Tag: exercises

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

Poetry

dance 2

 

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:

AsAdvertised

 

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

– 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:

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
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Sea Nymph – Instagram poetry

Poetry

image

Sea Nymph

She dances with dolphins.
With glee, she skips and grins under
a sky bright with wonder.
She does not fear thunder or rain.
She dances through her pain.
She knows the sun, again will shine.
The hurt cannot define
her dance.  She’ll be just fine. She spins.

———-

(for Deborah-Anne)

(provided words:  dolphins, sunshine, rain, thunder)

@ConnorPenelope on Instagram

 

POETIC FORM:

luc bat –   (vietnamese “six-eight”) Alternating lines of 6 and 8 syllables. The rhyme scheme renews at the end of every 8-syllable line and rhymes on the 6th syllable of both lines: xxxxxA, xxxxxAxB, xxxxxB, xxxxxBxC, xxxxxC, xxxxxCxD, xxxxxD, xxxxxDxE. No set length or subject matter.

Guest Poet

Poetry

Businessman writing in an accounting ledger

One of my long distance lovers has taken to writing poetry, in an effort to connect with me. He’s a math-brained, smart and nerdy kind of fellow — which I find incredibly sexy –and I adore him very much. I’ve previously featured his work here, and here.

I am intrigued by the way he approaches poetic forms, first the shardorma, fitting syllables into structured lines with care. I’ve been sending him new forms to try, like the tanka and the cinquain. He recently told me he’s come up with his own formula, and likes it very much.

There are five lines per stanza, with a break-line between each stanza. Not only can you read straight through, but each line of a stanza also forms a stanza for a secondary poem when combined with the corresponding lines of the stanzas that follow — first lines of each stanza are combined, as are lines two, three, four and five, to form a separate poem:

Two of his examples are featured here, in a form I’ll call accountant-poetry:

POEM 1

You see
kind and loving,
handsome blue-eyed mann
noble, strong, protective and smart —
your love.

Every facet is me.

I see
mediocre,
average man,
polyamourous and rebuilding —
a man.

Every facet is me.

They see
adulterer,
bearded wife-betrayer,
unjust, weak, neglectful and rash —
a fool.

—–

SECONDARY POEM:

you see
I see
they see

kind and loving
mediocre
adulterer

handsome blue-eyed man
average man
bearded wife betrayer

noble, strong, protective and smart
polyamourous and rebuilding
unjust, weak, neglectful and rash

your love
a man
a fool

every facet is me
every facet is me

—–

POEM 2

yes Sir
gift of service
to give of body, mind, soul
a longing to be of service
good girl.

Service is the strength to surrender but not be lost to another.

my girl
need and want meet
to focus loves and lusts
we share the two sides of a coin
I lead

Leadership is bending one’s wants to another’s boundary.

collar
want obedience
to protect and nurture
a need to be followed
Sir’s pride

—–

SECONDARY POEM:

yes Sir
my girl
collar

gift of service
need and want meet
want obedience

to give of body, mind, soul
to focus loves and lusts
to protect and nurture

a longing to be of service
we share the two sides of a coin
a need to be followed

good girl
I lead
Sir’s pride

Service is the strength to surrender
but not be lost to another.

Leadership is bending one’s wants
to another’s boundary.

Depleted

Creative Prose

writers-block

I wrote poetry yesterday, about feeling dry, needing sunshine, kisses, and some sort of renewal before the ink might flow again.  Today, I’ve spent too much time trying — to get something interesting down on paper — to find a topic that inspired me or a writing prompt that would push me into creativity.

I found out what I already knew, deep down.

I’m empty.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’ve written today.  I (semi) regularly put my backside in the chair, and write whatever comes out, even on days that I don’t really think it will be worth the effort.  I know there’s something valuable in the discipline it takes to write, whether I feel like it or not. Today, this may be all I’ve gotten out of the exercise:  a check mark on my list for a task completed.

But I know too, that what I really need is a few hours with a warm beverage, a comfy blanket, a good book. Perhaps I’ll dig into the pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia I’ve got hidden in the freezer.

Life is good, my friends, even on days when the words seem to fight me at every scratch of the pen.  I trust the voices in my head that say a some good literature and perhaps a nap will kick-start me like a full cup of java on a cold, wintry morning.

Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with something to show for myself.

Meantime, shhhh… I feel a nap coming on.

Changing Winds

Exercises, Poetry

forawalk

The February and March winds
shift places, howling through
the hollow at the base of this hill.

I follow my feet, each step
an upward fight, I’ve only
a faint idea where to go.

Hoping to find my breath
borrowed by bleak winter days
stretching on without rescue.

The March wind tapped today
on my door, beckoned me with
the offer of her temperate hand.

I did not linger long in the shadow
of my doorway, as she lead me out.
Even she knows I can’t resist escape.

ABOUT:

The exercise is to create a poem using a set number of given words.  My words:  faint, rescue, offer, escape, and shift.  My source for these is the @baffled #HaikuChallenge:  https://twitter.com/baffled (words for 2/16-2/21) Image credit: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/239746380134851679/

Fancy of Flight

Exercises, Poetry

fancyofflight

Her ebon wings scrawl
freedom across the sky
as a poet’s pen spins
ink into dreams,
as a blackbird cries
from his boundless soul
— and I stand rooted
an envious oak tree.
I mark her steep ascent,
read her lyrics through
twitching lips, as they
stain the cirrus page.
I’m unable to interpret
their underlying message.
an earthbound woman
— I’ve long forgotten
how to fly.

ABOUT:

Image credit:  http://favim.com/image/207777/