poem

Notebook Cento #1

Posted by

0

Sometimes I go back through my notebooks from Graduate school and make centos (collage poems) from phrases I find in the pages.  Yes, I create found poetry from my own personal notes.  Yes, I’m that obsessed with phrases.  Yes, I’m that crazy about writing centos.  🙂  This is the first of what will probably be a short series of centos from my notebooks.

Notebook Cento #1
by Debi

metaphysical sonnet
part of a new style
context embedded within
the poem keeps  moving
walking                 pacing
within the creative work
practical           theoretical
just keeps            moving
think about this
formal                   analytical
there is     real     meaning
whether we know it      or not
Basho        keeps        moving
Dante     ruminates

Continue the cento series here: Notebook Cento #2

Conformed

Posted by

5

I’m currently working on an erasure poem of an entire book.  Is there such a thing as an epic erasure?  That seems to better describe this undertaking.

Here’s a brief sample of a small part of one of the poems I found hiding in the text of the book I’m erasing.

UPDATE!  The book is now in print!  BAD THINGS HAPPEN: an erasure.

Confoconform-1rmed

it is easy
to become conformed
all things
are working
in all things
to conform you
Stop
right now

Poems: Found poetry from “Down”

Posted by

0

51UpSd5xOiLThe following is a selection of found poetry from Down, a book of found poetry by Sarah Dowling. Dowling’s found poems into my found poems. It’s a bit organic.

The constraint I used was to find repeated phrasing, and then make a list of those phrases. The phrases are in the order I found them, more or less. Not the greatest poetry, but it was fun to do.

I’ve been finding whenever I read anything these days, I end up jotting down notes and looking for potential centos, found poems, etc. I think I’ve become a phrase addict.

by Debi

1

if I can’t
if I’m not
if I can’t tell
if you tell
I’m not but
you can’t tell me
I’m not but
you shouldn’t but
if I promise
if I let you go

2

it’s by
it’s cold
it’s cold outside
it’s linked
it’s the trembling
it’s cold
it’s linked
it’s the trembling cold outside

3

what could make
what could make me
make me feel
make me better
make me we
what could make
what could make me
make me us
make me matter
make me one
what could make
what could make me
make me feel

4

I don’t need
I don’t need to
I don’t need no
I don’t need us
I don’t need any
I don’t need

5

feel this
feel anything
feel we
feel this one
feel this expressed
feel this in the way
feel this
feel us

6

these days (days)
see tears (tears)
secret place (place)
my prey (prey)
for days (days)
to prey (prey)

7

I’ve got this
I’ve got serenity
I’ve got existence
I’ve got disarray
I’ve got sunshine
I’ve got attention
I’ve got a relationship
I’ve got the same
I’ve got by
I’ve got us
I’ve got so much
I’ve got a person
I’ve got excesses
I’ve got a thing
I’ve got that

8

I may
I must
I guess
I guess
I guess and expressed
I guess we
I guess between
you’d say very
I guess each
you’d say this
I guess any
you’d say not
I guess histories
you’d say never
I guess
I guess very
I guess disorientation

Collage Poem: Kingdom of Stone

Posted by

0

I’ve been playing around a bit with collage and poetry combined together.

This is a sample of one of my latest experiments.  It’s a rather fun way to play with words and images.  I highly recommend it.  A bit therapeutic, too.

IMG_2208 (5)

Ugly Crying

Posted by

0

by Debi

sadnessI wish I cried gracefully
dabbing tears softly
a quiet sniffle
a gentle sob
tear-stained pillowcases
but not me
I’m an ugly crier
a snot-stained pillowcase
or a pile of soggy Kleenex
is more my style

As ugly and snotty and noisy
as my crying may be
the grief behind it
is no less profound
than the gentlest sob
of a lovelier crier
bent gracefully
over the tear-stained pages
of an unfinished
handwritten
diary entry

Poem: Our land

Posted by

0

wildfire_t670

the fire burned
burnt burns still burning

meanwhile

memories

vanish vanishes still vanishing
in the ash, in the dust

our view now charcoal

(should we use charcoal to draw landscapes?)

the firestorm
eaten eats still eating:

dreams
hopes
loves
lives
forests
fauna

can we ever
own

the land? hills? meadows? trees? creek?

the wildfire
sparked sparks still sparking

and
then

and then

i  t  ’  s

g  o  n   e