Pantoum-ming Again

The pantoum-style poem seems to suit me fine...I will eventually want to move on but today will share another pantoum I wrote in response to a workshop assignment.

Each of us thought of  five words that have weight to us. One of mine was "process."  Each participant thought of the first word that came to mind when they heard "process" and I wrote each of their words down. This gave me the following word list, which we were challenged to use in a poem. It's a great exercise and I was fairly pleased with the result. 

Poem extracted from the following word list:   Process, design, progress, mind, journey, maze, time

Too Slow

by Susie Talbot

She tried to pry open a rosebud

To make a flower sooner

Because it takes too much time

Wanted to see the flower

To make a flower sooner

She forced the rosebud’s progress

Wanted to see the flower

The opening process too slow

She forced the rosebud’s progress

To see its lacy design

The opening process too slow

Wanted to rush its journey

To see its lacy design

With more than her mind

Wanted to rush its journey

Tore through its maze of petals

With more than her mind

Because it takes too much time

Tore through its maze of petals

She tried to pry open a rosebud

Okay now.  The next challenge was to turn this poem into free verse rather than a pantoum with the repeating lines.  So this is the result of that.

Free Verse:

Too Slow

by Susie Talbot

She tried to pry open a rosebud

To make a flower sooner

Because it takes too much time
The opening process too slow

Wanted to see the flower

She forced the rosebud’s progress

To see its lacy design

With more than her mind

Wanted to rush its journey

Tore through its maze of petals

She tried to pry open a rosebud

Which one do you like best--the first or the second version?  Thanks for your input.

Best Post Ever.....

Meet Tamara Lowe and hear some relevant rap



Now that's POETRY

What is a poem not?

I like to read and write poetry, but I know a LOT of people that just throw up their hands at the very word---POEM. At our writer's workshop this week, we talked about poetry, what it is and what it's not which must have inspired me enough to write the following poem. I hope it'll help some of you, who find poetry nauseating, to see that it can be fun! 

WHAT IS A POEM NOT?
by me

A poem is not a how-to manual
A poem is not an artificial stance
nor a convoluted puzzle to decipher

A poem is not a rhyme
although it might like to rhyme
A poem is not a recipe guaranteed to delight

A poem is not fraught with ulterior motives
A poem is not mysteriously profound
And those are some things poems are NOT

A poem IS a collage of words
bumped up against one another
some simple words--some absurd

Most words are ones most have heard
A poem is made like a child's bouquet
of random thoughts one's observed

A poem is just what a poem IS
Oh my gosh--this might be one!

Quiltmaker...wish I'd written this

Poem by Luci Shaw:

QUILTMAKER

"I make them warm to keep my family from freezing;

I make them beautiful to keep my heart from breaking."

--From the journal of a prairie woman, 1870

"To keep a husband and five children warm,

she quilts them covers thick as drifts against

the door. Through every fleshy square white threads

needle their almost invisible tracks; her hours

count each small suture that holds together

the raw-cut, uncolored edges of her life.

She pieces each one beautiful, and summer bright

to thaw her frozen soul. Under her fingers

the scraps grow to green birds and purple

improbable leaves; deeper than calico, her mid-winter

mind bursts into flowers. She watches them unfold

between the double stars, the wedding rings."

Quoted from Moving Into Light, Poems by Luci Shaw

HAIKU

Haiku is an interesting poetical form made up of three lines. The first and the last lines have five syllables, the middle line seven syllables.  Here are two Haiku poems I wrote that I thought I'd share with you.

Morning shadows fade

Giving way to light's bright rays

Filling hearts with hope

Your holy precepts

Warm me like liquid letters

Poured into my soul

Have a blessed day!