 – Pen's Ink

Daughter (a chance operation poem)

My compassionate daughter:
while tonight we feel this pain,
we touch today in affection.
We feel wanted, in pragmatism.

My empath daughter:
In partnerships, remove even this.
Be this affection, However we feel.
Today, we wanted them, too.
Tonight, even we feel lives.

—–

POETIC FORM: A Chance Operation Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “Roll the Dice” badge, start with multiple dice and your source text. You can use regular six-sided dice, or ones with more sides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice#Non-cubic). Assign each line on your source text page a number — you can work consecutively (first line = 1, second line = 2), in reverse order (last line = 1, etc) or in any order you choose. Roll the dice — whatever line corresponds to the number that came up gets added to your word bank. Continue rolling the dice until you have a big enough word bank to craft a poem. For an extra challenge, retain the full original lines in your finished piece. Post your completed poem to the site, accompanied by your source text citation.
—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

– April 2015 – 213 poets joined together as a troop to earn digital merit badges for completing experimental and found poetry prompts.
– Prompts are divided into five categories – remixing, erasure, out and about, conceptual and chance operation.
– Each category offers six distinct badges to be earned.
– Poets choose their own source text.
– For more information, check out pomosco.com.

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE:

How to Love and Empath by Rebecca Lammersen on Elephant Journal

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/01/how-to-love-an-empath/

WORD LIST:

my, even, I, to, or, today, this, pain, daughter, compassionate, we, however, remove, touch, them, while, and, feel, pragmatism, too, tonight, in, wanted, empath, partnerships, feels, I, be, affection, if, lives

You’re the Only North (a conceptual poem)

Poetry

Call back time, Let felicity fly.
Blanket the bed, and kiss goodbye.

I was terribly lost, crossed and dark.
You’re the only north I would follow.

Fight back, bring on the break,
and blow to bits.

Dear, I was terribly crossed and dark.
But you’re the north I follow this far.

Keep an eye on hope,
Lest I blink and get nothing to say.

‘Cause you’re the blinding light
the saving grace of the saving grace.

God, I was lost and dark, dear.
You’re only this far… I would follow.

—–

POETIC FORM: A Conceptual Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “Best Laid Plan” badge, approach a text with a plan to remove something. Think beyond just a single word and instead consider removing references to a subject or emotion, actions taken by certain characters, colors, etc. Whatever you choose, apply your approach and, keeping as much of the remaining text intact as possible, create your poem from results. Post your poem to the site, include a citation for your source text, as well as a note on your approach.

—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE: “Galaxies” by Owl City
(www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/owlcity/galaxies.html)

The Tango of Being (a conceptual poem)

Poetry

This is the opening human,
and creative philosophy–
Music moves us like no other.

This is being.

This sustains a creative tension–
the spiritual background of childhood–
raised in bucolic place,
dirt roads insects gardens.
Wonderful trees passed away
when I was young.

By the time I was eleven
I went into a spiritual crisis:
From early life you grew up listening.
My father would stop shaving
to finish a phrase of the tango.
I was an advocate of identity
felt it important to show who I am.

Tango was going to come
into my life, I just had to wait.
Tango taps into such passion:
you have to have lived.

I decided to explore.
This is being.

Tango will say a little more
about that root
of your identity, I think–
articulate things–
use of silence and space.
You heard the silence.
It’s all those spaces you know.

I love that moment when
you’re suspended–
silence
–between the space
of two notes.
something that comes
from within.

You don’t really know who
is doing it, but it is
connection beyond
understanding.

It’s really hard to talk
about the moment I am,
creating and confronted with
whatever comes out of my hands.
It’s something
that connects with my heart.
To make that leap, we don’t
always have access.

Being, being
continues in a moment.
This is being.

Music becomes
a part of the fabric,
something that connects
with the heartbeat, has power
to steer your emotions–
has power to transform you.

Music does this.
This is being.

—–

POETIC FORM: A Conceptual Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “Quiet on Set” badge, choose a television program, podcast, or movie of at least 30 minutes in length. Press play and start transcribing what you hear — no pressing pause, turning on subtitles or referencing a script allowed! You won’t be able to keep up, and that’s the point. When completed, create a poem out of your transcribed words. You can delete — but not reorder — your transcribed text. Post your poem to the site, and include a citation for your source media.

—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE:

On Being Podcast with Krista Tippett – Gustavo Santaolalla – How Movie Music Moves Us

Time Out (a conceptual poem)

Poetry

if our lives have been a whirlwind
if we had the best of intentions
if our heads and hearts did finally match up
if we were finally in a place
(where we didn’t need to convince ourselves)
if we were able to just let go
if our decisions make sense or not
if we all simply received a time out

now
now it’s crucial for us to sit
now take a deep breath
now about time-lines or about keeping pace
now we are making the right choice
now exactly what we want and need
now is the time when it all comes together

—–

POETIC FORM: A Conceptual Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “X:Y” badge, choose a syntactical relationship between words within a given text — look for patterns in how words are joined by punctuation or conjunctions, or how sentences are structured. Examples of syntactical relationships: “wine and cheese,” “man and wife,” “fear and loathing”, “this or that,” “him or me,” “wine or beer”, “The stove was hot.” “The room was silent.” “The table was dusty.”
“the wind blowing,” “the birds chirping,” “the mower whirring”, Choose a syntactical pattern, and go through your source text, making a list of all phrases and fragments that fit the pattern. Create a poem from your list. Example: Seth Abramson’s “Wii” (BOAAT): http://www.boaatpress.com/seth-abramson#wii Post your poem on the site, along with a citation of your source text.

—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/06/mercury-retrograde-is-over-now-what/

Confessions Without Faces (a conceptual poem)

Poetry

I feel conflicted about the
name of my adult life so far.
No one but me knows… I can’t
bring myself to get out of my head.

Would you like to discuss grief?
It’s like trying to eat a sour rock
to alleviate inner pain. Almost
every day, around people, I hide.

Always, I am wearing my secret —
poetry dripping from my tongue,
making people want to kiss me.
like a peach from the fridge.

All the time knowing — time
must come first — at the moment,
you are able to see my body,
to drink of its passion.

I struggle with this wish — to feel
and not feel — old but comfortable,
a yellow t-shirt in a paper bag,
in a mental hospital, reading, reading.

There was all that time, it was most
important to be shown that you matter.
And I think about doing it again —
instead of being what you want.

Gray shades of writing, and wearing
a blue sweatshirt, you are gorgeous.
I tell you, I think about it every night,
the first time I tasted you.

Not forbidden for me, but not good
for me –I’m not sorry, I’m grateful
for the way you stay with me,
forever in the best odds and ends.

—–

POETIC FORM: A Conceptual Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “Survey Says!” badge, create a questionnaire about a given topic that contains between 5-10 free response questions. Ask your family members, friends, or even complete strangers to complete the survey. Use their responses to compose a poem, and post it on the site. In your citation, list the questions you asked in your questionnaire.

—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE:

Word List:

2 50 a able about absolutely accidentally actually Adidas adult again all alleviate almost also always am an and another Arby’s are around art as ask assortment at ate baby back bacon bag band batch be beans being belly berry best better birthday black blouse blue body books boring both bought bread bring Bronte brothers brown brussel-sprouts burger but by can’t care cargo carrots cat cats cheese chips cider clothes color come comfortable companies company conflicted consists contains cookie cookies coping could crafting crush cuddle currently curtains cut cut-off cutter cutting damn dark date dates day definitely discuss dish disliked do doing don’t Dr Pepper drink dripping easily eat eggplant eggs ends equally etc. ever every express falling fan far favorite feel felt fiancé filter first flip-flops food for forbidden forever fresh fridge friend friendship from frozen fruit fruits get gluten-free go good goopy gorgeous got grabbed grateful gravy gray grey grief gross had hair haircut happily hard hardest have he head hearts hehe help helping her hide highly him hospital house household how hugs hummus husband I I’m Ian if important in inner insecure instead instead into into is it it’s its jamma jean jeans just keeps Kei’s kid kiss know knowing knows last life like list loaf love lunch mac majority makes making married maternity matter may maybe me me meats Memmi men’s mental Mercedes Mexico middle milk mini mix moment more most motorcycle much muffin must my myself n name navy Nazi Nazis need new New Mexico newer night night-gown no not nothing now oatmeal odds of ok old on one only or or originally other our out overly-sweet overnight pad pain paint paints pair pans panties pants paper parm Parmesan partners parts passion peach people Pepper perhaps person picking pictures pilot pink pinstripe plus poetry politely polka-dot postcard price Prilosec primal punisher put question ranch reading really regular rest restaurant right ripen rock rollers roommate running sandwich say scotch Seamus secret see set severely sex shades shirt shopping shorts should shown since sisters slacks sleeve slew so soap social socks someone something somewhat sorry sour space Spam spanking specific spent started stay still store stress struggle style stylized sweat sweatshirt sweetener sweeter swimsuit t t-shirt t-shirt tank Taos taste tasted Te teenager tell Tess texture Thai that the them then there they thing things think this three-quarter time to together tongue too top tortillas trying turquoise undercooked unexpectedly up used usual vegetables veggies vintage vodka Von vw waffles want was water way we wearing weird well were wet what what’s whether whiskey white whole why will wish with work worker worth would writing yellow yogurt you your

Questions:

1. What was the last thing you ate and disliked?

2. What is the one question you wish someone would ask you right now?

3. What are you wearing?

4. Tell me a secret?

5. What’s on your shopping list?

A Rock ‘n’ Roll Love (a conceptual poem)

Poetry

Love’s energy derives not
from the variable tension
between man and woman
but from the variety of rhythmic
patterns within the man,
the different patterns
playing off the steady beat
of the repeated phrase.

Both loves depend,
as all loves do,
on the interplay of what
changes with what stays
the same — the simultaneous
creation and disruption of pattern.

But the differences ought to feel
as prominent as the similarities:
everything about
the fluctuating relationship
of woman and man in free sex
applies equally well to blank sex.

Attention to the man tends to
undermine a narrow preference
for one or another form of love,
for if you can hear what
man is doing to your experience
of the woman in a free-sex love,
then you can hear what man
is doing in a metered love.

The earliest surviving love
in the Western tradition
is organized in men.
Tellingly, it was not always
written down in men,
a fact that reminds us
that man is ultimately
a sonic rather than a visual
element of love.

As love began to be written
in vernacular languages,
the addition of rock ‘n’ roll
to the man seemed
to many people a barbarity.

When Milton was writing
Paradise Lost in blank sex,
the deletion of rock ‘n’ roll
from man seemed to some

people equally barbarous.
What does the addition
of rock ‘n’ roll do to
our sense of the man’s
relationship to woman?

In what way does rock ‘n’ roll
alert us to the work
that all men, rock ‘n’ rolled
or un-rock ‘n’ rolled, metered
or un-metered, end-stopped
or enjambed are performing
in relation to woman?

—–

POETIC FORM: A Conceptual Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “Substitute Texter” badge, choose a source text where key terms reappear frequently throughout it. Books on a particular subject (e.g., whaling, basketball, the Civil War) lend themselves easily to this prompts, as do textbooks, medical journals, etc. Fiction is harder, but we welcome you to challenge yourself! Choose 1-5 of these recurring terms. For instance, in a source text about chess, you might choose the words “pawn” and “board.” Next, for each word you’ve chosen, select a replacement word. In the example above, you might choose to replace “pawn” with “woman” and “board” with “home.” Substitute the replacement word(s) on your list each time the original term(s) appear(s) in the text. Create a poem from the results, keeping editing and authorial intervention to a minimum. Post your poem on the site, along with a source text citation and a note on your seed and replacement words.

—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE: The Art of the Poetic Line by James Longenbach – pp. 18-19

Seed Words and Replacements:

poem – love

line – man

syntax – woman

verse – sex

rhyme – rock ‘n’ roll

Bohemian (a conceptual poem)

Poetry

There are times I feel the need
to cry out in the night —
making noise fill the whole bed
with the roots of language,
the struggling impression of fury,
an owl that nightly hoots and wonders.

There are times I feel the need
to find my gypsy spirit —
Her feet never stay in my house,
foolish and unruly woman,
once free to wander aimlessly
in another part of the wood.

There are times I feel the need
to center myself —
a transfigured turbulent river,
the shadow inside me
grows faint with wandering,
longs to find the way home,
to clamber up its wooden stairs
and again greet the light.

—–

POETIC FORM: A conceptual Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “On Demand” badge, start by coming up with an unlikely word combination. You can make up your own, choose words at random from a source text, or use a generator like the one at JimPix (http://jimpix.co.uk/words/random-username-generator.asp) to come up with your words. Examples: Foolish Ninja, Calamitous Rock, Hurry Pork, Jugular Magnet.
Visit Google (http://www.google.com) and do a search on your chosen word combination (no quotes around the terms). Google will display a list of pages, as well as short descriptions for each site. Compose a poem using only these page titles and short descriptions — do not click into the sites themselves to grab more text. You can use multiple pages of search results if necessary. Post your poem to the site and cite your word combination at the bottom of your post.
—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE: word combination: clamorous wandering

Kneeling

Poetry

The weight
of your gaze
in a dark room.
The flicker
of a single
sacred flame in
consecrated space.
Your breaths.
The clink of a collar
at my throat.
Your touch.
Your touch.
Your touch.
Energy and light
spilling from my core.
Your hand reaching
for mine. Surrender.
Blinking up at you
through silent tears.
Shifting. Change.
Safe.
Instructions and
your voice in
a quiet mind.
Anticipation.
The sound
of the wind.
The sting
of leather.
Gasps and shudders.
Music that made
laughter bubble.
Strength. Trust.
Pain.
Sobs. Flight.
Sweat. Water.
Chocolate.
Blanket. You.
Wonders whispered.
Your touch.
Your touch.
Silence.

An Invitation to Dance (an out-and-about poem)

Poetry

Will you call me, asking yourself —
if you give way, how will you
cross the days to get to
the clean years, yourself?
Are you wise, and will you work
to earn the joy you get?
Will you move mostly of free will?
Music will find you moving,
an art in this world.
a boy with an honest face for heat,
and an eye for beautiful need,
Will you join in the dance?
Will you show yourself
in the painting you make?
Will you live, in rivers,
rent room in a ramble house?
A silent something need not
welcome the whole collection.
Waltz in time with the water
and free yourself, will you?

—–

POETIC FORM: An out-and-about Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “As Advertised” badge, locate a community bulletin board — try places like a library, coffee shop or university campus. Create a poem using only words found on the posters and fliers. Take a picture of the bulletin board to post alongside your poem.

—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE:

words:

a acceleration affordable all allowed American an and annual any apartment approximately art arts as asking at auction available bags beautiful been beginners bi-weekly box boxes boy brush builders by call camp candy canning car cargo carpentry celebration cell children chords clean cleaning cleanings clean-up clerks collection college community competed complete completed condition contact converts cross dance day days design digital display distribute doors drive drop-in drywall earn engineering enter estate excellent expanses expertise eye face fall families farm featuring feed fencing finishes flower foods for framing free Friday front fully fund-raiser funds gas gelding get give giveaways glide good great group harvest has hauling heat help hike home honest hour house how hull hunters imaging in included info interior it it’s items Japanese jobs join joy junk kayak large lasting library live long lots making manual manufacturing martial me meeting mileage mills model Monday moose more mostly move moving much music name nearly need never new not now nursery of office on one-time only organics organize our over owner paddle painter painting part perfect person pet’s plastic popular power price print prize professional prompt public quality queen raffle ramble rates reason references refreshments reliable rent repair rest rivers room sage sale Saturday school season serving session show silent size sleep small sofa something space spirits spring stroke studio Sunday sunny support swift sword technique the their this thoroughbred through tiling time tire to town traditional trailer transmission treat truck turf two upper use valley very viewing waltz washing water way we Wednesday week weekly welcome west wheel whole will window windows wise with work workshop world years you yourself zone

Panic (an out-and-about poem)

Poetry

My thoughts are warning sirens
spinning faster until I lose my grip
on words that no one else has used.

I find that calm spot,
then without warning — claustrophobia.
I’m out of control again.

I’m beautiful but deadly,
swirling, whirling, snapping,
circular winds uprooting trees.

I am rain-wrapped twists and turns
a starving demon-woman
breaking glass, taking cover.

In the eerie, quiet aftermath,
of new beginning,
I feel unsettled, unknowing —

scattered memories:
clean sheets
striped socks

a cat shivering
on my lap
and debris

in
my
wake

—–

POETIC FORM: An out-and-about Poem

—–

PROMPT:

To earn the “Crowdsource” badge, pick a public place with a lot of foot traffic. Select a concrete noun (e.g. tree, wax, mouse, window). Hold or display a sign inviting the public to contribute their definitions of the word or talk about what they think about when they hear that word; alternately, walk around and ask random people to contribute. Collect a minimum of ten definitions, and use those words to write your poem. Do not include the chosen noun anywhere in the poem’s body or title. Cite your collection method, location and chosen word at the bottom of your post.
—–

PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project

A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.

—–

SOURCE: Facebook Friends

	Jonathan Caswell on Coffee – a haiku sonnet…
	Jonathan Caswell on Downpour – a Magic 9 poe…
	Jonathan Caswell on Downpour – a Magic 9 poe…
	Coffee – a haiku son… on Coffee – a haiku sonnet…
	hocuspocus13 on Witchcraft – an ovillejo…