PROGRESSIVE POEM ENDS HERE

Dear Friends,

What a wonderful journey we've shared with our Progressive Poem! I have enjoyed so much watching this poem grow little by little, all the bold strokes and gentle touches, how each line adds a new layer, a new voice.

One of you commented about how it's been a lovely way to experience delayed gratification in our current sound-byte, instantaneous, rapid-fire world. I love that!

I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but I think I imagined a more haphazard result, a poem less cohesive. And now I read it, and I think, OF COURSE. Because that's the kind of community this is: loving, inspiring, supportive. Thank you, all of you, for sharing in this experience. I totally want to do it again next year!

And now for what I've done with the poem, as a way to wind up our adventure. I've used a technique that works for me again and again as I try to find the heart of my own poems. I've gone line by line and pulled out one word or one phrase and recrafted them, in order, to kind of distill the essence of the poem.  And then I've added my own bit at the end to provide some closure.

You can use this technique on your own poems, or on famous poems. In a way, it's a form of "found" poetry. It's also just an excellent self-editing exercise. And what's interesting here is that if each of us was to address this particular poem, we'd wind up with 29 similar but different poems, as we each are drawn to different words and phrases for different reasons.

Here's my take:

Note to Self

If you are hungry,

kick off a spell.

Dry your glass

secrets. Spill

out, breathe in.

Now, wish:

inside,

unfold a waltz.

How do broken veils

feed your heart?

Soul of coriander

and moonshine,

beware of too much

cushion. Trust

silver-tipped poetry.

Here: speckle

your life. Feast

on dream-dust.

And here's the uncut version, still title-less (suggestions, anyone?), but with a few adjustments to punctuation. Also, I tried the poem in triplets, and I really like the result:

ETA: Title courtesy of Kate Coombs!

Advice for a Dark Day

If you are reading this,                                                            

you must be hungry.

Kick off your silver slippers,

come sit with us a spell.

A hanky, here, now dry your tears

and fill your glass with wine.

Now, pour. The parchment has secrets,

smells of a Moroccan market spill-out.

You have come to the right place, just breathe in.

Honey, mint, cinnamon, sorrow. Now, breathe out

last week’s dreams. Take a wish from the jar.

Inside, deep inside, is the answer…

Unfold it, and let us riddle it together,

…Strains of a waltz. How do frozen fingers play?

How do fennel, ginger, saffron blend in the tagine?

Like broken strangers bound by time, they sisterdance…

their veils of sorrow encircle, embrace.

Feed your heart with waltzes and spices.

Feed your soul with wine and dreams.

Humble dust of coriander scents your feet, coaxing

seascapes, crystal sighs and moonshine from your melody.

Beware of dangers along the path of truth

and beware, my friend, of too much bewaring–

strong hands cushion you, sweet scents surround you—now leap

without looking, guided by trust. And when you land

on silver-tipped toes, buoyed by joy– you’ll know

you are amazing, you are love, you are poetry—

here, you rest.

Muse. Up ahead, stepping stones speckle the stream, sturdy now.

May your words roar against the banks, your life a flood of dreams.

by 

1 Irene at Live Your Poem

2 Doraine at Dori Reads

3 Jeannine at View from a Window Seat

4 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl

5 Susan at Susan Taylor Brown

6 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

7 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
8 Jone at Deo Writer

9 Gina at Swagger Writer's

10 Julie at The Drift Record

11 Kate at Book Aunt

12 Anastasia Suen at Booktalking

13 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

14 Diane at Random Noodling

15 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

16 Natalie at Wading Through Words

17 Tara at A Teaching Life

18 Amy at The Poem Farm

19 Lori at Habitual Rhymer

20 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

21 Myra at Gathering Books

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Miranda at Miranda Paul Books

24 Linda at TeacherDance

25 Greg at Gotta Book

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Linda at Write Time
28 Caroline at Caroline by Line
29 Sheri at Sheri Doyle
30 Irene at Live Your Poem

Oh, and if you get a chance, I'm a guest over at Katie Davis's blog, talking about 5 reasons why you should write poetry. Stop by!