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.

• get the story down
• mold the language
• buck expectations
• embrace the form, then break the rules

do it the opposite of the way you’ve always done it

leaf pile
jumps with my footfall
mimicked rattle

leaves stir
bird chirp through
cicada drone

big screen tv waits for the bus

I just love to paint dust

-Sarah Lamb

Michael J. Mooney, the article’s author, with a lovely addition

capture the luminescence of everyday things

Good advice for poets, especially crafters of haiku

dead spiders
in the mixing bowl
a scuttling
under the table
thunder

mountains
layered / stacked
into the clouds

worm drops in
sound of distant boat motor
bobber

lone tree
in storm cloud covered field
heat dome

cyclist rides in to the lightning

backroad church peeing boy statue giggles

first firefly
a spark floats skyward
before the rain

cow
shits
a mountain

give it rest

watch the rain

mulch the clippings

let it cure

blue tailed skink
down
brick wall
up
blue tailed jay

lizard
on the brick wall
humidity forecast: oppressive

paradiddle precipipalpitation

butterfly
a blue jay fallen plum
from peach tree
over felled oak
rolled fire in waiting
for the rain
to hose down
tender heads blooming
in the yard

prune the overgrowth

sprout it

play the monkey wrench

slivered edge shadow of full moon

rinse/repeat

be here how

do the fastest version

deconstruct the stage

stop the clock

share the secret

standing in the rain
3 horses
acoustic guitar riff

take a beat

change the form

start today

craft a myth

just the shadow

do it 1/4 speed

let it sit

make it smaller

young leaves
fluttering in the
bird song

strip the bedrock

coil the rope

spring
explodes against
rained out sky

get it for here

keep going

listen to the rain

let it compost a bit

do it again from memory

make a shortcut

the hills
on fire
in the rain

fill in between the notes of bird song

brave the blank page

waiting for rain
the hills
on fire

use what comes out in the wash

break the edges

train cars
rolling
banjo

shuffle the orientation

open the windows

crocodile skinned pine
through the door
to fireflies

release

begin anew

elevate the third banana

refactor the tea leaves

change ⬇️
⬆️ stay the same

fill your space

young leaves and old blooms
against the darkening sky

remove the necessary

around the flagpole
Made in China
Canadian geese

sun
through the clouds
that promised
tornados
in darkness

represent the representation

find the beauty

slow it down

ignore the clock

just take the damn medicine

mechanical dragonfly
chopping through
sound of wind

decenter the core

shirtless with
an uncertain amount of arm
orange roll up teeth

halve the magnitude

remove the edges

replace force with flow

deform the box

spread to the edge

highlight the warts

shrink the tonic

rework it as if someone else

make the fairy tale version

follow the flow

collage the scraps

make an ally of time

alter the scenery

shuffle the halves

ignore the clock

make the idea tangible as quickly as possible

plow the field of your theme

jump on it

wear out the groove

trace sunbeams

recreate it from scratch

capture the echo

resolve the tension

do the surprising thing

try a different filter

bury the point of focus

pull buttons
push strings

adorn the gap

improve your readiness

cleanse the gates of perception

extend the theme

adjust the signal

resist the spectacle

make it less

school sign

robotics:
park in back

make the basics better

vary the theme

do not listen
to want and need
but must

expand the quiet

reflect the shine

rounds of oak
still dusted
in snow

sled the edge of change

share the fuel

the air
the apps
promise snow

spark the flame

put it in a box

shift the pieces

give time for growth

literature of horses
braille of shit
on the street

make it work ⤵️
make it work better ⤴️

capture stillness

bird feeder
discarding the shells
of last year

bird feeder
sorting through
last year’s shells

start fresh