Shielded

Shielded

You are shielded both day and night.

Protected from the falling rain.

The constant pounding that could maim.

The wind that blows with all its might

won't strike you if you just sit tight.

Be patient or you could get hurt.

Be beaten down into the dirt.

Relax and let me be the one

to take the hits so you take none.

Don't worry, you will be all right.

This is one version of a poetic form known as decima. There are 10 eight-syllable lines and the rhyme scheme is: ABBAACCDDC. Thanks to Robert Lee Brewer for discussing this form on his blog, Poetic Asides. Click the link  to read more about decima.

Links

Music+Dance+Poetry 7-25-15

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Poetic Asides

Author Page

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No Stopping Us

No Stopping Us

We are blind to

the big red sign.

Some slow down

to a crawl.

Some don't cut

speed at all,

just glance both

ways and keep going.

Be alert. Two ways

or four ways, we're

all coming through.

This poem was inspired by a Wednesday prompt on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. The prompt was "alert."

Links

Music+Dance+Poetry 7-25-15  
        

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

Follow me on Twitter or click the Join this Site link to follow this blog.

Six More Words

For this week's Wednesday Poetry Prompt on Poetic Asides, Robert Lee Brewer randomly chose six words. The prompt is to use a minimum of three of the words in a poem. Robert also tossed out the idea of using all six words and writing a sestina. This type of poem consists of six-line stanzas. The last word in each line is repeated in each stanza, but in a different order. Click the link if you want to see the formula.

In researching the form, I found a sestina by Leon Schwartz entitled Six Words. He used one-word lines to create this sestina. I decided to use the six words Robert provided with the exception of changing translucence to translucent. My sestina doesn't have any great message. In fact, it really doesn't have any message. It was a fun exercise and I'd like to try it again, choosing the words myself.

At best, I hope I introduced you to a new poem/poetic form. At worst, I gave you a laugh for today.

Six More Words

Astronomical

premium.

Translucent

whirligig.

Fertile

doublespeak.

Doublespeak

Astronomical?

Fertile?

Premium

whirligig-

translucent.

Translucent

doublespeak?

Whirligig-

astronomical?

Premium-

fertile?

Fertile?

Translucent?

Premium

doublespeak.

Astronomical

whirligig.

Whirligig-

(fertile?)

astronomical,

translucent.

Doublespeak-

premium.

Premium whirligig.

Doublespeak-fertile,

(translucent?), astronomical.

Links

Music+Poetry+Art in July at the Neon

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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Beginnings

Beginnings

At the start,

a burst of

excitement,

an increase

in the beat

of the heart.

High hopes and

misgivings

as to what

will unfold.

Then it's shown.

The beauty

that comes from

the unknown.

This poem was written in response to the Wednesday prompt "just as something changes" on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. 

Links

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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Green Chipmunks

Green Chipmunks

What if chipmunks

were green?

They would not

be so easily

seen running

across the grass

or lounging in

the lettuce.

They could zig and

zag among the

plants and not

draw attention.

The case is made.

Now, who wants to

pitch Mother Nature?

This poem was written in response to a Wednesday prompt on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. Click the link to read the formula Robert gave us to come up with a title.

Links

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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So Noted

So Noted

I was embarrassed

when classmates asked

to borrow my notes.

They were hard to

read and only meant

for use by me.

They were keys that

triggered what had been said.

I kept that in my head.

That system no longer

works for me.

My memory isn't as good

as it used to be and

I can never find the keys.

This poem was written in response to the prompt "learning" on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. Robert provides a prompt every Wednesday.

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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Notes on the 2015 PAD Challenge

I can't believe today is the last day of April and consequently, the last day of Robert Lee Brewer's 2015 PAD Challenge. I thought I would reflect on doing the challenge since it has been my major writing project this month. This topic also fits with this week's Wordsmith Studio 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop so I am killing two birds with one post.

This has been my most successful PAD challenge as far as consistency and number of poems completed. As I'm writing this, I have posted 26 poems for the challenge. I expect to complete the poem for Day 30 so that will give me 27. I missed doing a few when I was on vacation last week. I still have time to catch up. I may but it's OK if I don't.

Here are a few of the things that worked to my benefit:

1. I looked forward to the prompt each day. I made a habit of looking at it early in the day and writing it down [Note: I do my first drafts with pencil and paper]. 
2. No drama after reading the prompt. No cursing, screaming, crying, wailing or hitting my head against the desk. Maybe a few deep breaths, which I consider drama prevention, and a "You can do this" or two.
3. I was patient. If I didn't have an idea right away, I didn't panic. I'd write down ideas, play with words even write down a few lines until I had something I wanted to work with. When I completed a piece, I didn't hurry to post it.
4. I was flexible. Because I didn't hurry to post, I continued to make revisions. Sometimes another  idea came to me during the day and I ended up with a completely different poem.
5. I let myself enjoy the challenge and its challenges.

I established some good habits this month, and I hope to keep the momentum going. Time for another challenge!

Links

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Johnson County Library Poem-A-Day Program

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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I Challenge You

April is National Poetry Month, a celebration that was started in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets.  The Academy has a 30 Ways to Celebrate list on its website that provides a variety of ways to engage with poetry.

For poets, this month is a special time to practice their craft. There are many writing challenges available to get the creative juices flowing. I participate in the Poem-A-Day Challenge on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. 

As I was getting ready to write this blog post, it occurred to me that the writing challenges could also be valuable to people who say they don't understand or can't connect to poetry. You won't quite get to look over the poets' shoulders as they write, but you'll be pretty close.

For the PAD Challenge, first read the prompt. This is the starting point for each of the poets. Next, you will be able to read hundreds of poems that are the result of this same prompt. I think you will be surprised by the variety of the poems both in form and subject. Some poets will submit multiple poems for the same prompt that are very different from each other. I bet that you will find several to which you relate because they are talking about an experience similar to one you have had, something that happens every day.

I challenge you to participate in a poetry challenge this month either by writing or reading. If you have links to other challenges please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Links

Johnson County Library Poem-A-Day Program

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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Celebrating Wordsmith Studio

Virtual Support

Social media was perplexing.

I had barely started texting.

Then, I came across a challenge

to increase my social media knowledge.

Others wanted to do the same.

All of a sudden, it was like a game.

We shared our successes and concerns.

We supported each other as we learned.

When it was time to say goodbye,

the call came out “Why don’t we try

to keep up this online community?”

Many took advantage of the opportunity.

Now, Wordsmith Studio is two years old.

The potential of this group is still untold.

Wordsmith Studio is a web community for writers that grew out of a challenge, "Build your Writer Platform in 30 Days". Take a look  at the website to learn more about the community and its members. We hold weekly chats on Twitter each Tuesday at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Central time. Use the hashtag, #wschat, to get into the discussion.

The First Day of Spring

The First Day of Spring

It’s the first day of spring.

Daylight and darkness are equal,

but, for me, it’s the longest

day of the year.

Humans get so excited

when they see me.

I wish I knew who

started that myth

about seeing the

first robin of spring.

Besides, I don’t control

the weather.

Late snows aren’t a 

picnic for me either.

Flying in that stuff is brutal.

No one de-ices me and

I don’t have windshield wipers.

I get tired of eating frozen food

and don’t get me started on

shoveling out the nest.

Well, it’s only 24 hours.

Then, I can go back

to being just another

one of the birds.

This poem was written in response to this week's prompt on Poetic Asides.

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Otis Redding

For me, nothing evokes memories like music. When Robert Lee Brewer gave the prompt "knock on wood" on his Poetic Asides blog in March, it was natural for me to think of the song by that name. I knew it from one of my Otis Redding albums. Voila! I had the makings of a poem.

 

Otis

Knock on wood*
Maybe the dock

of the bay#

You had no

time to waste.

The crash

took it away.

Still, the music lasts,

from vinyl

to CD

to downloads.

Well past the time

you had to knock,

knock on wood.

*Knock on Wood by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper

#Sitting on the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding and Steve Cropper

What is your favorite kind of music? Do you ever write about it?

 

Related Posts

 

STAX Museum of American Soul Music

 

In Performance at the White House-Memphis Soul

 

 

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Celebrating Poetry

It's here! April is National Poetry Month and The Academy of American Poets has put together a list of ways to celebrate.

 

I have picked out five items to discuss. I think they are both a little different and fairly easy to do.

 

1. Revisit a poem-Whether you consume poetry on a regular basis or not, you have probably been touched by it at sometime. Even if you couldn't wait for the poetry unit in English class to be over with, you still may have had strong feelings about something you read. Go back and read that poem again. Do you still feel the same way about it? What memories does it bring back?

 

2. Put poetry in an unexpected place-Take your favorite poem and leave a copy in a waiting area at a hair salon, doctor's office or auto repair shop. Maybe you could leave it on a table in a restaurant or put it up on a community bulletin board. You never know who may read it and how it may affect them.

 

3. Play Exquisite Corpse-This is a collaborative game in which a group creates a poem. Each person contributes to the piece without knowing what the others have written. I played this game at a workshop. It only takes a few minutes, and  it is surprising how the piece comes together.

 

4. Listen on your commute-I'm going to expand this one to say simply listen to poetry. You may find audio or video of poets reading/performing their works. You get a different feel for a piece when you hear it rather than read it, especially if it is delivered by the author.

 

5. Integrate poetry and technology-Whether it is an all out blog post, a status update or a tweet, share poetry on social media. How about adding a quote from a favorite poem to your email signature or sending the whole poem to friends or family members. Search youtube and you can hear poets reading their works or talking about writing poetry.

 

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month?  Is there an item on the list that you would like to try?

 

Related Links

 

Johnson County Library Poem-A-Day Program

 

Robert Lee Brewer's 2013 April Poem-A-Day Challenge

 

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Poetry Form-Pantoum

It's been a while since I tried writing a form poem, so when Robert Lee Brewer posted a challenge on Poetic Asides; I took the bait. The form is Pantoum.

 

A pantoum is composed of 4-line stanzas (quatrains). The minimum is two, but there is no maximum.  The second and fourth lines in a stanza become the first and third lines in the following stanza. "Robert's rules" suggested that lines two and four of the final stanza be the same as lines one and three of the opening stanza.  Lines one and three rhyme, and lines two and four rhyme.

 

I still had snow on my mind (and in my yard) so I wrote about a storm.  I had to backtrack a few times to make both the rhyme scheme and repetition work. Following is the finished product:

 

Stuck

 

The storm hits

with two fists

Traffic sits

Windows mist

 

With two fists,

hold the wheel

Windows mist

View concealed

 

Hold the Wheel

The storm hits

View concealed

Traffic sits

I made the choice to keep all lines at three syllables. I thought the rhythm and the shortness of the lines fit with the theme.

 

I enjoyed writing this pantoum and think I will work with this form again.

 

Have you ever written a pantoum? Do you write any form poems or do you steer clear of traditional forms?

 

Links that might be of interest:

 

WD Poetic Form Challenge-Pantoum Winner

 

Poetic Form: Pantoum

 

The Our Lost Jungle Poetry Form Challenge Summer 2012

 

 

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PAD Week Four-No More

The end of the 2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge  is upon us! Tomorrow is the 30th and final day.

 

I'll miss having a new prompt served up first thing each morning. Thanks to all of the poets who shared a prompt for this month's challenge. This was a new twist. I enjoyed being introduced to members of the Poetic Asides community this way and look forward to continue visiting some new blogs.

 

I also hope to keep the writing momentum going by providing my own prompts. I have a long list of ideas that I've been keeping. Now its time to start crossing them off the list by turning them into poems.

 

A few of the prompts this month involved using lines from poems by other poets or from other poems we had written. That reminded me that I have some random lines and groups of lines in a list and in various notepads. They should keep me busy, too.

 

Of course, it would be nice to have a prompt from someone else every so often. Fortunately, Robert Lee Brewer provides a prompt on Poetic Asides each Wednesday. He also sneaks in a form challenge every so often. Thanks, Robert.

 

Following is my favorite poem from this challenge. I think it is my favorite because it is about a topic and place that have become very special to me through poetry.

 

Still Sweatin’

the music they say is dead was so alive, it sweated.-Mbembe Milton Smith

The music still sweats

in a familiar place

a room known as blue

in the mecca of

18^th and Vine

in a building that

keeps it alive

where the greats

are enshrined

and a new generation

gets it start

 

Congratulations to all the writers who participated in a writing challenge this month! What did you take away from your challenge?

 

Give the following link a click:

 

The Big Yellow Taxi Tour from Lara Britt's Writing Space (This is a must read for Joni Mitchell fans!)

Take a Picture-Seasonal Songs

 

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PAD Week Three-Weary Poetry

Well, I finally fell behind in the 2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to catch up by the end of this weekend.

 

We had a really interesting prompt on Day 18--the glosa. This form was used by poets of the Spanish court in the 14 and 15 centuries. Start with four lines from another poem. Write four 10-line stanzas. Line 10 of each stanza is one of the four lines from the epigram. Lines 6, 9 and 10 rhyme.

 

This was really a challenge for me because short poetry is my niche. For me, this form was like writing about 4-6 poems. It didn't come naturally to me, but I got through it. In the end, I enjoyed this prompt.

 

 

And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed.
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.

-Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues”

The man was weary, but couldn’t rest.
He knew what brought on the restlessness,
but he didn’t know how to still it, how to chill it.
Instead, he went along with it, let it lead the way.
He ventured out into a cold, crisp night,
thinking his journey would end fairly soon.
His pace matched his state, quick and jumpy.
Suddenly, the air carried music to his ears.
The notes seemed to come with their own wound   
And far into the night he crooned that tune.

Although the song was weary, too,
it gave him a rhythm with which to move.
He walked through the streets to the new beat.
Now, he couldn’t seem to still his feet.
He traveled farther then he had planned and
realized his senses hadn’t been atuned
to the passage of time, the distance he covered.
He made his return in the dead of night
and wished for the speed of a character in a cartoon.
The stars went out and so did the moon.

 

The music remained his companion
as he headed home that night.
He found the music soothing
even though it was a lament.
He found the words came easily
as he snapped his fingers with each tread.
Before he knew it, he was unlocking the door.
He had left his restlessness in the streets
and his soul had been well feed.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed.

 

So, what had he accomplished
by wandering in the dark?
His circumstances hadn’t changed.
His problems still existed.
Yet, he had found something
 that could help him shed
the anxiety that had stalked him.
As he drifted off to sleep, he let
his new found peacefulness spread
while the Weary Blues echoed through his head.

 

Related Posts

 

The Weary Blues

 

Langston Hughes

Wordsmith Studio's Weekly Photo Prompt

 

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PAD Week Two-Halfway Through

Wow! It is hard to believe we are already halfway through the 2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog.  I still feel like I am keeping up better than I did with my first challenge in April. I have been trying to stick with the technique of writing about the prompt until I write my way to a poem. This seems to work for me.

 

This week, we called on dead poets, wrote from the perspective of veterans and about technology we don't have. I wrote about jazz, a memory from high school and time travel. We also were challenged to use a word from a different language as a title or in the body of a poem. A word immediately came to my mind because I learned it from another poet and friend.

Un Abrazo

A hug sends a message
through the arms and hands
right down to the fingertips.
Welcome-arms that have been
spread in anticipation
thoroughly engulf the recipient.
Swaying may be involved.
Congratulations-there is a
firmness to this hug that says,
“You did it!”
Consolation-the two participants
truly hold on to each other.
There may be a reluctance or
an inability to let go.
Love-The one message sent
by every hug.

Click here to read other responses to this prompt.

And, don't forget to go to Wordsmith Studio's Weekly Photo Prompt

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PAD-Week One Done

One week and seven poems into the 2012 November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge at Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. This month, I am a veteran challenger as opposed to the rookie I was in April. I think I have benefited from the experience.

I seem to have more patience with the tasks at hand. I don't get stressed if I don't have an idea as soon as I read the prompt, which I do in the morning. At least once, I didn't have an idea until late evening; but I wasn't anxious about it. Definitely, a change for the positive.

A couple of Wordsmith Studio friends, Linda G. Hatton and Veronica Roth, stopped by Tueday's Photo post and mentioned that the photo fit with the PAD prompts to write a "left" poem and a "right" poem. I took their suggestion and wrote the following:

Right Turn

The right road isn’t
paved with perfection.
It bends and dips and
sometimes closes for repairs.
Detours take us out of our way,
but eventually bring us back
to our path of choice, both
weary and wiser.

On to week two. Stop by the challenge and see the prompts and the works they have inspired. Join in the writing and/or the reading!

Related Post-Wordsmith Studio's Weekly Photo Prompt


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New Tuesday Photo Post

If you explore the right-hand border of this blog, you'll see a badge that reference's the Wordsmith Studio. Wordsmith Studio grew out of the April Platform Building Challenge on Robert Lee Brewer's My Name is Not Bob website.  This recent post by Lara Britt gives you a little history and introduces you to some of the people who have gotten this new website off the ground.

In addition to writerly groups, Wordsmith Studio has a multi-media group that includes writers who also are interested in photography. Rebecca Barray is our photography guru. The Multi-Media blog will include posts regarding craft and a photo prompt that will be posted each Thursday. I'm going  to post my response or responses to the prompt on Tuesdays.

The first prompt is Orange.  I photographed one of the most despised orange signs in existence, especially if you come upon it unexpectedly and you are already running late.

There's still time to join in the fun! Take a photo related to the theme Orange and post a link to it in the comments section of the link above. Don't forget to check in at Wordsmith Studio every Thursday for a new prompt.

A New Challenge

Today is the first day of Robert Lee Brewer's 2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge. He will post a prompt each day in November and those willing to take the challenge will try to create new poems from the prompts within about 24 hours of the post.

I did the PAD Challenge that Robert did in April of this year. It was the first writing challenge I had done and I found it interesting.

 The first thing I realized was that, most of the time, an idea was not going to come to me the moment I read the prompt.  It was not going to come to me if I stared at the prompt or even if I thought really hard about the prompt. I had to write the idea out of the prompt. In other words, I had to start putting words down on paper until I wrote something that I wanted to continue writing about.

Some days, I ended up with just a few lines. Some days, I ended up with a group of lines that had the potential to be a poem; and some days, I actually ended up with poems. I still go through what I wrote during that challenge to see if I can turn the few into groups and the potential into poems.

So, now I'm ready for a new challenge that will teach me something else about writing and give me possibilities for the coming months.

 

Good luck to everyone who's taking on a writing challenge this month!

Related Post-Elementary, My Dear Poet

 

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