Note to poets: I had noticed a lot of strange traffic to my site this last year. The wordpress forums assured me that the little bots constantly visiting my old posts were nothing to worry about and harmless, but that didn’t sit right with me. They had to be doing something. Then I happened to click on an old link to OctPoWriMo dot com and up popped a Chinese betting site. I spent a lot of time removing all those links from years of posts. Then, this week, I was inspired by a collage group in the ModPo discussions to look back at the collages I made from Poets & Writers Magazines in April of 2024, and to my surprise when I clicked on a Poetry Non-Stop link in my post, it went to a betting site in Singapore. I’ve been spending a lot of time going through old posts and removing all the dead and changed links. People keep saying that the internet is forever, but I’m learning quite the opposite: Be careful what you link to, because the internet is impermanent, websites die in the blink of an eye, and are quickly turned into betting sites that somehow change the visit numbers in your stats. (I also removed all of my links to NaNoWriMo because it is defunct and the website is parked.)
New Poem
Today at the dVerse Poets Pub, Grace challenges us with an interesting poetry form called a Descort: a poem of deliberate difference. This form from the late 12th century has a main rule which is every line must be different from every other line, intentionally disrupting expectations. Sounds great!!
We Want That; It Means It’s Working
Small white pustules that never pop
urge, urge
Don’t touch!
I touch the burning itch at the side of my left nostril
(jävla häxunge)
It’s okay, I say
But, no. It’s really not.
I’m having a reaction to the recommended cream for the reaction
Of course I am
burning red as a fire engine
can’t imagine not scratching my face off
The next terrible side effect from the medicine to combat the last side effect from the poison infusion that’s saving my life.
L’enfer, c’est ici.
I am forever changed.
How far from Me will I be
when the final effect is relief?
I love the response specially this part: The next terrible side effect from the medicine to combat the last side effect from the poison infusion that’s saving my life. And good one for including the word from another language.
Thank you, Grace. I enjoyed this prompt/form.
I believe it should be häxunge 🙂 love the inclusion of other languages. That itch and postules I remember that from my youth.
Thanks for catching that. I’ll go fix it!
An agonizing descort…and condition! Sometimes “the cure is worse than the disease.” May poetry distract you from scratching your face off, Maria.
Thank you, Lynn. It’s helping so far.
The discomfort evoked in your descort is so palpable, Maria, especially in these lines, where the use oof colour is especially effective:
‘burning red as a fire engine
can’t imagine not scratching my face off’.
I hope this reaction doesn’t last much longer or that you find some relief.
Thank you, Kim
UGH I had some weoird traffic spikes last week as well, now I am going to need to go through some of my old posts as well! Loved your poem and your intrepretation of a “descort”. Much love! 💜
Thank you.
Nice image you’ve created Maria! A classic modern art!
Hank
Thank you.