It's the Poem-A-Week Challenge Discussion Thread

[_Land]

A Fourth! I can only imagine what it’s like to wrangle with that many collections.

I probably think too much. Especially when I run, skip rope, swim. Lol: give me a fundamental baseline and I’ll thump my feet, do some speed work and shake my boogey Oogy in a corner all of my own.

Being comparatively Lit new I’m just now experiencing that self same thing. Lit is surprising and I am finding it an unquantifiable space.

Teaching others must be a very rewarding experience? Not in the sense of money. But in the sense of being there in the room as debutant writers emerge. Very special.

Of all the things I enjoy the most it's in just the little bit of encouragement needed to help another soul find their voice. To see them grow and flourish in to who they always were

 

[12oclocktales]

Of all the things I enjoy the most it's in just the little bit of encouragement needed to help another soul find their voice. To see them grow and flourish in to who they always were

There must be great satisfaction in this, to see it happen before your eyes, especially when, to paraphrase, out of a wide field filled with reeds only a few will make a pipe. To help turn that reed into a piper of songs is a wonderful thing.

 

[SmilingLez]

You're responsible for the impact of your words

Yup. The world would be in a better place if people took full responsibility of what came out of their mouths.


YMMV

 

[42BelowsBack]

Blues Chant Hoodoo Revival by Yusef Komunyakaa

This poem is a blues [voodoo velvet] Yes I know it’s Hoodoo not voodoo but it speaks to me with purpose. It says let go, flow, be yourself.

 

[Angeline]

This poem is a blues [voodoo velvet] Yes I know it’s Hoodoo not voodoo but it speaks to me with purpose. It says let go, flow, be yourself.

It's such a powerful poem. Yusef Komunyakaa has published many collections of poetry and won prizes from Pulitzer to every prestigious poetry prize around. And why? His poetry is vivid yes, but it's also honest and accessible. When I read lines like these (excepted from Blues Chant Hoodoo Revival) I get chills!

"your story is
a crippled animal
dragging a steel trap
across desert sand
a bee’s sting inside your heart
& its song of honey
in my groin
a factory of blue jays
in honey locust leaves
wet pages of smoke
like a man
deserting his shadow
in dark woods
the dog that limps away
& rotten fruit on the trees"

 

[Wonderer67]

This poem is a blues [voodoo velvet] Yes I know it’s Hoodoo not voodoo but it speaks to me with purpose. It says let go, flow, be yourself.