Special Delivery - Nice Cage for You

Greetings Garden Dwellers....

Over a year ago, I quietly began work on a new venture with my good friend and fellow poet, Stacey Gruver.  It started with a simple want, a hunger even, to create a space that would be a platform for writers to challenge and explore but that would also deliver to its readers a new perspective on their own humanness.  

After many long nights of business planning and mission statement-ing, Nice Cage magazine took shape. 

Our mission - very simply: 

Writing matters. That’s it. That’s our deal. Writing matters to us and to you. Nice Cage is a collaborative literary project which seeks out diverse voices and provides a platform to experimenters and risk takers. Nice Cage delivers writing that has something to say and says it in new and unexpected ways. 



And today, my muddy buddies is the launch of our inaugural issue which explores the themes of Predator/Prey.  We're an online magazine that is available for free. You're formally invited to visit us, to stop by and take a few moments to enjoy being human - you'll even find some Garden Dwellers in the pages of issue 001. 

If you like what you see and experience, we'll be publishing four times a year on specific themes. I hope you come back for more!  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter for the weekly inspirado and other social media bonuses.

If you want to part of the Nice Cage writing family, we'll be seeking submissions for our second issue with a theme of scarcity/decadence very soon.  

Beware of Copyright Infringement

I received a complaint this week from a photographer whose image I used for a picture prompt on Real Toads last year without permission.  Fortunately, he insisted only on its removal but he could have brought a law suit against Real Toads.  Artists who use the internet, poets among them, are all too aware that it is something of a double-edged sword: our work would not be known if we did not post publicly, but our material may be wrongfully used if we do.

I have added a disclaimer the bottom of our home page, which does not, in itself, protect us from being sued, but merely states that our intentions in using images are not for profit, but for artistic value. I undertake to go back through our posts, and with the help of willing members, to remover or replace any questionable images. I will also be doing this on my own blogs.

Many poets feel that an image enhances the reading experience of their work. The following sources have been suggested as legitimate picture pools, though it must be said that Photobucket is open for abuse. Anyone can upload an image that does not belong to them, and use it under the auspices of the common licence :

Wikimedia Commons
Flickr Creative Commons
Wiki Paintings
Photobucket

If anyone knows of other sites offering free images, please include a link in the comment box.

The photographer who made the initial complaint has shared the following article with us, and it is something all bloggers should read and take very seriously. Ignorance of the law is no defense.

Bloggers Can Be Sued

Ad Break

Comma Bookshelf - vicbooks.wordpress.com

Dear Members, I have decided to create a "Bookshelf" page on Real Toads in which any personal poetry books you have published may be displayed, with links to the sites where they may be purchased.  


If you would like to display your book on this shelf, please email me the details of the publication, any links and the HTML script that can be used to display the cover art.


Unfortunately, this offer is available only to the 25 members of Real Toads, and not to its regular Followers.  

The March Hares

Source Unknown ~ But I'm pretty sure it's poisonous!

It is sometimes the case that we run across "nuisances" in blogland, and I mean people who overstep the bounds of basic good manners or common decency. As the coordinator of RT, I often receive notification of such incidents or complaints from individual members. While I am not an advocate of witch hunts, neither am I a fan of on-line harassment nor wholesale self-promotion by individuals.   


The word verification has been discontinued because it hinders the comments of the people who genuinely want to follow and support the efforts of RT.  As a result, the 'spam inbox' is never empty and it may be the case that people with personal issues against individuals could use our comment boxes for their own agendas.


The starting point of our RT philosophy is that we want a safe environment, which has a solid core of members who help and support one another. If a member reports that someone has been offensive, I think this information should be relayed to other members, not so that we can be offensive in kind, but rather so we will know whom to avoid in future.  No-one wants to see the garden become the breeding ground for discontent. I have seen things escalate very quickly to chaos on similar sites when tempers run high. Sometimes the anonymity of cyberspace can bring out the worst in personalities.  I ask, therefore, that we remain united in  maintaining the open and friendly atmosphere of the imaginary garden, where all who love poetry and are committed to their own creative goals feel welcome to spend their time.

The Trouble with Time Zones

I am always happy to receive emails from the members of Real Toads, but the question of time zones presents a slight problem. As I live in South Africa, my time is calculated thus: GMT +2 (SAST - South Africa Standard Time/ EET - Eastern Europe Time).  Without daylight saving, I am 7 hours ahead of EST and 10 hours ahead of PST, in the United States.

             I am in the +2 column, two blocks up where the line intersects the East coast of Africa.


What this means is that I often receive emails in the middle of the night. It does not trouble me (as I'm usually but not always asleep) but it might cause you some frustration as you wait for a reply, which probably arrives when you are asleep.  The best time for those in the Western hemisphere to contact me is between 8AM and 3PM CST. 
For the sake of convenience, the time zone that Real Toads is set to is also CST.


I find this Time Zone Map to be very useful.

Merry Christmas

A Time For Thanks...

                                                                                  Calvin And Hobbs - Bill Watterson


I am using this space today to extend my very heart-felt thanks to all who have made the imaginary garden with real toads the creative success it has become.  I am thrilled daily by the unqualified support and generous interaction of all who visit the site and participate here on a regular basis.


To the Members, a special word of appreciation for your continued contribution to this project.  I knew that if I could harness the creative input of the amazing people I met through poetry blogs, a site like this would not only be possible - it would be a melting pot of the imagination.  We all thank you for your hard work behind the scenes, which makes every day a new adventure. 


I have not provided a Mr Linky for today, but would love to read your messages of friendship, thanks or seasons greetings in the comment box.


Compliments of the Season to All

I challenge you ...

Our round-robin of Member Interviews enjoys on-going success here at Real Toads. With this in mind, I have been working on a new idea: personal challenges between members.  It will work in a way similar to the interviews, in that a member will challenge another member with a particular theme, prompt, picture, form or whatever takes your fancy. 

The challenge will be made behind the scenes, but the end result will be featured on the Real Toads Home Page in either the Tuesday or Saturday slot.  The poets may also choose to post their pieces on their own blogs or provide links back to Real Toads.  In this way, our members will have an opportunity to showcase their work in our open forum.

Guidelines:

• Contact the member of your choice via e-mail and propose a challenge.
• Allow the member to discuss your proposal with you, until you have reached a consensus.
• Offer your support behind the scenes, if so requested.

Getting Started:

As with the interviews, I will make the first challenge to get the idea off the ground. Thereafter, the person whom I challenge will challenge a member of his or her choice, and so on until the last member on the list challenges me.  In this way, everyone will get a turn to both challenge and be challenged.  Please note that in the first six months of Real Toads’ existence, the member list has undergone some change. This site is experimental in nature, and some people have found that they do not have the time to remain active members and thus have opted to participate as followers instead.  I hope that a definitive list will eventually emerge. 

Please leave your thoughts about this idea in the comment box.

New Schedule of Weekly Posts on Real Toads

                                                                                                                                Artwork by Ruth Vilmi


I extend my heart-felt thanks to all Members and Followers of  imaginary garden with real toads.  This is the 17th week of its rebirth, and I am very proud of all that we have achieved together. 


I take this opportunity to voice my appreciation of the Members who are also weekly contributors to our challenges and prompts - without their enthusiasm and creativity, this blogsite would cease to exist. Thus I ask that we support their efforts with positive comments and participation, as time allows.  Each of them leads a busy life, and goes the extra mile to come up with ideas which are both fun and informative, and I think we are all learning and growing as writers in this space.


I thought it was time to gather together all that we have pioneered here and stream-line our weekly schedule. You will find the updated version HERE or in the Tab Bar across the top of the Home Page.


Many thanks to all.

Tuesday Post

The Tuesday post on Real Toads has been shared by Grace O'Malley's Form Challenge, and Robb Lloyd's Critique Corner. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Robb is no longer able to host his Corner, which leaves a slot open for any member who has an idea he or she would like to share and is willing to commit to hosting it every two weeks.  We have a lot going on here at Real Toads, so a day off may not be a bad thing, but I'm always open to trying something new.


We are privileged to have so many talented and knowledgeable writers who are willing to share on this forum to the benefit of all.  However, I don't want any of these contributors to feel they are stuck here, once they have offered their time. If ever you feel your idea has run its course, we will all understand and offer the vacant post to another member. In this way, the pond in the Imaginary Garden will never grow stagnant.


I leave you with this clip of Anis Mojgani performing his poem, The Fisherman.  Shawnacy shared a link of his work, and I was blown away. Listening to this poem, makes me want to throw away everything I've ever written and start again.  Enjoy.

Thoughts on Forms

Many community blogs offer a post on form. These are most informative on a technical level, and inspire many poets, myself included, to ‘give it a go’.  Then along comes someone who goes through your piece, highlighting what went wrong and imposing improvements until confidence is shaken and the love of form poetry has been successfully crushed for another week.  
Real Toads will soon feature a form challenge, shared with us by Marian and Grace, but I hope that our approach will be slightly different.

I was very excited to read a villanelle by Elizabeth Bishop shared on Poets United, for the very reason that she defied the strict rules of the form and made it her own.  I love the moment a poet steps over the boundaries, takes what he or she needs from the form and then rewrites it to suit his or her own personality and agenda.  Poetry is a dynamic art form, it is the constant change within the genre that keeps it alive. 

Francesco Petrarch popularized the sonnet in a form that suited the Italian language, but the four or five rhymes over 14 lines proved too restrictive for the English language.  Therefore an Elizabethan version became the norm after William Shakespeare wrote 160 sonnets, using seven rhymes and a completely different division of the content.  Yet it is still called a sonnet.  Modern poets have taken the form much further by switching up the two: taking the octave from the Italian and the last quatrain and rhyming couplet from the Elizabethan, for example.

I had a similar moment of enlightenment as the one mentioned above with Bishop’s villanelle, when reading Pablo Neruda’s sonnets in translation.   He seems to favour the Italian tradition, but divides the octave into separate quatrains, and the sestet into two tercets.  What excited me the most, however, was the fact that in translation, the sonnets no longer rhyme, as perhaps they do in the original Spanish.  This innovation in the writing of 14 line form poems opened a world of possibility to me.  

Love Sonnet LXXIX

“Tie your heart at night to mine, love”

Pablo Neruda

De noche, amada, amarra tu corazon al mio

y que ellos sueno derroten las tinieblas

como un doble tambor combatiendo en el boque

contra el espeso muro de las hojas mojadas.

Nocturna travesia, brasa negra del sueno

interceptando el hilo de las uvas terrestres

con la punctualidad de un tren descabellado

que sombra y piedras frias sin cesar arrastrara.

Por eso, amor, amarrame el movimiento puro,

a la tenacidad que en tu pecho golpea

con las alas de un cisne sumergido,

para que a las preguntas estrelladas del cielo

responda nuestra sueno con una sola llave

con ula sola puerta cerrada por la sombra.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tie your heart at night to mine, love,

and both will defeat the darkness

like twin drums beating in the forest

against the heavy fall of wet leaves.

Night crossing: black coal of dream

that cuts the thread of earthly orbs

with the punctuality of a headlong train

that pulls cold stone and shadow endlessly.

Love, because of it, tie me to a purer movement,

to the grip on life that beats in your breast,

with the wings of a submerged swan,

so that our dreams might reply

to the sky’s questioning stars

with one key, one door closed to shadow.

As poets, we should remember that a form is merely a framework for the ideas, and vocalization of creative thought.  It is not some arcane formula for perfect poetry.  In the present age, it has a place alongside free verse, but it may be torn down, twisted and remade in the poet’s own image.

What do all sonnets have in common? Fourteen lines.

What do some sonnets have in addition to the line count? A rigid rhyme scheme. An octave/sestet division, in which a dilemma is voiced and a solution/ resolution offered; or three quatrains, which develop the theme of the first through metaphoric example or elaboration, and a rhyming couplet, which provides a witty punch-line or conclusion.  They may be written in iambic pentameter.

What you might like to try:  Take what you know, what works for you and your unique style and write a sonnet.  The only rule is fearlessness.  I have provided a link below for anyone who would like to share their efforts with the Real Toads.