I'm Back.

At least for now. For NaPoWriMo. Because I miss my old wild writing self!

Stay tuned for all things poetic in the month that bears my name...

Poetry Challenge: Rekindled

NaPoWriMo has been great so far, and it reminded me about my poetry challenge way back when. I need to take it up again, because it gave me the opportunity to really stretch my writing, not to mention to experience fantastic poets I hadn't read before. To recap:

1. Sappho

2. Omar Khayyam

3. Anne Sexton

4. Dorothy Parker

5. Adrienne Rich

I have had a great deal of luck using the Dorothy Parker method of taking a line or two of poetry I like and beginning a poem with it myself. Here are some quotes that have served me well:

Is there anybody going to listen to my story?

-John Lennon, "Girl"

But O, the thorns we stand upon!

-Shakespeare as Florizel, The Winter's Tale

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"

They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm.

- Dorothy Parker, "Fair Weather"

Comment with your favorite quotes; I would love to hear and maybe use them.

Poet #5: Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich: her work is balm to the feminist heart.

"Nothing can be done
but by inches. I write out my life
hour by hour, word by word
gazing into the anger of old women on the bus
numbering the striations
of air inside the ice cube
imagining the existence
of something uncreated
this poem
our lives"

"It is strange to be so many women,
eating and drinking at the same table,
those who bathed their children in the same basin
who kept their secrets from each other
walked the floors of their lives in separate rooms
and flow into history now as the woman of their time
living in the prime of life
as in a city where nothing is forbidden
and nothing permanent."

"I dreamed I called you on the telephone
to say: Be kinder to yourself
but you were sick and would not answer"

Poet #4: Dorothy Parker

I know that was fast but the poetry reading got me in the mood. I went to the library and came home with three poetry books by different authors, so prepare yourselves for a rapid succession of posts pertaining to the Poetry Project :)

Dorothy Parker was fun to read! (It was my first time, except for Resume, which most people know, I think.)

"This is no sea of mine, that humbly laves
Untroubled sands, spread glittering and warm.
I have need of wilder, crueler waves;
They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm."

"And if my heart be scarred and burned,
The safer, I, for all I learned"

"Should they whisper false of you,
Never trouble to deny;
Should the words they say be true,
Weep and storm and swear they lie."

Note: Parker did a cool thing, which was to read some of her favorite poets like ee cummings and T.S. Eliot, then take a line or two from their work and begin her poems with those lines. That is probably something I will experiment with; I invite you poets out there to do the same!

The Emergence of the Poet

I went to another poetry reading last night with my friend who is a poet. I am a writer but I hesitate to refer to myself as a poet, though I do like that term. It describes a lifestyle I want to have, a person I want to be! The truth of the matter, though, is that I write poetry significantly less than I write in other genres, and significantly less than I used to. It's a sad thing.

I am a veritable shrinking violet around other people and it was difficult to get myself to begin reading poetry at these gatherings, but last night, when I had no poems on hand to read, I enjoyed the experience a bit less. That sounds vain but it isn't. It's not like people are trailing me around for my autograph afterwards. I just feel more a part of the community aspect of it when I read. You know... we are all poets here, sipping lattes in dark light, half-outdoors in the night with a small stage and a microphone, sharing our craft. That's what I love about it, and last night I felt more like an outsider.

The only reason I didn't read is because I haven't written anything new! I flipped through my poems and discovered that I had already read the ones I felt were good. There is also that pesky "it's too personal" mantra of mine that prevents me from reading much of the quality work. Alas. My goal now is to write new material and be able to read at the poetry reading in April (next month's is at a venue I don't care for), when my friend will be the featured reader.

Poet #3: Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton was a cool lady. Her poems are a breath of fresh air to a feminist like myself. She took fairy tales - not the Disney versions, but the real dark stuff from Brothers Grimm - and related them to the 20th century.

"Now the runaways would run no more and never
again would their hair be tangled into diamonds,
never again their shoes worn down to a laugh,
never the bed falling down into purgatory
to let them climb in after
with their Lucifer kicking."

"She married the prince
and all went well
except for the fear -
the fear of sleep.

Briar Rose
was an insomniac...
She could not nap
or lie in sleep
without the court chemist
mixing her some knock-out drops
and never in the prince's presence.
If if is to come, she said,
sleep must take me unawares
while I am laughing or dancing
so that I do not know that brutal place
where I lie down with cattle prods,
the hole in my cheek open.
Further, I must not dream
for when I do I see the table set
and a faltering crone at my place,
her eyes burnt by cigarettes
as she eats betrayal like a slice of meat."

I have not written poetry in a long while. I was doing well with and enjoying my little poetry challenge and need to get back on it. I will soon be scouring the shelves of the library to discover who Poet #3 will be :)

In other news, my editor is working over the domestic violence feature. This is a weird process for any writer - it feels like you have given birth to a baby and someone takes her and dyes her hair and changes her clothes and everything - but fortunately, my editor is a really smart, really nice guy. The process is, therefore, going well.

I am also writing an ebook on marketing tips and tricks for writers, so stay tuned for that.

A Poet's Reflections

I had a disturbing experience during my last trip "home." Months before I had thought to myself, "I should try to publish a book of my poetry." It isn't hard these days; even if you cannot find a publisher to work with you, there are countless venues for self-publishing. I cradled the idea close to me and really found solace in it. I told myself that when I visited home, I would pick up my old black and white composition notebook with "April's Poetry" scrawled on the front, and I would choose the best works of my teen and early adult years. Then I could take those back with me, polish them up, and include them with my current stuff.

That is not exactly what happened.

I went home, dug out my notebook and spent an evening reading through my life from ages 15 till about 20. You could see my stages of development scribbled across the book through its contents:

• Love poems to God
• Struggling with God
• Love poems to a boyfriend
• Hate poems to an ex-boyfriend

These are just some examples of the themes I took on at various periods. You know, where my inspiration lied.

I realized that these poems were crummy. I knew that many were crummy but I remembered some of them as being quite good. Sure, I read a few aloud to my sister and we laughed together at the humor laced throughout, but in the end, there was not a single one that I would consider worthy of publication.

Conversely, though I am not happy with many of my poems today, there are also many that I am proud of and would want to publish.

I guess I learned that I have grown as a writer, which is a good thing. I am also glad that I had a medium (such as poetry) to get through the tough adolescent times. It is strange, though, to face the reality that you are a completely different person than you were, even in your writing!

Poet #2: Omar Khayyam

His poetry is quite spiritual and philosophical. It reminds me a bit of Solomon's biblical writings in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes - focusing heavily on the brevity of life and the weight of spiritual matters.

"Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires"

"Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter - and the Bird is on the Wing."

"There was the Door to which I found no Key;
There was the Veil through which I might not see:
Some little talk awhile of ME and THEE
There was - and then no more of THEE and ME."

"And fear not lest Existence closing your
Account, and mine, should know the like no more;
The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd
Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour."

"Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain - This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies."

"Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too."

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it."

Poet #1: Sappho

Her work is outstanding. I have really enjoyed reading it and I have been inspired to write some succinct poems, some of which call out to gods and speak back to myself, in her style. Here are some of my favorite lines of hers:

"Without warning
as a whirlwind
swoops on an oak
Love shakes my heart"

"You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us"

"When they were tired
Night rained her
thick dark sleep
upon their eyes"

At the event the other night, a Creative Writing professor explained to the audience that he tells his students to imitate great poets in order to learn. "If you want to write a song," he said, "you must learn a lot of songs. And if you want to write a poem, you must read a lot of poems."

This gave me an idea for a prompt, for myself and for anyone else who wants it. I think I am going to choose one poet a month, read a ton of their poetry, and try to write in their style. The possibilities are endless -- ee cummings, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, Lucille Clifton, Sylvia Plath, Pablo Neruda, Langston Hughes -- pretty much anyone I admire. And it will definitely help me learn new styles and how to be more flexible in my writing.