COVID-19 RESOURCES
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

2013 Poem a week comment thread

Tzara said:
The intent of the challenge was to encourage writing throughout the year, not necessarily new writing (I think most of us agree that the real writing is in the editing), so feel free to revise poems as part of the challenge. If you want/need to spend 52 weeks editing a single poem, I'm perfectly OK with that.

I would also open it to things other than poems. Flash fiction, pretty obviously, but even notebook entries, or random thoughts. Again, the point is to try to think about poetry and produce something each week—the point is to encourage writing as a habit, not just a "occasionally, I throw off a couple poems because I was feeling poetic" kind of thing. Poetry is a craft, and to excel at a craft takes a lot of practice.

And, yeah, we all go on vacation, get sick, have relatives descend on us for a week, so if you miss a week or two, don't sweat it. The main intent is that we try to do something poetic with some degree of frequency.

And Tessie, if it's bad, that's OK. Most of what all of us write is bad, at least the first time around.

But then one of Tzara's Principles of Poetry (not to be confused with the Fool's Rules) is Do not be afraid to be bad.

I think I've probably been pretty bad in every poem so far this year, but I've been both stressed and busy on other things. I hope, though, I've been cheerfully bad.

And that counts for something.
Click to expand...


I know I prolly should have pushed myself a bit more and came up with something...anything...each week. But now that I have read this post, I think I will begin that pushing after all.

:cool:
 
Oops!

Tristesse2 said:
Ta very much 'arry. :rose:
Click to expand...
..
Apologies... I was refering to Angelines new piece 'Trickeration' You will find my comment fits that one quite well, whereas yours is more honey caked. Please forgive my dottering.
 
HarryHill said:
..
Apologies... I was refering to Angelines new piece 'Trickeration' You will find my comment fits that one quite well, whereas yours is more honey caked. Please forgive my dottering.
Click to expand...

Thanks Harry! (Even if I did pilfer my title from Duke Ellington, but it seemed to fit the concept.)
 
HarryHill said:
..
Apologies... I was refering to Angelines new piece 'Trickeration' You will find my comment fits that one quite well, whereas yours is more honey caked. Please forgive my dottering.
Click to expand...

I did wonder about thd bread and butter reference
 
Tristesse2 said:
I did wonder about thd bread and butter reference
Click to expand...

Actually I did too but I love crusty bread and salty butter (which is so a Jersey breakfast thing, oddly enough), so it's all good.

You better submit that Biographer poem to a journal. It's a crime against poetry not to! :kiss:
 
Remec said:
I know I prolly should have pushed myself a bit more and came up with something...anything...each week. But now that I have read this post, I think I will begin that pushing after all.

:cool:
Click to expand...
...
Thought your poem in the challenge was quite good. Waiting to see more.
 
12 Bar Blues

I really liked this by Angeline, the way it all came together at the end, the surprise that left me saying to myself, "Why, of course."
 
greenmountaineer said:
I really liked this by Angeline, the way it all came together at the end, the surprise that left me saying to myself, "Why, of course."
Click to expand...

Thanks GM. I'm an admirer of the poems you're writing in that thread. The last two, especially, kinda blew me away.

On another note, Tristesse's new one is terrific: smart and witty and so well put together.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Ange but it pales in the shadow of yours. My mind spins at the talent this thread has spun out. So many lovely works. Every week I want to gush at what appears. Consider this a cluster-gush. :D
 
Tristesse2 said:
Thanks Ange but it pales in the shadow of yours. My mind spins at the talent this thread has spun out. So many lovely works. Every week I want to gush at what appears. Consider this a cluster-gush. :D
Click to expand...

Eve would definitely approve of cluster-gushing. For some reason the term made me think of her lol. Sounds like a challenge title. :D
 
Peoples, if you haven't visited the one-a-week thread recently go - NOW - to read Angelina's latest there.
 
Yes, go, go, go!

2013 challenge is on fire. The best ever... :) Bogus, I gotta tell you, Alien Nation is out of this world.
 
Tristesse2 said:
Peoples, if you haven't visited the one-a-week thread recently go - NOW - to read Angelina's latest there.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tess. :heart:

I can't listen to/read/watch this news from Boston today without feeling stirred up in my own memories from 2001.

And the thread is very inspiring. I think we're all good for each others' muses.
 
HarryHill said:
2013 challenge is on fire. The best ever... :) Bogus, I gotta tell you, Alien Nation is out of this world.
Click to expand...

I'll second that. Alien Nation is excellent. Also, Bogus wins the two-poems-in-one-day award (which I just made up, but still...)

Authentic+Poetry+Award+Round+2.png
 
Listen. I'm probably going to embarrass the bloody hell out of her, but I have to comment on the last stanza of Angeline's "12 Bar Blues" in the 2013 Challenge thread:

Listen.
I've seen the elephant:
not the trunk or tail, neither
tusk squat feet nor leathery
hide, but the whole mother
thundering thing and it is
bloody hell.


The enjambment is artful. I also liked the "whole/mother thundering thing," because it's such rich word play, not only with "mother/thundering," but I'd expect an alcoholic to call his (or her) disease a "thing," mysterious as it is. I spent a career working with criminals who would say just that, except "mother/thundering," of course, would be said differently.

At a more intuitive level (which is my way if saying I don't know why) I also like the combination of masculine and feminine line endings.
 
greenmountaineer said:
Listen. I'm probably going to embarrass the bloody hell out of her, but I have to comment on the last stanza of Angeline's "12 Bar Blues" in the 2013 Challenge thread:

Listen.
I've seen the elephant:
not the trunk or tail, neither
tusk squat feet nor leathery
hide, but the whole mother
thundering thing and it is
bloody hell.


The enjambment is artful. I also liked the "whole/mother thundering thing," because it's such rich word play, not only with "mother/thundering," but I'd expect an alcoholic to call his (or her) disease a "thing," mysterious as it is. I spent a career working with criminals who would say just that, except "mother/thundering," of course, would be said differently.

At a more intuitive level (which is my way if saying I don't know why) I also like the combination of masculine and feminine line endings.
Click to expand...

Well yes, you sort of did but who doesn't love feedback? :eek:

I'd been editing this book, GM, on meditation and consciousness. It used the metaphor of the blind men and the camel to describe partial awareness, awareness from pieces and small perspectives. I changed it to an elephant in my poem (I've heard the story that way, too). And I originally did have "mother fucking thing" but hated it. It sounded too easy to me. And then I thought that "thundering" works because it's an association with a sound that elephants do make and it's a big overwhelming sound. It seemed to fit. The MF endings were totally unconscious.

Thank you so much for the extensive feedback. It's good to hear when something works (and when it doesn't, it helps to know that, too). :rose:
 
Last edited:
Tristesse's Boston Marathon Aftermath is powerful writing. The ending, especially, is really moving.

Tzara, you are not only an amazing poet, but your thread is really inspiring me.

:rose:s all around.
 
Tzara, I really like this poem. It's one of those poems where the voice is so distinct, I feel like I'm sitting (on the next bar stool maybe) and hearing you say it.
 
Angeline said:
Tzara, I really like this poem. It's one of those poems where the voice is so distinct, I feel like I'm sitting (on the next bar stool maybe) and hearing you say it.
Click to expand...
Thank you, of course, Angie, but I'm curious why you say that. The poem is, in my opinion, trash. Just me writing something to satisfy the challenge requirement.

I've been preoccupied all year, taking courses in other, or similar, things: film history, creative writing. I've been trying to write fiction the last few weeks. Boy, is that a train wreck.

I might be better for a bit because we're on the poetry segment now. Or I might be worse. Writing for class requirements is not something that often inspires good poetry.

My suggestion is y'all read greenmountaineer and Ange and Tess and bogus and Harry and Desejo, wherever she's gone, for the next several weeks. They all actually do know what they're doing.

Me? I'm cadging for tips in a parking lot.

No sir, no, I did not scuff your fender.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Angeline
February 2024 Poetry Challenge B: Write An Acrostic Poem
2
Replies
42
Views
1K
Ashesh9
A
Tzara
January '24 Poetry Challenge B: Write an Imagist Poem
2
Replies
36
Views
1K
42Below
42Below
Angeline
  • Sticky
2024 Poetry Challenge Leader Sign-Up
Replies
21
Views
810
HarryHill
HarryHill
Angeline
  • Locked
2024 Poetry Challenges Discussion
2
Replies
29
Views
956
Tzara
Tzara
Angeline
2023 Poem-A-Week Discussion Thread
5 6 7
Replies
164
Views
5K
Angeline
Angeline
Back
Top