Sunday, April 28, 2019

PAD Day 28: Meta-poetry Remix

Today's dual prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a "remix" poem, and (2) write a "meta-poem".  Yeah, I just had a "remix" prompt yesterday from NaPoWriMo, but instead of remixing a Shakespeare sonnet, I'm supposed to do a remix of my own poetry. A "meta-poem" is a poem about poetry or the process of writing poetry, a poem that is "self-aware", as it were. A similar term for this is "ars poetica". I've written a number of these over the years, and at least a couple I've written this month allude to writing poetry. I thought an easy but effective way to write a "meta-poem remix" would be to employ the "13 Reasons" framework again, even though I've done it twice already this month. So here goes. (After the poem, I list each section and the Day Number of the poem(s) I excerpted for each one. I did some minor editing and addition, but for the most part the lines are as they appeared in the other poems.)



13 Reasons Why We Write Poetry

1. Because of a broken wind chime,
a robin with a broken wing. 

2.  Because the apple holds the world
and the world holds the apple. 

3. Because of words -
we smelt them and grind them down. 

4. Because we like a flavorful, flawless fleet of words
fleshed out for the flexible mind.

5. Because even if there will be no poem this evening,
words still percolate up through the muck and clay. 

6. Because we write despite the fact
that words come harder now,
like an alphabet in reverse.  

7. Because of our miscellaneous pages
released into the wind. 

8. Because you the sly guitarist
neatly tune your strings,
and your weaving arpeggios slide up
against our thumping iambics. 

9. Because we are ominous,
and our darkness is our brightness. 

10. Because we stole a moment, then stole two -
but we promised they'd come back to you. 

11. Because we try in vain
to contain our unbridled joy. 

12. Because we live on in verse -
we've got it made. 

13. Because what's the worst that could happen -
indeed, what's the worst? 


[Poem sources:
1. Day 9
2. Day 21
3. Day 6
4. Day 24
5. Days 22 and 10
6. Days 12 and 19
7. Day 16
8. Days 26 and 22
9. Day 17
10. Day 5
11. Day 11
12. Day 27
13. Day 2]



2 comments:

Revived Writer said...

I enjoyed this. 5 and 8 are my favorite.

Vince Gotera said...

Bruce, very cool. A self-cento!