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Sunday, January 3, 2021

Goodbye to 2020

 From Tad:

2020 saw many fine poets go gentle or ungentle into that good night. The Poetry Foundation ran a valedictory for them, with memorable lines for each poet. Here are a few of them.

  • The dark tastes of salt and oranges.   -- Ralph Angel
  • Unclasp your hands and surrender flight -- William Bearheart
  • But what else can a mother give her daughter but such beautiful rifts in time?  - Eavan Boland
  • So much hope now around the heart of lightning -- Kamau Braith
  • What is unfathomable in all of us? - Michael Friedman
  • The hidden source is the watchful heart  -- Derek Mahon

Write a poem using one of these as inspiration. You can either use the line, or vary it. The dark can taste of something else - or it can trigger a different sense. The gift from a mother to daughter may be inspired by Eavan Boland, but you may have your own ideas of how rifts in time can be a gift. Or you may have a totally different gift in mind. By the time you're done, it should be your poem.

26 comments :

  1. Goodbye 45

    The lives ruined,
    the experts & careers crushed,
    the half a million dead,

    the mothers and daughters,
    the wives and bystanders
    grabbed or mocked, fired, abandoned.

    Suddenly they arrive all at once
    for an audience with you to address their grievances.

    In this dream they offer your past
    on a golden platter
    you favorite greasey burger

    Grilled with The bitter taste
    Of oranges and arsenic
    Almonds and cyanide.

    Unclasp your hands and surrender
    your unfathomable arrogance, if only you could.

    You lack some essential organ,
    know nothing of guilt,
    will find no redemption.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow. Powerful. And welcome back. I hope you'll join us more often.

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    2. I am assuming this is about Trump, or am I just obsessed myself and see him everywhere. Love the idea of everyone at once addressing their grievances to him.

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    3. Check the title -- definitely about Trump.

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    4. Does this come with cool-aid?

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  2. Oh, I like this. Spooky and arresting when they all arrive at once.

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  3. Wow!! This is sooo great! i loved it !’

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  4. Feast

    I plan to eat the night, starting
    with the moon, nibbling it
    to the last sliver, leaving

    only a crust on my plate. Then
    Venus, that milky murky
    mound, concupiscence

    in close orbit, but just
    an appetizer. The main course
    is the darkness,

    the sharp tang of void,
    the fondue of eternity.
    Don’t wait up for me.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't use the html code to space it, but the second and third lines of each stanza should be indented, third line farther in than the second.

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    2. Awesome. I'm glad I didn't read this before I wrote mine. This is so good I would have had to choose a different line.

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    3. Highly original, and interesting metaphors too!

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  5. The taste of dark
    settles in my mind,
    long, heavy ropes
    of black licorice.

    The taste of dark
    appears to my eyes
    like Dipping Dots
    of nighttime starlight.

    The taste of dark
    sounds like oil. Drip, drip,
    slowly puddles
    underneath my car.

    I close my eyes
    allow saliva
    to gather on
    my tongue, swallow.

    Salt. Not surprised.
    Is that orange? Yes,
    but do I taste
    fruit or the color?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The theme of darkness and the senses was my inspiration too! I didn’t come around to salt though. I love Dipping Dots and Saliva

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    2. I wonder what would happen if you left out the repetition of “the taste of dark” — if it would maybe insinuate itself even more strongly.

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    3. Very interesting poem, good thoughts around senses, and clever!

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  6. The dark tastes of salt and oranges - Ralph Angel
    was my inspiration. Ended up dark senses.


    The Dark Senses

    The dark can TASTE like
    the surprise of a mouthful
    of hot food.

    and LOOK like
    where you go in your mind
    to focus on cooling the sting.

    The dark can FEEL like
    helpless fear when you yell at the screen
    “DON’T GO OUT THERE!”

    and SOUND like
    the suspense of waiting for thunder
    after a flash of lightening.

    The dark can SMELL like
    the stink of someones words
    that linger in your mind.

    The dark is
    the absence of the positive
    stimulus needed to thrive.

    Come to your senses
    and turn on the light.
    You have the power.

    Sue Manocha
    Saugerties
    1/9/2021

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perfect analogies. Love it. And LOVE the last stanza.

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    2. And awesome that you're back. I hope you'll continue with us.

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  7. Wonderful to see you back, and I really like this. I like all the sensory details that finally come around to turning on the light.

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  8. The Hidden Source is the Watchful Heart

    When I feel the creep of gloom
    or taste the nasty edge of bitter,
    when I see a darkened room
    or trip upon a pile of litter
    when anger rushes to the fore
    my watchful heart cries "Wait, there's more!"

    "You need to look more closely now.
    "Don't take for granted how it seems
    "but see more clearly when and how
    "and what has twisted up the seams
    "take time to look again to see
    "if this is true reality."

    The way to know can be made clear
    By watchful heart and listening ear

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad I read your email. I didn't realize you'd posted one for this prompt. I like this a lot other than the preponderance of quotation marks. I don't think you need one at the beginning of each line, but only at the beginning and and of the stanza.

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  9. This poem is about seeing the truth, and perhaps that need not be said, however, it is for me the themeof 2020.

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  10. A good message. I really like the second stanza.

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  11. Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate you.

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