Sunday Picnic

[alee_grrl]

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.

Comments

[alee_grrl]

So I had a lovely week working with jjhunter getting our two new features worked out (this is the first of the two, the second will be out later today). We had a lot of fun working on these.

Sunday Picnics are meant to be a great place to chat and relax after a long week. Comments can be poetry related, but don't have to be.

To get us rolling, I'll share my happy moment of the week. Had enough energy and felt well enough to go to a friend's St. Patrick's Day dinner and small party. It was a small group of friends and we had corned venison, cabbage with a horseradish mustard glaze, and potatoes. For those could imbibe alcohol there were several (what I assume are tasty) options (I assume their tasty as people were pleased while drinking them). It was a very nice night of good food, excellent conversation, and plenty of time spend cuddling the dog (always makes me happy).

Whether your week was a good one or a bad one, pull up a corner of the blanket and relax under the branches of the poet's tree. :)

[jjhunter]

Also, have a picture of my parents' cat looking mysterious! I feel like it ought to be the base for a cat macro of some kind: any suggestions for the caption?

[lynnoconnacht]

No caption suggestions, alas, but KITTY! <3<3<3<3

[bookblather]

Kitty! You're right, it does sort of cry out for a caption. "Someday I'll show them all?"

[alee_grrl]

Kitty!

Plan for global domination almost complete.

:D

[untonuggan]

I like the quilt! And the cat has placed [insert gender]self so artistically among the plants and the globe and everything, next to the boat.

Alas I also do not have caption ideas.

[lynnoconnacht]

Mmmm... Sounds like a wonderful dinner and party. I'm slightly envious. ^-^

[bookblather]

That sounds so lovely. Friends and good food and puppies make the best times.

I went to a similar party. There was pizza and ice cream cake and watching bad TV for MSTing purposes. The punishment for not wearing green was air kisses. Good times indeed.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

I just posted "How They Met" as the freebie for the Crowdfunding Creative Jam.

Feel free to drop by crowdfunding to leave ideas for poems or whatever. The theme is "respect" this month.

Re: Poem

[jjhunter]

Neat poem! I've left feedback at the post. It definitely fits the theme of 'respect' in a delightful way.

Re: Poem

[alee_grrl]

Love this. This captures the theme of "respect" beautifully. It is also very sweet and feels very true (the date not starting off on the right foot and going so wrong, but things still working out because he respected her). It made me grin like mad.

[jjhunter]

I really enjoyed reading Dana Gioia's 1992 essay Can Poetry Matter? (Link leads to free version available online.) This bit in particular about the importance of poetry really struck home to me:

Poetry is the art of using words charged with their utmost meaning. A society whose intellectual leaders lose the skill to shape, appreciate, and understand the power of language will become the slaves of those who retain it—be they politicians, preachers, copywriters, or newscasters. [emphasis added]

[alee_grrl]

I so have to bookmark this essay and come back to it when I have a little more time to fully appreciate it. So sad that spring break is ending and now I have to start concentrating on school work again.

[lynnoconnacht]

Is it a comment if the comment is that you can't think of anything to say? ^-~

Oh! I recently noticed (and should make a proper post update out of it, really) that my TBR pile is down to a level where I'm excited about writing again, rather than feeling guilty about doing something other than read. Yay! I am getting there!

And I kind of want to retell Hansel and Gretel in poetry format, but the idea hasn't progressed beyond there yet...

[jjhunter]

Did you enjoy any of the books you've been reading lately? That's wonderful that you're excited re: writing again!

[alee_grrl]

Is it a comment if the comment is that you can't think of anything to say? ^-~

It certainly can be. :)

rather than feeling guilty about doing something other than read. Yay! I am getting there!

Yay for not feeling guilty about doing something other than reading! :)

And I kind of want to retell Hansel and Gretel in poetry format, but the idea hasn't progressed beyond there yet...

::offers fine candy and flowers to the muses:: I would love to see your take on Hansel and Gretel in poetry format. I've really enjoyed your other poetic retellings of folk tales.

don't forget to vote!

[jjhunter]

General reminder, all - I'm going on a run, and when I get back I'll close the favorite opening lines poll & post the second of our new weekly features. There's currently a tie for first place, and second place is only one vote behind.

Re: don't forget to vote!

[lynnoconnacht]

Enjoy your run! ^-^

weekly challenges now live!

[jjhunter]

The first Climbing the Poet's Tree: Weekly Challenges post is now live - go take a look, and please consider doing one or both! You have until Friday midnight EST to complete them.

reminder: weekly roundup

[jjhunter]

If you have material for this week's roundup post, feel free to leave a reply to this thread or send me a PM by 5:00PM EST today. After that any notices will roll over into next week's roundup.

Re: reminder: weekly roundup

[bookblather]

I posted a couple of my own poems, one of which I'm looking for concrit on.

In Response to Tennyson and Faire Mornings.

for fans of the Weirdstone of Brisingamen trilogy

[jjhunter]

Alan Garner to conclude Weirdstone of Brisingamen trilogy

Boneland, third part of series that began in 1960 with Alan Garner's debut, tells of a grown-up Colin searching for his sister.

"Boneland, the conclusion to a classic fantasy sequence Alan Garner began over 50 years ago, will be published in August."

[lnhammer]

Let's see. This week, I continued marching through Home Book of Verse (1915), having gotten most of the way through part VI -- today included "The Eve of St. Agnes," "Locksley Hall," and "The Scholar Gipsy," along with the usual lumps of undistinuguished verse that one gets in an anthology this size (3600-odd pages in dead-tree format). Also read this week: Ovid's Banquet of Sense (1596), an Elizabethan erotic narrative by George Chapman (he of Keats's Homer, yes), plus started Alfred Noyes's Watchers of the Sky (1922, part one of The Torch Bearers), an book-length poem about astronomy.

---L.

[alee_grrl]

Sounds like some fascinating and fun reading.

[lnhammer]

Oh, and forgot to mention that the best stuff I read all week probably has to be Milton's "L'Allegro"/"Il Penseroso" doublet. Despite its many and manifold flaws. (No that is not redundant.)

---L.