flight paths discussion

a space for poems
without homes

its not easy to transcribe poetry on GR, its just not formatted for it.
a lot of my poetry is center margin and gr wont do that nor allow any interesting spacing.
is anyone willing to try?

I'm not very good with formatting but I'll try. Hopefully, someone here knows how--what fun this could be!!

the blank page waits
for the bold

maybe i should amend that to the blank page waits for the creative bold with time and some f[formatting skills

Here is my first poem to be published (today!).

It's not my best but I'm very fond of it.

Here goes (how nervous am I about sharing it?):

Still in Motion
From the bus in the gray rain through the streaked blurred window
In the distance, in the clearing, in the asphalt, in the grass
amongst the green furred trees and fuzzy grass
A young man
Shooting hoops in the rain cold against the warm air.
He throws the ball, its orange merging into his bright blue sweater.
All there is is green and orange and that blue, bluer than the darkened sky.
In the dusky air, ball and body heavy with the rain, he perseveres.
Alone.
So many there beside him, this team of one.
People waiting, elsewhere far away from this concentrated effort.
The noises of the world die down, overcome by the boy
who beats the ball against the asphalt hidden in the grass.

gosh Ellie i was a little nervous too...what if i couldnt relate? But I do! and i love your poem, more with each reading.
especially the haunting lines that start in the distance in the clearing.
very effective

Thank you much for sharing!

Magdelanye wrote: "gosh Ellie i was a little nervous too...what if i couldnt relate? But I do! and i love your poem, more with each reading.
especially the haunting lines that start in the distance in the clearing.
v..."

Thank you Magdelanye: I was so worried sharing it but I also wanted to so... :)

I really like your poem, Ellie, It leaves a beautiful image of a moment of solitude amidst a throng.

I love:
"the noises of the world die down, overcome by the boy
who beats the ball against the asphalt hidden in the grass."

I love that the boy is so engrossed in his world that the real world dies away. Such absorption, such love of the task.

Thank you for sharing this poem, Ellie. It's beautiful.

Petra wrote: "I really like your poem, Ellie, It leaves a beautiful image of a moment of solitude amidst a throng.

I love:
"the noises of the world die down, overcome by the boy
who beats the ball against the ..."

Thanks Petra. :)

http://knopfdoubleday.com/knopf-poetr...

for anyone interested in receiving this feature. the poets featured are mostly modern and often quite wonderful

Heres from a poem called Are You Contemporary from the selected poems of Tim Bowling:

I have decided to do no work
unless i am asked. My work is poems

I love it. It's me next year!

That's beautiful. It's such a concise expression of living to do what one loves.

Ellie and Petra yes
Was specifically thinking of you when posting this. I am on a TB kick and just got hold of In the Suicides Library....

i sent a recommendation to both of you re a new to me poet Tony Hoagland who i just discovered from Jan Rices review. i wanted to copy the two poems she gave but it didnt workn hence the rec

I really like Hoagland.

I'd like to recommend Unaccompanied, poems based on the author's experience traveling thousands of miles alone to join his immigrant parents. Also My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter. These are both books I'm in the middle of and enjoying immensely. Powerful.

I also can't figure out how to post poems here.

Thank you for the rec, Magdelanye. I will be checking out the poetry of Tony Hoagland.

Edited: I just put a hold on the book.

So you know TH Ellie! And Petra where did you find him? Jan Rices reveiw was the first i heard of him and i so loved the two poems made me want more.
My library search turned up nada
The two books you are reading both sound good.Maybe you could send a rec to me....my tbr is about to go thru the roof!

My library has it. It's currently out but I'm next in line. I should have it in about 2-3 weeks.

My library has a couple of his works. I've placed a hold on Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God: Poems since your comment, Magdelanye, made me want to read him again.

I just read Ben Lerner's The Hatred of Poetry which I found very interesting--well-written and often insightful. (I'm glad the library had it though; it was so short I would have hated to pay for it). Thank you for your review Magdelanye--I always find your reviews helpful and this was no exception.

for some time now Ive been wanting to share some poems,
not easy to decide on one. the stuff I have been getting lately is somewhat different than what I was doing before.

Today I decided to just go ahead and post the first poem that I like enough from last years notebook. Aha! I had forgotten about this one which I altered only slightly

anything can be a beginning
anything can prompt
the sudden urgency to capture
the flow of experience in words
emerging from a moment of revelation
expanding an elusive insight
articulating the slippery truth of it
not waiting for the dawn but
relying on it to keep its promise
to release the day with a variation
on the theme of gratitude for all
awakenings life stirring in colour and
the chattering of squirrels and birds.

August 10, 2019

I really like this poem, Magdelanye. It's so zen, trusting and accepting. It leaves one to think about Faith and Belief.

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Magdelanye wrote: "anything can be a beginning
anything can prompt
the sudden urgency to capture
the flow of experience in words
emerging from a moment of revelation
expanding an elusive insight
articulating the slip..."


What a lovely poem, Magdelanye! It captures the need to write and the end gives us the gift of some of the images that drive us to put pen to paper. A very peaceful and inspiring piece. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you Petra and Ellie for your comments. I plan to share more!
Ellie your turn!

thing is, not many of my poems are so peaceful many are angry, despairing and/or confrontational. I spend far too much tiime on reviews when i need to be working on polishing.

They say peace is an impossible dream
who are they to say that?
Peace is possible when we want it enough
our dream is to work together
to dismantle the war machine

we say peace/you say how
we say easy/ just start now
make your own peace
pass it around

we know peace is necessary
if we want the world to heal
from the centuries of violence
that has been the ruin of civilizations
since we began counting time

are we ready to give it a chance?
to vow to do no more harm
to the planet that is home to us all
the people and the animals
the plants the minerals

given what we have learned
surely we can do better
to honour the earth and each other
to work with respect and compassion
to restore the world

we say peace/you say how
we say easy/ just start now
make your own peace
pass it around

Love that! I try to live the last verse. Not easy at times, yet restful in its way.

Thank you, Magdelanye. This is beautiful. You truly are a poet.

So beautiful! You are a gifted poet.

I also will try to make my own peace and pass it around.

so here i am in the wee hours as we move into the new moon, was just given this

the new moon presides
over darkness rich and dense
pulsing with starshine

is that an acceptable haiku?
For some reason (could it be age?) despite my aversion to rigid structure, I am attracted to that form and find myself playing with it. This one came straight at me and needed very littlie tinkering.

I love it. It's beautiful

Natalie Goldberg advocates a little play with the haiku form (I took a workshop with her about haikus)

Also: there are no articles in Japanese so it's easier to follow the form

why am i just stmbling on this now. Ellie! you took a workshop with Natalie!
was this in person?

much better without

new moon presides over
darkness dense rich
pulsing with starshine

Magdelanye, that's a wonderful poem. You have real talent in generating images that comfort. It's almost a hug; it's that peaceful.

gosh Petra Thanks.
Consider yourself hugged!

today I read a review that I loved by a man named Ken Croft, in which he included a chat about rules for poets. I was overtaken by a hilarious urge and whipped out a silly poem which you might find by looking at his review of Faithful and Virtuous Night by Louise Gluck

Reading Karyna MctoGlynn's Hothouse. Maybe I am still too bowled over by Kai Cheng Thom to appreciate her properly, but although I do like a few of the poems, on the whole they feel contrived rather than urgent. So far I like the cover more than the book

I have her Kate Bush on hand and truly hope it will be more inspired.

it's McGlynn actually.
Was it not recommended by Ellie not long ago?

what to do in a power outage? Turn to poetry of course. I actually looked up the review of Ken Croft and found my silly poem that I posted in the comments on his review of Gluck's poem. It made me laugh so I tried to copy it but couldn't.
Also read an unusual kind ofreview of same poem by Steve Godin that was gorgeous.
Now it's finally getting light so at least there's reading but no morning tea or anything electrical.