Poetry Friday: The Kick of Creation

I need to get back to blogging here. My lay-off needs to end. I think I can do it. I'll start with today.

A friend shared this quote with me as we caught up over a beer recently. It's by Kurt Vonnegut:

Nobody will stop you from creating. Do it tonight. Do it tomorrow. That is the way to make your soul grow - whether there is a market for it or not! The kick of creation is the act of creating, not anything that happens afterward. I would tell all of you watching this screen: Before you go to bed, write a four line poem. Make it as good as you can. Don't show it to anybody. Put it where nobody will find it. And you will discover that you have your reward.

I think I'll start doing that. And start blogging here more. I begin with sharing an amazing poem that came to my inbox this morning. "Time" by Chris Martin:

Time

by Chris Martin

All that happens happens

in the hollow 

mouth

open mid-vow

knowing 

only song will do

what an empty cave needs

done, drone

that seeds to fill

one space and then that

space's space, what 

are we made 

of if 

not chants.

Sun slumping up

the stucco, cat chewing

her tail clean, nimbi

darkening the fallen

leaves leatherlike, I make

voice, voice, voice, voices

like a fist

on thinking's door

a fistula 

wrapping abstraction

and binding it to what, morning

sickness, the lathed light

now flying through branches

made sinister

by season, a crook

in the amygdala's grey

ministry and all 

I see is a circling murder

above the antenna

that replaced the weathervane.

Read the rest of the poem here. And check out the Poetry Friday roundup at Anastasia's poetry blog.

Poetry Friday: There's an App For That

Confession time: I just got my first smartphone. Welcome to the 21st Century, right? Yes, it was about time. And yes, it didn't take me long to realize how very, very sweet having a smartphone is. Definitely embarrassed to admit how much I love it.

One of the first apps I downloaded was from The Poetry Foundation, a great app with two "wheels" to "spin". The wheels are marked with categories: humor, joy, compassion, youth, etc.   The wheels match up to create a list of poems that match the combination: Poems about Humor and Youth, Love and Joy, etc. Brilliant!

You can also search for poems by poet, poem title, subject, and mood. AND you can star your favorites for future reference. Also brilliant. If you're a smartphone user and a poetry lover, you've got to get this. Oh, and did I mention that it's free!?!? Again...brilliant.

With the app, I've found some gems that I probably wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Like this one:

Poem for Haruko

By June Jordan

I never thought I’d keep a record of my pain

or happiness

like candles lighting the entire soft lace

of the air

around the full length of your hair/a shower

organized by God

in brown and auburn

undulations luminous like particles

of flame

 

But now I do

retrieve an afternoon of apricots

and water interspersed with cigarettes

and sand and rocks

we walked across:

                        How easily you held

my hand

beside the low tide

of the world

Read the rest of the poem here, or find it on the app you just downloaded! Does it make

you as happy as it makes me that the ending of it contains the phrase: "infinite

tergiversations?"

Check out how to get the Poetry Foundation Mobile app for your smartphone or tablet by clicking here.  

And be sure to check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup at No Water River, a pretty nifty blog that I'm going to have to start following.