Greetings to all poets, toads, travellers... Yes, this is Kerry in the garden again, after what seems like weeks adrift on a strange sea. For those who know of my travails, and who sent me so much positive energy, I thank you. Your messages of goodwill and encouragement helped me to keep afloat. The good news is that I am recovering well, though my recuperation is not yet complete.
Enough of me and over to you... As always the platform is an open forum for sharing a poem of your choice. This site is an ethereal place but the people who meet here are flesh, blood and thought. This makes us a community in the very real sense of the word, and I am eternally grateful that I am a part of it.
Welcome to the Weekend Mini Challengewith
Kim from writinginnorthnorfolk.com!
In poetry we use imagery to convey moments, emotions,
objects, animals, people and places. Sometimes we can convey someone’s
personality through place and vice versa – place through our description of a
person. I have two examples to share with you.
The first is a poem by Norman McCaig, entitled ‘Aunt Julia’,
in which the poet’s memories of his aunt become blurred with the place in which
she lived. It can be found by following the link:
The second is ’Island Man’ by Grace Nichols, which uses the
state of waking to convey the confusion of a man who is not where he wants to
be. Here’s a link to an interview that ends with Grace Nichols reading the
poem: https://wn.com/grace_nichols_island_man
Today’s challenge is to write about a place through a person
or a person through a place. Link your new poem to Mr Linky. I look forward meeting your relatives and friends, real and fictional!
For today’s prompt I’ve gathered seven pop culture quotes
that have to do with angels, monsters or both. Your mission is to pick one and
create a poem based on it. Your poem does not have to specifically be about an
angel or a monster, but it must have some relation to at least one of these
quotes. Please be sure to mention the quote that served as your inspiration
somewhere in your post, and as always pay a visit to your fellow poets.
“I’m the thing monsters have nightmares about.” – Buffy the
Vampire Slayer.
“He’s an angel, not a saint.” – Michael
“'Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they
make!” - Dracula
“One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an
angel.” – Doctor Who
“I can spot a
commandment breaker a mile away.” –Dogma
“Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other
lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?” – It’s A
Wonderful Life
Welcome to the Tuesday Platform, your unprompted free-range day for sharing poems in the Imaginary Garden. Please look up from your phone and link up a poem. Then be sure to visit the offerings of our fellow writers.
Norman Rockwell, "Hometown News"
Saturday Evening Post, April 1, 1942
One of the premier responsibilities of the poet is to
provide the tribe with the news. Inquiring minds just gotta know, and I am
tasking you today with that row to hoe.
Of course, poets have shared that responsibility with a number
of other figures over the millennia—sibyls and shamans, heralds and explorers, ink-stained
wretches and digital media producers. We are never alone in our recitations of the news.
Humans have always needed information. Our faculty for
speech developed around that need. Advance word of a raiding tribe could mean
the difference between life or death. Travelers--be they roving hunters or
traders, soldiers or monks—were carriers of information. Eventually it was the novelty of that
information which became especially prized. The English word "news" was
developed in the 14th century; The
Canterbury Tales is basically a chatty pilgrimage for news junkies.
As the Roman Empire declined in Europe, runners carried the
news over long distances. The letter was a precious news commodity, and postal
services developed to spread information for merchants and aristocrats. In 1558
the first hand-printed newsletter was distributed in Venice containing
political, economic and military news, and the idea spread quickly to other Italian
cities. About the same time the printing press was invented, and it wasn't long
before printed newspapers began to circulate throughout Europe.
Although there was more of it now, the news was slow traveling
about. By the time distant news got into the newspaper, it was history. It
wasn't until the development of the telegraph in the 19th century that news
could travel great distances with speed. Newspapers were quick to pick up on
the innovation, and soon their pages were spiced with disaster and wars and
murders most foul. Telegraph style" news was succinct and used the
inverted pyramid—facts first, details below the fold.
The cycle of innovations to come meant that news was always
finding a new medium. Radio news came in 1922, and by 1939 nearly 70 percent of
Americans said their first news preference was radio. (What flat rag could
compare to the voice of Edward R. Murrow on the roof of the BBC in London,
offering live comment on the Battle of Britain?) Then came TV news in the '50s,
24-hour cable news in the '80s. Finally came the internet and the rest, well,
was the news whirlwind we live in. The news cycle is now fast-charging up-spiral,
cellphones incessantly a-beep with alerts.
In the effort to attract viewers (and advertisers), news became
entertainment. And nothing, as it turns out, is more entertaining than
political blood sport. News has become loud with the roar of the Coliseum. (One of the titans of this sort of news died this week; he was eulogized by one
media critic thus: "We are a hate-filled, paranoid, untrusting,
book-dumb and bilious people whose chief source of recreation is slinging
insults and threats at each other online, and we're that way in large part
because of the hyper-divisive media environment (this media figure) discovered."
(Suggested epitaph: He screwed everything
that was fair and balanced.)
The amount of news we are now confronted with is
immense.In 2011, information scientists
deduced that Americans took in five times as much information every day as they
did in 1986‚the equivalent of 175 newspapers (See Daniel Levitin, The Organized Mind). And that was before
the advent of social media. (In a 2016
Pew Research poll, 44 percent of Americans say they get their news from
Facebook.) Yet the information glut is
far more from other fields of entertainment, like streaming movies, gaming and porn.
One criticism of this glut is that the more we know, the
less we do. This was argued by Ned Postman in his 1984 book Amusing Ourselves To Death, a diatribe
against the killing effect of TV entertainment culture on public discourse. (It
is frighteningly prescient of our Internet age, as Megan Garber recently
illustrated in The
Atlantic.) In an news-saturated universe, “most of (it) is inert,
consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead
to any meaningful action.” “We have here a great loop of impotence: The news
elicits from you a variety of opinions about which you can do nothing except to
offer them as more news, about which you can do nothing.”
In the Internet age, there has also been a devaluing of the
truth in news as consumers of news have infinite choice in their sources, many
of which prize attention over reality.Very gripping report on the alt-right and related online hate groups
from Data & Society titled “Media
Manipulation and Disinformation Online.”(The worst bit of news there is that a growing
sub-tribe mixes real hate with just-kidding-irony so that there is no way to
know whether an utterance is odious or offensively tedious.)
More knowledge about the world is shrinking our empathy for
it. This was demonstratedina 2007 study
of online dating where participants were given more and less information about
their prospective partners. Ambiguity was the clear winner. The where the
researchers concluded, "Although people believe that knowing leads to
liking, knowing more means liking less." Worse for all of us, the more our
tribe thinks they know about each other, the sharper our sense of difference,
the easier it attach to filter bubbles where everyone seems the same.
So what are we poets supposed do with the news? What makes our vocation for it unique? (Breathe
some relief that I am finally getting to the point of today’s challenge.)
Theatrical poster for the film noir thriller
"I Cover Big Town" (1947)
For one thing, most of poetry's news comes from the heart, a
place that is too serious for idle entertainment and far too deadly earnest to waste
energy on fake news. And although a poem can be elaborately tuned, poetry
remains naked communication— simple, honest and direct. Poetry has few ulterior
motivations. It sells nothing and is paid less. Then there is the sense of what
the novelist E.L. Doctorow called bearing witness to a magnitude. Our poems are
the Rorschach prints of our age. We write the news about the news, in synesthesiac
detail. Finally, there is great economy in the news brought by poetry. News is
a gift brought back from the Otherworld, it is the knowledge that is hard to
attain. This is news the world can use.
So let’s write about the news. What is the news that poetry
brings to the world? When did some news suddenly change your world, and
how?What is it like to live in a
news-saturated world? How is our sense of reality changing with the silos that
have formed with such different ways of seeing things? How to bridge that gap
between knowledge and action? And what about the soul’s, the heart’s news? Do
things we learn from inner sources differ than news of the world? Is there such
a thing as a glut of soul news? What about news we get from afar – the
Otherworld, the hearts of our beloveds, the dead? And in this time when
national news is breaking by the seeming hour, what is the news of the tribe’s
enduring and seasoning and becoming?
Be fleet and supple as our tuletary news god Hermes, god of
wit, schemes and secret intelligence, of cunning and roads and dreams. What are
our invisible and eternal wires trilling?
Write about that news in a poem and link to it here. Then go
witness the news of your fellow contributors.
Happy Thursday everyone. I am intrigued by Mixed Media Art. Mixed media is a term used to describe artworks composed from a combination of different media or materials.
It is a fascinating process and there are so many different forms of it.
Image: Photobucket
Actually as poets, writers, we really do the same thing only our art form is words. We pull from memories, surroundings, music, people, etc, and shape them into poetry.
For today's challenge I want you to write a poem from
your immediate surroundings. For example where I am sitting there is a
vase of flowers, silver thermos, a mailbox nameplate from my
father's mailbox, a window, a rather sickly violet, books, a clock, a tape dispenser, the whir of an air conditioner. I could go
on and on. Your poem could be a combination of what you see, hear, taste, feel, just pull from the spot where you are writing.
Thirst, I can drink from silver.
It is a thermos as close as my fingertips,
but neglect hasn't brought rain
to a parched violet five steps from my chair.
As always write a new poem for the challenge, add it to Mr. Linky and then visit your fellow poets to read their poems.
Good Tuesday morning, poets and poetry lovers. This video gave me a serious case of the goosebumps. Click and be inspired!
Please link up and share a poem with us, and visit to read the writing of others. Have a great week, everyone. Hope you all have the chance to slow down and savor some poetry.
I was leafing through The
Book of Imaginary Beings, by Jorge Luis Borges and Margaret Guerrero, when a question danced into my
mind: what sort of prejudice and discrimination might mythical creatures (like
the Double, Doppelgänger, or other I) encounter, if they were citizens of
today’s society? Would Satyrs be banished from polite company? Would Brownies be expected to work in sanitation, housekeeping, farming? I wonder, wonder, wonder…
…so, my beloved Toads, for today’s challenge, I invite you
to write a 3-stanza poem or a very short story (313
words or fewer) that explores prejudice from the point of view of a
mythical creature who is part of our modern world.
Follow this LINK, for a list of imaginary beings from
Borges’ book. Feel free to choose any mythological creature you’ve ever read
about or imagined. But please, add a note at the end of your contribution, telling us a bit about the creature’s myth.
“The Double”, in The Book of Imaginary Beings,
written by Borges and Guerrero,
translated by Andrew Hurley, illustrated by Peter Sis
Feed
the direct link to your new poem or story to Mr. Linky.
Say
hello to the mythical creatures poetized by your fellow Toads.
And while you’re there, do your best to have a blast.
Greetings Garden Dwellers and welcome to the Out of Standard, where I set before you a challenge to defy the conventions of a particular theme and find new places in the everyday.
Photo finish
For today’s prompt, I am going to provide you with images, and you get to write a poem around them.
But
This wouldn’t be the out of standard without a teeny, tiny twist. Under each photo is an phrase that doesn’t exactly match the photo. Your challenge is to write a poem inspired by the photo, while using the seemingly nonsensical words.
The photos are mine, and you have my permission to repost them at your blog (if you are into that sort of thing).
Keep in mind
Like every challenge, your poem must by newly written and not one which you have previously written which conveniently fits the theme.
That's it. The platform is yours. The mic is warm.
So go now, my muddy buddies, and bring us back something shiny and new.
It’s Tuesday! C’mon in, the platform is yours. We Toads invite you to share your poetry with us.
Long or short, old or new, it’s up to you. Remember that links in the Garden do not expire, so feel free to link up on Wednesday or later in the week. And please do take some time during the week to read the work of other participants. We all value feedback on our work from other writers; it is how our writing takes root and grow.
(All photos by Marian Kent, rights reserved)
So, bring us your words! We look forward to reading your poems.
This weekend we revisit archived challenges of the Imaginary Garden. This affords us the opportunity to catch up on a recent prompt we may have missed (especially from the wealth of inspirational April prompts) or allows us to explore the side bar (2011 - 2017).
Alternatively, select a prompt from the ones I have highlighted below.
I have included a Flash 55 for those who like to write to that prompt on the first weekend of the month - naturally this is an open invitation to write an unprompted 55 - worder.
Paul Whitener (1911-1959) The Sycamore Tree, late 1940's, Oil on canvas
This is an incomplete painting - which I find intriguing. This tree was near Charlotte, NC.
Welcome to Artistic Interpretations! I am often excited and and often anticipate for months a visit to well known museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but I recently visited The Hickory Museum of Art, a small town in North Carolina not far from where I live, and was reminded what a joy it is to include these gems on my calendar as well.
Hickory has a beautiful museum that fosters and preserves American art. The Hickory Museum of Art currently has approximately 1,500 art object in the collection. The day I visited we viewed Paul Whitener's landscape paintings, which feature scenes from my beloved mountains. He was the visionary for the museum and was the Museum Director since 1944 and held that position for fifteen years.
Small museums really are gems of local talent and creativity. My local poetry group was eager to see the poetry of our friend, Beverly, who participated in "The Art of Poetry". This ekphrastic walking tour was in honor of Woman's History Month and the main focus of the tour and poems was WOMAN MADE: Women Artists from the Hickory of Art Collection. The rules were simple: Go to the exhibit and write poems about the works on display. I have selected three of my favorite art works from this exhibit and you will find them beneath Paul Whitener's paintings.
Lastly, I have selected three intriguing art pieces from the local public schools end of year celebration of children's art work displayed at their museum. I have not included the student's names but I believe all are high school age.
The challenge today is simple. I hope you can find something in one (or more) of these images and be inspired to write a new poem. Link to Mr. Linky below and be sure to visit and enjoy all the participant's poetic endeavors. I look forward to your artistic interpretation.
Photography was permitted in the museum and these are my photos which I offer for your use. If you click on the image, it should enlarge. Please give the artist recognition if I have provided their names. Thank you.
Paul Whitener (1911-1959) Blue Ridge Mountains @1950, Watercolor
Paul Whitener (1911-1959) Unfinished Landscape, @1950, Oil
Paul's paintings were started with an underpainting of warm or cool oil paint thinned with turpentine. Paul used both rose and brown pigment for the underpainting in the canvas above. The contrasting greens in the landscape will be made more vibrant by these warm tones which will peep through the final applications of paint...
I find it intriguing in this unfinished state.
Paul Whitener (1911-1959) Big Bluff of Humpback Mountain, 1955, Oil
Paul Whitener (1911-1959) Snow, 1951, Oil on Canvas
THE ART OF POETRY:
Agnes Millen Richmond (1870-1964) Victoria Louise, 1955, Oil
Peggy Vierra Link (1923-2004) Wash Day, 2009, Oil
Jane Friedlicher (1924-2014) Landscape, 1984, Lithograph on Paper
Happy First Tuesday in May, Dear Toads! And welcome to The Tuesday Platform, your unprompted, free-range day of the week here in the Garden. Tuesday rules are so simple: Share and share alike, i.e. share your poem, read the poems of others, and share your thoughts. Maybe you are feeling worn out from Poetry Month. Or maybe you are feeling inspired! Either way, feel free to lie on the floor for a spell. Seems like it could only be good for us. If you have grown accustomed to daily prompting and need a boost, try this: FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE
