If some consider it to be 'silly' or otherwise a waste of time to try, investigating, playing, experimenting or just exploring curiosity such as 'what if', that is their loss and, in my perhaps naive or view of no consequence - sad.
Even when something does not produce what one expects or results in a 'lesser quality' of output than do other inspirations or prompts, as you have suggested, serendipity will very often delight by discovery of the unexpected or triggering of memories, otherwise lost in the archives of the mind.
So, I congratulate on the song-title prompt and I have enjoyed my own feeble attempts to make something of it and much of what others have produced.
Thank you. I appreciate your gentle 'prodding' or 'provoking' or stimulating of us to try new approaches and not least, at times, a welcome reminder to write.
I've enjoyed playing around with so many of the letters and most of the stories that grew out of them meant a lot to me. Some of them came quickly, and some of them I had to work harder to find a way in, but they were all fun in different ways, so it's tough to pick one. But... I will go with this one, just because I can't listen to Nirvana anymore without thinking about Polly and her Iced Tea! Haha...
NIRVANA
I was SIFTING through the vinyl in the record store when I saw her, over by the Pop section, trying to wipe a lipstick STAIN from the collar of her suede jacket. She said her name was POLLY, and we quickly bonded over our shared appreciation for the little-known Swedish band DIVE.
She asked me if I wanted to grab something to eat with her, and next thing I knew we were heading off to enjoy some MEXICAN SEAFOOD.
She ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, with a SLIVER of lemon, so I ordered a coffee, because I thought we were being sensible and not having alcohol.
It turns out a Long Island Iced Tea is a cocktail, and it's just called that because it's the colour of tea.
Ahhh, that was a goodun Chris. My most remembered one of your has to be the kid throwing up in the plastic bag hahahaha. It stays with me, in a good way. Puts a smile on my dial.
Not sure about my favourite. But I think this one holds a special place in my heart, because it was the first one I felt stood alone as its own poem, regardless of the prompt. I had written 2 before this (Steve Earl for E, and Gastr del Sol for G) and while I like them well enough, they were not quite there. But then I turned up on J, and John Coltrane provided the inspiration to take it to the next level haha.
.
-: Ode to a Wise One :-
.
inchworm
up against the wall,
after the rain
.
i want to talk about you—
.
softly,
as in a morning sunrise
.
A note on borrowing - in the West there tends to be this idea of "originality" being the central tenant of art and creativity. This is not the case in other paradigms. In tanka and haikai poetics, for instance, quotation can play a significant role, and sometimes a poem might be almost entirely ripped from another poet, with one or two subtle changes. In haiku (which are routinely composed of just 5-7 words), even just one word changed, can provide new insight, and therefore become a new poem. Furthermore, in haikai there is a long tradition of "capping" someone else's poem - that is, taking a haiku tercet, and adding a couplet to it, making it into a tanka (in 5-phrases). So that was another way I approached this. Through the art of combination (toriawase - one of the central principles of haikai) something new can be made out of something old. Of course we have a tradition of quotation in the West as well, but in haikai poetry it is expected at some point, rather than an exception. Moving toward this kind of approach is central to poetry operating in a communal/community focussed way, imo (giving up the idea of "owning" poem or phrase, having more "fun" and "games" with writing poetry, rather than the overbearing Western idea of the "oh-so-serious-poet", etc.). :-)
I came to see my daily poems as odes and prayers to each musician, and their impact on my life, but then in a metapoetic sense, as odes to music itself, to poetry, and to the act of song and sound and singing. The sound of the universe awakening. The sound of a bird's wings against the air. The sound of laughter peeling across the night. All sounds are songs. This became the central idea behind writing the poems each day - looking for images that would allow for a celebratory, ode or prayer-like feeling. Devotionals, if you will. A thankfulness for the world's sheer existence.
This approach has been growing in my poetry for the past few years - I think I wrote the first of these kinds of poems back in 2021, and began trying to work out what I was up to - and in the last year or so I had started to articulate it better to myself. A lot of my recent poetry has all been written in response to the "forgotten poems" I post on my newsletter, for instance - again, all kinds of odes or prayers (Forgotten Poets - dedicated to poetry from the late-1800s and early-1900s that has been forgotten or obscured). This challenge allowed me to deepen these ideas - and to clarify a number of things about my these shifts in my poetry, and what I wanted to get out of it. :-) So it came at an opportune time for me, poetically.
And yeah, I have written elsewhere about how I thought the idea was a bit gimmicky at first - a bit of a joke, as you put it Pilgrim! But yeah, agree 100% with everything Non Sibi Cunctis said on this thread. So well said, I have no need to provide further comment haha. And finally - love the poem on the stairs you included this week. So perfect! Thanks again for the amazing month everyone! And looking forward to these last few days of chats and reflections. xxx
That's a fascinating insight into how you've approached this challenge. I enjoyed reading about the history of Japanese poetry, too, and how they would take other work as a starting point and build on it. That's very interesting. And I like this choice for your favourite contribution you've posted as well. Especially as this is the place where things first started to click for you. I had a similar experience at B, where it became clearer how I could move forward with these. It really has been an amazing month... 😎
I agree wholeheartedly with all the previous comments all so beautifully expressed. I think any creative process, heck any process, that “puts a smile on your dile” as Chris says has to be worth it!
I came to this late and enjoyed the heck out of it! As I mentioned to Pilgrim in another comment I will be quite sad to wave the process adeu as it has been by turns stimulating and thought provoking in the writing and the reading.
My own favourite I think is the Travis poem, not least as it brought back the music of a group I hadn’t listened to for so long. Also, they were the true Scottish input for this Scot abroad. Although Placebo (Brian’s mum is Scottish and he spent much of his childhood in Dundee) and Ultravox (Midge Ure) have their claim to a Scot’s accent.
I just liked how this composition fell into place so easily and the symbology of “Driftwood” in the final line was as much a reference to my status as a floating world citizen as a comment on life’s amazing ebb and flow journey from child to adult.
May 27·edited May 27Liked by Writer Pilgrim by So Elite
Absolutely. I've enjoyed the heck out of it, too. So much so, that I probably won't be saying goodbye to this art form completely. I think it's absolutey fascinating and full of possibilities. If any of you are carrying on as well, and are going to be exploring things further in Notes and in Posts, please feel free to tag me. I would love to see what you're up to... 😎
May 28·edited May 28Liked by Writer Pilgrim by So Elite
I'm not sure, but maybe D for Bob Dylan, just because I love Dylan's work the most and because I feel like I could write twenty more with this titles and not run out of great material. So, here it is:
If some consider it to be 'silly' or otherwise a waste of time to try, investigating, playing, experimenting or just exploring curiosity such as 'what if', that is their loss and, in my perhaps naive or view of no consequence - sad.
Even when something does not produce what one expects or results in a 'lesser quality' of output than do other inspirations or prompts, as you have suggested, serendipity will very often delight by discovery of the unexpected or triggering of memories, otherwise lost in the archives of the mind.
So, I congratulate on the song-title prompt and I have enjoyed my own feeble attempts to make something of it and much of what others have produced.
Thank you. I appreciate your gentle 'prodding' or 'provoking' or stimulating of us to try new approaches and not least, at times, a welcome reminder to write.
Take care. Stay safe. ☮️
Perfectly put! :-)
Absolutely. It's never a waste of time to experiment and explore new things. You never know what you might discover! 😎
Oh man, that is difficult.
I've enjoyed playing around with so many of the letters and most of the stories that grew out of them meant a lot to me. Some of them came quickly, and some of them I had to work harder to find a way in, but they were all fun in different ways, so it's tough to pick one. But... I will go with this one, just because I can't listen to Nirvana anymore without thinking about Polly and her Iced Tea! Haha...
NIRVANA
I was SIFTING through the vinyl in the record store when I saw her, over by the Pop section, trying to wipe a lipstick STAIN from the collar of her suede jacket. She said her name was POLLY, and we quickly bonded over our shared appreciation for the little-known Swedish band DIVE.
She asked me if I wanted to grab something to eat with her, and next thing I knew we were heading off to enjoy some MEXICAN SEAFOOD.
She ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, with a SLIVER of lemon, so I ordered a coffee, because I thought we were being sensible and not having alcohol.
It turns out a Long Island Iced Tea is a cocktail, and it's just called that because it's the colour of tea.
I felt so DUMB... 😎
Ahhh, that was a goodun Chris. My most remembered one of your has to be the kid throwing up in the plastic bag hahahaha. It stays with me, in a good way. Puts a smile on my dial.
Thanks! That one with the plastic bag was a fun one, too. Haha... 😎
Not sure about my favourite. But I think this one holds a special place in my heart, because it was the first one I felt stood alone as its own poem, regardless of the prompt. I had written 2 before this (Steve Earl for E, and Gastr del Sol for G) and while I like them well enough, they were not quite there. But then I turned up on J, and John Coltrane provided the inspiration to take it to the next level haha.
.
-: Ode to a Wise One :-
.
inchworm
up against the wall,
after the rain
.
i want to talk about you—
.
softly,
as in a morning sunrise
.
A note on borrowing - in the West there tends to be this idea of "originality" being the central tenant of art and creativity. This is not the case in other paradigms. In tanka and haikai poetics, for instance, quotation can play a significant role, and sometimes a poem might be almost entirely ripped from another poet, with one or two subtle changes. In haiku (which are routinely composed of just 5-7 words), even just one word changed, can provide new insight, and therefore become a new poem. Furthermore, in haikai there is a long tradition of "capping" someone else's poem - that is, taking a haiku tercet, and adding a couplet to it, making it into a tanka (in 5-phrases). So that was another way I approached this. Through the art of combination (toriawase - one of the central principles of haikai) something new can be made out of something old. Of course we have a tradition of quotation in the West as well, but in haikai poetry it is expected at some point, rather than an exception. Moving toward this kind of approach is central to poetry operating in a communal/community focussed way, imo (giving up the idea of "owning" poem or phrase, having more "fun" and "games" with writing poetry, rather than the overbearing Western idea of the "oh-so-serious-poet", etc.). :-)
I came to see my daily poems as odes and prayers to each musician, and their impact on my life, but then in a metapoetic sense, as odes to music itself, to poetry, and to the act of song and sound and singing. The sound of the universe awakening. The sound of a bird's wings against the air. The sound of laughter peeling across the night. All sounds are songs. This became the central idea behind writing the poems each day - looking for images that would allow for a celebratory, ode or prayer-like feeling. Devotionals, if you will. A thankfulness for the world's sheer existence.
This approach has been growing in my poetry for the past few years - I think I wrote the first of these kinds of poems back in 2021, and began trying to work out what I was up to - and in the last year or so I had started to articulate it better to myself. A lot of my recent poetry has all been written in response to the "forgotten poems" I post on my newsletter, for instance - again, all kinds of odes or prayers (Forgotten Poets - dedicated to poetry from the late-1800s and early-1900s that has been forgotten or obscured). This challenge allowed me to deepen these ideas - and to clarify a number of things about my these shifts in my poetry, and what I wanted to get out of it. :-) So it came at an opportune time for me, poetically.
And yeah, I have written elsewhere about how I thought the idea was a bit gimmicky at first - a bit of a joke, as you put it Pilgrim! But yeah, agree 100% with everything Non Sibi Cunctis said on this thread. So well said, I have no need to provide further comment haha. And finally - love the poem on the stairs you included this week. So perfect! Thanks again for the amazing month everyone! And looking forward to these last few days of chats and reflections. xxx
That's a fascinating insight into how you've approached this challenge. I enjoyed reading about the history of Japanese poetry, too, and how they would take other work as a starting point and build on it. That's very interesting. And I like this choice for your favourite contribution you've posted as well. Especially as this is the place where things first started to click for you. I had a similar experience at B, where it became clearer how I could move forward with these. It really has been an amazing month... 😎
Cheers Chris! Yeah, what an amazing month! Hopefully the little bit of magic it's created carries on for all of us into the next month :-)
I agree wholeheartedly with all the previous comments all so beautifully expressed. I think any creative process, heck any process, that “puts a smile on your dile” as Chris says has to be worth it!
I came to this late and enjoyed the heck out of it! As I mentioned to Pilgrim in another comment I will be quite sad to wave the process adeu as it has been by turns stimulating and thought provoking in the writing and the reading.
My own favourite I think is the Travis poem, not least as it brought back the music of a group I hadn’t listened to for so long. Also, they were the true Scottish input for this Scot abroad. Although Placebo (Brian’s mum is Scottish and he spent much of his childhood in Dundee) and Ultravox (Midge Ure) have their claim to a Scot’s accent.
I just liked how this composition fell into place so easily and the symbology of “Driftwood” in the final line was as much a reference to my status as a floating world citizen as a comment on life’s amazing ebb and flow journey from child to adult.
T is for Travis
🍃
Writing to reach you
🍃
Before you were young
Eyes wide open
Combing my hair
Big chair
Safe
🍃
City in the rain
Used to belong
Follow the light
The connection
Sing
🍃
Coming around
Me beside you
The day to day
This love
Beautiful
🍃
Walking in the sun
Pipe dreams
What will come
Quite free
Driftwood
Absolutely. I've enjoyed the heck out of it, too. So much so, that I probably won't be saying goodbye to this art form completely. I think it's absolutey fascinating and full of possibilities. If any of you are carrying on as well, and are going to be exploring things further in Notes and in Posts, please feel free to tag me. I would love to see what you're up to... 😎
I cannot do this, don't make me do this... :)
:)
I'm not sure, but maybe D for Bob Dylan, just because I love Dylan's work the most and because I feel like I could write twenty more with this titles and not run out of great material. So, here it is:
----
Bob Dylan’s Dream
----
It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry
when the night comes falling from the sky.
When the deal goes down,
when I paint my masterpiece,
when he returns,
when the ship comes in
lay down your weary tune.
----
Standing in the doorway,
watching the river flow,
visions of Johanna
blowin' in the wind
on a night like this,
tangled up in blue,
I’ve made up my mind to give myself to you.
----