Poetry To The Third Power

Greetings from the land of exile, toads and April poetry participants, hedgewitch here. I am currently engaged in some issues that are keeping me from writing regularly, so this year  I am not doing a poem a day during this month.  However, I am popping in today to hopefully give some inspiration to those who are. As always, feel free to scroll down to the section "Particulars of The Challenge" at the bottom if you find my tendency to babble on about things is getting too overwhelming.

~*~

Today on the third Sunday of April, I'd like you to consider the possibilities of the number three.

There are all kinds of literary references to this potent number, from  the three-part riddle of the sphinx to Shakespeare's  three weird sisters, to trilogies like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

There are also plenty of examples of the number three in myth and religions:  the Three Norns who care for the World Tree and weave the tapestry of men's fates, The Three Graces, the Christian Holy Trinity as well as various other triune deities and Triple Goddesses.

Norns Weaving, illus. by Arthur Rackham

Detail, Three Graces, from Primavera by Sandro Botticelli

Triple formed image of the goddess Hecate

One could also explore the significance of the number three in the Tarot or numerology.

3 of Swords, 1919 Rider-Waite Tarot deck

Particulars of the Challenge:

The idea of three can appear in any form and in any association in your poem: three objects, as in the floating heads shown in the painting by Odilon Redon below, three places, events, people, states of mind, directions, colors, or whatever, as long as you incorporate the number as a meaningful element of your piece.

The Sleep of Caliban, by Odilon Redon

Alternatively, for those who like to work in that style, you could also employ one  of the many  poetic forms which utilize the concept of three--like the tercet, the triolet, the terza rima, or perhaps the sevenling, which uses groups of three in specific relationships. Kerry has also done a mini-challenge which contains more information about three line forms.

However you want to explore poetry to the third power, please feel free to do so. Then link up below and give your fellow participants some visiting and commenting  love.

All images here are in the public domain, so feel free to borrow them if you'd like, with proper attribution.

Flash 55 Plus

Greetings, denizens of the Garden, hedgewitch here standing in for Kerry, who has been dragged away by the tedious demands of the real world and nasty things like employment. I will do my best in her place to host this monthly event, where the rules are short and sweet:
Write exactly 55 words--no more, no less--of prose, poetry or microfiction  on the topic of your choice, and link it to this challenge.






PLUS!

Public domain

To make things more interesting, as always there is an optional plus to the prompt for those who want additional challenge or guidance, and for this month of the winter solstice, it comes from the seasonal theme of a traditional English carol called The Holly and The Ivy. (Though this song is about as Christian as you can get, for some reason it always reminds me of Druids.)

So, using the emphasis of the carol on the two plants, and on pairings, in your 55 you must explore, contrast or complement  the idea of two: two colors, two symbols, two plants, two animals, two events, two people--well, you see where I'm going here, two of anything--or you can employ various pairings of elements as the carol does.

I want to emphasize, the Plus! part of the challenge is optional, and your piece does NOT have to be in any way about the holiday or season, but it can be if you wish.

Here is a link to the full text of the carol: The Holly and The Ivy

That's it, toadlings. Have at it, link up the results below, and don't forget to hop by your fellow toads' lilypads. I look forward to seeing double and hearing 'sweet singing in the choir.' And as always, fond memories and gratitude to the G-Man, who hosted this meme for so many years with grace and incomparable humor. He is missed.

(NON-) Fireblossom Friday: Finding the Right Tone

Finding The Right Tone

Greetings, toads and followers of the imagination's lily pond, hedgewitch here. This is normally Fireblossom Friday, but our Fireblossom has been momentarily dampened by a cruel dysfunctional modem, and has only the very spottiest of internet connections, so I am standing in as best I can.

The other day by pure random chance, I stumbled upon the picture above-- Collins Street, evening (Collins Street at night), 1931. by Clarice Beckett. (Public domain. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia. Image. ~via wikimedia commons )

 It is an example of an imaginative, innovative and at the time quite controversial school of art called Australian Tonalism, related to the American art style of Tonalism, that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

According to the National Gallery of Art of Australia:

" Tonalism is fundamentally different [from the traditional, craft-driven  schools of tonal painting practiced by Rembrandt, etc] and is best understood as a painting system. It involves no under drawing and is based on the rapid and direct recording of tonal impressions (generalized massed areas of light and dark) onto the canvas in the order the impressions meet the eye of the artist. Its intention is to create an exact illusion of nature. In this way, it is a spontaneous, ‘perceptual’ and responsive form of painting.."~© National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

The idea of trying to capture something in this way seemed to me very similar to what we do when we write spontaneously, trying to get words on paper as quickly as we can to nail down some image or idea. So, today, toads, your challenge is to do that. 

Challenge 

 

There are two ways to travel with this challenge. The first is as a pure writing exercise. Try to create a poem, prose poem or piece of microfiction (less than 150 words) with 'no under drawing,' by taking an idea, a place, a person, an event or a mood, and quickly fleshing out a portrait of it in a blur of words. Use language to mass light and dark verbal 'tones' and build up your poem in dashes of description and image. The end result should be something immediate but  'misty' which gets its effect primarily through visualization.

However, I want this challenge to be as broad as possible, and to fit everyone comfortably, so the second approach is more general. If the above concept doesn't spark a resonance, please feel free to just explore the paintings in this school and allow them  to inspire you in any way, whether you create 'an exact illusion of nature,'  or something more idiosyncratic that is based on the thoughts or  moods these paintings evoke. This challenge is meant to be helpful to the writing process, not intimidating or limiting, so have at it in the way that pleases you the most.

Here are a few more paintings  and several quotes as well to help you along your way. All paintings below are in the public domain, so feel free to reproduce them, with the usual attributions.
 

Nocturne in Black and Gold, James McNeill Whistler, wikimedia commons

"[Whistler].. was an American-born, British-based artist active during the American Gilded Age. He was averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake"...Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony."~wikipedia

 

Moonrise, Beaumarais, by Clarice Beckett

"Clarice Beckett’s paintings have been compared to W.B. Yeats’ statement that his poems were made out of a mouthful of air.…" (© National Gallery of Australia, Canberra)

Autumn Morning, by Clarice Beckett

"Australian Tonalism is characterised by a particular "misty" or atmospheric quality created by the [Max] Meldrum painting method of building "tone on tone". Tonalism developed from Meldrum's "Scientific theory of Impressions"; claiming that social decadence had given artists an exaggerated interest in colour and, to their detriment, [they] were paying less attention to tone and proportion. Art, he said, should be a pure science based on optical analysis; its sole purpose being to place on the canvas the first ordered tonal impressions that the eye received...."~wikipedia

 

Evening on the Hudson, by Leon Dabo ~wikimedia commons

"Leon Dabo was an American tonalist landscape artist best known for his paintings of New York, particularly the Hudson Valley. His paintings were known for their feeling of spaciousness, with large areas of the canvas that had little but land, sea, or clouds." ~wikipedia

You can explore more paintings done in the Tonalist manner at the following links:  

American Tonalism Gallery,wikipedia, 

Artists associated with Tonalism, wikiart.org (not all paintings are in public domain here so select carefully or use the 'fair use ' tag)

Clarice Beckett, wikimedia commons

Please link below, please write a NEW poem specific to this challenge, and as always, I look forward to seeing what everyone does with this one.