zumpoems

Wednesday Poetry Challenge #5

These next two challenges are previews to a pair of challenges that will be posted around early to mid December.  If the challenges posted this and next week invoke no interest, than that is a good reason for me to re-think the more extensive challenges I have prepared for December.

For this challenge,  please provide a link to a page or post that references a poem by an established, published poet, and includes some commentary of your own — whether a note about how you discovered the poem, why you like the poem — or even a full analysis.

Please be sensitive to copyright and what is public domain and not.  The law varies from country to country.  For example, in one country, a Wallace Stevens poem written in 1930 is public domain, but in another, no Wallace Stevens poems are public domain since 70 years must transpire after the death of an author before the works are in the public domain.

I am posting my real response to the Mr. Linky prompt below but also including a sample post here.

For challenge introduction and previous challenges please see Wednesday Poetry Challenge Introduction, Challenge #1, Challenge #2 , Challenge #3 and Challenge #4. There is no time limit here, these challenges are open until site is forcibly closed down.

To link to you post

CLICK ON green Mr. Linky IMAGE BELOW:

If you wish, you can copy the above link and paste at the bottom (or top) of the post or page that contains your response to this challenge.  That gets even more people involved! Just simply copy (as in copy and paste) the Mister Link box above and paste on your post or page.  It’s that easy.  (Thanks to willowdot21 for the idea!)

SUMMARY:

1.  Click on green “Mister Linky” link above.

2. Enter the URL (address of your response to challenge not of your website’s home page) of your post or page that has your response to this challenge.

3. For this challenge, locate a poem by an established, published poet, post text to a post or insert text into a page. Follow text with your comments on poem.

4. Anyone that wishes to see responses can click on the Mister Linky link above to view links.

Wednesday Poetry Challenge #4

Last challenge provided exercises that removed or added words.

This challenge is about information management by addition.

One should be skilled enough to reduce or increase the number of words in a line, stanza or poem as creative demands (or editorial requirements) dictate.

For this challenge start with a two word sentence such as

See Spot.

Add an additional word but maintain one sentence.

See Spot run.

Double the number of words from 3 to 6; stay with one sentence.

See Spot run down the road.

Double the number of words from 6 to 12 in the one sentence.

See Spot, the incredible wonder dog, run down the long winding road.

Double the number of words from 12 to 24 in one sentence.

On this chilly wintry morning, as flakes of snow tumble teasingly down,
See Spot, the incredible wonder dog, run down the long winding road.

Double the number of words from 24 to 48 in one sentence.

My friend, relax, rest, reduce your thoughts,
sit down in the most comfortable chair we have
so that on this chilly wintry morning,
as flakes of snow tumble teasingly down, 
you turn your gaze outside and See Spot,
the incredible wonder dog,
run down the long winding road.

Double the number of words from 48 to 96 in one sentence.

My friend,
once close in former times not so far ago,
please relax, rest, reduce your thoughts,
make my home your home,
sit down in the most comfortable chair we have,
this one that faces this window,
and gaze outside on this chilly wintry morning,
as flakes of snow tumble teasingly down
and ice forms like shadows on small ponds,
as you forget your busy day
and focus on all that is beyond the warm study
to a colder but truer world outside
and see Spot, the incredible wonder dog,
run down the long winding road.

Increase the number of words from 96 to 107 in one sentence.

My friend,
once close in former times not so far ago,
please relax, rest, reduce your thoughts,
make my home your home,
sit down in the most comfortable chair we have,
this one that faces this window,
and gaze outside on this chilly wintry morning,
as flakes of snow tumble teasingly down
and ice forms like shadows on small ponds,
as you forget your busy day
and focus on all that is beyond the warm study
to a colder but truer world outside and see Spot,
the incredible wonder dog,
run down the long winding road,
gathering speed with each progressive stride,
tongue hanging out in celebration.

This matches the number of words in the Wallace Stevens single sentence poem, The Snowman.  There are many more wonderful things about this Wallace Stevens poem than it consisting of one sentence, but this one single sentence is wonderfully incorporated in the whole approach and experience. (Is there any better poem than this written in the Twentieth Century?)

Next, start with a two word sentence and expand it to a 107 word sentence without taking progressive steps — try to reach the 107 number at one go!

Which approach is easier for you?

Now pick your favorite of these two versions and then modifying the words as you wish, adding and subtracting as you think appropriate, keeping the word count to 107 or more, change it to a one sentence poem.

My friend,
again,
close
as in former times
not so far ago,

when lives where simpler
and looked ahead and not back
please relax,
rest,
reduce your thoughts,

make my home your home,
sit down
deeply
in the most comfortable chair,
the one that faces this window,

and gaze outside on this chilly wintry morning,
as flakes of snow
tumble
teasingly down
and ice forms

like shadows
on small ponds,
as you forget your busy day
and focus on all that is beyond the warm study
to a colder but truer world outside

and see Spot,
the incredible wonder dog,
run down the straight, sometimes unexpectedly slippery, stretching road,
gathering speed with each progressive stride,
tongue hanging out in celebration of the sprint itself.

For additional details, please refer to Challenge #1, Challenge #2 , Challenge #3 and Wednesday Poetry Challenge Introduction.

There is no time limit here, these challenges are open until site is forcibly closed down.

To link to you post

CLICK ON Mr. Linky IMAGE BELOW:

If you wish you can copy the above link and paste at the bottom (or top) of the post or page that contains your response to this challenge.  That gets even more people involved! Just simply copy (as in copy and paste) the Mister Link box above.  It’s that easy.  (Thanks to willowdot21 for giving me the idea — she copied this on her site in her response.)

SUMMARY:

1.  Click on green “Mister Linky” link above.

2. Enter the URL (address of your response to challenge not of your website’s home page) of your post or page that has your response to this challenge.

3. For this challenge, start with a 2 words sentence and lengthen it following the steps above until you have a 107 word sentence, then change that sentence into a poem

4. Anyone that wishes to see anyone’s examples can click on the Mister Linky link above to view any and all of responses.

Wednesday Poetry Challenge #3

Just to set expectations, these poetry challenges are not intended to inspire you, entertain you, or make you feel better as poet. If that happens, great!  If not, hopefully they will help sharpen your poetry skills over the long run.

So think of this not so much as playing HORSE at the basketball playground, but practicing setting a screen and then rolling towards the basket, over and over, hundreds and hundreds of time until some level of skill is developed.

So for these challenges, you won’t see something like

Write a poem using these ten words:  “easy, simple, softball, ego, who, needs, practice, just, for, fun”

or

Write a Haiku about your summer vacation.

No, in these challenges the focus will be on developing skills and overall awareness of basic poetry rudiments.

However, progress is made by small steps.  We start with very light weights gradually increasing the resistance until we can benchpress more and more.

Also, there is no place in these challenges for altering the challenge itself.  This is not an exercise where the challenge is to write a poem about a horse and then allow half of the participants to decide that they will “sort of” follow the challenge and write a poem about a large dog or a buffalo or some ant that has lost two legs and now has to deal with only four.

These challenges are very specific — and for a reason.

If you are asked to run eight half-mile laps, don’t shrug off the challenge by doing fourteen jumping jacks.

For the next several challenges, starting with this one, the focus is on information management: practice in modifying information, adding information and removing information.

This challenge has three parts.  Either follow this exactly or chose an easier program than this one — one that allows extra trips to the refrigerator and less time in the gym.  😉

First Part:

Take your poem from Wednesday Poetry Challenge #2 and starting at the very first word, count the number of words.

Now divide the number of words by 3, round down (that is, drop the remainder.) This gives you the number of words that you must change in the poem.  For example, if your poem contains 49 words, than change 16 words in the poem.

Meaning of poem can be kept the same or can change. Punctuation can change.

Second Part:

Take the just changed poem and count the number of words.  Divide by 2, rounding up to the next whole number giving you the number of words in the next version of this poem.  For example, if poem contains 49 words, than create a new version of this poem with only 25 words.

Meaning of poem must remain the same. Punctuation can change.

Third Part:

Take the just new poem created in Part Two and count the number of words.

Now divide the number of words by 3, round down (that is, drop the remainder) and this gives you the number of words that you must change in the poem.  For example, if your poem contains 25 words, than change 8 words in the poem.

Meaning of poem must remain the same. Punctuation can change.

Example:

Time has come
for us to leave this island:
a way to do such
must be discovered.

Poem has 17 words.  17/3  = 5 (rounded down to whole number).  Create a new poem changing no more and no less than 5 words:

Fate has commanded
for us to create this nightmare:
a way to  accomplish such
must be discovered.

Note that meaning of poem has changed.

Poem has 17 words, new poem must have only 9 words (17/2 rounded up.)

Fate commands:
create this nightmare.
Fate demands:
Discover how!

Note that meaning of poem doesn’t change.

Poem now has 9 words, replace 3 of these 9 words (9/3)

Fate commands:
invoke dreaded horror.
Fate demands:
Discover how!

Meaning of poem stays the same. 

Another example:

Time
Time
Time
Ticking
Like the restless heart
Informing us
We must move on —
Leave this island.
Now.

becomes

Time
Time
Dripping
Ticking
Like the relentless heart
Telling us
We should move on —
Destroy this island.
Tomorrow

and then becomes

Time,
relentless heart dripping
commands:
leave,
destroy
island
tomorrow.

and then becomes

Time,
relentless heart screeching:
depart,
destroy
island
by tomorrow.

(Notice how one word is dropped and replaced with new word later on.  That is not only acceptable but is encouraged.)

There are two intertwined parts to poetry — information and delivery of that information.  Information is what concepts are to be communicated. Delivery is how that content is communicated: using rhymes, meter or other rhythmic devices, sounds of words, etc.  Indeed, the nature of delivery affects significantly the information delivered and so has an informational aspect to itself, which in poetry may be much more important than the literal message.

For additional details, please refer to Challenge #1, Challenge #2  and Wednesday Poetry Challenge Introduction.

There is no time limit here, these challenges are open until site is forcibly closed down.

To link to you post

CLICK ON Mr. Linky IMAGE BELOW:

SUMMARY:

1.  Click on green “Mister Linky” link above.

2. Enter the URL (address of your response to challenge not of your website’s home page) of your post or page that has your response to this challenge.

3. For this challenge, take your reformatted passage from a novel, short story or essay and modfiy per the instructions above. (Change 1/3 of the words, reduce the number of words by a factor of two and then change 1/3 of the words again. )

4. Anyone that wishes to see anyone’s examples can click on the Mister Linky link above to view any and all of responses.