Congratulations to Kongyin, who won the May poetry challenge. This is the first time the same poet has won two months in a row. The consulting judge, Floridian David Roth, explained his decision, saying, “I suspect that it was the little bit of whimsy in the ending that appealed to my softer, gentler side.”
Marissa, Where Are You?
“Marissa! Marissa!
Where are you?”
Mom searched the bedroom.
“Ah, no, Marisa isn’t hiding in the wardrobe
as usual,
wearing my favorite white dress,
pretending to be the princess of the ball.”
“Marissa! Marissa!
Where are you?”
Mom examined the basement.
“Ah, no, Marisa isn’t riding her toy car
as usual,
hitting her dad's bookcase.”
“Marissa! Marissa!
Where are you?”
Mom rummaged around the bathroom.
Ah, no, Marisa isn’t hiding there as usual,
holding the glass jar, munching on candies stolen from the cupboard.”
“Marissa! Marissa!
Where on earth are you,
and where is my white dress
and your toy car
and the jar filled with chocolate almonds?”
Mom hurried into the playground
where children swing with excited screams.
Ah, what is this by the golden daffodils on the wet ground –
a dress no longer white,
a toy car stuck in the mud,
an empty candy jar?
And what else?
A little girl with messy braids
holding a slim daffodil,
whispering,
“Hush, Mama,
I’m listening to the story told by the daffodils. ”
~ Kongyin
Poets retain copyright of their poems.
Thanks to the consulting judge, poet and author David (not Lee) Roth, Roth began his personal journey of words during a late night online chat sometime in the mid 1990’s. He has since gone on to complete Forcas III, the epic story of the Klingon Bet’leH tournament set in the Star Trek: the Next Generation universe; poetry collections Sometimes I Hear Voices and Alice’s Goldfinch; Christmas Eyes, a poetry chapbook with a Christmas theme; and The Adventures of the Magnificent Seven, a series of stories in tribute to his children and grandchildren. His current project is Legends of Greenbrook Park, a whimsical childhood autobiography.
David lives and writes and blogs from the relative obscurity of New Port Richey, Florida, with the love of his life, Linda, their two fur children: Ms. Skittle and the Jazzy Cat; and his mother-in-law and her pet (Kelsey the Stink-dog).
Links
I have added some links, most recently a link to my poem, "Wild Roses," which appears in the current issue of A Prairie Journal, and a link to two Magnapoets anthologies in which my poetry appears.
The next poetry challenge will be posted on June 1.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
May Poetry Challenge
Spring has arrived and summer is on the way here in Illinois. Children don’t have to bundle up in boots, gloves and heavy coats to go outside with their friends. The playground beckons.
Sometimes we are nostalgic about playgrounds, as in the poem below:
The Playground
It happens every time.
I enter a playground
as if walking on hallowed ground.
Birds chirp, boys spring
from the jungle gym.
Little girls swing
like a fast spinning top.
Children go down
the slide in magnetic
attention, the joy
of the moment
their only thought.
If only I could
re-enter that world,
emerge anew
and let my past go.
I need to listen to the whispers
of yesterday’s ghosts,
let myself be tackled,
play freeze tag on the lawn.
With one big whoooosh
I could spring
into the frenzy of youth,
and remember how to dream
again.
~ Caroline Johnson
From Where the Street Ends A Poetry Chaptbook, Poetry by Caroline Johnson, Paintings by Darlene Norton (Jupiter Publishing, 2010), p. 19. © Caroline Johnson. Used by permission of the author.
A less nostalgic look at a playground, more specifically at a boy on a swing, is “Playground” by Adrian Mitchell. The poem was written during the invasion of Iraq, so the boy may be a boy in a war zone. It is also possible to imagine that the child is a homeless boy in North America. The poem is posted at http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=66.
Frank O’Hara looked back on the playground of his childhood in “Autobiographia Literaria,” another poem lacking in nostalgia. See http://poemelf.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/art-in-the-playground/.
You can find two playground poems for children at http://www.wtmelon.com/a12Poems.html. Another children’s poem, “The Dragon on the Playground” has been posted at http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-67.html.
May Challenge
The challenge for May is to write a playground poem. Your poem can be literal or metaphoric (or both). You may reflect your experience as a child on the playground or share observations/reflections as you watch children play. You may want to focus on just one piece of play equipment, such as the slide, swing or sandbox. Visit a playground—literally or in your imagination—and let a poem emerge.
You may write in free verse or in a form; if you write in a form, please specify the form used. Specify if your poem is primarily for children or for adults. The winning poem or poems will be published on this blog.
Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If you poem has been published in a periodical, please include publication data.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send your poem to wildamorris [at] ameritech [dot] net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for [dot], and don’t leave any spaces). Be sure provide your e-mail address. Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog, if it is a winner. The deadline is January 15. Copyright on poems is retained by their authors.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
Sometimes we are nostalgic about playgrounds, as in the poem below:
The Playground
It happens every time.
I enter a playground
as if walking on hallowed ground.
Birds chirp, boys spring
from the jungle gym.
Little girls swing
like a fast spinning top.
Children go down
the slide in magnetic
attention, the joy
of the moment
their only thought.
If only I could
re-enter that world,
emerge anew
and let my past go.
I need to listen to the whispers
of yesterday’s ghosts,
let myself be tackled,
play freeze tag on the lawn.
With one big whoooosh
I could spring
into the frenzy of youth,
and remember how to dream
again.
~ Caroline Johnson
From Where the Street Ends A Poetry Chaptbook, Poetry by Caroline Johnson, Paintings by Darlene Norton (Jupiter Publishing, 2010), p. 19. © Caroline Johnson. Used by permission of the author.
A less nostalgic look at a playground, more specifically at a boy on a swing, is “Playground” by Adrian Mitchell. The poem was written during the invasion of Iraq, so the boy may be a boy in a war zone. It is also possible to imagine that the child is a homeless boy in North America. The poem is posted at http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=66.
Frank O’Hara looked back on the playground of his childhood in “Autobiographia Literaria,” another poem lacking in nostalgia. See http://poemelf.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/art-in-the-playground/.
You can find two playground poems for children at http://www.wtmelon.com/a12Poems.html. Another children’s poem, “The Dragon on the Playground” has been posted at http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-67.html.
May Challenge
The challenge for May is to write a playground poem. Your poem can be literal or metaphoric (or both). You may reflect your experience as a child on the playground or share observations/reflections as you watch children play. You may want to focus on just one piece of play equipment, such as the slide, swing or sandbox. Visit a playground—literally or in your imagination—and let a poem emerge.
You may write in free verse or in a form; if you write in a form, please specify the form used. Specify if your poem is primarily for children or for adults. The winning poem or poems will be published on this blog.
Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If you poem has been published in a periodical, please include publication data.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send your poem to wildamorris [at] ameritech [dot] net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for [dot], and don’t leave any spaces). Be sure provide your e-mail address. Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog, if it is a winner. The deadline is January 15. Copyright on poems is retained by their authors.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
Friday, April 29, 2011
April Challenge Winner
It is never easy to select the monthly winner. The poem selected this month is a very short, evocative poem one. The poet chose the first of the options listed for this month - a poem about a spring bulb flower.
tulip
A palm-folded tulip am I
under the moonlight on my knees,
quietly and sweetly facing afar,
praying for a secret dream.
~ Kongyin
Copyright of the poem is retained by the poet.
Kongyin's books, Gooby and the Dream-Walker and Sun Grass (both in English) have just been published by Kima Global in South Africa, and are sold on amazon.com. Her bilingual poetry collection, The Lantern Carrier, will be published this month by a Chinese press in USA.
Consulting judge this month was Caroline Johnson, Workshop Chair of Poets and Patrons of Chicago.
The next poetry challenge will be posted on May 1.
© Wilda Morris
tulip
A palm-folded tulip am I
under the moonlight on my knees,
quietly and sweetly facing afar,
praying for a secret dream.
~ Kongyin
Copyright of the poem is retained by the poet.
Kongyin's books, Gooby and the Dream-Walker and Sun Grass (both in English) have just been published by Kima Global in South Africa, and are sold on amazon.com. Her bilingual poetry collection, The Lantern Carrier, will be published this month by a Chinese press in USA.
Consulting judge this month was Caroline Johnson, Workshop Chair of Poets and Patrons of Chicago.
The next poetry challenge will be posted on May 1.
© Wilda Morris
Friday, April 1, 2011
April Poetry Challenge
For those of us in the US Midwest (as well as most people at approximately the same degrees of latitude around the globe), April is the month when spring makes itself manifest.
I know I’m not the only person who eagerly awaits the appearance of the crocus and other early bulbs (which sometimes bloom in late March here in the Chicago area). Then we look forward to tulips and other bulbs. My very favorite spring flower is the daffodil, which is one reason I have always loved this poem by William Wordsworth.
The Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
~ William Wordsworth
Any poem can be used as a prompt for more poems. In fact, the trouble with poetry, as former poet laureate Billy Collins, wrote “is that it encourages the writing of more poetry.” (http://www.edutopia.org/trouble-poetry)
You can read a poem like that of Wordsworth and say to yourself, “Maybe I should write a poem about daffodils.” But this poem could also send you in other directions.
Exercise: Use this poem as your inspiration. You have several options:
1- The most obvious, is to write about daffodils or other spring bulb flowers.
2- Write about something you have come upon unexpectedly, and the effect it had on you.
3- In the last stanza, Wordsworth says that often he sees the daffodils with his “inward eye.” What have you seen that reappears to your “inward eye?”
4- Write about something else that is bound to gladden the heart of a poet.
5- Borrow a line from this poem and use the borrowed line in your poem – but make your poem original, not just a paraphrase of Wordsworth’s.
6- Use this poem as a structural model. Write at least three stanzas in which you have a rhymed and metered quatrain followed by a rhymed and metered couplet. Use Wordsworth’s meter.
Or perhaps Wordsworth’s poem inspires you in a different way. If so, submit your poem and explain it’s connection with the prompt poem.
Your poem can be rhymed and metered, as is “The Daffodils.” It could be as formal as a sonnet. Or, if you prefer, it could be well-crafted free verse. Submit your poem by April 15.
Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If your poem has been published in a periodical, please include publication data.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send your poem to wildamorris [at] ameritech [dot] net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for [dot], and don’t leave any spaces). Be sure include your name and e-mail address. Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog, if it is a winner. The deadline is April 15. Copyright on poems is retained by their authors.
National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month in the US. I hope that, wherever you live, you will immerse yourself in poetry this month. If you would like to receive one, two or three poems a day, sign up with http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/ and/or http://yourdailypoem.com/ and/or The American Academy of Poets at http://www.poets.org/.
Knopf only sends poems out this way during National Poetry Month. Your Daily Poem gives you the option of receiving a poem every day, every Monday or once a month for as long as you wish. You can unsubscribe at any time. The Academy of American Poets will leave you on their list as long as you wish. They have April-only subscribers and year-round subscribers. None charges for this service, though The Academy of American Poets and Your Daily Poem happily accept on-line contributions. The Academy website has many other resources you may wish to explore.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
I know I’m not the only person who eagerly awaits the appearance of the crocus and other early bulbs (which sometimes bloom in late March here in the Chicago area). Then we look forward to tulips and other bulbs. My very favorite spring flower is the daffodil, which is one reason I have always loved this poem by William Wordsworth.
The Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
~ William Wordsworth
Any poem can be used as a prompt for more poems. In fact, the trouble with poetry, as former poet laureate Billy Collins, wrote “is that it encourages the writing of more poetry.” (http://www.edutopia.org/trouble-poetry)
You can read a poem like that of Wordsworth and say to yourself, “Maybe I should write a poem about daffodils.” But this poem could also send you in other directions.
Exercise: Use this poem as your inspiration. You have several options:
1- The most obvious, is to write about daffodils or other spring bulb flowers.
2- Write about something you have come upon unexpectedly, and the effect it had on you.
3- In the last stanza, Wordsworth says that often he sees the daffodils with his “inward eye.” What have you seen that reappears to your “inward eye?”
4- Write about something else that is bound to gladden the heart of a poet.
5- Borrow a line from this poem and use the borrowed line in your poem – but make your poem original, not just a paraphrase of Wordsworth’s.
6- Use this poem as a structural model. Write at least three stanzas in which you have a rhymed and metered quatrain followed by a rhymed and metered couplet. Use Wordsworth’s meter.
Or perhaps Wordsworth’s poem inspires you in a different way. If so, submit your poem and explain it’s connection with the prompt poem.
Your poem can be rhymed and metered, as is “The Daffodils.” It could be as formal as a sonnet. Or, if you prefer, it could be well-crafted free verse. Submit your poem by April 15.
Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If your poem has been published in a periodical, please include publication data.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send your poem to wildamorris [at] ameritech [dot] net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for [dot], and don’t leave any spaces). Be sure include your name and e-mail address. Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog, if it is a winner. The deadline is April 15. Copyright on poems is retained by their authors.
National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month in the US. I hope that, wherever you live, you will immerse yourself in poetry this month. If you would like to receive one, two or three poems a day, sign up with http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/ and/or http://yourdailypoem.com/ and/or The American Academy of Poets at http://www.poets.org/.
Knopf only sends poems out this way during National Poetry Month. Your Daily Poem gives you the option of receiving a poem every day, every Monday or once a month for as long as you wish. You can unsubscribe at any time. The Academy of American Poets will leave you on their list as long as you wish. They have April-only subscribers and year-round subscribers. None charges for this service, though The Academy of American Poets and Your Daily Poem happily accept on-line contributions. The Academy website has many other resources you may wish to explore.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
March Challenge Winner
The challenge for March was to write a poem about a deep and sincere longing, something which is compelling you, something you feel you MUST do or someplace you MUST go. Or to express the compulsion of someone else as if it were your own.
The two winning entries are very different from “Sea Fever”—and very different from each other. Mary Cohutt’s poem expresses the longing for the simple life, but more specifically, for the past. Cohutt started a company which works with the elderly. In this poem, she expresses the feelings of a client who is dealing with much loss as she ages.
A Simple Life
All I ever wanted was a simple life
She said with a far distant gaze
A husband
A home
Some good-hearted friends
Children to fill up my days
My husband is gone now
So too my friends
My children have all gone their way
My house with dark windows
Is empty and cold
I sit, I remember,I pray
Her chair slowly rocks
Leaving marks on the floor
Telling stories of time gone by
She flutters her fingers
And looks for her words
But all that she finds is a sigh
Shadows grow long
On the living room floor
The light in the window grows dim
Night time she whispered
Is good time
Night time I dream of them
Her head on the pillow
Soft smile on her face
Her years fall like silk to the floor
She’s running, she laughs,
She’s dancing, she loves
It’s a simple life once more
~ Mary Cohutt
Only in sleep can the person described in this poem return to the past for which she longs.
The second winning poem is by Francis Toohey.
I Want to Be in Pictures
I want to see it on the screen--
of a brand new Cineplex
or at an oil-leaky, weedy
Drive In under stars
or in a downtown mildewed
Vaudeville Hall reeling porn
to sleep off all illusions from better days.
I know my movie. What is yours?
How long has mine been running?
Will anybody come to cry or laugh
in my private Hollywood?
I understand your concern because
I love to hear applause.
Other hands appear bringing forth awards.
I will write to please my audience:
happy end or one to break your heart.
Please, allow my drums to beat me.
Fiddle my feelings using your own violins.
Watch my face as I radiate with light:
I promise to surprise--
~ Francis Toohey
My first reaction to this poem was that the poet had gone too far, willing even to be in pictures in the musty “Vaudeville Hall reeling porn.” As I lived with the poem for a few days, however, I began to realize that it expressed the desperate need for acceptance, recognition and affirmation which many people feel at some time in their lives. Lacking an adequate sense of self-worth, feeling unsuccessful and unappreciated, the persona expressed here wants to appreciation, applause and awards.
In the United States, the culture seems to be obsessed with celebrities. Many people cannot get enough news about the current stars and their personal lives. Their pictures fill magazines. We watch the winning actresses and actors receiving and clutching their Oscars. It all seems so magical. Why wouldn’t someone want that kind of recognition? Many performers are willing to sacrifice principles (or their families) to further their careers. They hope and pray for the big break. Winning the accolades doesn’t always fulfill this desperate need. But that doesn’t prevent people from thinking it will. And if a performer wins recognition and finds it wasn’t enough, that unfulfilled need may become even greater.
Congratulations to the two winners for March. Sorry, though, this recognition won’t get you into the movies.
Poets whose poems are posted on this blog retain copyright. Please do not copy their poems without permission.
April is National Poetry Month
A new challenge will be posted on April 1.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
The two winning entries are very different from “Sea Fever”—and very different from each other. Mary Cohutt’s poem expresses the longing for the simple life, but more specifically, for the past. Cohutt started a company which works with the elderly. In this poem, she expresses the feelings of a client who is dealing with much loss as she ages.
A Simple Life
All I ever wanted was a simple life
She said with a far distant gaze
A husband
A home
Some good-hearted friends
Children to fill up my days
My husband is gone now
So too my friends
My children have all gone their way
My house with dark windows
Is empty and cold
I sit, I remember,I pray
Her chair slowly rocks
Leaving marks on the floor
Telling stories of time gone by
She flutters her fingers
And looks for her words
But all that she finds is a sigh
Shadows grow long
On the living room floor
The light in the window grows dim
Night time she whispered
Is good time
Night time I dream of them
Her head on the pillow
Soft smile on her face
Her years fall like silk to the floor
She’s running, she laughs,
She’s dancing, she loves
It’s a simple life once more
~ Mary Cohutt
Only in sleep can the person described in this poem return to the past for which she longs.
The second winning poem is by Francis Toohey.
I Want to Be in Pictures
I want to see it on the screen--
of a brand new Cineplex
or at an oil-leaky, weedy
Drive In under stars
or in a downtown mildewed
Vaudeville Hall reeling porn
to sleep off all illusions from better days.
I know my movie. What is yours?
How long has mine been running?
Will anybody come to cry or laugh
in my private Hollywood?
I understand your concern because
I love to hear applause.
Other hands appear bringing forth awards.
I will write to please my audience:
happy end or one to break your heart.
Please, allow my drums to beat me.
Fiddle my feelings using your own violins.
Watch my face as I radiate with light:
I promise to surprise--
~ Francis Toohey
My first reaction to this poem was that the poet had gone too far, willing even to be in pictures in the musty “Vaudeville Hall reeling porn.” As I lived with the poem for a few days, however, I began to realize that it expressed the desperate need for acceptance, recognition and affirmation which many people feel at some time in their lives. Lacking an adequate sense of self-worth, feeling unsuccessful and unappreciated, the persona expressed here wants to appreciation, applause and awards.
In the United States, the culture seems to be obsessed with celebrities. Many people cannot get enough news about the current stars and their personal lives. Their pictures fill magazines. We watch the winning actresses and actors receiving and clutching their Oscars. It all seems so magical. Why wouldn’t someone want that kind of recognition? Many performers are willing to sacrifice principles (or their families) to further their careers. They hope and pray for the big break. Winning the accolades doesn’t always fulfill this desperate need. But that doesn’t prevent people from thinking it will. And if a performer wins recognition and finds it wasn’t enough, that unfulfilled need may become even greater.
Congratulations to the two winners for March. Sorry, though, this recognition won’t get you into the movies.
Poets whose poems are posted on this blog retain copyright. Please do not copy their poems without permission.
April is National Poetry Month
A new challenge will be posted on April 1.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
March 2011 Poetry Challenge
Do you sometimes feel an absolute compulsion to do something? Do you feel your life will be incomplete unless you do some particular thing or go some particular place? Do you absolutely have to sky dive; ski in Aspen, Colorado; take a gondola ride in Venice; make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Mecca or the Ganges; or walk on the Great Wall of China before you die? Do you just have to see the US Capitol building or go to the top of the Washington Monument?
Or do you feel compelled to do something you used to do—roll down a hill in spring grass, sit with the one you love on the shore of a lake as the sun sets, rock a new-born, or walk across a field on what used to be your grandfather’s farm?
In what is probably his best known poem, John Masefield described a compulsion:
Sea Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
~ John Masefield
This poem is in the public domain.
On her website, http://www.yourdailypoem.com/, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer recently provided a brief biography of John Masefield:
Perhaps in his later years, though happy to have escaped the life of a sailor, Masefield may sometimes have felt a yearning to return to the ocean. After years on land, he may have idealized his memories. Or perhaps, looking back, he was happy to be where he was, but understood how some of the men he had worked with loved the life of a sailor and would feel a deep psychological need to return to the sea if they had left it. Poetic license would allow him to express those feelings in first-person, even if they were not actually his own feelings.
March Poetry Challenge:
The challenge for March is to write a poem about a deep and sincere longing, something which is compelling you, something you feel you MUST do or someplace you MUST go. Or you can express the compulsion of someone else as if it were your own.
Your poem may be rhymed and metered, as is “Sea Fever.” Or, if you prefer, it may be well-crafted free verse. Put the compulsion into poetry and submit it by March 15.
Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If your poem has been published in a periodical, please include publication data.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send your poem to wildamorris [at] ameritech [dot] net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for [dot], and don’t leave any spaces). Or you can access my Facebook page and send the poem in a message. Be sure provide your e-mail address. Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog, if it is a winner. The deadline is March 15. Copyright on poems is retained by their authors.
To read more of Masefield's poetry or learn about his life:
Or do you feel compelled to do something you used to do—roll down a hill in spring grass, sit with the one you love on the shore of a lake as the sun sets, rock a new-born, or walk across a field on what used to be your grandfather’s farm?
In what is probably his best known poem, John Masefield described a compulsion:
Sea Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
~ John Masefield
This poem is in the public domain.
On her website, http://www.yourdailypoem.com/, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer recently provided a brief biography of John Masefield:
John Masefield (1878-1967) was an English poet, author, and playwright. Both his parents died while he was a child, and at the age of thirteen, annoyed with John's "addiction" to reading, the aunt in charge of caring for him sent him off to train for a life as a sailor. Although his experiences at sea provided much material for the stories and poems he would later write, John soon tired of that harsh life and, on a voyage to New York, he jumped ship. For two years, he worked at odd jobs in that city, using his free time for reading and writing. He eventually returned to England, married, had two children, and established himself as a significant literary talent. As his stature as a writer continued to grow, John became an internationally successful lecturer and was appointed as England's poet laureate, a position he held for nearly forty years. He actively wrote and published until he was 88 years old.
Perhaps in his later years, though happy to have escaped the life of a sailor, Masefield may sometimes have felt a yearning to return to the ocean. After years on land, he may have idealized his memories. Or perhaps, looking back, he was happy to be where he was, but understood how some of the men he had worked with loved the life of a sailor and would feel a deep psychological need to return to the sea if they had left it. Poetic license would allow him to express those feelings in first-person, even if they were not actually his own feelings.
March Poetry Challenge:
The challenge for March is to write a poem about a deep and sincere longing, something which is compelling you, something you feel you MUST do or someplace you MUST go. Or you can express the compulsion of someone else as if it were your own.
Your poem may be rhymed and metered, as is “Sea Fever.” Or, if you prefer, it may be well-crafted free verse. Put the compulsion into poetry and submit it by March 15.
Poems published in books or on the Internet (including Facebook and other on-line social networks) are not eligible. If your poem has been published in a periodical, please include publication data.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send your poem to wildamorris [at] ameritech [dot] net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for [dot], and don’t leave any spaces). Or you can access my Facebook page and send the poem in a message. Be sure provide your e-mail address. Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog, if it is a winner. The deadline is March 15. Copyright on poems is retained by their authors.
To read more of Masefield's poetry or learn about his life:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
February Challenge Winner
Congratulations to Marcia J. Pradzinski, winner of the February Poetry Challenge.
The Red Flannel Shirt
After William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
the red flannel
shirt
iced in moon
light
beside the empty
bed
~ Marcia J. Pradzinski
Copyright to this poem belongs to its author.
The images are interesting. We can see that red flannel shirt in moonlight, and the empty bed. Yet the poem is a bit mysterious; there are a number of possible explanations for the emptiness of the bed. In addition, it is a word-count poem, as is Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow.”Both “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “The Red Flannel Shirt” are written with three words in the first line of each stanza and one word in the second line.
Thanks to Barbara Larsen for serving as consulting judge.
Watch for a new challenge on March 1.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
The Red Flannel Shirt
After William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
the red flannel
shirt
iced in moon
light
beside the empty
bed
~ Marcia J. Pradzinski
Copyright to this poem belongs to its author.
The images are interesting. We can see that red flannel shirt in moonlight, and the empty bed. Yet the poem is a bit mysterious; there are a number of possible explanations for the emptiness of the bed. In addition, it is a word-count poem, as is Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow.”Both “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “The Red Flannel Shirt” are written with three words in the first line of each stanza and one word in the second line.
Thanks to Barbara Larsen for serving as consulting judge.
Watch for a new challenge on March 1.
© 2011 Wilda Morris
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