Month: November 2019

poetry

A Chapbook Underway

carolyncordon

If you don’t know what a chapbook is, I’ll tell you – a chapbook is a small volume of poetry, usually somewhere around 15 to 40 pages, and in a size smaller than a common paperback size. They are a handy size to fit in a pocket, and usually sell for $5 or so, or are given away at times.

I’ve been thinking about putting together my first chapbook ever since I became aware of them, but until now, have never had a theme I could decide on, that seemed suitable. Until now. Now, I have a theme, I have a title, and at the moment I have 10 poems I am happy with, and hope to have at least one or two more poems before the end of the day.

I have written about this proposed chapbook on another of my blogs, the most relevant blog for this proposed book. Here is the link for that blog post. I plan to have this small book ready to send off for possible publication by the end of the month.

I know I can have a good book launch, in Gawler, where my writing group meets every week (usually), and where two of the group members (I’m one of them), hold a monthly poetry reading. All of this fun happens at the P/A Hotel on the main road in Gawler, and we have had many happy times with poetry there.

The idea of having a theme for a poetry collection always seems like a good idea to me, as it helps to hold poems together in some way, even if, as in my proposed collection, there are different poetic forms. Some of these poems are rhyming, others not. There is one page of Senryu (a Japanese poetic form, similar to Haiku). Some of the poems are serious, others not so serious.

The theme is very personal to me, as it relates to my most pressing thing for me right at the moment, the theme is my broken right ankle, which happened at the end of September. It happened on a date I will always be able to remember, it was the day of the AFL Grand Final, and it happened after the game was finished.

I suspect I should write a poem about that … Hmm, Yes, definitely, it will be a kind of wryly amusing poem, I suspect … I’m enjoying doing my wryly amusing thing, if feels right for me, and this kind of thing goes down well when reading poems to others, a bit funny, but not too much, something to connect with people without overwhelming them.

So who would have thought a broken ankle could lead to a new poetry book? Actually it isn’t that surprising. I’m a poet, I’m having to spend lots of time just sitting around at home as I heal, and my ankle and immobility are taking up a lot of my attention.

They say ‘write what you know’ and I sure know “Broken ankle”, now! I’d appreciate any thoughts about this project! It won’t be a morbid little book, I have a bit about having a Stoic attitude in there, and I’m aiming at wry rather than wretched …

 

poetic forms, writing exercise

Scaled Back, Life & Poems

carolyncordon

Yes, I currently have a very much scaled back life at the moment. I recently broke my right ankle, and am in recovery mode, having been told by the surgeon who operated on my ankle, to stick to zero weight bearing. This means I currently am spending most of my time resting my ankle, with it up high, to reduce swelling, and increase healing (I hope).

I could have been using this scaled back time to work on a larger writing project, but my brain and inclination are not heading in that direction, I’m feeling much more interested in poetry right now, so that’s where my writing is going. That and blog posts, such as this one. Oh, and some thoughts about Stoicism and how it can apply to life situations.

That is being kept to myself at the moment, with notes on my laptop that are definitely not for publication as they are, and not for quite some time later, anyway. They may appear in part in a much longer non-fiction tome, sometime.

Anyway, scaled back poetry interests me – I love Haiku and Senryu, the Tanka as well, and I have recently found (online), a scaled back version of writing sonnets. I love sonnets, a mere fourteen lines, in particular rhyming schemes, and beautiful thoughts can be expressed. This new (to me) form though has only one syllable per line, though if maintains the sonnets 14 line needs, as well as the rhyming scheme.

I wrote more about this on a previous blog post, here, If you wish to look more closely into this sonnet form, called the Monosyllabic Sonnet, visit the blog post. I write about sonnets in general and this form in particular, with an example.

I wrote a new piece of text today, based on something in this room, something that happens often in this room, the one I have been spending so much time in, as I work on recovering from my accidental fall and consequent broken bones. I have presented the words I wrote, again in a one word and syllable per line, and I think it looks and reads quite well. I could be delusional, who knows, and at the moment, amusing myself is my main desire …

So here it is, an new thing that may or may not be a poem, which I will call “My Obs”. The term “obs” loomed large in my life when I was in three different hospitals recently, with my obs being taken by nurses often during both the day, and through the night too. Their role is to make sure I’m OK, taking my pulse, heart rate, temperature, and oxygen levels (or I think that’s what they were doing).

Anyway, as a writer and poet, my observations are my ever ready sources of writing material, so I’d be a fool not to use them! and here is today’s “My Obs” poem, my first ever, THE first ever:

To my dog, Missy

Dear

friend,

your 

sleep

sounds

don’t 

seem

too

bad

but 

please,

if 

you 

must 

snore,

shh

keep

it

down

low,

please?

Good

girl.

 

 

^-^

\
o

 

poetry, Uncategorized

Some Poetic Forms

carolyncordon

There are many different ways to write poetry, or ‘poetic forms’. Here are a few you may have heard of, but never tried to write, or have written in the traditional form, but not in a new, stripped back form.

I like playing with different poetic forms, and am always happy to try something new, when it comes to my attention. My poetic attempts may interest others, or maybe they won’t it doesn’t matter. Trying these things out, using my own knowledge in different ways is good for my brain!

Give some of these forms a try yourself, and see whether your own brain feels pleasantly stretched in new ways! Firstly, I love sonnets, short poems of fourteen lines. They are distinguished by very strict rhyming schemes, in several different styles, as below:

  • Spenserian sonnet. 3 quatrains and a couplet – “abab bcbc cdcd ee”
  • english(shakespearean) sonnet. 3 quatrains of “abab cdcd efef” followed by a single couplet.
  • italian(petrarchan) sonnet. octave of “abba abba” then a sestet of “cdc cdc”

I have written in these three styles, having had some of my poems published in books, and online, and am proud of my work in the form. But today, I found a brand new form of the sonnet, and I hurriedly ‘gave it a go’!

This new form is the Monosyllabic Sonnet. I found it in an email, sent by a poetic friend, with details of his own poetry blog, https://playground.poetry.blog/ I strongly suggest you go there and explore the many poetic forms Paul has on display on his blog. I have a few of my own attempts at the forms Paul talks about, and encourage you to have a go too, and get involved in what Paul is doing, sharing poetry with the world!

So with the Monosyllabic Sonnet, the poet is to stick to the rhyming schemes for sonnets, as I have put above, but instead of writing in iambic pentametre, you are to write just one word of one syllable only, for each line, instead of longer lines of far more syllables for each line. You are also free to use the title of your poem to fill in more meaning to the poem, by indicating what it is about to aid with clarity.

Here is a new poem I have written to demonstrate what is meant:

On bringing meaning, by sharing your wisdom.

 

We

live, 

free 

give.

 

 

Wonder

much,

ponder 

such …

 

You 

know?

Do 

so!

 

Yell!

Tell!

 

If you like this poetic form please feel free to say so! If you wish, you can share your own attempt at writing a Monosyllabic Sonnet of your own.

 

Now a look at the short Japanese poems. The Haiku is the best know form of Japanese Poems. In the Western world, Haiku are often presented as being written in three lines, with five syllables in the first and final lines, and seven syllables in the middle line. This though is not quite what the Haiku is in its ‘native’ world, where the Haiku is an exceptionally short poem, usually of fewer characters than the English form indicates.

For this blog though, I am going to talk about a related poetry form, the Senryu. Where Haiku relates to poems written about Nature, and referring to the season, the Senryu is written about people, and can more than Haiku, be a funny poem, talking about perhaps a comical part of human nature.

The Senryu has the same form as Haiku, being a short poem, usually of three lines, short, long, short, as with the Haiku. I have written a new poem in this form, and hope you enjoy my words. Again, feel free to comment, and have a go yourself, if you feel so inspired! I love comments on this blog.

 

My Senryu:

 

Wisdom is

saying very little,

or staying mute …