The Poetics prompt at dVerse today is play. I was inspired to play with motion in the mirror world with my new filters which was fun. And for my poem I played with the answer ball I created over a year ago.
The answer ball is a ball of photographs of specific nouns. The idea is to ask it a yes or no question, throw the ball, and interpret the noun that comes up as either yes or no.
Playing with the Answer Ball in a Thunderstorm
I feel the plush wine carpet between my toes, run my fingers along the couch while watching the thunder roll in over the lake and ask, Is this real? I roll the ball which bounces along the carpet and lands on scissors. Scissors slice through doubt, cut through the crap, and carve out a truth. But is there truth?, I wonder as I toss my oracle down the hall. It wobbles then stops on afternoon. So the morning is a deceit, and evening is a lie, but the slightly slanted sun overhead, casting a shadow on the grass has my trust, but can I trust? I ask my oracle as it rolls across my shadow, Are you lying? It lands on poison. Every lie a bit of hemlock, a death cap stealing meaning from interpretation, clouding doubt over perception, leaving so many questions unanswered.
Today’s Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is to write a poem about a kiss or kissing.
On a blanket in the wildflowers counting shooting stars
It’s a waiting game once the thought begins it grows and becomes all encompassing a wish in the abyss every look a question every sigh a possible sign every motion a suggestion each inch an invitation
then the world-lens folds in closed to this pin-point all measurement abruptly halted waits silence chews then swallows sound as the pressure of anticipation—of heartbeats, flushed cheeks, blood pumping irrationally its uncomfortable commands — peaks to unbearable there are only glistening pink curves, moving over white, hard, blocking, teeth, trapping dreams damming desires, making words of lost meaning unspoken agreement, breaking codes of forgotten tongues soon touched then entwined.
I’ve been playing around with creating found poetry from The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper (1653), one of the texts suggested for submissions to the next issue of Heron Tree.
Culpeper believed that the medicinal properties of herbs were connected to stars and planets, writing, “I knew those various affections in man, in respect of sickness and health, were caused naturally (though God may have other ends best known to himself) by the various operations of the Microcosm; and I could not be ignorant, that as the cause is, so must the cure be; and therefore he that would know the reason of the operation of the Herbs, must look up as high as the Stars, astrologically.”
The book is a really fun read, and the man was very poetic in his description of herbs and remedies, so I’m enjoying using the text for found poetry. I am also continuing my study of drumbeats in relation to poetry and this week I’m looking at 1, 2 &, 3, 4 & and 1 &, 2, 3 &, 4. For fun, I decided to combine the two and attempt to tame some of Culpeper’s words into my drumbeats for today’s quadrille.
Let Her Be With a Fixed Star
Upper crust of the earth, shooting forth like a star, the planet that governs, the stronger the better, written fixed before the nature of planets, take notice those houses, they delight star fashion, smell somewhat sweet up as high as the Star under them.
Today’s Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is about resolutions. Every year about this time is when New Year’s resolutions fizzle and dissolve, then are forgotten. Last year, I was completely determined to change my behaviors: I read everything about habits, goals, and motivation; I attended an online conference on having my best year; I followed through and did the work; and it worked for a while. But, as usual, life happened, and it all went out the window.
This year, I did not make any resolutions, but I have made a couple significant changes, so is there a difference between making resolutions and actual resolve? Only time will tell.
The prompt for writing the poem is to weave one of five given pieces of advice into a resolution poem.
The Resolve of Despiness
This year there was no reason for a resolution. I poured my mini-bottle of champagne into a long-stemmed glass took it out on the dock into the strangely warm night and truly enjoyed the fireworks reflecting on the water
Something had changed in my constitution as I raised my glass to everyone and no one and said aloud, “I am happy now!” The neighbors came out with sparklers and I yelled Happy New Year, and they yelled it back I didn’t want anything to change, just stay the same
What a frightening thing to think; this dissolution is the state I’ve waited for but it took so long, so many failed attempts so many previous examples that happiness cannot last, the acknowledgment itself dares the universe to take it away.
How was your week? Did you try reading like a writer? Though I didn’t find a lot to apply to my novel from The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill, I did have fun brainstorming unique formats for my novel, and it inspired me to get a copy of S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst from my local library system. I was curious to see how all the inserts worked. They are neatly tucked within the pages of the book and the book comes in a box sleeve that is velcroed shut. Imagine my happy surprise when the first insert is two copies of a letter. The first in Swedish and the second its translation. It was fun to be able to read the letter in Swedish and also see their translation.
The Ship of Theseus, which is the fictitious book in which the characters write in the margins, is also the name of an interesting philosophical puzzle which asks, if every piece of a ship is replaced over time, is it still the same ship when it doesn’t have a single original piece left?
As for the reading experience I haven’t figured it out yet. There are so many different things to read: The translator’s preface and footnotes is one story, the novel, the layers and layers of notes between the students, and the inserted materials. I thought I would read through the novel first, but the notes were too distracting, so I think I’ll have to spend the time on each page to read the novel, the translator’s notes and the students written notes all at once.
I finished reading Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert for my coursera.org course “The Modern and the Postmodern” through Wesleyan University. In class, it was an example of the Disillusionment. I know I read Madame Bovary as an undergrad, but I really didn’t remember anything about it as I read. It was long and boring and the characters were abhorrent people, but that’s why it’s going to be interesting to discuss for reading as a writer. I found a lot to learn from it and apply to my work.
I liked the note-taking capabilities in Kindle and will talk about that tomorrow. I also found some interesting surprise connections in my other reading that I’ll talk about tomorrow.
This week I found a new-used mirror large enough to create a mirrorworld that has eternal depth, as in mirrors reflecting mirrors all the way to infinity. I’m excited to explore all my new techniques within this space while thinking dialectically. My idea for this week is: if I take an image that includes my shape both right side up, and upside down and backwards, and I use that shape as a filter to take a photo of the shapes right side up, and upside down and backwards, will that get me closer to synthesis? I’ll try it out and talk more about these new ideas of capturing synthesis on Tuesday.
Moon by Maria L. Berg 2023
Using drum beats to create poetic lines
This week’s rhythm I’ve been playing with is: one, two, three, four and. This is the cha-cha rhythm. I looked through my old records and the only cha-cha I found was by Henri Mancini called “Something for Sellers.”(Fun fact: Henri Mancini also wrote the theme song for Remington Steele which I enjoyed as a kid, and is a fun distraction available on Amazon Prime Video.)
The last word of each phrase should be a trochee, having the stress on the first syllable. Until this week I was only looking at the rhythm as syllables not the stress of the words, but with this four & beat, it feels like the trochee vs. iamb(ic) foot is important.
Where is this going? Who’s out there knowing? Can I make something, from all this nothing? two rights come center, once new thoughts enter is the mean better, once her match met her?
After four week of looking at this idea of drum beats becoming lines of poetry, I thought it would be fun to see how the lines work and sound together. Let’s see what happens. First I’ll take four lines from each of the patterns I’ve played with so far in order:
I say I’m good when we meet, but you’re not buying I talk of truth, honestly, I know I’m lying If truth is fine, why do I find yours is ugly? If flaws make rich, why do I wish to be smudge free?
but I was waffling, so I just followed to enjoy the talk and be in the walk but I could not stop my mind from worry we needed to go and be in a hurry
the third unknown point joins in unseen lines to a future hurt that your secrets hide where the haunting blues find life’s conflict caught ache in yearning flesh moves the wand’ring eye
Where is this going? Who’s out there knowing? Can I make something, from all this nothing? two rights come center, once new thoughts enter is the mean better, once her match met her?
Now let’s try one line from each in a row to make the quatrains:
I say I’m good when we meet, but you’re not buying but I was waffling, so I just followed the third unknown point joins in unseen lines Where is this going? Who’s out there knowing?
I talk of truth, honestly, I know I’m lying to enjoy the talk and be in the walk to a future hurt that your secrets hide Can I make something, from all this nothing?
If truth is fine, why do I find yours is ugly? but I could not stop my mind from worry where the haunting blues find life’s conflict caught two rights come center, once new thoughts enter
If flaws make rich, why do I wish to be smudge free? we needed to go and be in a hurry ache in yearning flesh moves the wand’ring eye is the mean better, once her match met her?
*I think I like that. This second one has some interesting connections happening.
I guess I’ll be moving on to a slightly more complicated drum beat this week. I’ll have to figure out how that works with this idea of drum beats and poetry. Maybe I’ll see how a simple drum fill works with this idea.
I chose “(I’m Afraid The) Masquerade is Over” by Herb Magidson and Allie Wrubel as the song to work on this week as I continue working on my second call to action, “To find the ugliness in beauty and the beauty in ugliness; uglify the beautiful, or beautify the ugly.”
The Meeting the Bar prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is a new to me poetry form called “Memento.” The Memento form “created by Emily Romano is a poem about a holiday or an anniversary, consisting of two stanzas as follows: the syllable count should be 8 beats for line one; 6 beats for line two; and two beats for line three. This is repeated twice for each stanza. The rhyme scheme is: a/b/c/a/b/c for each of the two stanzas.” Here’s my attempt at my first Memento:
sky lighting
we gather, heads tilted, eyes wide as pyros, born of flame alight each explosion elicits cries of fright then quickly came delight
brilliant color blossoms fall wide Boom! rockets rise again free flight when lights sparkle in hopeful eyes we bathe in warm ash rain tonight
The poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is to “write a poem inspired by a vision, dream, or both.” I tried to do the spoon in the bowl trick to induce a dream state, but all I saw was a big orange square of color with a read shadow moving around, so I decided to sleep on it and I’m glad I did because I had very vivid dreams last night.
The Body of the Dream by Maria L. Berg 2023
I am a group of three women going to a writing retreat
but I was waffling, so I just followed to enjoy the talk and be in the walk but before we left, we needed relief we arrived upstairs and entered the booths but they crammed in mine, their laughter was bright and throwing a card up in the thick air it defied logic and surprise! froze there she threw a whole pack of colored small cards they tumbled then froze in patterned tableaux I needed to go, I squeezed through the mess to the booth next door glad for a rest, but card woman followed, black straight hair shining she revealed a new pack, and sent those cards fly- ing into the air, creating structures like bridges Venetian, cov’ring canals eyes flashing from one amazing wonder to land on the next joy to discover but I could not stop my mind from worry we needed to go and be in a hurry because time moved so unlike the cards and we would miss the bus to their ferry
Today at dVerse Poets Pub it’s quadrille Monday which means we are writing poems of exactly 44 words and today, De Jackson has offered the word “bold” to inspire and be included in the poem. “Bold” is also a great word to inspire today’s images.
Life of the Party
I want to be bold a grand story told if only it were so easy along the fold I rolled in gold shimmering and breezy never cold and never old the whirl lost hold fruit lost to mold and I fell dizzy and queasy
I woke up in a winter wonderland. It started snowing yesterday evening, and the snow stuck. There was about a half foot of snow when the sun came out. I was so excited to try my reflection balls in the snow. What a great way to celebrate finishing my draft.
I Did It! I wrote THE END on my novel draft. Over 100,000 words in one month. I’m so excited and happy: not only because I pushed through to the end, but because I get to put it away while I read books, and work on revising my poems for the Chapbook challenge, and then I get to come back to it to start the new year off right.
Contradictory Abstract Nouns
Last month I looked at a different combination of abstract nouns each day, however each of them was related to the big five: beauty, truth, wisdom, love, or happiness. So this month I’m going to sort them back into the big five and review what I’ve learned. It’ll be interesting to see if collecting the images back into their big five counterparts leads to different ideas for the what their contradictions are, and what their unification looks like.
For today’s Meeting the Bar prompt Laura challenges us to look back over our recent poems and make a poem out of twelve of our last lines to celebrated the twelfth month. What a great way to start my review of the poems I wrote in November for the Poem a Day challenge.
Forgetting Every Ending Leads to No Beginnings
You can’t be disappointed, if you have no expectations perhaps forgetfulness is the cleanse so cross that bridge over and over in the glow of morning
as serious as life and death that sweet resolve to defraud the people pretending to live the blue bottle in the icebox waiting to warm the way down
I knew that my dream holiday repast had finally come and gone when I was given a cup of cocoa, and told to go upstairs on second thought I see it like it is nothing promised, no regrets
So that’s it. November is over. It was an amazing month. I’m looking forward to reviewing everything I created, and polishing it in the future. For now, I am going to get lost in some reading, exercise, and cleaning the house. Have a great weekend! I’ll be back some time next week.
Experience Writing 