Today’s Meet the Bar prompt at dVerse Poets Pub invites us to write a Cascade form poem with five line stanzas. A Cascade repeats each line of the first stanza as the last lines of the following stanzas.
The Rush of a Wordfall
when we feel the flow of the words with our eyes we re-create the actions of the poet when we hear the force of rhythm and rhyme they are emotions rather than people or things tossed over rocks by a gravitational pull
There is a beholder’s share in wordfall projecting our own feelings onto others’ choices and combinations of symbolic representations into orders and forms. We change the cascade when we feel the flow of the words with our eyes
higher-order processes interact to create the reader’s experience, more than reading the mind generates memories, associations definitions, interpretations, meaning we re-create the actions of the poet
as our saccadic pursuit cascades the physical body is in wordfall responding to our own interpretations pulse and breath hurry or slow when we hear the force of rhythm and rhyme
so many unconscious processes drive us, irrational creatures now in a feedback loop of wordfall reading the same lines differently they are emotions rather than people or things
keeping one hand on the face in a tempestuous relationship every splash more penetrating and revealing mercilessly seeing ourselves in every droplet tossed over rocks by a gravitational pull
*Today’s poem was inspired by Essays on Art and Science(amazon assoc.link) by Eric R. Kandel which will be coming out on March 19, 2024. I received an early reviewer copy through Net Galley. In his books he explores the neuroscience of the beholder’s share when viewing art.
For today’s Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub, Merril invites us to write a poem about boats or boating. Inspired by the prompt, I cut a filter with a section of an oval and a triangle and took pictures of clear string lights in front of the fireplace.
Afloat by Maria L. Berg 2024
Front, Back Depends on the Boat
At this house there is often misunderstanding about a thing as simple as front and back
When he says front I think of where I come in after an outing or leave for errands in my car but he means where he goes on adventures out on the lake in his boat the side with all the windows and the beautiful view of the mountain when it’s not hiding in the gray like today which I call the back
Maybe the lakeside is not a front for me because I don’t drive a motorized watercraft or think of the houses across the water as my neighbors We’ve never met There’s nowhere to go in a boat for me so many dead ends no destination
I used to like to row in a little white boat, but he filled the back with fiberglass so the nephews could motorize it now if you row it’s in the drink you go so I’d rather swim be my own boat front or back I’m happy to float
He was a happy boy until a train took his mother His father in grief became distant but harsh causing he and his father to clash nightly and his eyes that had shown brightly turned unsightly like smoldering ash
Neglected, he spent his days roaming idly along the tracks collecting rope and practicing knots wishing his mother would come back and yearning for someone, anyone to love him
Until one day he happened upon a shiny, new top hat and a tied up young woman across his way and in horror thought of his mother when he heard the whistle of an approaching train
He ran to the woman who screeched rather highly while he tried to untie the ropes tied so tightly while apologizing for his fingers politely as she cursed him quite unkindly and at the last second
he was shoved aside by another do-gooder come to her aid who was able to save her and as he slinked off in shame barely missed by the barreling train, a piece of metal flew from the tracks and gashed poor sad Snidely right in the lip
holding his torn lip together and bleeding he couldn’t say anything when the people who gathered began to accuse him and made him the villain though he had only tried to help.
His lip didn’t heal well, leaving him disfigured, so he grew a mustache which he would tug and twist whenever that day replayed the last time he tried to get in the way of a train, and now whenever he sees someone pretty someone who could reject him and make him unloved he preempts the pain and the oncoming shame by placing her in the way of a train.
Mwa ha ha by Maria L. Berg 2024
Join in this fun writing experience by linking any one of your original poems to share at dVerse Poets Pub. Then read and comment on the poems other poets from around the world have posted.
Start with the music like a new acquaintance get to know it, become close listen with your fingers listen with your toes
Ah ha ta ta ta let the rhythm in, feel it inside filling every void forget all inhibitions move move
step tap step tap step tap still
stretching up back side down switch it up the other way around
Ah ha ta ta ta move move
There will be resistance Stop pulling the body back maintain complete control balance and grace each muscle under command all over the place
And the music is a lover stealing mind and time Ah ha ta ta ta move move
Join in on this fun writing experience by writing your own dance poem and linking it up at dVerse Poets Pub. Then read and comment on the other dance poems.
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “close up / close-up.” This prompt inspired me to head outside and take some macro photos. Getting really close up to the azalea buds made me notice that they have a warm, spicy smell. Getting really close up to the snow on my windshield, I noticed ice crystals on the inside (that can’t be good).
Even with warm clothes and gloves, I didn’t last long in this morning’s cold, so I came in and got really close up to the cat. He must have been very sleepy because he let me take his close-up. He didn’t exactly pose, but he didn’t run away. I love that I captured the reflection of the window in his eye.
Tail Fur by Maria L. Berg 2024
I continued my very close up photography in my mirrorworld, bringing the lens very close to the lights, or very close to the mirrors and found some interesting compositions. I wanted to get close up to some music too, so I picked a record with a close up of a woman with her chin near her reflection in a mirrored table on the cover called, “Champagne Music for DANCING with Dean Lester.” It was my mother’s. I listened to it in wireless headphones while I took pictures.
Heat by Maria L. Berg
The rest of the day I plan to draft some poems. I want to continue this idea of “close up” as I write. Here’s what I wrote while thinking about the possibilities in my journal this morning, “As I draft my poems and as I revise the ones I started yesterday I want to keep in mind and keep asking: How can get closer? What brings this close up? What is hiding that I’ll see when I zoom in? How d I zoom in on this? What is revealed in the close-up? How do I want to start that practice?” (Some stream of consciousness inside my stream of consciousness).
So here’s to a day of staying “close up” and getting closer through close observation. What a great way to spend a Saturday.
Composure wishes for singularity He is a whirl of spring air We join in harmony
Creation is a cypress swamp My driveway is a testament
The perfect summer sunlight filled the empty bottle I don’t remember why we were talking about hummingbirds
How you entreat for signs of affection Human bodies are so fragile It’s a waiting game
This year there was no reason for a resolution
For today’s Meeting the Bar prompt at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura invites us to look at a couple of list poems, and emulate them using first lines from the poems we wrote last year, choosing one line from a poem from each month.
It was a fun way to look back at the poems I wrote last year. I ended up using two first lines from October since I didn’t post any poems in July.
When I aim to write a poem sitting with intention, holding my pen; I am the small, tidying mouse in a shed caught on night-vision video in Wales and the blank page is my box.
I find the ideas scattered all over the workbench and set to task selecting clothespins of connections nuts and bolts of meaning long straws of argument
I pull; I tug; I lift and drag; climbing up over the edge, and dropping, arranging, shoving each thought into order
I hoist ideas that are bigger than me, and slide them into place. I fuss with the long and arduous until it fits when things shift.
When the ideas are cleared, each word ordered, I leave and rest only to find a mess when I return.
For yesterday’s Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub, Dora challenged us to choose an animal as a metaphor for how we approach the blank page. It was a timely prompt as I had just seen this adorable video about a mouse that secretly tidies a workbench every night, and it instantly clicked for me that that mouse is me writing a poem.
Here we are in a new year and I finally found a new WordPress theme that I think will work with Experience Writing. I’m trying “Hever” which is supposed to adapt across devices, moved all the widgets to the footer, and most importantly, doesn’t have that weird text overlap spacing issue with headers that was driving me nuts.
You may notice things changing from post to post as I learn what I can (and can’t) do with this new theme, and please let me know how things look to you as I mainly see Experience Writing on a laptop. Plus, you are the readers, so I want it to be appealing and readable for you.
Anticipation by Maria L. Berg 2023
Reflection
2023 continued to build on my work from 2022, with a focus on revision and finishing projects. I started the year strong with reading novels like a novelist, and drumbeat poetry. I went even deeper into my study of abstract art and contradictory abstract nouns, while enjoying “The Modern and Postmodern” through Wesleyan University and SloMo ModPo courses through Coursera, and I continued to enjoy the prompts and community I find at dVerse Poets Pub.
April came and I tackled the daily poetry challenge of poetry month at both NaPoWriMo and Writer’s Digest along with the A to Z blogging challenge, finding some interesting contradictory abstract nouns by selecting contradictions that start with the same letter. I think Quirk & Quality was my favorite. During this exploration, I came up with my three axes of abstraction: fear, control, and bias which I will continue to ponder and explore in my writing and abstract photography.
During the summer I made a break through in my own thinking about big picture revision while working in my garden, comparing my problems with revision to my problems with thinning seedlings. It was an important realization for me and helped me make progress on my latest thriller novel.
In October I continued my favorite fall challenges—OctPoWriMo, Halloween Photo Challenge, and Writober— by providing the prompts for all three. Though I was sad to see that Tourmaline and Morgan did not return with their prompts and posts, I did my best to step in, and had fun doing it. I also designed and created my my velcro pockets ever-changing quilt calendar that I continue to make pockets for. It was a busy month. And then I surprised myself and attempted my first horror novel for NaNoWriMo in November and wrote daily poems for the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge while sick with a cold.
I wanted to finish my first draft in December but I didn’t get very far. I mostly caught up on some reading and book reviews and made Christmas gifts.
Celebration by Maria L. Berg 2023
Intention
This year, you can expect some similar experiences. I signed up for the first SloPo course looking at the poems of Rosmarie Waldrop which starts January 22. I’m revising my poems from November and assembling my Chapbook to submit for the Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge, submitting photos to the Sony Contest, and working on finishing my horror novel draft. Then I’ll be continuing the revision of my thriller novel, because this is the year I finish a novel! ☺
Like last year, I want to add more music to this experience. I’m thinking of writing songs that explore contradictory abstract nouns as part of my study. My idea for this year’s approach is to stick with one pair of contradictory abstract nouns until I create an image, poem, and song that I think express that pair before moving on to another. So I may spend a week, a month, or a few months exploring one contradictory pair. We’ll see how it goes.
I hope you’ll join me for another year of experiences, and that we all find joy in 2024.
New Poem
dVerse Poets Pub is back from a holiday break. Today’s Poetics prompt from Sanaa, aka adashofsunny, has to do with “litotes.” Litotes (pronounced lie-tow-teez) is a literary device which uses a negative statement to create an affirmative understatement. “Not half bad,” or “You won’t be sorry,” for example.
Today’s poetry prompt has a few choices:
Write a narrative poem using litotes where the main character or antagonist stands out.
Write a poem using litotes and follow the example of Homer or Shakespeare. Give us something classic.
Write a poem by employing litotes as a part of everyday speech.
I’m attempting option three:
A Gray Day in the Country
You’re not wrong We won’t be sorry and I’m not feeling too bad The weather is not unpleasant so let’s not waste time as we are no spring chickens yet hardly unattractive, and your cooking is not terrible though you are not unlike your father A picnic is not the worst decision The wine is not unkind the view not too shabby and the company is not half bad so the day won’t disappoint
I ended 2023 reading some great books thanks to the Publishers Weekly (PW) Grab a Galley promotion. I was happily surprised by the books I won. Just Snow Already! is available now: the others are available for pre-order. My links are amazon associate links. I give each of these books Five Stars!!
I received a digital copy of this adorable picture book from Flashlight Press. This book is so fun. It has a great premise of a child wanting it to snow so badly that he doesn’t notice all the other fun things happening outside. The illustrations are so vivid and active readers and those being read to will have fun exploring all the details again and again.
I received a physical copy of this fun kids book. It’s about a middle schooler who wants to create a comic but isn’t great at drawing, so he learns about the ins and outs of collaboration. The format is great, switching between the kid writing in his notebook, and the comic book pages along with notes from other students and teachers. It’s a fun, meta approach to the daily struggles of a young comic book creator.
Adult Graphic Novel Memoir
Ai Weiwei’s Zodiac: A Memoir coming January 30, 2024. I received a digital copy from Penguin Random House. This graphic memoir organized with each chapter as a year of the Chinese Zodiac, combines myth and story as well as politics and philosophy to explore an artist’s experiences and thoughts. It cohesively weaves all of these aspects to show the reader the importance of free expression and the power of art to fight oppression. Though I may not agree with every view expressed, the freedom to have different viewpoints and express them is the point of the book.
The graphics, not done by the artist but by Italian cartoonist, Gianluca Costantini are consistently engaging and lively, creating a contrasting feeling of wanting to linger with the images, but wanting to continue reading the story that will make you want to read this book more than once.
Poetry
I also received my favorite poetry collection I read this year as an Early Reviewer from Library Thing. It came out on December 5th and is available now.
The Infinite Loop by Oneyda González is an intriguing collection that explores life’s dichotomies and contradictions in ways I found very exciting. I received a physical copy of this book from Akashic Books.
If you read Experience Writing very often, I think the list of “projects” from the section “Facing the Mirror” will tell you why I love this book:
Opposites that meet
Exercise of expression
The journey, the impulse: darkness and blazes
Stillness: its good and its evil
Equilibrium
The value of work
I no longer work; I merely accumulate resonances
Reading this collection, I felt like I found someone on the same path of study and discovering, coming to similar conclusions about what makes life (and poetry) interesting.
I also really enjoy having the original Spanish poem next to the translation for comparison and learning. I highly recommend this book. I am so glad I “won” it from Library Thing. I’ll be re-reading it into the new year and beyond.
Experience Writing 