Tag Archives: poetry

Post It Note Poetry – Permission To Write (Badly)

Posted on January 28, 2015 | 18 comments

February marks the beginning of Post It Note Poetry month. It began 3 years ago as a challenge between myself and my writing partner at the time, Jodi Cleghorn – a month of bad poetry, written on a Post It Note.

You can find my collection of Post It Note Poetry over on tumblr as well as some other poetry including blackout/erasure poetry. 

My first Post It Note poem written on February 1, 2013.

My first Post It Note poem written on February 1, 2013.

I will be posting a new poem daily in February #postitnotepoetry and will also curate the poems here each week.

But here’s the challenge: why don’t you have a go? Grab a packet of Post It Notes (any colour will do) and write a poem each day. Post it to twitter and include the hashtag. Include me too (@revhappiness) so I can see what’s going on.

If you can’t do it every day, no stress. Do what you can. Don’t censor. Write with both heart and mind.

Sunday marks the First of February and a month of writing poetry on Post It Notes. Have at it!

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Posted in Ars Poetica, Post It Note Poetry

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When Ideas Turn to Manure

Posted on January 14, 2015 | 13 comments

Over the last few weeks I’ve been plugging away at some older pieces of work, deciding whether to forge on with them or cut them loose.

I had just closed the document of a poem I had been working on after having decided it was not worth pursuing at this time and launched into a quick twitter self-evaluation session.

The conversation I had with myself is below.

Cleared the desk of old projects hanging around. Abandoned some. Others into storage. Time to focus on the new things. And Get Stuff Done.

Come to conclusion some ideas are worth exploring but awareness they are practice, amassing the hours needed to master the craft.

Nothing wrong with that. Some ideas sprout early, look good but produce only weeds. Cut them down, turn them into compost for new ones.

It does seem to contradict “finish what you started” but sometimes the piece will not work no matter how much manure you pour on it.

Commitment to an idea is noble but not at the expense of developing as a writer, artist, creative person. Shelve it. File it. Let it go.

Sometimes ideas just suck. Sometimes they turn into manure. Put it on the compost pile and let it feed new ideas and projects.

Do you ever let something go or do you see it out to the end?

 

13 Comments

Posted in Creativity, The Writer's Life

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1 Step To Kick Start Your Creativity

Posted on January 13, 2015 | 3 comments

Ever wondered how to kick start your creativity?

Besides a swift kick up the bum (which is easy to do by the way. Tie a piece of rope around your right ankle. Bring the rope up and over your shoulder from behind. Pull the rope swiftly and kick yourself in the bum).

There is an easy way to kick start your creativity. 

You start by DOING.

No thinking. No procrastinating. No making a cup of tea first. No checking twitter or Facebook. No worrying. No hesitation. No. No. And no.

To get you started in the DOING phase of kick starting your creativity, there are a list of suggestions. Pick the appropriate category and off you go and DO IT.

For Aspiring Writers

* write 5 very short stories or pieces of description. Each story must be 6 sentences in length and include one sentence of dialogue.

For Curious Poets

* write 5 poems. It doesn’t matter about how bad you think they are, write them. Give yourself 5 minutes to write each poem. Do them all at once or one at time.

For Ingenious Artists

* draw 5 pictures. Draw each picture on a Post It Note.

For Ambitious Photographers

* select one random object from around the house or office and take 5 photographs in different locations.

Which one are you doing? 

If you’ve given it a go why not show the world what you’ve done and link it back here?

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Posted in Creativity, The Writer's Life

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A Found Poem

Posted on December 24, 2014 | 6 comments

Rifling through this list, 51 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences in Literature (via Buzzfeed) a poem formed in my mind by compiling, editing, amending some of the sentences.

I have come across this form by other writers. It’s an interesting new form in that it is almost a type of plagiarism (except I am acknowledging my sources), to create a new piece of work with words that are not mine. In some ways it is another form of blackout or erasure poetry.

Follow the link above to see which sentences I have borrowed and what I have changed. There are some instances of changing letters for the sake of grammatical accuracy, and I have divided up some of the sentences to link them with specific ideas or imagery.

Untitled
I took a deep breath
and listened to the old brag of my heart;
I am, I am, I am.
Sometimes I can feel my bones straining
under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.
Do I dare
disturb the universe?
What are men to rocks and mountains?
Folks say God crumbles up the old moon into stars.
The pieces I am,
I could see
standing there
leaning on the balcony railing.
How wild it was,
to let it give
them back to me
in all the right order.
an enormous, unmerited gift
given randomly,
stupidly
holding the universe together.
Everything was beautiful
and nothing hurt.
Let me be something
every minute
of every hour
of my life.
Let the wild rumpus start.

6 Comments

Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity

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When In Doubt, Write Poetry By Erasing Words

Posted on December 16, 2014 | 4 comments

Diving back into the classics for more blackout poetry.

You’ll find my first two attempts here (Moby Dick – Herman Melville) and here (Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad)

I have taken the first page of a range of texts and used the tone and ideas to create something new.

Epistemology

from Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (click image to enlarge)

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Who I Am

from The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (click image to enlarge)

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What Your Mind Has Made 

from The Picture of Dorian Grey – Oscar Wilde (click image to enlarge)

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A New Situation for Families

from Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy (click image to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

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Like Ivy

from The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson (click image to enlarge)

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Posted in Ars Poetica

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Prayer of Lamentations

Posted on December 16, 2014 | 5 comments

In the light of a hostage tragedy in my home city, Sydney, Australia, we joined as a staff in the College chapel to pray. 

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Last night, in the midst of the uncertainty and doubt, I was inspired by the story of the social media hashtag #IllRideWithYou, where it demonstrated the biblical adage, “Love thy neighbour as yourself.” Despite race, creed, religion, people wanted to stand side-by-side with their fellow commuters and demonstrate their connection with one another. I haven’t been able to find out if it happened, but I hope that there are positive stories to be told.

As a community we prayed for understanding, for strength, to be instruments of peace. And as we joined in silent, contemplative prayer, the lines of a poem began to form in my head.

The biblical narrative contains the Book of Lamentations, a book of sorrow. Read in tandem with the Book of Job I see the power of grief and mourning as a time that should bring us closer together. It is a time to share the burden even when we don’t understand it. To simply be and let the people around us grieve in their own way in their own time. It is a theme I return to in my writing from time to time, and I have returned to it today.

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Let me hear the song of your heart
The song of lamentation
uttered in voiceless silence
and salted tears.
As I sit with you
pray with you
eat and drink with you
I will listen to you
That we may find strength
In one another’s grief
and extend comfort
through our joined hearts and voices
Teach me the song of lamentation
That I may know the song of your heart

 

5 Comments

Posted in Ars Poetica

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Blackout Poetry – Another Questionable Attempt

Posted on December 9, 2014 | 3 comments

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Between us
the bond of
periods of separation
and
a box of dominoes
toying 
with 
the anchor
we did not begin that game of
placid staring
The day 
was a benign unstained
mist
Only the 
brooding
somber minute
angered by the
curved and imperceptible
heat
a change
more profound
unruffled dignity
that comes and departs in the
abiding memories. Indeed nothing’s
easier
than to evoke
its unceasing

After yesterday’s modicum of success with blackout poetry, I tried my hand at another (need to do something creative at the moment while I get my head back into shape to tackle some significant writing projects in January).

This page comes from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” I studied this text in high school last century and thoroughly enjoyed it. Admitting at the time I didn’t quite understand the colonialism and inherent racism, it still holds as a powerful metaphor. Tie it with Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” and you have a teenager’s existential orgasm. 

So, with that in mind, I wanted explored the idea of relationships through the text.

It’s a diversion from writing Post It Note Poetry (and a couple of other major works in progress) but I posit that flogging someone else’s idea to pursue something creative is better than nothing. Blackout, or erasure, poetry makes you look at words, their order and the meaning created. It opens your mind to see other possibilities, limited as it is by the choice of text, to create something new.

I encourage you to try it yourself. Or buy a colouring book and pencils. Do something to stimulate your brain. 

3 Comments

Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity, Post It Note Poetry

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Blackout Poetry – An Attempt of Questionable Merit

Posted on December 8, 2014 | 7 comments

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I have loved Austin Kleon’s work (@austinkleon) and I own his book, Steal Like An Artist (It’s fabulous. Get a copy). I follow his tumblr and love reading his work.

So I decided to give it a go. Armed with my iPad, a digital copy of Moby Dick and Notability, I ripped into the first page of Herman Melville’s tome. 

What does it mean? I. Have. Absolutely. No. Idea. I like how it sounds. And I’ll be adding this to the collection of poems I have on tumblr (even if it’s not a Post It Note).

 

 

7 Comments

Posted in Ars Poetica, Creativity, Post It Note Poetry

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Small Achievements – Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2014

Posted on December 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Earlier this year I had a poem, Elihu’s Meditation on Questions Unanswered, published in Vine Leaves Literary Journal.

And now it is being published in the Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal.

I would encourage you to support small press and publishers as they are pushing boundaries and discovering brilliant new literary voices. This edition is full of remarkable vignettes, poetry and art.

Follow Vine Leaves (@VineLeavesLJ) and its editor-in-chief, Jessica Bell (@MsBessieBell) on Twitter.

Orders can be made directly through the web site. Order HERE. It would make for a wonderful Christmas present for the book lover in your family.

Best of Vine Leaves 2014

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Posted in Short Stories, The Writer's Life

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New Poem Published in Tincture Journal

Posted on December 1, 2014 | 2 comments

I have the pleasure of announcing a new poem, Folded Peace, will appear in Issue 8 of Tincture Journal (out today), an Australian based literary magazine edited by Daniel Young and Stuart Barnes.

Tincture Journal Issue 8

Table of Contents

  • Editorial, by Daniel Young
  • Inferior Bedrooms, by Meg Henry
  • Crazy Town is a Happy Place, by Deborah Sheldon
  • Post-mortem, by Elizabeth Allen
  • Delicious, by Elizabeth Allen
  • Looking for Links, or: On Imagining What I Would Talk About If I Met Stuart Barnes (Elizabeth Allen, interviewed by Stuart Barnes)
  • Red Flowers of the Exodus, by Amy Ward-Smith
  • Folded Peace, by Adam Byatt
  • One Small Step, by Matt Smith
  • What I Write About When I Write About Dance, by Sophie Pusz
  • Teddy Bears’ Picnic, by Emily Craven
  • Ms Robyne Young requests the pleasure of the company of Ms Janis Ian to dine, by Robyne Young
  • Shepherd Mourning, by SB Wright
  • First to a Hundred, by Jodi Cleghorn
  • Barn Burners, Fire Vans, by Stephen Koster
  • inevitability, by Ashley Capes
  • Simmering, by Katelin Farnsworth
  • On the skin, by Rebecca Howden
  • Bringing Experimental Text to the Mainstream: Kirsten Krauth’s just_a_girl, by Julie Proudfoot
  • The Monologue, by Nicholas Lawrence
  • Live Cam, 42nd Street, Times Square, by Francine Ruben
  • One Bronx Morning, by Patrick Fogarty
  • Hunting With Masai, by Charles Bane, Jr.
  • Knock Knock, by Edoardo Albert
  • A Night Inside, by Kathryn Hummel
  • The House of Little Things, by Grant Tarbard
  • 11 Months in London, by Tony Walton
  • Oh, La, La! by Barbara Donnelly Lane
  • Reply Hazy, Try Again, by Kevin Brown
  • The Moth, by Abhishaike Mahajan

This will be my second appearance in Tincture, following on from my short story, The Cicada Clock, published in Issue 6.

I also have the pleasure of sitting alongside compadres Sean Wright (@SeandBlogonaut), Jodi Cleghorn (@JodiCleghorn) and Emily Craven (@TheMadelineCain).

I am looking forward to reading Emily’s new work, one I have not read before. I am in awe of Sean’s poetry as it embodies the rural aspect of Australian life with a very deft touch of a modern perspective. Jodi’s story, First to a Hundred, made me cry when I read early drafts of it. It is poignant, beautiful and uplifting, especially in the light of the loss of Australian cricketer, Phillip Hughes.

There is lots more to read. Click the links below.

Tincture Journal website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy A Tincture

Daniel Young (editor-in-chief)

Stuart Barnes (poetry editor)

Support small presses and the literary fabric of our culture.

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Posted in Short Stories

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