Challenge: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously

[butters]

nice, meabh, welcome!

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Do colourless personalities
ever have green ideas
or just sleep furiously?

By a stop watch 54 seconds!

 

[UnderYourSpell]

There once was a colourless frog
whose visions of green in his bog
brought ideas so silly
his friends said sleep on your lily
so he furiously barked like a dog.

3 minutes

 

[UnderYourSpell]

This challenge reminds me of the Gunfights we used to do! Write a poem in a certain style in one hour aghhhhhh!!

 

[Tzara]

Yikes! You poets are amping up the replies here. I now find new poems by Angie, Moochienanu, Piscator, Remec, Harry, butters, Tio_Narratore, Meabh (let me echo Ms. b.'s welcome ), and a couple of new ones by Annie. All interesting, involving, and worth commenting on (which I might encourage, by the way).

It's great to see some respondents that haven't posted here before (or who haven't posted much). The thing is, when you (well, me--I'm talking here about myself) post a challenge, you want people to feel engaged by it, but you never know how it will be received. I want to thank everyone who has posted a response so far, and remind them (and anyone else who stumbles by here) that there is a lot of time left to contribute to this thread.

Again, thanks, everyone.

 

[Tzara]

This challenge reminds me of the Gunfights we used to do! Write a poem in a certain style in one hour aghhhhhh!!

Well, except you are now writing them in under one minute.

That's no gunfight, m'dear.

Good poems, though.

 

[butters]

Yikes! You poets are amping up the replies here. I now find new poems by Angie, Moochienanu, Piscator, Remec, Harry, butters, Tio_Narratore, Meabh (let me echo Ms. b.'s welcome ), and a couple of new ones by Annie. All interesting, involving, and worth commenting on (which I might encourage, by the way).

It's great to see some respondents that haven't posted here before (or who haven't posted much). The thing is, when you (well, me--I'm talking here about myself) post a challenge, you want people to feel engaged by it, but you never know how it will be received. I want to thank everyone who has posted a response so far, and remind them (and anyone else who stumbles by here) that there is a lot of time left to contribute to this thread.

Again, thanks, everyone.

sometimes time just isn't my friend, and there are times when nothing fires off in my head to inspire me to start a poem... but that's about me, not about the starter or subject matter

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Well, except you are now writing them in under one minute.

That's no gunfight, m'dear.

Good poems, though.

I do better when told what to write and when!

 

[HarryHill]

I do better when told what to write and when!

..
Even if you don't always follow those directions.

Colorless green ideas
all good for the most part, but
furiously irritating when they sleep.

 

[Tzara]

Thanks Tzara. It is interesting the way Chomsky's "meaningless" sentence is given meaning and context in your challenge.

Yes. I think this is at least partly through "poetic" devices, in which words' meanings are dependent only eccentrically on verbal tropes. Take the word "colorless," for example. Literally, it means "lacking color," meaning without that quality of light that we interpret as the sensation of color, or something like that. But, metaphorically, it means a number of other things--that something is drab, for example, or unimaginative. So "colorless green ideas" can quite legitimately mean something like "unimaginative and not well thought out ideas about ecological subjects or impacts."

And I'll stay out of the wormhole of strict syllable counting in haiku.

That link is quite interesting in explaining the concept of onji in Japanese and haiku. That's a subject I always find interesting, if sometimes confusing.

Thanks.



And, y'know, the 5-7-5 thing was meant simply to impose a traditional restriction on form.

As a challenge thing, sort of.

 

[cascadiabound]

green trees sway with ideas
fed by colorless fluid
furiously rising to each leaf
readying them for a winter of sleep

58 seconds (by stop watch)

 

[cascadiabound]

haiku

furiously my
ideas trouble my sound sleep
green now colorless

44 seconds by stop watch

 

[Angeline]

Green frogs jump furiously,
but my ideas are lost
in colorless sleep.

39 seconds lol. (Yeah I timed it.)

 

[Angeline]

Colorless rain
awakens the Earth
from Winter's sleep:
green springs furiously
and ideas become flowers


44 seconds

 

[cascadiabound]

Not bad, people. Not bad.

{snip}

Second, and much more complicated: Can you compose a sestina based on these words? (You'd, of course, have to add one more word.)
{snip}

Thanks to all who have contributed so far.

Sixth word added is "dark"
I have never attempted this form before and I did not time my composition, but it was well over an hour.​

She was a poet. Or an artist. Or both. Working furiously.
Fabrics stacked and words jumbled as she avoided sleep
There was nothing in her world that was colorless
Patterns of scarlet and purple, teal and gold and green
Shifting layers of batiks arranging from light to dark
Phrases and images swirl like clouds condensing into ideas

Wide open windows let in new ideas
On the maritime breeze as she paced furiously
From early morning, rarely breaking until way past dark
Her sweet puppy a companion even when fast asleep
Curled among cotton bits as he dreams of green
Fields and swaying trees against a sky nearly colorless

She hummed a tune as she moved, shifting colorless
rulers to true her lines, a cacophony of ideas
slowly coalescing and quieting as olive makes way for verdant green
lilac, plum, lavender and grape compete furiously
finally a pleasing palette emerges, and satisfied she seeks sleep
clicking off each light and padding downstairs in the dark

deadlines plague her slumber as the moon illuminates the dark
she awakes, her vision gone colorless
shaking off nightmares she soon leaves sleep
syntax and rhyme rummage against competing ideas
poems stitched into pale fabric, needle working furiously
line by line invoking advice from a tree, solid and green

Puzzling out composition, eyes seek the horizon green
Islands emerge as the tide recedes the water so dark
Currents racing through the narrows, swirling furiously
creatures of the deep cling below, their eyes colorless
Each image both a distraction and fodder as ideas
push and pull. Turn the music loud. No sleep

her lover tries to quiet her mind. “Don’t forget to sleep”
he says, reminding her that she could use red, instead of green
Phrases rise and fall like prayers, a liturgy of ideas
illuminating the journey to the god of light from the dark
did the Athenians know that poetry must not be colorless?
and did they sweat for love and artistry so furiously?

There had been so many ideas. Now it was time to sleep.
Thoughts raced round and round furiously. Tossing between leaves of green
A lullaby sung tunelessly in the dark until every word is bleached colorless

 

[butters]

to sleep without dreams

how i crave colourless serenity,
where ideas won't churn furiously
till
green-stomached
i vomit kaleidoscopic dreams,
to sleep
perchance to wake refreshed

3 minutes

 

[Tzara]

Sixth word added is "dark"
I have never attempted this form before and I did not time my composition, but it was well over an hour.​

She was a poet. Or an artist. Or both. Working furiously.
Fabrics stacked and words jumbled as she avoided sleep
There was nothing in her world that was colorless
Patterns of scarlet and purple, teal and gold and green
Shifting layers of batiks arranging from light to dark
Phrases and images swirl like clouds condensing into ideas

Wide open windows let in new ideas
On the maritime breeze as she paced furiously
From early morning, rarely breaking until way past dark
Her sweet puppy a companion even when fast asleep
Curled among cotton bits as he dreams of green
Fields and swaying trees against a sky nearly colorless

She hummed a tune as she moved, shifting colorless
rulers to true her lines, a cacophony of ideas slowly
coalescing and quieting as olive makes way for verdant green
lilac, plum, lavender and grape compete furiously
finally a pleasing palette emerges, and satisfied she seeks sleep
clicking off each light and padding downstairs in the dark

deadlines plague her slumber as the moon illuminates the dark
she awakes, her vision gone colorless
shaking off nightmares she soon leaves sleep
syntax and rhyme rummage against competing ideas
poems stitched into pale fabric, needle working furiously
line by line invoking advice from a tree, solid and green

Puzzling out composition, eyes seek the horizon green
Islands emerge as the tide recedes the water so dark
Currents racing through the narrows, swirling furiously
creatures of the deep cling below, their eyes colorless
Each image both a distraction and fodder as ideas
push and pull. Turn the music loud. No sleep

her lover tries to quiet her mind. “Don’t forget to sleep”
he says, reminding her that she could use red, instead of green
Phrases rise and fall like prayers, a liturgy of ideas
illuminating the journey to the god of light from the dark
did the Athenians know that poetry must not be colorless?
and did they sweat for love and artistry so furiously?

There had been so many ideas. Now it was time to sleep.
Thoughts raced round and round furiously. Tossing between leaves of green
A lullaby sung tunelessly in the dark until every word is bleached colorless

Wow.

I mean wow.

Brava, Cassie! That was just awesome.

For a first try, pretty great. (Like GREAT!)

You are now excused from further contributions to this thread because you are making many of the rest of us look like incompetents.

I did say I liked this, didn't I?

 

[Tzara]

Green frogs jump furiously,
but my ideas are lost
in colorless sleep.

39 seconds lol. (Yeah I timed it.)

I think this is our time leader at present. (I tried typing out just Chomsky's sentence timed by stopwatch and ended up around 15 seconds, though I am not a touch typist and have some muscular problems with my fingers. Still, that might be a kind of floor as to how fast one might compose something.)

What I especially like about the poem is that it not only makes sense, it makes poetic sense.

 

[Tzara]

Oh, yeah. More poems by Cassie, Angie, and butters, all interesting, all good.

I've already swooned over Cassie's sestina, so I won't belabor that. I will, though, thank y'all for your clever and excellent poems.



You still have time to post something! You know, just sayin'.

 

[butters]

Wow.

I mean wow.

Brava, Cassie! That was just awesome.

For a first try, pretty great. (Like GREAT!)

You are now excused from further contributions to this thread because you are making many of the rest of us look like incompetents.

I did say I liked this, didn't I?

all of that and then some

 

[UnderYourSpell]

A truncated nonsense Glosa .......... 7 minutes, got more rubbishy as time went on!

Those iridescent frogs that leap
into the pond of colourless green,
do their ideas sleep furiously?
.............................................
I've always wondered, who wouldn't?
if those iridescent frogs that leap,
can learn to walk, much easier
before they dive down deep

into the pond of colourless green
searching relentless for love
instead of leaping and hopping,
or did Darwin give them a shove?

Do their ideas sleep furiously?
put here so I don't have to rhyme
this is all sorts of nonsense, but
it would be because it's all mine!

 

[Mrtenant]

One restless dream born in emerald skies
Still my ideas while waiting, sensing a held breath
Do I dare to sleep amidst the pending fury
When will it fade to the colorlessness of night



5 minutes thereabouts

 

[cascadiabound]

Wow.

I mean wow.

Brava, Cassie! That was just awesome.

For a first try, pretty great. (Like GREAT!)

You are now excused from further contributions to this thread because you are making many of the rest of us look like incompetents.

I did say I liked this, didn't I?

all of that and then some

Blushing furiously with green ideas.

Thank you Tzara for the challenge and the opportunity to try a new form.

 

[Tzara]

OK, time's up (or was up, almost four and a half hours ago). Thirty poems from twelve different authors, by my count. Excellent job, all--thanks for your participation.

I think Angie has the honor for making the next challenge, should she accept it. Her composition time of 39" was the shortest.

 

[Angeline]

OK, time's up (or was up, almost four and a half hours ago). Thirty poems from twelve different authors, by my count. Excellent job, all--thanks for your participation.

I think Angie has the honor for making the next challenge, should she accept it. Her composition time of 39" was the shortest.

Great challenge Tzara (yours always inspire me!). Lots of good poetry and extra kudos to Cassie for writing a sestina and, if I understand correctly, doing so in under two hours! I can't even get them set up with the proper end words for each stanza in that time. Really an excellent first write with this demanding (imho) form.

I'll have something new posted later tonight or tomorrow.