Zumwalt Poems Online

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Journal For Poetry Challenge #8

Journal for Poetry Challenge #8

WEEK 1: Jan, 1, 2012

Ladder by Ethel Mortenson Davis

The persona of this poem, innocent and trusting, wonders if the Tarantula, a symbol of entrapment can provide the means necessary to leave our earthly prison.

The poet here as chosen a tarantula, more or less the biggest of spiders, appropriate for the biggest trap of all — the physical universe.  If one can work with this tarantula, one can find an exit from the deepest of holes; however, the tarantula is not only non-cooperative, but is threatening — not a hopeful sign.

The casual tone of the persona contrasts with the implied reality embedded in the poem — there is no means of escape from the endless cycle that keeps us bound to the physical universe.

WEEK 2: Jan, 9, 2012

Squatters by saffronsound

One creates their own reality and here memories start to overtake the objects in view.  This is not a psychotic break but the every day feelings we have when alone with objects that have built up associations to past events that we have been a part of. The author gives us just enough (but not more than we need) to be able to follow and ultimately identify with the persona recounting what is an everyday experience in a way the bring us into the room and sharing these associations.

Example Response For Poetry Challenge #8

Response to Poetry Challenge #8.

This can be done as a page or a post.  Doing this as a post.

Journal for Poetry Challenge #8

WEEK 1: Jan, 2, 2012

Pretty Little Scars by Vampire Weather

I like a strong message but am especially pleased when the mastery of handling words is directed at supporting that message.  This poem does this particularly well!  In addition, this poem allows for enough interpretation to remain interesting and worth re-reading and mixes and contrasts the wanted with the unwanted and rejoices at the result.

WEEK 2: Jan, 11, 2012

Flies by Ben Naga

We all wander about in life somewhat myopically, but some people’s short-sightedness is often at its worst in a relationship: squeezing out promises of freedom from the imprisonment of others.  Ben Naga doesn’t hit us over the head with this message but captures it simply and effectively like a black and white photograph of two flies on opposite sides of a glass pane.

WEEK 3: Jan, 17, 2012

Jacaranda by Poetry & Icecream

Unlike a short story, a poem can exist quite nicely, thank-you, without conflict — relying on beauty alone — just like a flower in bloom — it’s great to see that flower all by itself, I don’t need to see a deer eating away the leaves for the scene to be of interest.

But beauty in poetry is not necessarily effortless.  Often times there is very controlled use of components within a form.

In this case the meter and rhyme work perfectly together.  The meter supports the meaning.  The first two lines are iambs but the third breaks away with “bright” being strong  and foreshadows the next deviation in the third line of the second stanza — “fantasies drifting away”.  Yes, this would still be a nice poem if each line was iambic, but it becomes special as the meter is harnessed to highlight the highlights and emphasize the meaning. The last line is iambic and musical (“upon a sprinkled spread”) which puts the previous line in context against the prevailing iambic rhythm. 

This craftsmanship is not haphazard. Even when a poet is so talented that they do this as second nature, just as a jazz musician improvises great melodic lines that align and contrast with the foundational harmonies, this ability and skill is based on reading lots of poetry and writing lots of poetry. There are no shortcuts to excellence!

Fourth Post at ChoicePosts.com

If you haven’t visited recently, please check out the latest entry at choiceposts.

Traffic is still pretty low,  so promoting it for now on this site.  Eventually, choiceposts.wordpress.com will be a great place to shop to find blogs of interest — one just chooses the category and see if they like and relate to the author’s top post — if so, they maybe read the other links for that author and end up following the blog.   WordPress doesn’t have anything like this — maybe this will get them to do this themselves and I can stop.  Until then, would like to add a post every week or so.

At present nothing queued up for next week.  If interested in being showcased just follow the instructions!

This is not just for poetry blogs so feel free to recommend this process to others.  If you find a site you really love, feel free to direct them to this link for instructions at choiceposts!  Would like to add a good photography site, good science site, good music site, etc.

 

Third Entry at CHOICEPOSTS

We now have another entry at Choiceposts.WordPress.com!

I encourage everyone to either visit zendictive’s site directly or the feature at choiceposts.

 I am so amazed at the quality, consistency and relevance of Art’s posts.  Please visit and follow zendictive’s blog if you do not already do so.

 

I encourage anyone that wants to be featured at choiceposts to follow instructions and, hopefully, get a little extra traffic to their site as slowly, but surely, more traffic comes into choiceposts.

Best,

Zumpoems.com and choiceposts.wordpress.com Administrator

when winning is not enough

when winning is not enough

he like a stunned animal
holds the fragrant unclothed stranger
this remnant of the victory of last night.

she is half asleep
tenderly young
sweet
and so totally a stranger.

he feels like another empty episode has escaped into the ozone layer.
There is not even anything to gnaw on.

he wonders how to wake her up
half asleep
himself.

— Zumwalt (June 1991)

WordPress Sampler (choiceposts.wordpress.com)

In visiting various WordPress sites, I am enormously impressed by the diversity and general quality of content out there. It is a particular pleasure to read so many original and colorful poems.

After spending some additional time quietly but rapidly exploring (no posts, no likes, etc.) it seemed that it would be nice if there was a “sampler” available of the best posts of the various WordPress sites. I found pages like WordPress’s own Blogs of the Day and various “Best Blog” sites, but I couldn’t find any true sampler blogs. I have decided to launch a WordPress blog dedicated to showcasing the very best post of anyone interested in participating.

The approach is, at least on the surface, pretty simple.

Anyone interested choses exactly one post from their site they wish to have represented on the new CHOICE POSTS  blog. They may chose the post they think is their best, that their readers like the best, that best represents the nature of their blog, etc.

They then email the HTML, Text and any associated images of their representative post to choiceposts@gmail.com plus the link for that post plus four additional links and associated names of four other posts they would like to have referenced. This allows the site administrator to re-assemble this post to match (or at least be similar to) what is on the original site.

It is very important that the Category of the Post is specified such as one of the categories found on the WordPress Tag Page. This will allow readers of CHOICE POSTS to easily browse along their lines of interest and help match readers to blog sites.

In addition, author should submit any additional information they wish to be included about their site and/or themselves which will be included in the post. Author name (real or not real) can also be included. For example, after administration team assembles information provided on email, the resulting post in choiceposts.wordpress.com could look something like:

Poet_Don’t_Knowit is the author of the site “POETRY ON THE RUN”

Poem of the Approaching Autumn (Link1)

I love fall
It whispers in my ear
Like paint drying.

Additional Posts from “POETRY ON THE RUN”
 Poem of Spring (Link2)
 Poem of Winter (Link3)
 Poem of Summer (Link4)
 Poem of Fall (Link5)

[Category: Poems]

(Added 9/26: For very understandable reasons, some participants may wish to just provide link of their “best post” since the look of their site is different than what is at choiceposts.wordpress.com. In this case they just need to provide introductory text about their site and/or themselves and the link of the “best post” and up to four other links to other posts on their WordPress site.)

The CHOICE POSTS admin team will initially post a few of these a week, pretty much trying to post in the order of submissions received until a backlog develops. At that point, some process will be used to select only a portion of the posts submitted — either random selection, selection based on quality, variety and other characteristics or a hybrid approach.

Someone who has had a entry posted on CHOICE POSTS may later feel they wish another post to represent their site. If this happens, and enough time has passed (six months), then they can email a new submission for posting to CHOICE POSTS, indicating whether they want the earlier submission kept or deleted.

All posts and links must be from WordPress sites.  Some constraint is needed and this just makes administratipon easier.  The universe of WordPress itself  is pretty big and way too big for this one project.  In addition, I feel some loyality to WordPress from the short time (3 months) that I have been here.  I like the ease of use, the ability to connect to other users, the sense of community and the flexibility and convenience.

Submitted content should be suited for general audiences with the CHOICE POSTS Admin Team selecting Posts they think acceptable for a “G” or “PG” audience.

Speaking of ratings, please do not rate this post since the “star” ratings are automatically leveraged to identify the best liked poems on the site.

I will leave this post here for a few days before posting the next Zumwalt Poem. Since I will put a similar post out on the CHOICE POSTS  blog, I may delete the version of the post here once enough people have read it.

I want to take a moment to thank all that visit this site, particularly those that take the time to comment, “like” or rate the various Zumwalt poems. It is a pleasure for me to posts these poems, and an even greater pleasure to know that others can read, are reading them and, in many cases, enjoying them.

Best,

zumpoems.com Administrator