PD30 Day 14: Poetry Under Pressure
September 14, 2008 by J.C. Hewitt
Please excuse the lateness of this post. My web site decided to go squirrely this morning and I had to reinstall all of my software.
There are many different ways to write a poem. Many poets believe in using a slow and painstaking process. They think carefully about every word. They work in literary references. They look for ways to subtly reinforce earlier themes with later payoffs. The weave complex forms.
There is another school of poets that believe speed is good. They write quickly. They don’t worry about drafts and editing. They create poems as quickly as possible, and in many cases, they are willing to put up with a little mess.
The clearest example of this process is the poetry slam. A poetry slam is a competition for poets. A number of poets get up on stage and each recites one of their poems. The poets are then judged based on their poem and eventually a winner is declared. For some of these competitions, the poems are written in advance, but in others the poets are required to come up with a poem on the spot based on whatever constraint is chosen by the judges or the audience. The poets then have a short time (perhaps ten minutes) to write their poems. Whatever they write is the poem they perform and the poem they are judged on.
This sort of competition can be compared to bullet chess. Chess is typically a thoughtful game in which the players have a significant amount of time to decide upon their moves. Bullet chess limits each side to one minute in which to make all of their decisions. Moves are made based on snap judgments rather than extended strategies.
Timed poetry writing encourages poets to push aside their typical writing and editing processes and accept their first instincts. Working through this process encourages poets to break through all of the excuses that keep them from writing. There is no room in a ten minute competition for writer’s block, especially if you have to have something you can read to an audience that is waiting to see what you came up with.
Today’s Poetry Prompt
Write a poem in ten minutes. It should have at least 100 words. For an added challenge, work in the word “speed”.
Related links
- 30 Poems in 30 Days set for September (0.500)
- All About 30 Poems in 30 Days (0.500)
- PD30 Day 1: I Believe in Poetry (0.500)
- PD30 Day 2: Generally Be Specific (0.500)
- PD30 Day 3: A Review of Meter (0.500)
7:58
Silent Headphones
Still and not here
busy being still
no music here
still
the music of silence
rare and I am so busy
letting the silence in
still
the music has been
off for hours and
still
the noise of paper
stack upon perilous
stack still
not shifting moving
the lower layers
glaciating
still
not in the peace
of all this silence
peripheral vision
static dancing
still
eyes closed and
the red afterimages throb
still
silence
dark
the world remains
still
straining to hear the whisper of the fog as it rises
soft and ready to burn in the sun
still.
8:07
—
An appropriate prompt for tonight. I had just put my daughter in the bath and told her that she had 10 minutes to wash up. I think I might even keep this one.
The Speed of Hate
“Speed kills” was written on everything everywhere that late
Summer of Love in Haight-Ashbury
And godawful drugs were coming through so fast…
LSD was something you put in your body as a chemistry experiment now
And grass was anybody’s guess.
Peace and love were tumbling down fast.
You could see it falling in nanoseconds.
“Gone to jump off the bridge” it said on your mirror.
But first you thought you’d give fellow Illinoisians the tour.
Hard times in a now rough again city.
Watch the death and dying of peace and love.
Kill yourself tomorrow.
Today we gotta get high.
Maryellen Gradys last blog post..LORD, THERE’S JUST ONE SET OF FOOTPRINTS THANKS TO SARAH PALIN
Quick, hurry up
Time is running out
Speed up now
Quick quick
Hurry up
Time is running out
Quick quick
Candles lit
Table set
Hurry up
Flowers displayed
Dress laid out
Hurry hurry
He’s almost here
At the door
Quick, hurry up
The master is home
And I must get out.
Two Minutes in My Cube (A True Story)
You know what we’re a team
A telephone rings double pulse
We really need a leader on this project
A scrolling mouse wheel clicks along
I have tried that
The restroom door clunks closed
We made that decision
Voicemail instructions rattle from a speakerphone
I’ve told them stop bothering me
Tonal music echoes from a cell
We’re a family here
Random laughter breaks out
Go forth and produce
A nose snorts then blows
I don’t know what’s going on
Fluorescent bulbs settle on a frequency
He’s in rehab now
i paced back and forth
to find a reason to live
i slumbard upon restlessness
fidgeting my hands
dwendling my fingures
i paced, and as i paced
scandolous racy thoughts went through
my brain
i stared at the ceiling
gazing stare refrained from truth
i paced back and forth
scared wondering if I were to die
why
and if somone were to hurt me
why
and if i were to meditate
why
i paced myself back and forth
wondering if someone cared
why
wondering endlessly why
it has to be now
wondering i lay
still in bed
i must stay focused
but by and by the images refrain
my thought process
why
why
why
2:28
The tree of life
It blows through the breez of sarrow
And answers to the wind of shame
Yet there are times the tree sits still
And answers to its name
Aware that life is precious
yet wishing it would end
still there is no way that the tree would ever bend
its life seems never ending
its death seems so mature
its reason for death is clear
yet its reason for life im not quite sure
Bound to the earths surface to fear the painful night
the tree longs for the sky that lies just beyond its sight
to soar through the clouds, looking down upon the trees
just longing to be free
But soon the tree of life will be knocking on the door
the heavens will open up and the tree will long no more
2:37
Just made it