Don’t Bother Me… I’m Reading

Actually I’m not reading. I should be cleaning for the company arriving on Tuesday, but I’m putting that off to write. Friday I spent two hours on one word! Darn strict double dactyl rules. But I finally found a six syllable word that worked well for the poem. Both girls had early release only the second week of school! When Gretchen came home, she was all excited. One of her teachers wants to borrow Red Rising when she is finished. Umm…yeah, You do know Mom bought that book so she could read it. I haven’t even cracked open the cover yet and now there is a line.

I know both my girls are book dealers, but Rachael keeps it to her friends. Gretchen seems to be expanding her business to include adults. Oh well, in the meantime I have poetry to read and write.  And this pesky housework to finish. By the way everyone should pick up this book.

Half New Year poetry series Silver Birch Press July 2014

 

Wonder when I’ll read
Red Rising exciting ride
I must stand in line

Need a reading fix
Crowd grows around book dealer
Dispensing knowledge

Upside Down Poem

Iridescent pink

Wet concrete reflects streetlamp

Upside down sunset

This is a photo I took of yesterday’s sunset turned upside down for Writer’s Digest Wednesday Poetry Prompt. I love rain. My copies of the Half New Year anthology came yesterday, too. It was a happy day for me.

Half New Year – amazon

Onward – The Last Video Session

Saturday How Writers Write Poetry posted the last video session. There was no exercise to go with it. Michelle Huneven talked about how to sustain a writing life. Monday rolls around again. The girls have started week two of school. My MOOC is complete and I will be having company arrive next week. I should be cleaning my house. But instead, I’m wasting time on Facebook. Tweetspeak poetry posts on article about haiku – Writing Haiku for a More Resilient You. I don’t really write haiku more like tweetku. Mechanically they are correct 5 7 5, but I usually add the #haikuchallenge word for the day and only post them to twitter and this blog. At least they do get words flowing. Remember I said I like 140 character sound bites.

Saturday the #haikuchallenge word was about. I’ve been reading Slow Sex by Nicole Daedone. She wrote, “Ever wonder why a bland meal magically comes to life with just a pinch of salt?” page 50 She said attention is to sex what salt is to food. It made me think back to the first video session in the poetry course. Robert Hass said poetry is salt – wound.

Wound – pinch of salt adds
Orgasmic meditation
About poetry

If you want to find out more about OM on twitter follow @onetaste

Today the haiku challenge word is put. Of course I had to write something after reading a haiku article.

Monday morning blues

letters put on page give birth

cut into being


Hot Summer Days – Prose Poem

Dog days of summer… August enters hot, humid, sticky. Time to stretch out in the sun except summer days have drawn to an end. School is back in session. Students trudge down to the bus stop as the sun beats down taunting them. In the afternoon no time to dip toes in the pool. Algebra is calling. Pi…not the sweet strawberry rhubarb kind tantalizing taste buds. A number in a mathematical equation – A equals pi squared in August when the temperature is 110. Teachers blow hot air about circles. Students dream about pi with an e a la mode. Ahhh…Hot Summer Days.

###

How Writers Write Poetry exercise 12 my attempt at a prose poem. Apparently Gretchen’s math class is already working with pi. We had a discussion a couple nights ago about why 3.14 is the only decimal number with a name. As far as we know anyhow. And why pi? Of course, I’m a poet not a mathematician. Mom is little help in these conversations. Maybe Aunt Kati knows.

Epistolary Rewrite

Dear poet,
How can I relate
my mind a jumbled blank slate
words fall apart as
I struggle
trying to create
perfection an elusive
Absurd state

Nonetheless:
Here I sit to write
letters link together bite
press upon me and
come to bear
sincerely recite
these vacuous lines repel
Disinvite

I’ve been working on a rewrite for exercise 11 this morning. Gretchen is off on her second day of school. Rachael is at her last day of work before she starts school tomorrow.

The final exercise for How Writers Write Poetry is free verse / prose poem. Mary Hickman discusses parataxis. I found a great article explaining parataxis. In my quiet house, I’ve been reading and reworking my previous poem. A few years ago I attended a poetry workshop in Avondale. We studied the narrative poem with Katie Cappello. Today’s video session reminded me of my previous workshop. Still, I’m procrastinating because I like short 140 character sound bites. The thought of tackling a prose poem is daunting. I think I hear housework calling. 😉

Exercise 11 – Looking Outward

Dear poet,

How can I relate

My mind a jumbled blank slate

Words fall apart as

I struggle

Trying to create

Perfection an elusive

Absurd state

Nonetheless

Here I sit to write

Letters link together bite

Press upon me and

Come to bear

Sincerely contrite

Will transparency help or

Disinvite


Exercise 11 for How Writers Write Poetry was to write either an epistolary poem or a poem where each noun starts with the same letter. Years ago I wrote a senryu with the letter P.

People promenade
Past pesky proprietors
Purchasing parcels

I wanted to try something different. Right now my mind is a jumbled mess. We are in the last week of the poetry course. I’ve been back from Buffalo for over a week now and I’m busy trying to prep for school starting tomorrow! I did get the opportunity to purchase the Half New Year anthology from Silver Birch Press. Please check it out. There are some wonderful poets and poetry inside.