The Eldest Gives Lily’s Third Son a Kidney (1977)
Rough, rough.
Archive for April, 2007
One more day to go
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Monday, April 30, 2007 at 8:23 am… and that’s today. I have to come up with one more poem before the end of April.
I should make it a doozy.
Fat chance.
But here’s the thing, and I’d like some feedback.
I don’t plan to keep the NaPo poems up on the Poetry page long after April. Most of the time I leave poems there for a week — this time it’s been a month.
Here’s the question. Should I wipe the page tomorrow, May Day, or pick some other date to do so?
As I write, I’m thinking Cinco de Mayo might be appropriate, as (if I write this last poem) I will have vanquished April for the first time.
Any thoughts?
Cheers.
NaPo April 27
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 7:51 pmSevenling: Lines Written in a Hammock on an April Afternoon the Friday Before a General Election
Believe me, the title’s better than the ending.
I shall return to revise, but for now, whatthehay.
Just a NaPo observation
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 8:54 amI wanted to say that what’s really interesting about NaPo this year is the overall quality of the threads at PFFA. I haven’t really been following NaPo around the web (who has the time?) but I think — I could be wrong — that something’s happening that’s rather unexpected; this poem-a-day thing is churning up good stuff.
PFFA’s notoriously mean and narrow about what it considers poetry. It has to be stuff that has been through some sort of alchemical process, not just words on a page (which is what poetry tends to be considered throughout cyberspace and, I presume, in classrooms and bedroom around the English-writing world), or — horrors — emotions on a page, untouchable and sacred because, well, they’re y’know emotions. At PFFA moderators and regulars (of which I am one) are merciless in their striking down of things that should properly be kept in journals and not shared with humanity, and there are lots of tears.
You’d expect, then, for NaPo, which makes one write, write, write, to engender plenty of spew, with one or two gems.
My experience of this year’s threads, though, is the opposite. Lots of gems, and gems from people whose posts have been berated and belittled and shunted down from forums they don’t belong in. These are people of courage, by the way, people who have swallowed their pride and their hurt feelings and kept plugging.
But here’s the thing. It’s occurring to me that what they plugged on a regular basis was the Same Old Same Old — stuff that didn’t reach the bar, hit the mark, insert whatever cliche you will. But suddenly, in NaPo, gems are tumbling out.
Isn’t that the way it is with writing, especially poetry? It’s like priming a pump, clearing a line, digging a well. All the crap has to be cleared away first, and then, suddenly, you hit the real thing.
Congratulations to all those who have hit the real thing. Celebrations with all those who are spouting geysers of stuff that can be kept after April and made into pretty decent poems.
If you don’t believe me, go here, and just read:
Or follow this link, and go play with Simon’s buttons.
I changed my mind: NaPo April 25
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 8:03 pmThe Psychiatrist Marries Lily’s Daughter (1968)
I apologize in advance.
I wrote a poem today
In Poetry on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 7:26 pmhonest, I did, a Lily poem too.
But.
It is awful.
I am not posting it. No way.
It’s not even really a poem.
And because it has “Lily” in the title I am going to consign it to the hottest flames, and try and think up a sevenling while I go cook something.
Watch this space.
NaPo April 18
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 12:23 am(it does a very good imitation of compression into nonsense. And not in a good way. Apologies in advance.)
Rain, wind and weather
In Other Stuff, Poetry on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 9:40 amMy title puts me in mind of a Hardy poem I read in university, when I knew Hardy as a great nineteenth century novelist, one of those who pushed the envelope when it came to women and men and class and power etc. And sex. Before D. H. Lawrence he was the envelope-pusher as far as sex in literature in English went.
(For those who know about such things, I was in between high school and college when Polanski’s Tess came out, and for some reason Tess, Polanski, and Hardy were touched with the same concept of raciness. I never saw Tess, being at that time enrolled in a school that was located deep in a rural area, some several miles away from the nearest cinema, and for whatever reason I didn’t ride with the other students who made the trek into the city on a weekly basis to go see movies. Maybe it was that unlike them, I was sixteen (they were older) and such a movie would be rated R, and I didn’t want the hassle of being barred from it. They could pass as adults. I, who have always looked ten years younger than my actual age — at sixteen it was probably three or four — was carded for far longer than I ought to have been, in the end by people several years younger than me. Who knows?)
NaPo April 14
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 12:19 amSevenling: On Reading Jane Austen for the Eighty-Seventh Time
Running out of steam? Maybe.
We shall see.
NaPo April 13
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Friday, April 13, 2007 at 4:58 amAnd as a bonus, because it’s Friday the Thirteenth:
NaPo April 7
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 12:41 pmThe Ceremonial Building of a Waga: 2. The Lightening of the Tree
It was written yesterday, I promise.
NaPo April 6
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Friday, April 6, 2007 at 10:14 pmThe Ceremonial Building of a Waga
According to Malinowski, the waga is the name given to the great sea-going canoe of the Trobriand Islanders, which was used at the beginning of the twentieth century to conduct the Kula exchange. This ritualized exchange is a staple in the study of anthropology, and is fundamental to the development of any number of theoretical concepts.
More about the Trobrianders, as described by Bronislaw Malinowski, here.
A second poem for April 5
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Friday, April 6, 2007 at 8:11 amThis year, I’ve written my poems on the cusp of the new day, so that they’re finished and ready to be posted shortly after midnight. Last night though I was too sleepy to wait, so I finished the day’s poem at 11:30. Hence two poems for the 5th.
Let’s hope that something grows for the 6th. Good Friday, raining.
NaPo April 5
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 12:27 amA limerick: When in April, drink as the poets do
Comment here.
NaPo April 4
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 at 12:21 amThe Son-in-Law Tells Lily How to Make Tea (1972)
Comments here.
NaPoWriMo buttons and things
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at 9:08 amGot me my button for the sidebar. Courtesy of Very Like A Whale, who directed me to Ivy’s blog, where there are several buttons.
I thought about getting the international one:
but chose to be conservative after all.
Thanks, Whale and Ivy!
NaPo April 3
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at 12:22 amThe Photographer Takes Lily’s Portrait
Comment here, if you so desire.
NaPo Poem of the Day – posted
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Sunday, April 1, 2007 at 4:05 pmHere.
Comment in this thread, if you wanna.
Well, it’s April
In NaPoWriMo, Poetry on Sunday, April 1, 2007 at 12:10 amand the pomes are getting fat.
Not.
Last year I had some ideas.
This?
Dry.
Maybe I’ll draw on last year’s — those that didn’t get writ:
The Sisters Pray for Lily’s Relief
The Psychiatrist Marries Lily’s Daughter
The Jezebel Welcomes Lily Home
The Stepfather Leaves Lily Land
The Grandchildren Loosen Lily’s Laugh
The Elders Honour Lily’s Faith
The Sexton Buries Lily’s Child
The Grocer Offers Lily a Ring
The Englishwoman Mourns Lily’s Son
The Undertaker Removes Lily’s Daughter
