I am delighted to present journalist, writer, story-teller Ed Pilolla as our guest contributor on Real Toads today. I am a great admirer of Ed's poetry, and his sense of purpose in getting words to work for him.
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| ed pilolla |
When Kerry asked me to do a word list prompt, I was reminded how I have difficulty writing from prompts. The reason is the pressure I feel to ‘make it work.’ However, my instinctive process of going into my cave alone prevents me from meeting some challenges and overcoming them in work-group settings. So this is my opportunity to be part of a prompt and make it work, and I'm very grateful to Kerry for reaching out.
So since I have difficulty writing off prompts, I’m going to make this a list in which any word can be discarded and not used in a poem. And I’m going to list several favorites of mine because making this process easier will, perhaps, make for an easier time knitting something together. I hope you find some favorites of yours, too.
Honestly, I am using this prompt to get back to writing love poetry because that’s what I like to do. So I built this list thinking about a river’s journey. I don’t think the list means you have to write about a river, but that’s what I’m going to do. A river has a natural narrative. And putting ourselves in a position to be successful writers is important, I believe.
Lastly, I write a free verse style. Anything else intimidates me and I feel like I’m making obvious missteps that other, real poets notice and hold against me. This is probably not true, but I avoid all avenues of anxiety when I write and create. So I stick with paragraph form and look for opportunities in the draft to flesh out theme and polish, shine and rhyme. Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure and honor to be here.
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| Harmony in Blue and Green ~ Natalia Goncharova from Wikipaintings.org (Fair Use) |
River
Ocean
Love
Moon
Stars
Strength
Stream
Crash
Waterfall
Splash
Break
Flow
Murmur
Trenches
Gorges
Downhill
Lakes
Mountaintops
Bay
Jungle
Ponds
If you would like to participate in this prompt, please write a new poem using a minimum of 3 words and add it to the link below.
28 comments:
Ed, so good to see you here. I like your word list and will be back with a poem later today, I hope..
I am a Nature lover and the words are perfect for nature. It will be a fun to write a new poem!!
Well I ended up writing on river.!!
Thankyou Kerry and Ed
I wrote about a river, too. *evil grin*
Great to see you here, Ed, and thanks for the effort and guidance in your challenge. I will see what I can do.
My thanks, once again, to ed for his enthusiastic agreement to be a part of Real Toads today.
nice list, Ed, thank you! perfect.
... 'anything else intimidates me and I feel like I’m making obvious missteps that other, real poets notice and hold against me'
Dear Ed, this is a reoccurring theme with me! Looking forward to your poem.
Thanks for the great prompt Ed...I tried to use the entire list and enjoyed a lot.....
Thank you, Ed. I honestly never would have written most of my poems if it was NOT for word prompts. So, thank you for another poem :)
Ed, I love your list! I can't wait to dive in~ Thank you for sharing and being you~ *smiles*
Two of my favourite words to start the list. Can't go wrong!
Thanks, Ed, this is going to be fun.
K
OK, Ed, I came up with something!! I kind of went with the flow. Smiles.
Once I started with my attempt was a lot of fun :) I don't know abt the finished product ... but loved the challenge of using it all in the piece :)
http://monthofapril2008.blogspot.com/2013/11/mystified-misgivings.html
so cool to be here! can't wait to read everybody's!!
I do love a good prompt.
And an excellent shirt, Ed!
Thank you for sharing your inspired words and relaying a little about yourself, Ed, it's a pleasure to meet you! :)
Eddie! How wonderful! I have restricted computer access right now (a torment!) but will write to this for SURE - even if I have to wait till tomorrow to post it. I will make my visits to all responders as soon as possible, too. Sorry, kids, so far behind it is stressing me out.
Great to see you Ed! Thank you for this great list of words!!
Ed, I picked about, oh, fifteen or so off the list, because the poem was writing itself in my head! Sort of like having a recipe in mind while you're shopping...
So glad to see you in the role, sir. I understand the "free verse" preference well; I rarely employ forms because I end up trying to put two pounds of sausage into a one-pound bag, heh heh.
Poem to follow. Peace, Amy
Thank you Ed! I enjoyed this challenge~
Eddie, your words are golden! Thank you.
went a bit dyslexic on you, ed - hope you don't mind too much ~ M
ed, by the way, about your shirt:
no coke, pepsi
i like working from a prompt and these were great words. I really love the word gorge (as in through a mountain) but just couldn't fit it in.
This was a very moving prompt for me. I'm traveling so I hope I'm not too late.
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