Friday, May 1, 2020

May 2020 Challenge - Aging

The Four Ages of Man by Nicholas Lancret
National Gallery of Art, London

We all begin aging at birth, but don’t realize it until we are older. Many twelve-year-olds want to be eighteen, with a driver’s license and a lot more freedom to decide on their own activities. Some sixty-year-old have that same wish—“if only I could go back to when I was eighteen, without all these responsibilities.” Some cultures honor the elders; others seem to worship youth. British poet Ruth Fainlight wrote, “to have faith / that you'll be adored as an ancient / might make it all worthwhile” (from “Ageing." See the first link below).

I like the light touch in the following poem:


Sixty-one

monday I crossed off cowboy
tuesday fireman
wednesday president
thursday I couldn’t find the list
friday my own fishing show
saturday catching for the cardinals
sunday I took a nap
sorry
I had to
the moons flew by too soon

~ Bruce Dethlefsen

From Unexpected Shiny Things (Cowfeather Press, 2011). Used by permission of the author


Dethlefsen’s poem is a list poem, as is the following:


August

                                                             . . .and when it is August
you can have it August and abundantly so.
Barbara Ras


In August you can’t have trillium
waking the dark floor of the woods,
wobbling fawns suckling mother’s milk. 
You can’t have snow birds at the feeder.
But when it is August you can have heat shimmering
from the lake, the plop of bass jumping,
concentric circles spreading out across the water.
When it is August you can have corn
steamed on the cob, rows of yellow teeth
drizzled with butter.  You can have blueberries,
plump and sweet and purple, painting your lips,
painting your lover’s lips as you plop them
in his mouth one by one. 

In August you can’t have icicles
or make angels in the snow,
pull each other in sleds,
tracking smooth white surfaces
but you can have cousins rolling down the hill
with you if you roll back the clock
to the year you were seven, cousins
with homemade ice cream dribbling
from sticky chins, swiping treats
from Grandmother’s cookie jar,
climbing the apple tree, singing Bible school songs,
chasing lightning bugs,
playing hide and seek as dusk
lays magic shadows on the lawn.
You can have your uncle again
spreading blankets near a fertile field
so you can all lie down
beneath a million glittering stars.

When it is August you can have tiger lilies,
the orange of their silent horns
louder than sound, setting the garden afire
with color, the gladiolus standing proud
on their tall stems, afraid of nothing.
And when it is August, you can have
one last dance with summer,
it’s willowy green gown  
whispering through the grass,
one last dance to the music of bluebird and robin. 
One last dance of wild abandon.

~ Wilda Morris

First published by Second Wind (Summer 2005).

"August," as you probably realized, is a poem about the season of the year, but also, metaphorically, about a season of life.

Many wonderful poems have been written about aging—not all are list poems. Some celebrate the “golden years.” Some lament the impact of aging on the body or the approach of death. This month, though, the focus is on poems that celebrate aspects of aging, or look at it in a positive or even humorous way. Check out the links below for more poetry on aging. Some of the poems in the last link are not great poetry, but they may give you a laugh—and we all need a few extra laughs this spring! Read, and then take out your pen, pencil, or computer and write your own poem about aging.

Links:
> A collection of poems about aging by contemporary British poets, with examples:
>A brief essay on poems about aging, with examples and links:
>Another interesting essay with examples and links:
>Humorous poetry about aging: https://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/aging2b.htm


The May Challenge: NOTE SLIGHT CHANGE IN THE GUIDELINES BELOW

Write a poem about aging—a poem that celebrates aging or looks at it with a bit of humor. No poems tragic poems this month.

Your poem may be free verse or formal. If you use a form, please identify the form when you submit your poem.

Title your poem unless it is a form that does not use titles (don’t follow Emily Dickinson’s practice on that!). Single-space. Note that the blog format does not accommodate long lines; if they are used, they have to be broken in two, with the second part indented (as in the poem “Lilith,” one of the May 2018 winners), or the post has to use small print.

You may submit a published poem if you retain copyright, but please include publication data. This applies to poems published in books, journals, newspapers, or on the Internet. Poems already used on this blog are not eligible to win, but the poets may submit a different poem, unless the poet has been a winner the last three months.

The deadline is May 15. Poems submitted after the deadline will not be considered. There is no charge to enter, so there are no monetary rewards; however, winners are published on this blog. Please don’t stray too far from “family-friendly” language (some children and teens read this blog). No simultaneous submissions, please. You should know by the end of the month whether or not your poem will be published. Decision of the judge or judges is final.

The poet retains copyright on each poem. If a previously unpublished poem wins and is published elsewhere later, please give credit to this blog. I do not register copyright with the US copyright office, but by US law, the copyright belongs to the writer unless the writer assigns it to someone else.

If the same poet wins three months in a row (which has not happened thus far), he or she will be asked not to submit the following two months.

How to Submit Your Poem: NOTE SLIGHT CHANGE IN THE GUIDELINES

Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Put “May Poetry Challenge Submission” FOLLOWED BY YOUR NAME in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a winner this month. Please put your name and bio UNDER the poem in your email. If the poem has been published before, please put that information UNDER the poem also. NOTE: If you sent your poem to my other email address, or do not use the correct subject line, the poem may get lost and not be considered for publication. Do not submit poems as PDF files.

Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a winner, so be sure that you put your name (exactly as you would like it to appear if you do win) at the end of the poem.

Poems may be pasted into an email or sent as an attachment (Doc, Docx, rich text or plain text; no pdf files, please). or both. Please do not indent the poem or center it on the page. It helps if you submit the poem in the format used on the blog (Title and poem left-justified; title in bold (not all in capital letters); your name at the bottom of the poem). Also, please do not use multiple spaces instead of commas in the middle of lines. I have no problem with poets using that technique (I sometimes do it myself). However I have difficulty getting the blog to accept and maintain extra spaces.

Poems shorter than 40 lines are generally preferred but longer poems will be considered.


Bio:
Bruce Dethlefsen served as poet laureate of Wisconsin for 2011-2012. He is the author of five poetry collections and is a popular workshop leader. Two of his poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. Bruce is also a musician, and has played with several bands. He sings and plays both bass and percussion. You can read more about him and find out how to order his books at https://www.brucedethlefsen.com/.

Wilda Morris Wilda Morris, Workshop Chair of Poets and Patrons of Chicago and a past President of the Illinois State Poetry Society, has been published in numerous anthologies, webzines, and print publications, including The Ocotillo Review, Turtle Island Quarterly, Li Poetry, Puffin Circus, and Journal of Modern Poetry. She has won awards for formal and free verse and haiku. She was given the Founders’ Award by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies in 2019. Much of the work on her second poetry book, Pequod Poems: Gamming with Moby-Dick (published in 2019), was written during a Writer’s Residency on Martha’s Vineyard. Pequod Poems can be ordered from the publisher or amazon.com, or, if you would like an autographed copy, email the author at wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”).





© Wilda Morris