Companion to the Five in Five

[Angeline]

Can I just mutter something in here so I don't lose the thread which I am very apt to do ... blonde you know!

I think that's why El created this thread. So we can come here and mutter.

Glad you joined it. I was getting lonely.

And you go, bogusbrig. I'll cheer you on.

Bogusbrig, bogusbrig! Wooh!

I don't do this for just anyone you know. Dye my hair. Have er um a body transplant....

 

[bogusbrig]

Your body transplant has got my attention Ange.

(ever thought about wearing a shorter shirt?)

 

[Angeline]

Your body transplant has got my attention Ange.

(ever thought about wearing a shorter shirt?)

Honey if that thing were any shorter it would be a belt.

Now that I have your attention you know what you have to do! Yesssss, write a poem. Ugh, so do I and I can't find my muse anywhere. She probably ran away frightened by the pom poms.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

What do you do when you know what you want to say but the words that come out just sound stilted ... if my muse doesnt return you will see what I mean tomorrow!

 

[Angeline]

What do you do when you know what you want to say but the words that come out just sound stilted ... if my muse doesnt return you will see what I mean tomorrow!

I drink coffee and play Solitaire on my computer. If I get really frustrated I read some poetry (I have tons of poetry books in my bedroom, lots that I just brought back on my trip to PA). I was interested to read bijou's muse-seeking exercies in her roll call post. I'll often pull a line from a poem I've read, a line that speaks to me, and try to write from that.

And if all else fails, I drive. Driving always stirs up my muse. God knows why.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I write better at night usually in my head in bed which of course I have completely forgotten by morning! .. yes I should turn on the light and write it down but I don't think my husband would take that very kindly!

 

[Angeline]

I write better at night usually in my head in bed which of course I have completely forgotten by morning! .. yes I should turn on the light and write it down but I don't think my husband would take that very kindly!

I write the most wonderful poems while I drive. They come together seamlessly and when I get home and try to recreate them, the words slip away from me. Bastards.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I used to write when I was walking the dogs and repeat them over and over in my head to remember them .. then I started taking a note book and scribbling away .. folks used to think I was barmy but that's nothing new ..

 

[Eluard]

Hey liar, really liked this one. Some lovely images:

-----


Today trees cast no shadows
more than probable tint,
so softened at the edges
you can't tell it's really there
under a sky of sooted milk.

Today you have no sihlouette
behind backlit curtains,
a Gaussian ghost of shape
that could be flesh and bones
or a reverb not yet faded.

If I reach out,
I just might slide through
the edge of your existance
and caress your heart,

or discover that
you're no longer here.

So I sit,
chained to this chair
by fear of knowing,
waiting for a sun
sharp enough to paint
leaves on the pavement
and outline an answer
on pale curtains.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Will I be lynched if I say that picture looks like the x ray of the inside of my suitcase at the airport?

Question ... If we wanted could we submit these poems in the normal way?

 

[Eluard]

Will I be lynched if I say that picture looks like the x ray of the inside of my suitcase at the airport?

Question ... If we wanted could we submit these poems in the normal way?

You won't be lynched — but airport security might want to take a very close look.

And yes to the second question: there's no reason you can't submit them normally.

 

[Eluard]

A bit of a blurt about these various challenges.

I've been compiling my recent poetry into a second poetry collection (the first was called The Cloud Chamber) and have discovered that, thanks to the various challenges around here, I have around 50 pages of a book, or roughly half a complete book, just from the last few to six months. (Personally I think a poetry book should give people value for money and should try to be around 100 pages, certainly not less than 80, but even that is very much more than they used to be.) All of this is non-erotic poetry — the erotic stuff I have to make into a third volume.

I'm old fashioned about writing — for me it is about making great books, things that people will cherish and want to keep. So to get very close to a second volume in such a short space of time is pretty amazing.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Well done and good luck with that ... do you have a publisher or is this self publishing?

 

[Eluard]

Well done and good luck with that ... do you have a publisher or is this self publishing?

Thanks. The publisher is Dyer's Hand Press.

 

[Sara Crewe]

A bit of a blurt about these various challenges.

I've been compiling my recent poetry into a second poetry collection (the first was called The Cloud Chamber) and have discovered that, thanks to the various challenges around here, I have around 50 pages of a book, or roughly half a complete book, just from the last few to six months. (Personally I think a poetry book should give people value for money and should try to be around 100 pages, certainly not less than 80, but even that is very much more than they used to be.) All of this is non-erotic poetry — the erotic stuff I have to make into a third volume.

I'm old fashioned about writing — for me it is about making great books, things that people will cherish and want to keep. So to get very close to a second volume in such a short space of time is pretty amazing.

Congratulations on the book, Eluard. I hope the rest of it comes together just as quickly.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I found my muse for the next poem on a bottle of squash standing on my kitchen counter !

 

[Angeline]

That was fun!

Five poems are pretty painless. And one was a rewrite, so I have four brand-new poems. And I think I can work with all of them.

Thanks El. Great idea, and a nice alternative to the big 30 extravaganza. I'm still deciding whether I want to begin a new five-pack tomorrow.

 

[Eluard]

Five poems are pretty painless. And one was a rewrite, so I have four brand-new poems. And I think I can work with all of them.

Thanks El. Great idea, and a nice alternative to the big 30 extravaganza. I'm still deciding whether I want to begin a new five-pack tomorrow.

It's nice to see them mount up isn't it!

This is a special way to be afraid
in ripe summer when trees toss
their heads like casual schoolgirls,
then stand still as they have for decades
with the promise of wind, a cool assurance
to the feckless flowers, fruit full on the vines.

The crows jeer no matter the season,
they’ll be fat as plums on the snow
when this very ground is frozen
and the branches thin as whips.

I’ll be at the window. I won’t pretend
to hold sovereignty to the grass or snow:
I belong no more or less than they. My family
of squirrels, of crows, of pine trees, dragonflies
and geraniums, nothing like people,
but I animate you with imagination,
to see an uncle in the shadowed brush,
dream a grandfather watering the garden
of a late afternoon, mopping his head
with a hankerchief and checking the sky.

I’ve been meaning to tell you that the sky
is closer to the ground here, brighter
and the clouds have more dimension.
When the moon rises I wait for the quiet stars
to whisper my name. I gather grandfather’s tears
in the palm of my hand and I fly to stars
and the night birds like a Chagall bride.

Awesome — some incredibly good images here. Just a terrific poem!

 

[Eluard]

Honey if that thing were any shorter it would be a belt.

If that shirt were any smaller it would be a priest's collar.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Five poems are pretty painless. And one was a rewrite, so I have four brand-new poems. And I think I can work with all of them.

Thanks El. Great idea, and a nice alternative to the big 30 extravaganza. I'm still deciding whether I want to begin a new five-pack tomorrow.

I hope you do Angeline or when we finish this challenge we get set something similar because 30 in 30 is far too much for me .. not necessarily the amount but the fact I am not always online enough to post them

 

[Angeline]

I hope you do Angeline or when we finish this challenge we get set something similar because 30 in 30 is far too much for me .. not necessarily the amount but the fact I am not always online enough to post them

Up to a year ago, I was writing between 1-3 poems a day (for the past five years). I rarely missed a day. I got burnt out and needed time to just be quiet for a while. Now I'm starting to write more freely again, but 30 poems still seems too daunting a task to me right now.

 

[Angeline]

It's nice to see them mount up isn't it!



Awesome — some incredibly good images here. Just a terrific poem!

Thank you El. I felt the same about your last poem yesterday. It was quite a challenge to try to match the quality. It took me all day to decide what I wanted to say.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I often have so many ideas wiffling through my mind that I find it hard to pin them down into something constructive. I think joining this community has not only been a big eye opener but has made me knuckle down to committing my thoughts to paper as it were ... but the world outside intrudes and mundane things like doing the ironing have to come first unfortunately although I was scribbling away in the kitchen last night while my husband waited for his dinner .. I just had to get it down there and then!

 

[Angeline]

I often have so many ideas wiffling through my mind that I find it hard to pin them down into something constructive. I think joining this community has not only been a big eye opener but has made me knuckle down to committing my thoughts to paper as it were ... but the world outside intrudes and mundane things like doing the ironing have to come first unfortunately although I was scribbling away in the kitchen last night while my husband waited for his dinner .. I just had to get it down there and then!

That's what I have always loved about this forum: it gives me the discipline I need to write on a regular basis. I get inspired by what other writers are doing here; a lot of what I write here is written in response to something I've just read. And when there are strong writers here--we go up and down with that, but this has been a really good year--it inspires me to write more carefully, that is with more attention to my word choices, line breaks and such.

It makes such a difference in the quality of one's writing to be part of a community of good poets!

 

[Eluard]

This one

The glory of this land clothed
in her multi shades of green,
do you also call her home?
She drowses in the lazy sun
rainbow lit by gentle rain.
Look upon her open pastures
her woodlands and enfolding hills
and know this is my birthright.
This is my land
This is my England.

describes very well how I feel about England. — Coming home soon. —

(Kinda reminds me too of kate Bush's Lioneart, if you know that.)