Pretty much the same. I occasionally scroll thru the headlines. It’s all I want/need.pretty much this
I limit myself to exposure to the politics/news... enough I can see what's happening, but not so much it's overwhelming me. I'm fortunate enough to have the physical outdoors chores this time of year to keep me occupied: the breaking of the soil, the weeding/prepping, planning layout of the veggies, starting off seeds for growing on before planting into the rows—it's calming and keeps me grounded, distracted from the things I cannot change.
If you can't get out much, maybe there's something you can get involved with online to help others... I dunno, dya like knitting or something? There're always kids in need of winter hats or mittens and stuff. Or maybe take on some editorial work; immersing yourself in the work of others means giving your muse a break which just might spark its own resurgence
Thank you, bud!
Thank you, not just for the kind words about me or my poem, but also for the time and care you're putting into the forum. Your interest in everyone's poetry, your questions and feedback are a tonic for this place, especially now when so many of us are struggling with well I'll be polite and call it uncertainty. This forum has always been supportive and welcoming. Maybe it's something about people who value poetry; I don't really know but it's a special little haven here and it's folks like you who make it that way.Hideeho fellow scribes!
Let’s skip the pleasantries and jump right in, shall we?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and I will probably repeat it again and again over the course of this challenge - poetry is therapeutic.
Poetry Is Cleansing Therapy!
But this time, to my very heartened surprise the healing help did not come from written words, but from the poets themselves! A member reached out and asked for help in dealing with a world seemingly trying to reenact the last scene of Thelma and Louise and folks came and offered their time, support, and gracious ideas as solutions. Butters, LustyScribe, wat, and SpermFactory take a bow! I am humbled to be in the presence of those who saw the Bat Signal and acted like heroes. A toast and cheer and a thank you to you all!
Angeline? You’re not just a member - you’re THE member.
None of us would be here now without you.
I wish I, anyone of us, could ease your worries but I think the coming months we all are going to be needing a ‘pick me up’ from one another. Thank you for taking the lead and actually expressing the angst many of the given poems have tried conveying. I say this with no disrespect to those submissions, but for me personally - this challenge can end now. I can’t imagine anything on the poetry side topping what has just transpired on this the discussion side. I am beaming with pride at the enthusiastic support shown. Without betraying anything regarding your personal privacy, do try and let folks know, as best you can, how you’re coping and anytime assistance is needed.
And that’s not just a request for dear Angeline - that’s for everyone!
An open arms welcome for 2 new members taking part in the challenge!
Welcome Lazaran! This member picked up the baton continuing the theme of political poetry. Well done!
Welcome SmallTownKink! You added 3 submissions! This member picked up the baton continuing the trend of haikus with one poem made up entirely of haiku verses.
Take a load off both your feets and sit a spell, whydoncha!*
*(that’s southern for ‘ya done kissed my daughter on the cheek! Ma? Get me my there shotgun! We’s a gonna have us a weddin!’)
Meaning you two can’t leave.
LustyScribe’s Spring Rises and Falls is just a very wonderful little piece deserving of a reread.
SpermFactory? I would advise you to go play the lottery because you are the Daily Double winner this week! I can’t explain the why but this little nugget of a verse from MAKE GREAT AMERICAN CAR SALES AGAIN tickled me:
Let’s go look at my cyber truck
it’s a vibrator, it’s terrific it’s electric.
And what the hell why not, let’s just say you aimed for dark, sarcastic humor and you succeeded in getting a laugh from the whole piece that is State of marriage.
I’ll close with answering the question Angeline asked last week concerning my interpretation of her wonderful piece Hollywood, Florida 1960. I got it wrong. Lol. That’s the simple answer. I’m actually rather terrible at interpreting poetry. Now, lemme explain where I went wrong because there are 2 reasons to that. First, I’m going to blame simple transference. Going to the beach for me has and always will be a spiritual kind of thing. Packing is a big todo! The travel to the beach as well. Though I now am only minutes away from - I wasn’t in my younger years. And stepping my toes in water is like baptism. Tampa, Canaveral, Myrtle Beach… if I’m able to spare just 5 minutes, I make it a point to at least stick my toe anywhere I am that has salt water. And second, in one verse you mentioned the Daily Forward and described how everything felt ‘magical’ - I looked up the Daily Forward and kinda sorta came up with a reference to that being affirmations to get one through the day but I wasn’t exactly sure but then, again blame transferring my emotions, I added that with the ‘magical’ and there you have it - wrong! Lol.
Now, I will kindly hope that you find the therapeutic inspiration to write more pieces that I can totally misinterpret!
A great week of submissions to the challenge everyone! Keep the poetry coming and the thread going strong!
This is so original
Hi sweetheart. Glad to see you're at least still around. I hope you're doing okay. You know where to find me.
) and it basically translates to - Tzara? WWYT!?
I’m humbled and I thank you for the kind words. The amount of respect I have for you is immeasurable - for creating this thread and your poetry. I wish I had known about the previous challenges.Thank you, not just for the kind words about me or my poem, but also for the time and care you're putting into the forum. Your interest in everyone's poetry, your questions and feedback are a tonic for this place, especially now when so many of us are struggling with well I'll be polite and call it uncertainty. This forum has always been supportive and welcoming. Maybe it's something about people who value poetry; I don't really know but it's a special little haven here and it's folks like you who make it that way.
perfect! Could not have said better!I do this too! Although, I must admit that it’s self serving in my case. None of my friends or family that I have shown my work to have desired to read further to where they themselves might get the inside joke. That’s not a sad or tearful admission in my part - I don’t think I would want my mother to come to this particular website to read what I have published regarding the wings of a butterfly under a rainbow. Um, I’m assuming that if your family sees then it is on an actual piece of paper that you crafted? Did anyone pick up on the joke?
Does anyone else ever do that? I know I'm weird lol but I bet others do it too.
. I’ll answer ‘yes’ again to your question and give some more detail. I’ve not written a story for this site in about a year. Although I had known about Lit for years and read some of the stories, I never paid much attention to the comments. And so, when I did start posting stories, I naively went to the LW section. So rattled was I that I decided to make matters even worse by arguing back with members in the comments section (I KNOW!). Of course that was a mistake and after having many of my replies removed - I figured that my best course for revenge is by naming douchey characters in my stories after the members who are bold enough not to state their opinions anonymously. Is that a bad thing? Yeah, I think it’s pretty bad, but hey! Honestly, they’re not after you per se and quickly move on to others within minutes. None have recognized themselves because they don’t care. So, eventually, the lesson I’ve learned is to write for my own enjoyment.
"A Challenge Greeting Card" and "The Poet's Inspiration" were each written just before I posted them. When I'm having difficulty coming up with something to write about, I frequently write some silly metrical/rhyming thing as an exercise. Since I fiddle around with form a lot, it is usually pretty easy for me once I come up with a first line, especially in my favorite form of Onegin Stanza ("The Poet's Inspiration" is in this form—it's kind of like writing a limerick for me).
I had been reading a book about the origins of game theory, specifically about the scenario known as Prisoner's Dilemma (PD). PD is a non-zero sum game where the greatest payoff comes when one party "defects" (i.e. doesn't cooperate with the other player) while the second player does cooperate (i.e. selects the option that gives both players the same, moderate payoff). I was playing with the idea that sexual/love relationships sometimes have qualities that resemble PD, e.g. if A cheats on their relationship with B but B remains constant, A gets to have sex with two people instead of just one, while their partner (B) only has sex with A.
I had been reading about waka (classical Japanese poetry forms; "waka" translates to something like "Japanese poem"). The poems you cite are either adaptations of the classical Japanese tanka form (lines of 5-7-5-7-7 on, with on being roughly equivalent to syllables in English) or sedōka (a older form consisting of two tercets of 5-7-7 on where the second tercet either comments on the first or the two are treated as something like two lovers speaking to each other). The "stanza" breaks (the empty lines) are meant to either separate theme from response or to kind of emulate the kireji or "cutting word" characteristic of haiku which I don't think is a requirement in either tanka or sedōka, but as I said, these are adaptations (corruptions?) of the respective forms. The indentations and italics are there for similar reasons.
English Breakfast or some similar black tea.
It's always nice to be recognized (well, positively recognized), but I don't know that the "E" flags necessarily highlighted the best poems, either for me or for others who received them. I think that's true of recognition at any level—Pulitzer, National Book Award, Nobel Literature Prize.
No.
I'm not sure I have a lot of thoughts about it. I enjoy writing little commentary pieces about poetry, but I'm not sure many other people are interested in that. Which is OK, of course.
Thank you. As I said, it's always nice to have someone say nice things about one's writing.
Now with "musical" accompaniment.
I actually used Brylcreem when I was about 10. Disgusting stuff, but apparently it's still being manufactured.I knew you'd understand.
Also for the record I was *not* in the Kookie fan club. That comb was probably coated with Brylcreem. Yech!
