Weekly Poetry Assignment 1: Compilations and Love Poems
October 12, 2007 by John Hewitt
As we discussed at the end of 30 Poems in 30 Days, I would like to continue in the spirit of the project by posting a weekly poetry assignment along with at least a few words about a poetry-related topic. The form of these posts is going to be similar, but not identical to the 30 Poems in 30 Days posts. I will still discuss poetry every week, but the topic will probably be more free form and a little less instructory. I just made that word up, do you like it? I thought about instrutorlicious, but that word had some connotations I wasn’t quite comfortable with. My point is that the topic will be poetry, but beyond that, I am giving myself some space to wander. I will also replace the “recommended poet” section with a “for further reading” section that will give me a little more flexibility there as well. These posts will appear on Fridays or Saturdays because people generally have more time to write on the weekend. With all of that said, here we go with my first new post, followed by an assignment…
I am in the process of assembling poems for a poetry collection. This was one of my goals when I started the 30 Poems in 30 Days project. I have already discussed chapbooks as an inexpensive way to publish your poetry. For myself, however, I am planning to use a print-on-demand publisher to create a paperback book with a glossy cover. I’m doing this because I want something that I can advertise and sell through the website and I want it to look as good as possible. I have a little money to spend (currently a budget of $800 but I can free up more if I need it) and I am leaning towards using Lulu, a print-on-demand service with a good reputation and a lot of options. I have also found an excellent photographer, David Hwang, to help me in the creation cover art. I encourage you to check out his work.
Choosing poems for my collection has been an interesting experience in time travel. I have never published a book, so I feel like I need to consider all of my poems (or at least all that I can find) for this collection. Unfortunately, my perspective on some of the poems is skewed. The poems I wrote about love and relationships before I met my wife now seem dated and unfamiliar. My perspective has changed. That doesn’t necessarily mean the poems are good or bad. It just means that they don’t express what I feel now. This makes them hard to judge. Will I leave a good poem out because I don’t feel like it doesn’t match my current thinking? That’s a risk, and demonstrates why it is important to publish regularly rather than occasionally.
I currently have about 25 poems that I am sure I want in the book and another 30 or so that I am also considering. I figure I’ll publish around 40 once I make my final decisions. That should make for a reasonable length without pushing expenses too high. For now I need to keep rereading my work, making some edits and removing a few more poems from the list until I get a collection I am comfortable with. With luck, by next week I will have settled on the collection and start working with Lulu. I also have a photography session for the cover coming up. More on that next week…
This Week’s Poetry Assignment
Write a syllabic verse poem about a love or relationship topic. It may have as many stanzas as you like, but the composition of each stanza should be:
8 syllables
8 syllables
6 syllables
6 syllables
4 syllables
4 syllables
Good luck. I look forward to reading everyone’s work!
For Further Reading:
You can read more about syllabic verse at Wikipedia. You may also be interested in learning more about the study of verse form in this article about Prosody and Metrics. If you are looking for a place to submit and read poetry, check out Web Del Sol, the best collection of poetry magazines on the web.
Related links
- A Quick Guide to Acrostic Poetry (0.881)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: A Brief Glossary of Meter (0.881)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: The Good the Bad and the Meter (0.881)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Syllabic Verse (0.881)
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Imagism (0.881)
Contact John Hewitt
Writing Content and Web Consulting
Email: hewitt@poewar.comPhone: (520) 261-6104
LinkedIn: poewar
Twitter: @poewar
Facebook: pwar2
[...] You can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here [...]
I thought I would try some Spanish since the other languages deal differently with syllable — I’m not fluent so “bare” with me. I mean, it’s poetry. And the translation misses the count, naturally. I believe one stanza will do me in.
?Es mysterioso, si?
Angelito Obscuro
Mi Anjelito obscuro
en la noche de luna luz
veulo para mia
sus labios rojo
cubierto
mi con feugo
English Translation:
Little dark angel
In the moon light night
Fly by me
your red lips
cover
me with fire
Hmph! My comment on Connie’s – to the effect that I don’t know Spanish but love the English version – has disappeared. Meanwhile, my effort:
CONFLICTING DESIRES
Oh no – stay in with me tonight,
my dear love … you black-haired devil.
Too many nights you’ve gone
sneaking out, on the chase.
Come here to me,
you wicked cat!
Although it was slightly early (my time) I would like to offer my above piece as being in the spirit of today’s Blog Action Day, when thousands of bloggers around the world are posting on the environment.
Not such a stretch as you might think – it is very important for environmental reasons to keep our cats inside at night, so they don’t go murdering members of endangered indigenous species!
A Virgin Heart
Loveless and beautiful
How both seem to coincide
Painful bliss
My heart I’ll forever hide
Untouched hearts
Beating minds
I’ve been found
But what did YOU find
I’m under construction
Still finding myself
Falling in love
I’ll need some help
Being nervous
Thoughts of you
Brought to life
My life in skew
My hearts been stolen
And I don’t want it back
You’re my perfect one
With nothing in lack
You keep me right
You keep me sane
My life I live is
No longer in vein
My thoughts have gone
You stole that part
I have no longer
A virgin heart
Sorry not exaclty what your looking for.
I can’t seem to find anything to write, I have a block. Sorry!!
Connie.
It is difficult enough to write poetry in one’s own language. As Poetry and speach are so intertwined,
one must be able to speak a language to write poetry…
Your attempt was admirable. However, I believe that the Spanish misses the mark of your intent. Below I list the spanish errors.
1. line 3 does not work in spanish.
“vuelo para mia” does not fit.
“veulo” translates to “I fly”
“para” is “for” (as in for the sake of)
“mia” is mine (feminine)
put together you said:
I fly for (the sake of) mine.
the english line “Fly by my”
could be re-written to “fly by my side”
or “you fly by my side”
2. This is a love poem, to be sure,
you must use the familiar form of your “tus”
not the stand-offish “sus”
3. cubierto is the noun form of cover
as in the cover of a trash can.
You need a verb in the sentance.
“cubrir” is the verb to cover…
since you are talking of the lips
it must be conjegated “cubren”.
A good site that I have found for learing spanish words and conjegating spanish verbs is http://www.tomismo.org. The only trouble that I found is that the search results are returned alphabetically not in order of usage or closeness of meaning. But the definitioans are good, and it seems to be quite complete.
I recommed the following changes to the original spanish
(please note: I could not get the syllable count to match the assignment without significantly altering the meaning of the poem.)
Spanish
——————–
Angelita obscurita,
Bajo la luz de la luna,
vuelas a mi lado;
tus labios rojos
me cubren
con fuego.
English
———————
Small dark angel,
Under the light of the moon,
you fly by my side;
Your red lips
cover me
with fire.
Reunion
The pounding heart and sweaty palms
while hands recall the soft carress.
Salty tears of parting
wiped dry by hope fulfilled.
It’s been so long;
He’s coming home!
James,
I love that poem, it’s full of power and strength!!
Thank-you Rianon.
The skill of writing merely starts with the spillage of words upon paper: the clay upon the wheel. It must be crafted and molded into shape, then the fire or editing and polish. So I re-submit
Reunion
The heart starts racing and palms sweat,
while hands recall the soft caress.
Salty tears of parting
wiped dry by hope fulfilled.
It’s been so long;
I’m coming home!
Again a wonderful expression of hope and strength. Your a wonderful writer!!
Again thank you.
The passage of time, usually a day or two, and another look, shows the color or my words. More oft than not, I find I dislike the hue and re-work the words until they shine with brighter luster.
So, I say proposed final. (If I do not change it in the coming days.)
Reunion
The heart begins its pounding race,
while hands recall the soft caress,
and tears of parting’s grief
are dried by hope fulfilled.
It’s been so long.
Come, hold me tight!
The latest version not only follows the syllabic constriant, but now has a stronger rythm. Unfortunately, in doing this I have lost the salt. Perhaps I’ll ditch the constraint and just write it out.
Reunion
The heart begins its pounding race,
while hands recall the soft caress.
The salty tears of parting’s grief
are finally dried by hope fulfilled.
It’s been so long.
Come, hold me tight!
Your words have shouted out of screen and grabbed a hold of my heart. It seemed to me that you have different strengths and passions grabbing me. As if you have the same feeling but you have different levels of it. Sometimes it’s good to get all of them out. I think it’s a wonderful way to express everything then finally get out your true and deep feelings.
It also seems to me that your a little confused about the true confermations of love and reuniting of your other half.
Thank you for sharing!!! I love it
Rianon,
Most of my poetry goes through this metamorphasis.
I don’t always show it, however, but being giddy at my first attempt (which is always true), I posted without further work. I have returned to work the poem several times now, with each iteration making it stronger (hopefully). The fact that it reaches out and grabs you now (each version stronger) may mean that I am successful with my writing process.
I know poets, who believe poetry ought to be a spillage of words, straight from the heart to the page. While sometimes this works, I have found that my best poems merely start this way. Then comes the period of work, re-work and pollishing. Only then does the true gem shine forth. For me, this generally takes 2 or three days.
Thank you for your comments.
James, thank you so much, I’m a product of Tex Mex, I have been told that the local dialect is different from even El Paso Spanish. My generation of Spanish speakers immigrated here with the cotton harvest. Many of them are illiterate. I have been giving some thought to actually studying the Spanish language as the town I live in is about 77% Spanish. English is becoming rarer and rarer as the years pass by.
I have a question however, if the entreator does not know the angel, (and say, the angel does not even know the entranced) and is invoking its presence, is tu still appropriate. Of course in a love poem, and it being whimsical, I suppose tu would be correct. Yup, that’s it, I need get into a Spanish class.
The Holy Writ (bible) is written in the familiar…
-the familiar tu often communcates more a closeness of feeling than an actual closeness. In a love poem, tu is almost required. In this case, the tu would communicate a desire of communion.
As far as learning spanish: I would recommend a basic course only, to get the rules of congegation and a smattering of vocabulary, sufficient to talk with the neighbors. Then talk with them as much as possible in their tongue. Listen to how they put the words together. (try to find a few literate spanish speakers, if possible as they will teach you to speak better.) Then emulate them.
Good Luck.
James,
your an amazing poet, even with the best poet it takes time to perfect your words. But even then nothing is perfect only outstanding. (if that makes any sense to you)
Connie,
I would love to learn Spanish as well, I do agree that spanish is taking more of the population. Your a wonderful person Connie, in some ways I think and have the same humor as you do. Not many people can handle it but you do it in such a whispful way that really makes you shine.
Thursdays
I relax on the deep sofa
While you lift your feet over the
Matching thick-cushioned love
Seat that meets me behind
The over piled
Coffee table
Occasionally we reach out
Touch fingers as we watch TV
Get each other sodas
Make snacks for one or both
To eat as we
Drift through the night
Nice, John!
I love it John!!!!!
Wow, everyone’s is so good…! I’m always late lol, but here’s my post. I’m trying to get better at this.
Love is precious when it works but
Too often it’s unrequited
The pain’s unrelenting
When you see them staring
At another
And your heart stops
Bravo, Rianon!
Forever yours, I’ll always be
Right there by your side ;
Sharing my thoughts and dreams with you
I take the utmost pride.
Forever yours, as free as the wind
Or the eagle – as it soars ;
My love for you shall NEVER end
I’ll be….forever yours !
I saw you in the mirror of my mind
Today,I will proclaim my love to you
With roses and diamonds
your poems are awesome here some of my peoems
please free to express your views
romantic poems last blog post..The Mysterious Thing Called LOVE…