Sunday, March 21, 2010

Poetry Boot Camp Begins Today

Today is the first day of my participation in a six-day poetry "boot camp," run by poet and teacher extraordinaire, Molly Fisk. Here's how it works. Find a group of your friends. Sign up with Molly and pay her some money. Every day for a week, write a poem every single day and email it to Molly and to everyone else in the group. Every day for a week, write a critique of one other person's poem (critique matrix arranged by Molly), and receive a critique of your poem by one other person plus Molly. Only rule: no recycled stuff, no revised stuff, a new poem every single day.

This means I can't re-use any of my previous Sappho poems. But that doesn't mean that I can't write a poem ABOUT Sappho. So here is my poem for day one of poetry boot camp:

Fragments of Sappho

It feels now as if she meant to have them
read

this way

the spaces in between


the gaps

a part of

the poem itself


This is all that is left
these broken lines
these words

so few


Their brokenness a grief
for all that has been lost
all that will never be restored


and yet there is

a beauty in
the pause

the breath

a beauty in the

brokenness

1 comment:

  1. Good poetry done well, I think, is often marked by a rhythm and flow that allows the reader to go through and feel enlightened, but look back and see how deceptively simple it is, how much sense it makes. Usually, this is achieved through rhythm and word play, but this poem accomplishes it in meaning and subject matter. You have a gift. (:

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