a companion to 30 in 30

[TheRainMan]

just welcoming Sara and Tzara and Eluard and WSO (belatedly) to the 30/30 thread.



it was a bit unpopulated with just 4° and me there . . . reminded me of passing through this town:

 

[Eluard]

just welcoming Sara and Tzara and Eluard and WSO (belatedly) to the 30/30 thread.



it was a bit unpopulated with just 4° and me there . . . reminded me of passing through this town:

Thanks RM — that is one great sign!

 

[darkerdreamer]

Treadmills


You heard the recipe for happiness is good health
and a bad memory. You spend December
going back and forth from the gym
to the Peculiar Pub. And still
when New Year’s Eve comes you’re alone
in a small, gray room
with your short breaths and history
and no one to kiss. Time is measured
by a length of ash on the end of each cigarette.
You feel like you’re the last man on earth,
waiting for a knock on the door. There are no
surprises anymore. Night swallows you
like a mirror. The weather
channel’s on—sun in California,
wind in Chicago. It’s raining in Seattle.
In New York, it’s cold. It’s 11 o’clock
and your heart is breaking
and there’s nothing to do
but go to bed early and listen to it happen.

One of the best I've read in some time, thanks Rain.

 

[wildsweetone]

just welcoming Sara and Tzara and Eluard and WSO (belatedly) to the 30/30 thread.



it was a bit unpopulated with just 4° and me there . . . reminded me of passing through this town:

that town looks overpopulated to me. bring on the log cabin in the woods!

now if only i could dream up something half decent to write.

 

[Eluard]

Explanation of WSO --> Leather WSO for the non-Antipodeans.

To Australian ears New Zealanders have a funny way of pronouncing things. Just as to Americans Canadians have a funny way of propouncing 'about' as 'a boot', so NZers pronounce 'fish and chips' as 'fush 'n chups', which everyone finds positively hilarious and falls about laughing whenever they hear. This is the clue to the meaning of the poem, which should now be decipherable.

 

[wildsweetone]

Explanation of WSO --> Leather WSO for the non-Antipodeans.

To Australian ears New Zealanders have a funny way of pronouncing things. Just as to Americans Canadians have a funny way of propouncing 'about' as 'a boot', so NZers pronounce 'fish and chips' as 'fush 'n chups', which everyone finds positively hilarious and falls about laughing whenever they hear. This is the clue to the meaning of the poem, which should now be decipherable.

just as well i like fush and chups and whups.





i think i'm brain dead. got to dream up a poem urgently....

 

[TheRainMan]

One of the best I've read in some time, thanks Rain.

thanks, DD.

good to see you around again.

 

[champagne1982]

Cheating at Solitaire

You know, I look at it this way -- it's like drinking "lite" beer or faking orgasm when you masturbate . Just sayin'.

Seriously, 'tis a lovely poem Mr C.

 

[TheRainMan]

You know, I look at it this way -- it's like drinking "lite" beer or faking orgasm when you masturbate . Just sayin'.

Seriously, 'tis a lovely poem Mr C.

thanks, Champ.

i wish i had thought of that line . . . faking orgasm when you masturbate . . . it would work perfect somewhere in the poem.

can i buy it?

 

[champagne1982]

thanks, Champ.

i wish i had thought of that line . . . faking orgasm when you masturbate . . . it would work perfect somewhere in the poem.

can i buy it?

LOL I'm not sure what the royalties would be on that one. It never fails to get a chuckle out of people. We could have a challenge, share your similies for futility...

Drinking lite beer
Cheating at solitaire
Faking orgasm when you masturbate
eating diet whipped cream

I could go on ...
It's free btw . I'd like to read the version where you include the line.

 

[Eluard]

WSO — this one is very moving.

Star Tears

The stars are crying
and I want to weep

with them,
to shed tears,

tears that are held up
by a frozen moon.

I remember when they fell
without warning, when I drove

and the road blurred
until it became ascension.

When the numbness scuffed thin,
I wished for death

to take me swift,
to lift me and leave me to cry

like the stars.


Very moving indeed.

 

[TheRainMan]

WSO — this one is very moving.

. . .

yes,

and you're doing quite all right yourself, mate.

 

[Eluard]

yes,

and you're doing quite all right yourself, mate.

Thanks RM — as are you!

 

[TheRainMan]

(gulp. Here goes.)



What to do with you

. . .

what a great start!

 

[unpredictablebijou]

what a great start!

golly, thanks.
That was really, really, really hard. I NEVER EVER show first drafts to anyone EVER. It took me three tries to hit "Post."

The thought of doing that again tomorrow and for the next 30 days nearly gives me a heart attack.

But I'll try.

bijou

 

[vixenblack]

Heres the problem I see with this. Poetry should come from inspiration no just for competition or just to write 30 in 30. I think by doing this your taking the power or punch away from your poetry. I surely will not be doing this, I like my poetry to be from the heart not just to sit down and write.

 

[wildsweetone]

WSO — this one is very moving.

Star Tears

....

thank you seems a friend set me off thinking along lines i'd forgotten for a while.

i'm enjoying your writing too... and your chosen imagery.


welcome along bijou, that's a neat beginning. the more you post, the more you'll relax and be able to enjoy the writing/sharing experience.

Heres the problem I see with this. Poetry should come from inspiration no just for competition or just to write 30 in 30. I think by doing this your taking the power or punch away from your poetry. I surely will not be doing this, I like my poetry to be from the heart not just to sit down and write.

i think one of the ideas of the 30/30 'challenge' is to set up a good discipline for poets to write on a daily basis. sure, i see your point about inspiration however if i (for example) only wrote when i was inspired, i'd be about 2 years behind in my writing skill than where i am at the moment. well, i guess you get a rough idea what i mean when i say that.

i also think, if you think the 30/30 is not for you, then don't join.

 

[Eluard]

I dislike that you posted this:

Heres the problem I see with this. Poetry should come from inspiration no just for competition or just to write 30 in 30. I think by doing this your taking the power or punch away from your poetry. I surely will not be doing this, I like my poetry to be from the heart not just to sit down and write.

underneath my submission, so I will say that real poets are inspired all, or almost all, of the time. They can write when they choose — and not produce a trivial exercise when they do. Amateur poets need to wait for something to seize them and make them put pen to paper — and then, inevitably, as they get older there are fewer and fewer such moments of inspiration. So they become one of the multitude of people who can say 'I used to write poetry when I was young but I don't anymore.' Such people are not poets, any more than someone who doodles when they are on the phone is an artist. I am posting to 30-30 and I don't see myself as producing exercises, and I dislike the casual implication that that is what I am doing.

 

[4degrees]

don't worry, Eluard, she meant to post it under mine.

 

[Guest]

..........

 

[wildsweetone]

you know how there are authors of prose out there who write one book and then that's it for their lifetime. i wonder if there are any poets out there who have written one only, famous poem.

 

[unpredictablebijou]

you know how there are authors of prose out there who write one book and then that's it for their lifetime. i wonder if there are any poets out there who have written one only, famous poem.

The composer of "Happy Birthday".

bijou

 

[Eluard]

you know how there are authors of prose out there who write one book and then that's it for their lifetime. i wonder if there are any poets out there who have written one only, famous poem.

There are plenty. But usually they wrote many other good poems as well, just that those others didn't become famous. An example is Paul Celan's Death Fugue, which has been endlessly anthologised, at the expense of his other poems. (In the end he began to refuse requests to have it anthologised any further.)

Or what about Matthew Arnold with Dover Beach?

But maybe I'm misunderstanding you: maybe you want a poet who just didn't write anything else other than their one famous poem. That would certainly be tougher.

 

[TheRainMan]

Heres the problem I see with this. Poetry should come from inspiration no just for competition or just to write 30 in 30. I think by doing this your taking the power or punch away from your poetry. I surely will not be doing this, I like my poetry to be from the heart not just to sit down and write.

. . . i see your point . . .

i don't.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I see the spammer's point. Personally, I like my poetry not to be just sit down and write, but to come from the fenestra ovalis. Sometimes, if it's prose-poetry, from the superior olivary nucleus.