Green cactus; Red rock

Green cactus; Red rock
photo by Linda Hoffman Kimball

Monday, November 30, 2009

Two Sonnets for the Fairwell of Alopad

Rekindling
He
Sighs.
She
Cries.
End
Tears.
Mend
Fears.
Steaming
Embers,
Dreams
Remembered.
Go
Slow.


The Antics of a Rotund Swine Anxious for His Morning Repast

Big
Round
Pig
Bounds

Through
The puddle
To
The mud. He’ll

Land
in glop.
Stand
In slop.

Thrilling
Swilling.


This is the last night of Alopad. Tomorrow, Dec. 1st, I will move on to the delightful full time demands of Christmas, shifting lifestyles (from Midwestern to split Midwestern/Mountain), family frolics, etc. I loved this challenge and have learned a lot. Perhaps by the goofy range of tonight’s two sonnets you think I haven’t learned anything about poetry. But I have.


I learned that to throw myself into the reverie of free verse requires a different part of my brain than the structured, rhyming type.
I learned that I am happiest with my work (at least for this kind of daily adventure) when I don’t censor my topics or even my products.
I learned that I am still perplexed by what exactly makes a poem “good” or “bad.” (I subscribe to a-poem-a-day from Writer’s Almanac and some of them leave me even more puzzled about definitions of quality.)
I learned that my mind has wild swings of interests – from audience to topic to voice to style to mood to poem for expression of thought’s sake to poem for playing with words sake – and I’m not likely to rein myself. I thrive on the variety.
I learned a little about blogs/websites.
I learned that I have much still to learn about blogs/websites.
I learned that November is a bad month to try to do this sort of thing. There are so many other conflicts. Why not February?

Thanks for following along, ye noble troopers! I’d love to know which of these offerings appealed to you most (or least) and why. Don’t be a stranger.

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