2023 Poem-A-Week Discussion Thread

[Angeline]

Hello Poets and welcome to the discussion thread for the 2023 Poem-A-Week Challenge. Please use this thread for your comments, questions, feedback and general discussion about the challenge. I'm enjoying reading your poems and look forward to some lively discussion as only we can do it!

 

[Wordcascade]

To Tzara….

Google translate on the Russian portion of your latest piece is stunning.

Thanks for the reads so far everyone, can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has to offer

 

[Tzara]

Google translate on the Russian portion of your latest piece is stunning.

It's probably because that Russian excerpt is the first stanza of an early poem by the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Here is an English translation by Andrey Kneller:

My night — I think of you obsessively,​

My day — indifferent: let it be!​

I turned and smiled at my destiny​

That brought me only misery.​

Thanks for your comment. It's appreciated.

 

[Piscator]

Angie's thread definitely working great to see old and new poets doing their bits

 

[Mrtenant]

Angie's thread definitely working great to see old and new poets doing their bits

I agree. The whole forum seems pretty active really. I do like this one a week thread.

 

[Ambient4190]

Thank you Angeline!

Instead of driving like a bat outta hell after work, I slow down. A couple of times a week I wind up in the "slow" lane, no radio, running the latest lines, words of the current week poem I am writing. I love reading everyone's poems. Learning from them all.

 

[Angeline]

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who's joining in the 2023 Poem-a-Week Challenge. I agree it's going well and enlivening the forum. I can't take credit for the idea: that goes to our friend Tzara who originated it years ago. I just revived it this year, hoping to generate some activity here on the PoBo. And boy howdy is it working! I'm so happy to write with y'all and especially excited that new poets are participating.

I'm looking through Tzara's Thread of Forms here, trying to choose one for my entry this week. GP wrote a fine Terza Rima and it has me wanting to play with a form poem myself. And that is what I most love about these group enterprises: the way we inspire each other.

 

[Mrtenant]

Ode to the end of the day

the last ray
bounces off the mountains
splashing blood red
orange and fiery yellow streaks
across the dark green carpet of trees
whilst pale grey rock shines
as if on fire

I love your imagery in this one. Thank you!

 

[Mrtenant]

Week 3 poems 5

Journey by Canoe to the Potlatch (a villanelle)

A loon cries clear across the still
waters of the skin-smooth night-lake
oiled by the moon, it bolsters his will.

The rank smell of the paper-mill
fades as the gentle breezes drift,
and loons cry clear across the still.

The sound of his paddle, a thrill,
the boy looks down at his feet, his gift,
lit by the moon, it bolsters his will.

He speeds up his progress, it’s the chill
sending his thoughts wildly adrift
as the cries come clear across the still

The gift he made with carving skill
is for the potlatch, he must be swift.
Oiled by the moon, it bolsters his will.

The longhouse is near, his spirits spill.
He smiles as he treks, a perfect thrift,
and cries come clear across the still
oiled by the moon, it bolsters his will.

Love the form and imagery. An unusual array of words. Makes me want to do a form also. Thank you.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Love the form and imagery. An unusual array of words. Makes me want to do a form also. Thank you.

Thank you. Give writing a form poem a try, it's an interesting experience. A tip - Rhymezone and Thesaurus can be your friend.

 

[Tzara]

I'm looking through Tzara's Thread of Forms here, trying to choose one for my entry this week. GP wrote a fine Terza Rima and it has me wanting to play with a form poem myself.

You've written some particularly good terzanelles in the past, if memory serves. Just sayin'.

I also want to give a big gold star to GP's two form poems--that terzie's in iambic heptameter if I'm hearing it right! And Remec wrote an especially fine tritina.

Good stuff, folks.

 

[Angeline]

You've written some particularly good terzanelles in the past, if memory serves. Just sayin'.

I also want to give a big gold star to GP's two form poems--that terzie's in iambic heptameter if I'm hearing it right! And Remec wrote an especially fine tritina.

Good stuff, folks.

I came in to post the terzanelle I just wrote (phew, I'm rusty), and saw your suggestion!

 

[Angeline]

Just want to say that I love Moochie's poem "The Downpour." It's an erotic build that is evocative and cohesive with a nice subtle rhyme at the end.

And Moochie just my opinion but I don't think it matters if you wrote it initially in another thread or forum. It's the time frame that matters.

 

[Rockymtnman]

Ode to a glass of bourbon

pale orange hue
alights a passion
on my tongue
residue of ash
hints of things
i dont quite understand
but lovely nonetheless

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I came in to post the terzanelle I just wrote (phew, I'm rusty), and saw your suggestion!

If that's what rust does, I want some. It's beautiful and sad befitting Lady Day.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

You've written some particularly good terzanelles in the past, if memory serves. Just sayin'.

I also want to give a big gold star to GP's two form poems--that terzie's in iambic heptameter if I'm hearing it right! And Remec wrote an especially fine tritina.

Good stuff, folks.

Thank you, Mr. T, and I agree about Remec's tritina

 

[Angeline]

If that's what rust does, I want some. It's beautiful and sad befitting Lady Day.

PoeTess

Thank you. I felt rusty while writing it!

 

[Angeline]

Kudos to Tzara for bringing a new form to the forum. I'll have many opportunities to try it although a) I'm kinda thinking about a double dactyl, but b) I'm also kind of gormless at the moment as I have covid again! And this time I actually feel lousy though my breathing is no worse. Grrr.

 

[Angeline]

I'm really enjoying reading your poems, wordcascade. So glad you're writing here!

 

[Wordcascade]

I'm really enjoying reading your poems, wordcascade. So glad you're writing here!

I must admit I’m glad you’re writing here, rich imagery and vivid details your writing is a treat, in fact it’s been good reading all of the pieces in that thread and over the boards.

I wish I had the patience and talent to write form poetry but it just dances out of my ability to grasp.

I could probably write something but it would be an exercise because I’m sure the writing would be trash at best.

Not that anything I write is better than trash for the most part, but form poetry from me would be extra-trashy? Something like that anyway.

 

[Wordcascade]

It's probably because that Russian excerpt is the first stanza of an early poem by the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Here is an English translation by Andrey Kneller:

My night — I think of you obsessively,​

My day — indifferent: let it be!​

I turned and smiled at my destiny​

That brought me only misery.​

Thanks for your comment. It's appreciated.

Only slightly different to the google version but this piece here is, it has that certain something that hits you right when reading poetry.

I might have to try find the whole write, because I think I need that in my life today

 

[Angeline]

I must admit I’m glad you’re writing here, rich imagery and vivid details your writing is a treat, in fact it’s been good reading all of the pieces in that thread and over the boards.

I wish I had the patience and talent to write form poetry but it just dances out of my ability to grasp.

I could probably write something but it would be an exercise because I’m sure the writing would be trash at best.

Not that anything I write is better than trash for the most part, but form poetry from me would be extra-trashy? Something like that anyway.

Thank you.

Most poets here are not interested in traditional forms. That has always been the case though we've had some excellent practitioners of them over the years. I got into writing them because I think it's good discipline: the limitations of the structures force me to try and find creative solutions if that makes sense. And sometimes I can make the form work for me and my voice overrides the constrictions. Also I'm totally ok with breaking a rule if I think a better poem will result. Not everyone agrees with that lol. We've had some lively debates about it.

 

[Lyricalli]

Kudos to Tzara for bringing a new form to the forum. I'll have many opportunities to try it although a) I'm kinda thinking about a double dactyl, but b) I'm also kind of gormless at the moment as I have covid again! And this time I actually feel lousy though my breathing is no worse. Grrr.

Sorry to hear that it's caught up with you again, and hope that you start feeling better and full of gorm very soon.

 

[Lyricalli]

I am very far behind (Over a week! How'd that happen? Damn time...) and attempting to catch up. There's some good writing going on.

worry and sorry this is my story

I can't specifically point to why, but this one really stayed with me as I continued reading the posts that followed. It created a mood that enveloped me.

Enticement

You do this so well, the gentle eroticism, and then that last stanza disarms and gives you something to stop and ponder. I really like that.

 

[Angeline]

Sorry to hear that it's caught up with you again, and hope that you start feeling better and full of gorm very soon.

Thanks Calli.

I'm slowly improving. I'll get there!

Also it doesn't matter if you're "behind." You're here and writing: that does matter. I always enjoy reading you. I like the conversational quality of your voice. It's comfortable, inviting a confessional sort of intimacy and engages me as a reader.