angled morning sun
catches the many edges
of shattered puddles
angled morning sun
catches the many edges
of shattered puddles
overgrowth disguises itself as a turkey
still wet
leaf piles
describe a
map of
foreign borders
shifting in
winter wind
through twigs
night fades
into fog
with the day
the fog moves
through the glass
sunny side up
burning through
once dense fog
wolf moon
shines on woodblock clouds
& dogshit piles
under a blanket
clouded sky speaks winter
across moon’s face
fallen leaf
turns over
overturned snake
young in the
fresh chill
in the bare branches
bird sings into
unseasonably warm air
dn’t need a white chrstms
just mybe
a cold one
diarrhea electric wires birds fireworks and clouds
haiku from A Future Waterfall by Banʼya Natsuishi 📚
In order to get things done,
it’s essential to have pain:
without it, nothing could be.
from Death Poems by Thomas Ligotti 📚
cloud filled sky
marbled slab
folding dough
rose blushed
clouds
bruised shadows
for that was how I thought
poetry worked: you digested experience and > shat
…
I knew two
other things, but they were wrong, as it
happened.
from Mingus at the Showplace by William Matthews
Poetry advice from Patricia Smith:
On process:
first: get the story down. That might involve writing that looks like stream of consciousness, or like a big block of prose. And the second thing is language, and that’s when I get closer to saying, OK, this is ready. If I’ve heard it before, I take it out.
On rules:
you work through it; then you figure out how to crack the rules a little bit
On purpose:
You’re trying to upend expectations for the poem, from both the reader and from yourself
invasion of
jade banded
web weavers
roadside table
1/2 mile
along curves of
wildflowers and
weeds
stray flame
at the end of the log
glows brighter
perpetual care
the sign pristine on
cemetery gate
insect rattling
in tree memory
of scared snake
wings
rattle the leaves
cicada husk
Poet Patricia Smith on how to write a poem:
The process is first: get the story down. That might involve writing that looks like stream of consciousness, or like a big block of prose. And the second thing is language, and that’s when I get closer to saying, OK, this is ready. If I’ve heard it before, I take it out.
and…
You’re trying to upend expectations for the poem, from both the reader and from yourself.
and…
you work through it; then you figure out how to crack the rules a little bit.
do it the opposite of the way you’ve always done it