poetree | Sunday Picnic By a River Metaphorical

jjhunter

Sunday, every Sunday, let's have a community picnic. It's probably been a long week, and it's lovely to have a few minutes to sit back and relax and enjoy some good conversation in a less formal space. Feel free to bring something for the Picnic Basket - a poem you liked this week, a thought you had or something you experienced, or even something completely unrelated to poetry whatsoever that you just feel like sharing. Just take a moment to say hello, and maybe have a bite to eat; no one is going anywhere fast, and the shade promises some relief from the everyday heat. Let’s get to know each other a bit better, here under the branches of the poet’s tree.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

poetree_admin

Have a poetry-related post or posts this week from your own journal/space that you'd like to share with the community? Comment on this thread with the link(s) and a brief description of you're linking to.

From:

lnhammer

Another hexagram pome:

11. Tài - Peace

---L.

From:

jjhunter

Patched snow, the last of winter's rags, recedes

Oh, I like that turn of phrase. Very meditative on the whole, and the subtle rhyme scheme pulls it all together without being overtly dictatorial on my experience of the rhythm. 'blue-on-brown division' is also nicely done.

Totally there with you re: 'Circle of Magic', btw. I've been waiting for the next 'Tris' book for years:

2013 TBD: untitled Circle universe book, in which Tris enrolls at the mages' university in Lightsbridge under an assumed name, in an attempt to become an ordinary mage practicing normal academic magic (spells, charms, potions) with no one knowing her real name or power.

From:

lnhammer

I've been having fun in this series working the rhymes as subtly as possible, within the constraints.

And yeah, I've been waiting for Tris at Lightsbridge for ages. Forget Briar and Rosethorn in not!China (we get enough of that story in backstory) or Numair's youth -- Tris's attempt at being a good little university student is the story I want.

---L.

Edited (misplaced modifiers are not your friend) Date: 2012-09-09 08:51 pm (UTC)

From:

alee_grrl

That is absolutely gorgeous. It reminded me of some of the remote mountain lakes up near Glacier Nation Park in Montana. You captured the peace and beauty of the scene wonderfully.

From:

lnhammer

Thankee.

I still haven't made it to Glacier -- it's been just a bit too far for a driving-camping vacation. That was actually based on southern Colorado.

---L.

From:

alee_grrl

I didn't get to go into the Park itself, as I was traveling with my dad while he was working one week. His job takes him through that area a lot. It is also very reminiscent of southern Colorado, it's just been longer since I last saw that area. :)

From:

bookblather

That is just lovely. The thrush brooding is my favorite image, I think, although the last couple of lines are also really good. At least for me, anyway.

From:

lnhammer

Thankee.

---L.

From:

primeideal

I wrote a couple of poems on this and another blog--mostly self-absorbed prattle but I like the way some of the rhymes turned out.

http://primeideal.dreamwidth.org/3791.html One-Way
http://lipogramscorecard.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/lament-for-the-makers/ Lament For The Makers (title stolen from this poem: http://www.bartleby.com/101/21.html)

From:

bookblather

I really, really like Lament for the Makers. One-Way too, but something about Lament for the Makers really... struck a chord, I don't know. May I copy it into my Book of Poems that Speak To Me? With all due credit, naturally.

From:

primeideal

I'd be flattered! Is that an actual, physical book? Sounds very cool!

Glad you enjoyed.

From:

bookblather

Yup, it's this little blue notebook I bought in Denmark. It was so pretty I knew I had to put something beautiful in it, and poetry seemed just the thing.

Thank you very much!

From:

poetree_admin

This is the thread for non-personal, i.e. 'general' poetry news. Submission deadlines for poetry-related 'zines, news re: poets from outside the comm, and so on.

[N.B. we're giving this thread another trial run this week; we may end up dropping it next week if it isn't used.]

From:

jjhunter

New photo of Emily Dickinson? (link goes to Boston Globe article)

Photo of Emily Dickinson and Kate Scott Turner Anthon

(Previously there was preciously one known photo of her - and as a teenager, no less)

From:

untonuggan

I think this was mentioned already, but I'm very excited about my USPS 20th Century Poets Forever Stamps that arrived in the mail earlier this week. They are a limited time thing, and I wish they had chosen some other poets, but I'm still looking forward to poet-ing up my mail.

Apparently (and of course I only found this out now) there is also a notecard set that comes with stamps.

From:

jjhunter

Very cool! ...I may have just registered with USPS in order to buy a booklet of 20 myself. (And so many other neat stamps too - bonsai ftw!)

Have you heard (or read the transcript) re: the 99percentinvisible podcast episode on 'US Postal Service Stamps' design? It's short & well worth the time.

From:

raze

I'm broke as all get-out but these are VERY cool. I find stamps to be a very neat little cultural chronicle and can appreciate their collection even if it isn't something I'm partial to myself.

From:

untonuggan

Oh, I don't collect them. I send a lot of postal mail to various penpals, and I like making it pretty. (US flag stamps? Bah! I laugh at them!)

If'n you want a letter, btw, send me a PM with an address to send it to. Depending on how much time I have, there may or may not be hand-drawn pictures.

From:

zirconium

I totally hear you on choosing pretty vs. boring stamps. Back when most submissions required SASEs, I'd make a point of using stamps I wanted to get back. :-)

From:

untonuggan

Hee, that's a good idea. :D

From:

alee_grrl

This is cool. I may have to order a set of the stamps. I don't collect stamps, but it's fun to have different ones to liven up what mail I do send.

From:

untonuggan

Exactly!

From:

jjhunter

If you're wavering on whether to sign up, take a look at these posts:

alee_grrl: Whew! and Signal Boost for Poetree's next multi-hosted theme week

jjhunter: One Poem In Depth: Julia Stein's "Downtown Women" next week at POETREE

For more information, check out the signup post here. If you're interested but not sure what to post about, comment on this thread and we'll brainstorm with you! Another good source of ideas is that previous themed week on poetry complements.

From:

jjhunter

For anyone who missed the post at my journal, here's the link: POETREE Comment Statistics

As I wrote in the comments,

It's no competition, but it is useful for us admins to get a sense of who comments more or less often.

From:

jjhunter

And this one's really cool: how the Comments-to-Entries ratio on POETREE compares to its closest cousins (i.e. comms 'poetry', 'forkedtongues') on Dreamwidth

From:

untonuggan

I thought that one was pretty cool! Thanks for putting it together. ^_^ It might also be cool to have a member:comment ratio, maybe.

From:

jjhunter

That one's a bit trickier given how the membership has grown - the first few months we were ~11 people, the next few after that ~25, and now, almost a year later, we're suddenly at a whopping 64 members (83 subscribing) on Dreamwidth alone.

(For comparison,

poetry breaks down to 503 members, 604 subscribing, and

forkedtongues has 198 members, 262 subscribing)

From:

untonuggan

Aaah, that makes sense.

From:

raze

Sharing a short poem by Phillip Larkin today about the pet trade, over which I've been in a foul mood of late (the industy, not the poem). The title is actually from a 50's toy advertisement, which I learned only when looking for the text to the poem, and I feel it adds even more to the piece.

"Take One Home For The Kiddies"
Philip Larkin

On shallow straw, in shadeless glass,
Huddled by empty bowls, they sleep:
No dark, no dam, no earth, no grass -
Mam, get us one of them to keep.

Living toys are something novel,
But it soon wears off somehow.
Fetch the shoebox, fetch the shovel -
Mam, we're playing funerals now.

From:

untonuggan

Wow, very powerful.

From:

jjhunter

'playing funerals' - ouch. Larkin certainly have a powerful gift for the twisted turn of phrase.

From:

alee_grrl

Oh wow, how heartbreaking. The whole "playing funerals" imagery, as if the death of this very living being wasn't real. The whole idea of pets as toys makes me shudder, and enrages me when I realize that this is still a thing for some people. Thank you for sharing this powerful poem.

From:

alee_grrl

I frequently follow Domythic Bliss, which is a beautiful blog on mythic and magical elements in the home. I also occasionally check out the posts on their Facebook group page, and this week was treated to this amazing bit of inspiration from artist/author/editor extraordinaire, Terri Windling. In particularly I was particularly caught by the use of a poem in her home decorating. The poem used is To the Desert by Benjamin Alire Sáenz which is powerfully inspiring all on its own.

Edited Date: 2012-09-09 06:07 pm (UTC)