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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Claudette J. Young, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 8 of 8
1. PAD Finish Line Reached

poem

poem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I reached the finish line today of this year’s annual Poem-A-Day Challenge, hosted by Robert Lee Brewer of Writer’s Digest’s Poetic Asides.

Three days spent out in the wilds of the north country near the Canadian border has advantages. The wilds had a cook shack with great food, live entertainment, plenty of friendly folk to keep a body moving and interacting, learning and taking away new experiences and perspectives. It also had nighttime freezing temps, daily sunshine, sprinkles when relaxation was needed, and a small-town parade with all the usual trimmings.

While out there on the high plateau, I kept thinking about poetry and what I’d take away from the Rendezvous that I could use later for either verse or prose. I’d met unique people with otherwise long-lost talents, children who could defend themselves without anger or cook over an open fire without complaint. I’d seen crafts that rivaled any in a museum anywhere. And best of all, I came home knowing that I will go back next year for a repeat.

The PAD challenge continued without me, but I’ve managed to put together something for each of the days missed. I hope you enjoy these small offerings and that you’ll continue to return to this blog after this challenge ends. I have a new, improved blog for the end of the week, with new pages to visit and things to see. Until then, daily posts will continue.

Now, on to poetry.

Day 27 Prompt: “The Trouble is (blank)” Fill in blank, make it the title, and write poem.

The Trouble is Time Bending

 

Arbitrary limits,

On something non-existent,

Takes no talent, no finess.

Limiting nothing takes

More than care,

Requiring belief

That increments from

One mind equal

Production possibilities.

How can seconds become

Minutes or hours, when

Only days/nights exist in time?

Does breathing count

As a measuring stick, or pulse,

When clocks don’t function?

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Day 28 Prompt: Write a problem poem.

What Price Time

 

Forcing life into minutes and hours,

Taking life from the living,

Becoming machines, wound up

For the pleasure of someone else.

Can we not function except to

Sweep hands and crystal faces?

Are we mindless with this labyrinth,

Marking existence with clicks and clangs?

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Day 29 Prompt: Take a favorite line from an earlier poem this month, and rework it into a new poem.

Prayers Danced in Circles

 

Call forth with drum and song

Answers from Creator’s hand.

Step live

6 Comments on PAD Finish Line Reached, last added: 5/1/2012
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2. PAD Day 26—Fur, Fowl and Animal Poems

 

Photo Courtesy of BJJones PhotographyToday’s poem challenge is to write about an animal, addressing any aspect desired. Okay, I can do that. Like most people I’m fond of animals. They serve so many purposes within our lives that to have a world devoid of them seems sacrilegious.

 

Growing up in the country guaranteed that I knew and appreciated the roles of animals in our daily lives. So many years later, I still consider them the gifts of the earth, put on loan to us; teachers to teach us how to be guardians. You can decide for yourselves if we’ve ever learned the lessons.

 

Some creatures inhabit our dwellings as friends and family members. Others enrich our lives with their colors, textures, uniqueness, and myriad dimensions. The poems I’ve done today for this challenge are from both sides of the animal question; in house and outside it.

 

As always, I hope you enjoy these small efforts of mine. Take the time to comment; share some of your animal tales with others, if you wish. Above all, take a good look at what your life would be like without the non-human inhabitants in your life.

 

Companion Truth

 

Brandy orbs trusting, I see

 

Filled with love looking at me,

 

Gentle power of loyalty

 

Ever near, ever dear sentry.

 

Raise the call with nose held high

 

Licker of feet for miles gone by,

 

Pass this way my care to enjoy

 

Walk at heel my life an envoy.

 

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

 

 

Vixen’s Siren

 

Screams fill the night,

 

Terrorizing the listener.

 

Finger hovers over 911,

 

Until reason asserts truth.

 

It’s spring;

 

Her annual mating ritual begins

 

With blood-chilling siren song,

 

Seeking company for the nonce,

 

The vixen readies to entertain.

 

© Claudette Young 2012

 

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2 Comments on PAD Day 26—Fur, Fowl and Animal Poems, last added: 4/29/2012
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3. PAD Challenge Day 22

Cover of "Fairest

Cover of Fairest

We poets have been put on the bench this morning for the prompt: write a judging poem. You can be the judge or, if you prefer, you can be the one judged. Okay, Robert. Here goes.

 

Guilty

Aren’t we all?

Don’t we cringe

When faced with stares

That bring blushes

To cheeks, downcast eyes?

 

Who can say with truth

They never did wrong?

Who can stand upright

Without guilt lying within?

Who can judge any but self?

© Claudette J. Young

Have you ever had one of those lines that haunt you, keep running through your mind so that it zips back through at the oddest times? Me too. Those over at Poetic Bloomings must have had the experience as well, because they gave us the opportunity to take care of that problem today.

The poetry prompt this morning was to “take the last line of a poem you’ve already written this year and make it the first line of a new poem. Like a dutiful poet, I complied. Here’s the result. I took the last line of my poem for Day 13 of the PAD Challenge and used it for a different concept for Poetic Bloomings. I hope you enjoy the irony.

 

Beauty

A sacrifice to her hourglass self,

Her life becomes a painful series

Of diets, exercise, and calorie counting,

Striving always to be Mirror’s perfect

Reflection, a temple to evoke envy

From all who witness her magnificence.

Ah, the resounding pity, should anyone

Guess she wept each day for the luxury

Of tasting just one sliver of birthday cake.

Queens pay, too, for being the Fairest of Them All?

© Claudette J. Young

 

Please leave a comment if it suits your fancy.

 

Related articles

 


6 Comments on PAD Challenge Day 22, last added: 4/23/2012
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4. Senedipity and Friends

Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken", ...

Serendipity waves her wand across our lives on a regular basis, whether we realize it or not. I read Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides writing prompt this morning and thought, “Yep, I can do that one and had a title immediately.”

It wasn’t an original title; so few really are original. On fill-in-the-blank prompts, Muse either slips you filler quickly or not. I took an unconscious page from my old IBM days and did an “if, then else” statement in my head after I wrote the title. **For those unfamiliar with old programming code, an “if, then else” statement is one which is a prompt in itself. “If X happens, then what will happen next. If X does not happen, the what will happen next.”

For Robert’s Day 20 Prompt—Use “Let’s (blank)” as title. Fill-in the blank with word/phrase, use as title, and write the poem to it, my mind went to an old roommate back in the seventies and how things went from there. I called it–

 

Let’s Dance the Night Away

 

Two AM call caught us finally sitting,

A pair of disco addicts who came each night

To crowd a small floor, meet with friends

And laugh with others in new steps.

 

You faded from my life not long after,

A need that required distance to perform

Without recriminations or ever-afters,

A fact you could never appreciate.

 

Two to tango was never the real problem,

Though taking advantage was your forte,

For a con man needs only a woman’s faith,

Never was my enjoyment at issue.

 

Frankly I outgrew your need to mooch and moan;

Now my life and resources are my own.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

Along the same lines but with different outcomes, just a couple of days ago, I reconnected with an old friend with whom I hadn’t talked since the mid-nineties. This was a person for whom I’ve searched for years with no success. He, too, had searched for me. Now that reconnection has ensued, life seems smoother than days before.

There’s so much to catch up on, so many personal travel logs to read. As I look toward this acquaintance process, I can’t help but look at this poem as a kind of letting-go of unfortunate experiences and a taking-up of those which uplift and secure.

Serendipity strikes again. Did she see it coming? Were the two events entwined on my star chart under a heading of “Let’s put things right”?

I hope you enjoy this day’s offering. Please leave a comment as you wish. Here’s hoping Serendipity waves her wand over you today.

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5. Write a Life Event Poem

Title page from the second edition of A Memoir...

Title page from the second edition of A Memoir of Jane Austen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Memoir seems to be a hot genre at present. Everywhere I look I find courses on writing it, sites to encourage it, challenges that require it.

All writers use elements of memoir each time they sit down to a keyboard. The act of writing itself teems with memoir elements.

Today’s Poetic Asides prompt merely brought it out of the shadows and onto a broader page for viewing. Poetry rides in a horse called sensory memory. That horse’s saddles bags are filled with personal experiences, perceptions, life’s illusions, and emotive qualities. The poet’s spurs are used to guide, not goad her mount toward an end goal.

A life event is by definition a memory that has changed a person’s perspective, at the very least. It probably also changed the person’s life in some way. All of us have such experiences, and sooner or later, we write them out for others to see. The following poem is my offering for this prompt of “Write a Life Event Poem.” Enjoy.

Shattered Glass and Mental Mirrors

Fractured images greeted me

With wide-open eyes that day,

Leaving behind panic, dismay,

Never thoughts of revelry.

Beyond doctors and onto life,

I built myself a future,

Complete plan to fight any strife,

To cut losses and suture

Together paths for new learning

Canes, dogs, all necessary

For work within limits, churning

With needs that I not tarry.

Years passed, moving toward this place

I come to with verse’s words,

Telling tales of things done and faced

This group of kindest souls, this space.

© Claudette J. Young 2012


4 Comments on Write a Life Event Poem, last added: 4/19/2012
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6. Food: Taking Poetry by the Throat

The Kappe Arabhatta inscription of 7th century...

When Robert Lee Brewer handed out his challenge assignment this morning on Poetic Asides, I imagine his grin and his thoughts. “They’re gonna be all over this one. I can see it now.”

He was right, you know. We did stomp all over this prompt-of-the-day. Food is right up my alley, as my backside can attest. He wanted us to write about regional cuisine—either the food itself or some aspect pertaining to it. This was my response.

Granny’s Guarded Secret

It sits, having conquered gravity

To reign over table and diners.

Six layers of diabetes, waiting

For consumption by the sliver.

Who’d’ve expected one pie

To feed twenty sugar addicts?

We wait, breathe held, for slicing

To begin so that we can let

Our portion melt, slither, find

Our centers to give that rush

To bodies needing Pilates more

Than three kinds of caramel in

Six stacked shells of doughy goodness.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

Meanwhile, over at Poetic Bloomings. I found In-Form Poet proceedings for the day. Poet Jan Turner invented a new form not long ago, which puts limits on some areas of form, while leaving others untouched. It goes like this.

Write a Tri-Fall poem:

  • Three stanzas of six lines each
  • Rhyme scheme of a,b,c,a,b,c
  • Syllable count for each stanza: 6-3-8-6-3-8
  • No specific meter
  • Little to no punctuation
  • Any subject will do

Since I was already subject oriented from the Poetic Asides prompt, I stayed on the subject of regional food, parked myself at Granny’s table, and wrote about what had been placed before me. My goal was to write a story in this poem. I’m hoping to capture a memory. You’ll have to tell me if I succeeded in telling the story.

Sunday Lunch

Table long, groaning now

under weight

of platters, dishes, and elbows.

Ham, chops, eggs galore vow

to stay late

just to erase dieter’s woes.

 

Clasping hands for prayer

waiting now

‘til men get theirs and kids do too.

Smells so good this home fare

“Where’s the cow?”

Utters late-comer with “moo.”

 

“Stayed outside,” replies Gran

“Sit and eat.”

all bowls cleaned, platters empty too.

Belt loose on a lone man

children sleep

in laps of soft-talking moms.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

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7. Cracking the Genre Code
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By: Claudette Young, on 4/17/2012
Blog: Claudsy's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Art, Wikipedia, Writing and Poetry, Poetic Asides, Online Writing, Work-related, Today's Questions, Claudette J. Young, Life, Science Fiction, poetry, Literature, fiction, Add a tag

(L to R) American science fiction, fantasy, an...

(L to R) American science fiction, fantasy, and horror author William F. Nolan, American science fiction and horror author Jason V Brock, American science fiction and horror author John Shirley American science fiction author Frank M. Robinson . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Did you ever think of poetry as a vehicle for science fiction and fantasy? If you haven’t, don’t berate yourself. Most people haven’t.

Today’s poetry prompt, though, asks for that very thing. Poetic Asides Two-for-Tuesday Prompt Challenge: Write a science fiction poem and a fantasy poem. So without further ado, I give you my response to that challenge. (Note: For me, it can be serious and filled with drama. I can also do the twist.)

Paramis Shared

At the edge of night,

Where mottled sky and earth meet,

Dark shadows pool amid cliffs and plains.

Under stars making up Ryan’s Hope,

 

All my children begin their pilgrimage

Toward the annual space dome challenge,

On a search for tomorrow’s new tech,

That will ease the days of our lives

 

And take us through the coming cycles

Of our guiding light, with the bold

And the beautiful flashes of Earth’s last

One life to live.

 

I wait for their return, for their new knowledge,

Knowledge that will temper our fears,

Watching as the world turns its face once

More toward our sun, to live in constant day.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Paths

Road traveling star lanes

Divested weather vanes,

Enter worlds before unknown

Ever searching adventure,

Many times liquid streams,

Plains, mountains, fancy dreams.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Dream of Home

Green-lit caverns deep

Warmth-washed moisture seep,

Emerald pool crystalline

Bathers recline, eased within.

Muffled laughter ripples soft

Against pinnacle ceiling aloft,

Spending regard gentle and pure

Ever drawing me toward the lure,

Of sweetest home beyond compare

Acceptance true in the heart’s lair,

Smiling ey

4 Comments on Cracking the Genre Code, last added: 4/19/2012
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8. Mixing It Up with Poetry
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By: Claudette Young, on 4/16/2012
Blog: Claudsy's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Writers Resources, Online Writing, Work-related, Claudette J. Young, Poetic Bloomings, Life, poetry, Literature, Art, Muse, Writing and Poetry, Add a tag

The Muse of Poesie

Today’s prompt on Poetic Asides was simple. Write a mixed-up poem, no restrictions on subject or how you mix it up.

Again, wide open prompts like this one bring out a creative spark in people who must be seen to be believed. Humor cuddles with inspiration; absurdity takes a swing at nonsense, at the same time that both end with profound observations; teasers dive off the board into a sea of emotive pieces that defy categories; and cento makes an appearance from a pro. You just can’t predict what you’ll find inside the prompt’s comment section.

Take mine, for instance. When I began writing this morning, I intended to write about having been given the wrong directions for driving to a specific location. Not a difficult assignment from myself.

I got eight lines in and realized that Muse was dictating again on a subject that paralleled my intent. It became inspirational instead, surprising me as much as anyone. And I allowed it. Here it is for your perusal. Enjoy reading.

Much Needed Surprise 

I followed your directions,

Though there were missteps.

I’d begin once again,

Hoping to make no detours.

I left early but arrived on time

To your doorstep, a marvel sublime.

A picket fence greeted me,

Banking rivers of pansies,

Holding back a flood of color.

I didn’t think you’d remember

My favorite flowers and all.

You kept my swing company

Until I arrived to feel the peace,

Created for me by your side.

There, within your glory I’ll

Live for all eternity, a child

Learning To Be as one with thee.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

Below is the poem I wrote this morning for Poetic Bloomings, which required verse focused on “senses” in all their definitions.

Sense and Sense Ability

We hear world’s echoes,

And see daydreams unfold.

Aromas fill our heads instead of humor,

With joys known or

Disgust at odorous repeats.

Fingers trace life’s passing,

While feet feel roads beneath.

And taste sensations

Keep our appetites replete.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

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