Saturday, March 10, 2012

All The Cool Kids Are Doin' It

In third grade, I wrote a poem for, of all things, a social studies assignment. At this point, this is all I can remember of it: 
Across the Plains,
They once were plenty.
Now there aren't very many.
Don't you know?
It's the buffalo.

Sad to say, that probably represents the peak of my poetic prowess. I've always found poetry--both reading it and writing it--to be a little intimidating somehow.

A little over a week ago, TangledLou posted an exercise from The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach and challenged her faithful fellow bloggers to play along. The word "poetry" there in the title scared me a little, as it always does, but after nine days of internal pep talks supplemented by TangledLou's external encouragement (and her assurance that "lyrical prose" counts), I put the pen to paper.

I'm not really sure what to call what came out in my "Ten-Minute Spill" (specifics can be found here)--poetry, prose, punctuation-challenged--but here it is, whatever it is.

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

Toast smeared with blackberry jam,
Pressed from berries picked months ago beneath a cloudless August sky,
Licking sticky fingers as Coyote yet again overruns the cliff's edge.
He never falls until he looks down.
I leapt into marriage and motherhood without a glance.
With those precious entanglements comes the moment of understanding--again and again
That the consequence of each choice and every action is no longer only mine to bask in or suffer through.
The desire to protect them all--from the world, from myself--overpowers nearly everything,
Until, finally, fear's voice is the loudest one in my head
And behind me are decades of too much looking and not enough leaping.

17 comments:

  1. This is wonderful! I'm so excited that you did it! Seriously, I have tears in my eyes. This is just beautiful. I knew if I held out long enough I'd have one from you for my round-up post.

    PS - Mine are dreadful, by the way. It was a very hard challenge for me. Froze my pen and my brain.

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    1. Dreadful is in the eye of the beholder, like so many other things. I look forward to your "dreadfulness," fearless leader. ;)

      Aside from the inherent intimidation of the "poetry" aspect, the time limit was probably the scariest thing for me. That's the part I was really psyching myself out about because I am both a stickler for the "rules" on stuff like this AND a tinkerer/self-editor, which is a pretty deadly combination with a ten-minute time limit. The blackberries were what finally gave me a starting point that I couldn't resist. Thanks for sharing this with all of us!

      (PS--I noticed that someone else in your comments was worried about using a different form of one of the suggested words. I'm hopeful that the liberties I took in that department are in keeping with the spirit of the law, if not the letter.)

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  2. Oh, I love this! Those last couple of lines especially gave me chills. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Oh! This is wonderful! I agree with Dawn, the last line especially just got me. Thank you for sharing!

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  4. Oh, this is so lovely! It spoke to me on many levels, MM. I have a confession: I chickened out. I'd love to say I was too busy, but the 10 minute time limit kind of negates that excuse, doesn't it. I chickened out, plain and simple. I'm so glad you followed through, though- this was beautiful!

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    1. I'm really glad you liked it. And as I said to Jewels, even if you keep it to yourself, it might be worth giving it a shot. Just to see what's in there.

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  5. Okay - you inspired me, MM. I posted my attempt today but it is so childish. Gotta say, cdnkaro, the ten minute time limit provides a good excuse for mediocrity!

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    1. Will try to stop over today and give it a look. I'm sure it's great.

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    2. PS--I love your excuse for mediocrity, though. That's a good point! :)

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  6. Wow, I love it too. Blackberry jam and Wile E. Coyote-- it works!

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  7. Yep. It's good and like the others, I love the last line...

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  8. Excellent! Truly beautiful.
    I haven't tried this challenge, yet, either. I may be like Tangledlou and keep it to myself.

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    1. I'm not keeping it to myself! I have three and am waiting for everyone to finish theirs and I will do a round-up linky kind of post this week to share them all!

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    2. Looking forward to it! And Jewels, even if you do keep it to yourself, definitely give it a try. You might be surprised (as I was) at what comes out.

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  9. This is absolutely brilliant! Well done!

    Kathy
    http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com

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  10. Thanks everyone for the kind comments! If you haven't already done it, you should give a try even if you just keep it to yourself. It's good to stretch your writing muscles--keeps 'em limber. :)

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  11. So glad TangledLou rounded up all the links. You posted this the weekend of "The Test" so I missed it. Would've been so upset to have missed this. So very glad you tried it. It's wonderful.

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