Today I had trouble combining the two prompts from the blogs I follow, so for now I will post the one I worked one, from Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo blog. It's based on Paul Celan's surrealist poems of questions and answers. Maurren gave us a word bank and suggested we write a question based on each of 5 to 10 words in the word bank, and then answer each question with a one-line response, using surrealistic imagery if possible. Then, she says, remove the questions and write a poem using only your answers.
I didn't read the whole prompt at first and wrote a poem based on the questions and answers without removing the questions. Here's the result:
Owls and Thunder
What is an
owl?
A creature who speaks for the ghosts.
What is a
ghost?
That which is left of longing and regret.
What is
longing?
A river trying to reach the sea.
What is a river?
A song in the water.
What is a
song?
A miracle from a throat or an instrument.
What is a
miracle?
That which happens when lightning follows thunder.
What is
thunder?
The only thing that quiets the owls at night.
A creature who speaks for the ghosts.
That which is left of longing and regret.
A river trying to reach the sea.
A song in the water.
A miracle from a throat or an instrument.
That which happens when lightning follows thunder.
The only thing that quiets the owls at night.
This reminds me also of Neruda's The Book of Questions. (And by the way, there is a beautiful children's book out now based on Neruda's poems from that book, in Spanish and English, illustrated by Paloma Valdivia, published by Enchanted Lion Books. My grandchildren love it.)
Once I read the whole prompt, I tried removing the questions and came up with this one:
Owls and Thunder (II)
The owls speak for the ghosts,
creatures composed of longing and regret.
A river tries to reach the sea,
carrying its song.
A miracle arises from throats and instruments,
and lightning follows thunder,
the only sound that quiets the owls at night.
The owls speak for the ghosts,
creatures composed of longing and regret.
A river tries to reach the sea,
carrying its song.
A miracle arises from throats and instruments,
and lightning follows thunder,
the only sound that quiets the owls at night.
I can't decide which one I like better. I do like the Q&A format and the cyclical nature of the first poem, but the second one is a little more mysterious and surreal. Which one do you prefer?
I'll be back later with my response to Robert's prompt, which sounds kind of fun: Write a "B-Movie" poem.
4 comments:
I like the first version better, how one questions begets the next. :)
Bruce: I vote for the second version. Much more surreal. Great job!
I loved what you did in the first poem, how you connected each answer with a previous one. Slick.
Personally? The first.
I liked the idea behind the prompt, and don't mind “mystery” but the pattern def. works for me.
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