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Terreson Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Thannks, Kat. I forgot to check the link function. There is another photograph of lynchings I've seen and not in the collection posted. I think I mentioned it in the Discussion II post. In the foreground a young mother sits on a blanket in the grass with her children. She has presented a prepared picnic for the occassion. "Prepared" being the operative word. For me the photo fully points to the social nature of those horrible events. I'm always put in mind of the burnings of witches and heretics, what were known as an auto da fe, or the releasing of the soul, and attended upon by large gatherings. Thus the word.

Tere
Apr/16/2011, 1:03 pm Link to this post Send Email to Terreson   Send PM to Terreson
 
Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Tere,

Yes, I remember you describing that photograph before. Hard to fathom, isn't it?
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


For today's prompt I tweaked an old poem, hoping to make it less sentimental. Here's the prompt I used:

I remember childhood, more or less. It wasn't the least bit sentimental. So why are so many childhood poems sentimental? Write about your childhood but wipe off all that nostalgic gook and get real.

http://www.criticalpoet.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=13410

    Goodwill
(for my stepfather)

Thump-thump.

Pudgy on the back porch
wants to come in
but won't.
Stomach crawls across the concrete.

“What’s wrong with him?”

He shivers and growls,
heaves chunks of raw meat and blood,
snaps at familiar hands.

“Ground glass,” you say,
unlocking the gun cabinet.
“Go upstairs. Now!”

Silence, then a single shot.
The world I knew so little of
became more like the world that was.

*

Yesterday I gave away your things,
all but one flannel shirt, whisper-thin
at the neck and elbows, useless
even to the homeless man

who rumbles by with his cart
on Sunday evenings to fish
what he can, water bottles and soda
cans, from a big green dumpster.


Last edited by Katlin, Apr/17/2011, 11:07 am
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Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


The prompt I am using today:

Happpy Anniversary

For us here in the States, today marks the 150th anniversary of the shelling of Ft. Sumter, which began the American Civil War. So, for today, go pay a visit to wikipedia's page for April 12 here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_12

There, pick an event that happened on this day and write a poem memorializing its anniversary. There's lots to choose from: famous, obscure, significant, or basically pointless. Enjoy!


http://www.criticalpoet.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=13402

Today is April 19th, but I am posting a found poem that the April 12th prompt reminded me I've been wanting to write up for a long time.

April 19th A.D. 1861

Father and mother and brothers

I take this oppertunity to inform you
that I am getting along fine
this morning when I got up
the ground was white with snow
but it soon went off.

war war war war war

war is raging
i have inlisted to go
i am going in a year or to

i have no more time

I cant come home Sunday
but i will come in a wekk

E G Footes
L. J Footes
F. S. Foote
J B Foote
W R Foote

After all
T C Foote

Jackson summit co Ohio Ohio


This is the first letter in a series from the Civil War letters of Thomas C. Foote, 42nd Ohio, Co. F. The letters belong to a friend who is a descendent of the Foote family. She gave the letters to another friend and to myself to research and transcribe.

In the 1860 Census, the page the Foote family is listed on is dated July10th. Thomas C. Foote is listed as being 14 years old. Foote’s family includes his father Ebenezer (46), his mother Lydia (36) and three younger brothers, Frank, James and William (ages 13, 9 and 5).


Last edited by Katlin, Apr/19/2011, 8:07 pm
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Here's the prompt I worked on yesterday:

The Hereafter

Write a poem about what could, by some stretch of the imagination, happen after death. It doesn't matter if it's serious, a spoof, or just a leap into fantasy.


http://www.criticalpoet.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=13437


Twenty Questions

When the Hereafter is here, where will I be?
What will I see? Will I be me?

When the Hereafter is here, will there be a there?
Will you, dearly beloveds, be somewhere, too?

Oh fiddle-dee-dee! Can I think about this tomorrow?
Will there be a tomorrow or only eternity forever&ever&ever?

Will I be in hell, or just so full frontal with the truth
it feels like hell? Or heaven?

Will I get an answer to all of my questions without exception?

What will I lose? What will I gain? What can I keep?

*

My friend Herman is dying. Yes, we are all dying, as they say, but he really is and knows it. On a recent visit, he gave me some books. “Funny story,” he said, “about these books. Many years ago, I was in a used bookstore, the kind that only sells paperbacks. You know, like that place we used to go to—?”

“The Bookworm?”

“That’s right, the Bookworm. And I was looking for a book by Ruth Montgomery, but I couldn’t find it. I was about to leave, and as I was walking down the aisle, all of a sudden a hardcover book fell down off the top shelf and landed at my feet. I picked it up, and it was a book by Ruth Montgomery. I looked up and saw a few more of her books up there. I thought, I guess these are meant for me, and I bought ‘em all.”

I laughed. “Did that happen?”

“Yes, it happened, and now I want you to have them.”

“Are you sure?

“Yes, I’m sure.”

When I got home, I looked more closely at my gifts. Inside one of them, Herman had written: “To my dear friend and a fellow seeker on the path.” I noticed he had embossed them with the seal, “Library of HHB” and written in the date “June 1986.” I randomly opened the inscribed book and began reading:

“We are the cocreators with God of what we find for ourselves here,” he insisted. “Ruth, we want you to wake the people up to the importance of this towering truth. They, with their thoughts, are not only creating the patterns of their future lives, but their own heaven or hell.”

He, it turns out, was Arthur Ford, a friend of Montgomery’s in life and one of her spirit guides after his death. It seems Art “came back” to dictate some top priority information for her book.

Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either, but there you have it.

*

When the Hereafter is here, will I finally learn
the art of letting go? Of love? And forgiveness?

Think twice, I say to myself. Think carefully.

“I’ll meet you there.” Rumi

“Beyond the horizon, across the divide
‘Round about midnight, we’ll be on the same side.” Dylan


Last edited by Katlin, Jun/5/2011, 7:59 am
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Terreson Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Pretty darn good, Kat. A prose poem vilanelle in its sense.

Tere
Apr/19/2011, 7:51 pm Link to this post Send Email to Terreson   Send PM to Terreson
 
Christine98 Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Beautiful.

Chris
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Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Hi you two,

Thank you both. I don't really know what I doing with this new (for me) style of combining poetry and prose. I'm using it because I can say somethings I don't think I could say as well otherwise.
Apr/19/2011, 8:22 pm Link to this post Send Email to Katlin   Send PM to Katlin
 
Terreson Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Run with it, Kat. Think about it later.

Tere
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Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


"Run with it, Kat. Think about it later."

So true, Tere. I found myself trying to edit the latest piece and realized it was too soon and that I was ruining the intial impulse, draining the real engery and emotion right out of the thing, while the ink wasn't even dry so to speak, by trying to neatening stuff up and playing it safe. I ended up putting back in most of the original material. It is rougher, but this is not yet the time for tweaking. I am needing to be more concerned with process than product as this point.

Last edited by Katlin, Apr/20/2011, 3:35 pm
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


For today's post I am using this prompt and revamping an old poem for the occasion:

the remembered never mind

you know who I'm talking about. that guy who's been out of your life forever. the one you've successfully put out of your mind, to the benefit of your sanity.

write a poem about him. or her. or by him. or her.


http://www.criticalpoet.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=13460

Bon Voyage

It was rainy and cool for early June,
and just as unexpectedly there
he was in the meat section
of my local market.

I spied him before he spotted me,
but not before the automatic door
was whooshing shut behind me.

Like someone executing an obligatory
social call, I wheeled my cart up
next to his beside an open freezer.

He talked about his aging
cat, a recent trip to Maine,
and I felt nothing—the cool
largess of emptiness.

If he had been there after, at the
checkout counter, to put an ear
to my breast, he might have

heard a minor ebb and flow, a
little to and fro, in microcosmic
sync, with lulled oceans.
Apr/20/2011, 7:29 pm Link to this post Send Email to Katlin   Send PM to Katlin
 
Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


This is an old poem that I've posted here before, but I'm posting it again because as I was out driving today, thinking, "Grass!" it came back to me.

Happy Birthday

Blindfolded by old
man winter, you stumble
forth, fumbling to pin
the tail on the donkey.
You've been spun
around, but you find
the right place exactly.
Unmasked you'll see
every living thing gift-
wrapped in green.
Apr/20/2011, 7:34 pm Link to this post Send Email to Katlin   Send PM to Katlin
 
Terreson Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


What a good poem, your Bon Voyage. I am curious to know how much of it got reworked as a result of the prompts. Not that it matters, of course. Just curious. Ending is exquisite, Kat. A kind of rhythmic indifference of the universe poised in a very intimate image. That is how I read it.

Not to intrude, but I got one lover in my life whom I've not seen in over 25 years. Some weeks ago her face came to me in a dream. I immediately woke up in shock and panic, eyes wide open. Clearly lacking your sense of rhythmic indifference.

Tere
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Christine98 Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Kat,

I read both of these when you posted them and made a note to return when I had comments that were up to the caliber of these two poems...

Well that hasn't happened yet. This is such fine writing, thanks.

Chris
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libramoon Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


love the birthday gift!
Apr/23/2011, 2:06 pm Link to this post Send Email to libramoon   Send PM to libramoon Blog
 
Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


Thank you all for stopping by and for your kind words. April is over, but I hope to add to this thread from time to time.

I was reading various versions of a poem from the Chinese by Pound, Giles, Waley and Lowell (see: http://isola-di-rifiuti.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-glob.html), and I decided to attempt my own version:


Liu Ch’e

The murmur of her silk dressing gown
is quiet now. Dust coats
the marble walks of the jade pavilion.
In her rooms no footsteps echo.
Summer’s leaves pile up
against the door. Is this it?*
No turning back, love,
no going forward.


*Or: So this is it?

Last edited by Katlin, May/8/2011, 7:55 am
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Christine98 Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo Maybe


This is inspired, Kat. I've read the others and don't think there's a 'jade pavilion' in any of them; it's perfect. Much prefer "Is this it?" to "So this is it?."

"Summer's leaves pile up/against the door..." is simple and strong. Last two lines are devastating.

Chris

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Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


Thanks, Chris. This was fun to do. "Is this it?" it is. emoticon
May/7/2011, 1:26 am Link to this post Send Email to Katlin   Send PM to Katlin
 
Terreson Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


Kat, you got it right. I know the "Classic Anthology as defined by Confucius." Pound's translation. Have read most of it. The elegies, the larger odes, and the smaller odes. You got it. You have the over-arching tone of the collection exactly right. The changing of seasons runs like a leit motif through the collection meant to express what you express well, the pendulum moment. Always the pendulum moment.

I've mentioned this elsewhere. About the Anthology (of 300 poems) Confucius said that it can be summed up in one statement: "Have no twisty thoughts." Perhaps this is what incited you?

Tere
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Terreson Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


Kat, I've posted this elsewhere I think. But here is a gift for you. And for all.

Tere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ob3Z_5lKWo



Last edited by Terreson, May/7/2011, 1:45 pm
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Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


Tere,

"the pendulum moment": I like that phrase. I'm glad you think I captured the proper tone in my translation. My motive of operation was pretty much as Chris indicated: Go for simplicity and clarity.

I enjoyed hearing Foster read "The River-Merchant's Wife." Lovely. Thanks for the link. emoticon

Last edited by Katlin, May/8/2011, 7:59 am
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culdesac101 Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


barging into Kat's NaPoMo


sleeves of a house
long courtyards
leaves hoarse with silk
leaves piled against the doors
but she refuses
to come this spring.

edit

sleeves of a house
long courtyards
leaves hoarse with silk
strain with ears
flat against the doors
this Spring
she refuses to arrive




Last edited by culdesac101, Jun/7/2011, 8:14 pm
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Katlin Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


Hey Arka,

I love what you did with the poem! Your take is clean and original and yet captures the scene so well. Trying your hand at translating is fun, isn't it?
Jun/6/2011, 12:38 pm Link to this post Send Email to Katlin   Send PM to Katlin
 
culdesac101 Profile
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Re: Kat's NaPoMo and Beyond


yes! it was really cool to read the different takes & then jot down the image. emoticon
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