Hey, It's Me!

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Checking in here as me. Just me. Not me the interpreter, not me the coordinator, not me the how-I-appear-to-others. Me.

I guess.

Or me in the moment. Yes, this is me in the moment.

I just created and posted several interpreted theatre events in Facebook. And forwarded some news of the day things; reposted is the correct word.

And caught up with some work people about this project and that idea and the things I've been discussing with different people.

And.

This morning before I went to work another of my providers not-so-subtly, yet kindly, suggested that I might want to look at when I have a break coming up. Which I do.

Sort of. No really, I do. It's five days not only off of work but completely away from work. I will be steeped in writing, again, for the Writing By Writers Methow Valley writing conference/retreat/workshop. That will be awesome. And I will be unavailable for work while I'm up there soaking in the writerhood and being my other me.

Okay - in my writing world. Things are moving and happening. No, I'm not done with the major WIP (work in progress). I am making great progress, though. And a plan, goals, have emerged (again, but I think this is "it.").

I had some huge insights and my heart and guts shifted during the Corporeal Writing Revision workshop I attended recently. It was amazing - everyone was amazing. All of the words and the open and the being together in a room with these excellent beings, sharing air and food and words. I left with some insights; major insights.

So, I've been writing more, again. Some of it enforced by needing to submit work ahead of time for the Methow Valley experience.

Oh - and if you didn't catch it on Facebook (I know there are a couple of followers here who aren't on Facebook), I received heartwarming news from Hippocampus Magazine. My "Alone in Reno" piece, which was published in the December issue, was given the Most Memorable piece for that issue. I was surprised and touched and it means so much to me. (I just found out a couple of weeks ago; you haven't been kept in the dark for too long!)

I also have been writing short poems this month. The goal is one per day - after all, it is National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo - not officially affiliated with NaNoWriMo). I did well for a while. Slipped behind and caught up. Now I'm behind a few days, again. I will try to get caught up, again. These have been primarily haikus, with a couple of etherees, a really bad (I am not exaggerating) limerick, and a cinquain. You can take a look over here in the Playground if you dare - but don't say I didn't warn you!

I now return to the other thing I was doing.

Writing is happening. Theatre - lots of theatre - is happening. There are new ideas and projects in the works (no, I'm not saying anything, yet). And I am looking for the places where I can get a little R&R.

Keep creating!
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Reading & Writing & Shakepeare

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The interpreted performance of Othello was last Thursday. And we will be interpreting it again next Thursday at the matinee. But the first performance is the one which requires hours and hours of preparation - and even more so for Shakespeare. The second interpreted performance requires a refresher and perhaps a few changes based on the first one - but all of the time goes into preparing to do it the first time.

It went really well and I'm looking forward to the second interpreted performance, which will have a large number of D/deaf/Hard of Hearing audience members. Which always makes it more fun.

Even with working on Shakespeare, I have been writing every day. Writing at least one poem every day, and sometimes working on a short story as well. I like these creatively fruitful times. And I hope they will last - and I feel there is a chance this river of creative flow will continue, since I have maintained it during this heavy show preparation period. 

I have also done four floats for the Float On Writers' Program this month, which required that I write and submit something which came from the float, within 24 hours. This has been an interesting process as I have not floated on a weekly basis before. I have done some writing after floating, but not at this level. It has been interesting to see what has come out of my floats onto the page. 

It is not surprising that water has been involved in all of my float writings. The first two were essays about my float experience, both with some abstraction or surrealism. The third piece came out as a poem. Again, that probably isn't a surprise since I have been writing a poem each day since April 1st. But I didn't intend to write a poem and tried to steer it towards prose, but it wouldn't budge. It was a poem and wanted to stay that way. Then my final piece was a hybrid prose + poem and it was much more abstract than the earlier three pieces. I was also able to take the notes I made immediately after my float and turn them into my poem for today.

My creative energy is also being fueled by reading. Which is as it should be and, I know, is also not surprising. I am reading some good books right now, so I thought I would list them as well. I am still reading them - but from what I've read so far, I recommend them. 

"Contents May Have Shifted" by Pam Houston (fiction)

"Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama" by David Mamet (writing, nonfiction)

"This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey" by Steve Almond (stories & essays)

"Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon (creativity, nonfiction)

"The Red Road" by Denise Mina (crime/mystery novel - I'm listening to the audiobook while I drive)

I realize I haven't written about the writing workshop weekend in Port Townsend a couple of weeks ago, either. Rather than glossing over it and not giving it the space and time it deserves, I will just say that it was an amazing weekend with Lidia Yuknavitch and Pam Houston, and eleven other writers. It was work the cramp on my schedule and I have another insight for the M-book which is going to make a significant difference. I will write more about all of this later.

Writing is happening. Interpreting work is happening. Theatre is happening. 

Life is good.

Oh, and we saw Cirque du Soleil's "Totem" today and it was fabulous. And inspiring in color, sound, and seeing what the human body is capable of doing.

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Progress!

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I have been writing every day. At least once every day. And I do mean creatively writing; not just responding to emails, business correspondence, taking notes, etc. Really writing.

In case I haven't mentioned it (I know, I know - I've said it; more than once) I am participating in NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month. I mean, it is National Poetry Month, so why not join in the fun and create some? Right?

All of my daily poems are being posted over on The Writing Vein Playground. In their mostly first draft states. A few have had some minor edits; some are right out of my brain/heart-hand connection. One of the poems - from Friday 4/18 - is an excerpt of a longer piece. It was created after the third of my four "writing floats" - as a part of the Writers' Program in which I'm participating at Float On. Since the piece was written for Float On, for potential use in an anthology in the future, I posted only one stanza and left the piece in its entirety unpublished.

I still have my Tuesday morning writing jams with Rooze. We are trying a new location this coming week, as the place where we've been meeting has taken to turning up the volume on their music and there seems to be more conversation (amongst and from the staff; over the music). And it is too loud and distracting for writing. We will continue to meet and write - just changing the venue.

It has been a bit of a challenge to write a poem every day, continue the Tuesday writing, create another new piece of writing every week within 24 hours of my float - and to be in heavy preparation to interpret "Othello" next week. But I've done it. I am doing it. Perhaps proving to myself, again, that writing begets writing. Right? The more you write the easier it is to write and the writing comes easier and so it goes. For me in this moment, it feels pretty amazing that I am still doing all of this writing - and prepping for Shakespeare.
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"The Microsoft Windows of English Poetry"

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I clicked over to NaPoWriMo to get the daily prompt. Oh! A form! I'm doing well with writing in form for NaPoWriMo this year and this is a new form for me to play with.

Then I saw it - the title I used for today's post. It made me laugh out loud, so I had to share it here.

Today, I challenge you to write a poem in terza rima. This form was invented by Dante, and used in The Divine Comedy. It consists of three-line stanzas, with a “chained” rhyme scheme. The first stanza is ABA, the second is BCB, the third is CDC, and so on. No particular meter is necessary, but English poets have tended to default to iambic pentameter (iambic pentameter is like the Microsoft Windows of English poetry). One common way of ending a terza rima poem is with a single line standing on its own, rhyming with the middle line of the preceding three-line stanza. 

Now on to write my terza rima.
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Write a "Replacement" Poem

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This one from NaPoWriMo looks like fun!

I haven't written mine, yet. I will. But I have planted all of the spinach (two types), kale (two
types), onions, rainbow carrots, and tomatoes (one plant each of three types). And mowed the grassy areas (or should I say grass-like areas?).

Now I have to clean up so I can go watch Othello tonight! Carolyn and Rich saw it last week and Carolyn and I are going tonight. The three of us (Rich Hall, Carolyn Brockway, and I) will be interpreting Othello at Portland Center Stage on April 24th at 7:30 pm and May 1st at noon (the matinee may already be sold out).


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Here is the prompt - I am looking forward to getting my hands on it! Maybe over dinner before Othello.

Today’s (optional) prompt is a “replacement” poem. Pick a common noun for a physical thing, for example, “desk” or “hat” or “bear,” and then pick one for something intangible, like “love” or “memories” or “aspiration.” Then Google your tangible noun, and find some sentences using it. Now, replace that tangible noun in those sentences with your intangible noun, and use those sentences to create (or inspire) a poem. Here’s a little example that replaces the word “lemon,” in sentences from a Wikipedia article on lemons, with the word “sorrow.” 

Sorrow is a small evergreen tree native to Asia.
The origin of sorrow is a mystery.
The first substantial cultivation of sorrow in Europe
began in Genoa in the middle of the 15th century.
A halved sorrow dipped in salt or baking powder
is used to brighten copper cookware. One educational
science experiment involves attaching electrodes
to sorrow and using it as a battery.
Although very low power, several sorrows
can power a small digital watch. 

Goofy, but also interesting! It’s not quite a poem yet, but there might be a poem in there, waiting to come out. Happy writing!

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NaPoWriMo Prompt: Drinking Song

From NaPoWriMo : "Poets have been writing about love and wine, wine and love, since . . . well, since the time of Anacreon, a Greek poet who was rather partial to that subject matter. Anacreon developed a particular meter for his tipsy, lovey-dovey verse, but Anacreontics in English generally do away with meter-based constraints. Anacreontics might be described as a sort of high-falutin' drinking song. So today I challenge you to write about wine-and-love. Of course, you may have no love of wine yourself, in which case you might try an anti-Anacreontic poem."

NaPoWriMo Prompt Poses a Challenge

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I won't get to writing my poem today until later, since I'm waiting at the CoLab in Port Townsend waiting for the writing workshop to begin. Today I get to write with Lidia Yuknavitch; tomorrow it will be with Pam Houston. You will be able to read the poem over at The Writing Vein Playground.

But, courtesy of NaPoWriMo, here is a prompt for today's daily poem.

Today’s prompt is a little complicated, which is why I saved it for a Saturday, in the hopes that you might have a little more time today than during a weekday. I think this is a very rewarding form, though, so I hope you’ll enjoy it! Today I challenge you to write a “golden shovel.” This form was invented by Terrance Hayes in his poem, The Golden Shovel. The last word of each line of Hayes’ poem is a word from Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem We Real Cool. You can read Brooks’ poem by reading the last word of each line of Hayes’ poem! (In fact, you can do so twice, because Hayes, being ultra-ambitious, wrote a two-part golden shovel, repeating Brooks’ poem). Now, the golden shovel is a tricky form, but you can help keep it manageable by picking a short poem to shovel-ize. And there’s no need to double-up the poem you pick, like Hayes did.

She goes on to give a few examples on the webpage, so make sure to hop over there to take a look.

Write a Lune - NaPoWriMo Day Four

‎The poetry prompt for today, from NaPoWriMo is...

"... to write a lune. A lune is a sort of English-language variation on the haiku, meant to better render the tone of the Japanese haiku than the standard 5-7-5 format we all learned (and maybe loved) in elementary school. There are a couple of variants on the lune form, but just to keep things simple, let's try the version developed by Jack Collum. His version of the lune involves a three-line stanza. The first line has three words. The second line has five, and the third line has three. You can write a poem that consists of just one stanza, or link many lune-stanzas together into a unified poem. "

You can read my three writing lunes over at The Writing Vein Playground.
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Poetry Prompt

From NaPoWriMo.net, here is their (optional) prompt for today's poem. I will be posting my poem later over at The Writing Vein Playground. ‎ 

In keeping with today's status as the third day of NaPoWriMo, I challenge you to write a charm – a simple rhyming poem, in the style of a recipe-slash-nursery rhyme. It could be a charm against warts, or against traffic tickets. It could be a charm to bring love, or to bring free pizzas from your local radio station.

Today's Horse Fueled by Recall and Wear Bars

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Another day "off" filled with appointments and meetings and. Did I say "off"? What I mean is that I'm not interpreting anywhere today.

Right now I'm having one of those there-has-to-be-a-horse-in-here moments. The "shit" is that my car had a recall, which was announced with a fluorescent yellow postcard, so I scheduled the appointment to fix it for today, which had to be done at the dealer. Then with the car's oil change and checkup last week at our regular mechanic, they confirmed that, yes, the tread on the tires is very near the wear bars and they need to be replaced. So I checked prices and was surprised that the dealer would actually give me a better price on new tires than other places, including our trusted and beloved mechanic, so I called the dealer and added it to the list of tasks to be addressed today.

So, right now I'm sitting at a restaurant, on my 3rd cup of decaf, my breakfast plate cleared. Still waiting for my car. With the recall work and the tires, the time estimate was two and a half to three hours. The recall is a software update, so part of the completion time is dependent on the speed and reliability of the internet.

The horse is that I planned for that. I didn't expect three hours, but I'm prepared for it. The horse is that I have my laptop and the nearby restaurant where I'm sitting has wifi and I'm writing.

I completed the first draft of today's NaPoWriMo poem and it's posted over at The Writing Vein Playground. I edited a short essay I wrote last week and have been searching for a home for that (I'm considering submitting it to Readers Write at The Sun; although it's a little long for that and I think I'd rather find another location where it can be published in its entirety). And right now - well, as soon as I complete this post - I'm working on another story.

I am noticing the absence of working on the M-book. It is not forgotten. I see that it is not on my list. I'm anticipating having a block of time to work on it in May. After Othello.
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April also brings: NaPoWriMo

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In the tradition of NaNoWriMo, someone started NaPoWriMo in 2003. The goal is to write 30 poems in 30 days. It's that simple. Yes, it is.
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The official NaPoWriMo site will have a featured press, a featured blog, and a featured participant every day. They also offer daily prompts.

Here is the prompt for day one:

Our prompts are, as always, optional. If you have your own plans for generating poems, or find prompts elsewhere that suit you better, that’s just fine. Our prompts are there just to help those who are having trouble getting inspired – if you’re full up on inspiration, there’s no need to follow them. With that out of the way, I’ve chosen something I hope will be fun and simple, to ease you into your first day. Today, I’d like you to go to Reb Livingston’s Bibliomancy Oracle. Clear your mind, push the button, and then write a poem based on the quotation that the oracle provides. Happy writing!

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My Oracle prompt and poem:

this is the meet-up of movement and memory/ how our ancestors kiss each other in the stairwells of satellites/mischievous and right on time
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from “like seeds / or a guide to black feminist time travel” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Truth of the Garden
by Dot Hearn
Clematis hiking over painted trellis
slats interwoven green on white on wood
against the cement pillars of the porch.
Sun baking, rain pelting, wind buffeting
leaves and delicate flowers left over
from a decade ago when the house was planted
when the walls erected and the foundation
layed. Memories buried and covering and
hiding everywhere. "If these walls could talk"
has nothing on the preservation power
of roots and stalks and rhizomes
and the flowers they produce
year after year.
Infinity.

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This post originally appeared over at the The Writing Vein Playground on 4/1/14.

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Challenge: H is for Haiku, Haibun, and Heroic Couplets

Actually, in honor of National Poetry Month and all those who are also doing NaPoWriMo, my H is for Haibun, Haiku, Hamd, Heroic Couplets, and Hybronnet.

I will admit that Haiku was the original word. But as I did a little looking around, looking for something entertaining to write about Haiku, I discovered the other types of poetry which begin with the letter H. I will also admit that I've never heard of two of the styles of poems and another one I think I've heard mentioned, but would have had no idea what it meant.

I hopped over to Poetry Soup to read up on these H poetry forms:

Haibun

Japanese form, pioneered by the poet Basho, and comprising a section of prose followed by haiku. They are frequently travelogues - as in Basho's The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel (1688). In the best examples, the prose and haiku should work together to create an organic whole.


Haiku
A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five moras (a unit of sound that determines syllable weight in some languages) respectively, usually about some form of nature. Although haiku are often stated to have 17 syllables,[2] this is inaccurate as syllables and moras are not the same. Haiku typically contain a kigo (seasonal reference), and a kireji (cutting word).[3] In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line and tend to take aspects of the natural world as their subject matter, while haiku in English often appear in three lines to parallel the three phrases of Japanese haiku and may deal with any subject matter.

Hamd
Hamd is a poem in praise of Allah. The word "hamd" is derived from the Qur'an, its English translation is "Praise".


Heroic Couplet
A traditional form for English poetry, commonly used for epic and narrative poetry; it refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines.

Hybronnet
The form name is derived from hybrid and sonnet.


This form is an offspring of a sonnet; that is to say that it must consist of fourteen lines; each line must be octal syllabic, does not necessarily have to be iambic although it can be if desired, and the rhyme scheme can be ABABCDCDEFEFGG, couplet rhyme, or other acceptable schemes, allowing the poet more latitude to work with, and finally, the end rhyme can be a combination of rhymes (masculine, feminine, slant, etc.) or used anyway the poet deems appropriate.

Now, if I were really on top of things, I'd write out examples of each one and post them here, as well. But I haven't done that. So I'll leave it to you to look them up.

I do recommend clicking over to Poetry Soup and reading their example of a Bosho Haibun. I like it.

H is for more than just Haiku!
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This is National Poetry Month

I've done National Poetry Month for the past three years. But not this year. This year - as you may have noticed - I'm doing the Blogging A to Z Challenge. If you missed my first post about it, you may have wondered why I have a letter block each day, and why some of the topics were chosen.

Not that I can really tell you why I chose the topics, unless that's already in the post itself. Which some of them are. But some are random, as in 'what's the first thing which pops into your head with the prompt of the letter "E".' That one was completely random and fun: Eclectically Ergonomic Elephants. Ha!

But even though I'm not writing a poem a day this month, I am posting prompts intended for poetry, every day on my related site, The Writing Vein Playground. The prompts could also be used for writing. Or making art. Or dancing. I have a few friends who are writing a poem a day so these have been created with them in mind, but are open for anyone to use, of course! You can find them and see what I discover each day over at The Writing Vein Playground. And if you use them, feel free to post your poem or flash writing in the comments section.

So far this month every prompt has been a picture, one is a video. I suspect that will continue; I may or may not add word prompts as the month progresses. Each post does include a link to the place online, usually an article, where I found the pictures if you want to read more about it. But wait until after you've written your piece!

Here are direct links to the prompts so far :

April 1

April 2

April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7
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No A to Z Challenge post today. Sundays are days off in their format. Although you can see that I have already developed the daily posting habit, so here you go!

And a bonus random photo from my own collection - just because.

Reaching for Sunset by Dot.

Nye Beach, Oregon 2011

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It's April - What Will You be Writing?

The question is simple enough; right?

Tomorrow begins April and there are two big writing events. More, I'm sure, but I'm talking of the global scale.

Will you be doing NaPoWriMo? National Poetry Writing Month? Writing a poem a day for 30 days?

Or will you be doing Script Frenzy? Which is brought to you by the Office of Letters and Light. That's right: the same folks who bring us NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those who don't know).

Or perhaps you're still working on NaNoEdMo - National Novel Editing Month.

Whatever your April writing pleasure, which may be None of the Above, may it be fruitful and may the writing flow.

And that's not a joke.
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Script Frenzy: Day One

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Yes. I did it - I hit the minimum number of average pages per day in my Script Frenzy play - and more.

I'm ending today with 7 pages of my script written.

And I decided to insert a Poet into the play. Well, more like a wandering minstrel who will appear throughout the play. So I am also doing a poem a day, as well (we'll see how this goes).

I'm not quite sure why I'm doing this.

Maybe because I'm a writer.

Because I want a challenge.

Because I have some words I need to get out to keep the flow moving and there's nothing like Write X in 30 Days to get me going. Because I have learned that the more I write, the more I write.

And I've just been given back some blocks of time - so I have more time. (For those who know me, yes, this means I've lost some work. I'm putting a positive spin on it and trusting the universe to provide enough for me to meet my obligations.)

I planned to step up my walking and we'll see how that goes starting tomorrow. Tonight when I arrived home, I moved the blender from the counter in the disaster of our kitchen (this always happens with the grandson visits), slipped on some water that had been spilled from unloading the dishwasher and not wiped up, slid into the counter and grabbing onto the sink so I didn't fall and break the blender and knock my head on the still open dishwasher door and land on my butt - and the side of my ankle jammed into and under the bottom of the cupboard. That hurt really bad. I cursed like I shouldn't of with the grandson in the house. I twisted my leg a little or my knee, I'm not sure. I've taken ibuprofen and arnica and have ice on my ankle now and foot raised. I don't think anything is broken but it hurts. So my plans for walking tomorrow are probably curtailed. If the ankle or knee are sprained, maybe for longer. So maybe going from the half marathon on May 8th to the quarter marathon may not even be a possibility. I was excited to get a reply earlier today that I could go from 1/2 to 1/4 - it means I didn't have to give up, I only had to scale back (my training was interrupted by a car accident; then I got sick in February with the respiratory illness floating around - so I was being realistic and not setting myself up for a bad experience by scaling back... now we'll see).

I'm not sure how this applies to writing a script and writing poetry in April, while I'm working on the memoir and in the Literary Kitchen. But somehow it does. Maybe in terms of time.

And my friend and writer buddy, Deb, is also doing NaPoWriMo and she will be posting her poetry over at The Writing Vein Playground. Last year I put up daily prompts for April and she and I posted our corresponding poetry there (the prompts and the poems are still there; click on the 2010 archives, April; then our poems are in the comments for the prompts). Make sure to hop over to read her poetry!
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Do "-------" in 30 Days

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We're at the end of March. Surprise! Not really, I know.

What this means is that in just a couple days, there will be more complete X in 30 days activities. Which I may or may not participate in. Which I'm obviously thinking about participating in - and wondering if it's a good idea or a bad idea.

Maybe I could just say "it's an idea" rather than layering it with judgment heavy words. Good v. Bad. Yes, I like that better.

Back to my point. My options: [1] NaPoWriMo or PAD (Poem A Day), or [2] Script Frenzy.

I thought about doing Script Frenzy last year but chickened out (sorry, don't mean to malign chickens). It seemed too big and like I might fail. So, instead, I did NaPoWriMo (then just last week I saw there's another group that set up PAD as an option; looks like the same thing) - and I did write a poem every day. Some of those daily poems I did more work on and some have flown out into the world -- though not yet published.

I'm also working on the memoir - as my last post mentioned. And it's gaining it's own momentum:  there is an exponentially growing sense of completion and awareness of where it's going as I work on it. I'm also in  Ariel Gore's Literary Kitchen again - with a focus on the memoir, but an openness to wherever the prompts lead me. And I want to be sending out more submissions.

Oh - and I just renewed my membership with IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) - because I saw that they have changed their orientation training to a time I can do it. I'm excited. I have projects in mind.

So, I have non-work projects lined up. All related to writing (yes, the IPRC projects are writing centered!). And now I'm considering doing another "in 30 days" event - and wondering if I'm crazy or if it will actually help my creativity!

Thinking.

Thinking I'll do Script Frenzy.

What's the worst that can happen?

I don't complete the 100 pages. Right!
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Razor's Edge for 5/7/10

It has been a week since the end of NaPoWriMo. And I miss it. I've had brief discussions with the other two writers I was doing this "with." We all three miss it. But the month ended and so did the daily poetry.

Today, in a text message exchange, one writer and I wondered at this sudden absence of poetry writing. And why the month of April, that someone dubbed NaPoWriMo, made a difference.

My conclusion? It's because, as with NaNoWriMo, there is this giant pool of interpreters who have agreed to participate in this big "shared field of writing energy." For whatever reason, when we put our collective heads together in our separate writing spaces, the energy and time and creativity is there. We may be writing alone or in small groups - but the energy field we create encompasses the whole earth.

What if?

What if we could access that every day? Or most days. Not just in special months?

What. If?

Today's Razor's Edge:

The video is about four minutes long. As you look at it and listen to the crystal singing bowl, think about how our energies connect. Or spiritual selves if that image fits you better. Because we do all share the same planet and, ultimately, the same breath through the air we breathe. Our sun is same no matter where it rises or goes down from where we live.

Like a swimming pool: where does my water end and yours begin? It doesn't, we all have access. Creativity - like a swimming pool, warmed by the sun and cooled by the wind.

VIDEO with music:

WORDS:

I walked to the edge and saw...

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NaPoWriMo: day 19 "envelop"

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envelop
by dot.

your ash covers me
threatens to smother me
makes my breathing hard
makes the cars stop
the planes won't fly

we try to harness you
to build over you
to go around you and deny
your power
to ignore you

but as we grow and sprawl
as we multiply in numbers
as we take and extort
and ignore the subtle or not
so subtle rumblings

you don't sleep
you wait for the moment
you wait, you warn us
if we listen, if we try
we can hear you

your beauty envelops me
changes sunlight to dark
blues and greens become muted gray
your power your breath
I stand in awe

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A NaPoWriMo poem

I posted this prompt over at The Writing Vein Playground a few days ago - and thought I'd share it here, along with my poem. My poems are there under the comments sections, as well as some fantastic poetry by Deb and a few by Jenny (I know she's writing more poems than she's posting - hello, Jenny!).

photograph by Serena Davidson
at "We Are Conduit"
benefit performances
July 2009

Flesh Tone
by Dot

Muscles taut not tense
the skin smooth and forgiving
reaching out to you to me and back
we grasp and reach no strain
our bodies in opposition yet touching

knowing you knowing me we react
reflect
flesh on flesh sinew to muscle to bone
counterbalance counter
connect correct
encircle

we ask why or not
we wonder why
or not
if I let go
will you
if you let go will I

if we hold on
for how long
balance in relation
temperatures cool and rise
and cool again
skin on skin
muscle feeds muscle
tones connect
begin
again

skin to skin

feet naked

It's NaPoWriMo!

In case you missed the announcement: it's National Poetry Writing Month. If you look around online, there are various places where people are gathering and posting and hosting contests. Some people are just posting their daily poems on their blogs.

If you want to join in the fun and find yourself wanting a prompt - I will be posting a daily prompt over at The Writing Vein Playground. Each prompt was chosen or created with poetry in mind.

The first prompt is already there and waiting!

Feel free to post your poems in the comments at the Playground, regardless of whether you use the prompt or not.