"Write now is good."

Welcome to Writers Island

Photo: Flat Island by Nature Explorer

While writers of the past have often worked in complete isolation, writers in 21st-century Blogville regularly congregate online. We cyber-writers now have a new destination for meet-ups: Writers Island.

If you already participate in an online writers' community like Sunday Scribblings, haiku: one deep breath, or the (late-great) Poetry Thursday, you'll be familiar with the Writers Island format:

If you are a writer, this is a place to express yourself. Whether you write poetry, short stories, essays, or prose -- you are invited to join in. Every Saturday a writing prompt will be posted here on Writers Island. Every Tuesday at approximately 12:01 AM, U.S. East Coast Time, a post will open for you to submit the "link only" to your contribution for that week's prompt.

The first Writers Island prompt, "my imaginary life", will be available to receive your links next Tuesday, September 11.

Prompts + community + weekly deadlines can really spur writing output and boost creativity. Laini Taylor, one of Sunday Scribblings' co-creators, just shared an exciting example of this last Sunday:

I also have a very exciting announcement to make! When Meg and I started this site last year, my motivation was to get myself writing new and different things -- and it really worked! I wrote stories, and I loved some of them. And my husband/illustrator Jim and I got the idea to propose a collection of three of them to some publishers as an illustrated book for young adults. Well, I am so thrilled to announce that we have just sold that book, Goblin Fruit to Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic. Yayyyyyy!!! It is comprised of two long short stories and one novella, each of which began life as a prompt HERE. The prompts were: "real life," "music," and "the monster." The stories are creepy, sensual, supernatural romance for teenagers and the book will be fully illustrated in the manner of a classic fairy tale book. So, a BIG tip of my hat to writing prompts, and to this wonderful community of scribblers. Yay! Thanks to all who've participated for the past 75 weeks!

Alright, you Writers Itching to Write—I recommend you give one of these communities a try, if you haven't already. You'll feel challenged, exhilarated and connected. If you've been suffering from writer's block, these prompts will help dislodge it. Prefer to draw? Sketch something based on the prompt, add some words, and post it. Care to compose something musical? As long as there's a writing component, it's allowed. Get creative, and enjoy!

An open window, and many thanks

Photo: open window...... by karenwithak

This week's (completely and totally optional) idea from Liz and Dana at Poetry Thursday is to use the phrase "an open window" in a poem. Here's my take — a haiku:

An open window —
Words flash by, diving, soaring.
My ink captures them.

Now for the "thanks". Liz and Dana started Poetry Thursday in February 2006, and the end of August brings the site's close. (A new poetry site/online community is in the works, so stay tuned...) I want to thank them for so many things:

- for creating a strong, thriving poetry community in Blogville
- for loving poetry with passion and for sharing it so openly
- for giving us a gift every week with their Thursday call for poetry-related posts
- for inspiring and creating momentum in our poetry and prose
- for connecting so many of us globally

I could go on, but this list captures their generous, wordy, bold essences. Here's to you, Liz and Dana, Goddesses of Poetry, with much admiration.

Thanks, also (of course), to all fellow Poetry Thursday community members. I've so enjoyed reading your poems, recommendations, observations, and your comments on my posts. It's been a supreme pleasure getting to know so many of you a bit, and I look forward to our future meetings here, on your blogs, and at new online poetry communities, getting ready to sprout. Cheers.

One poetry door closes...

The creators of Poetry Thursday have decided to take down their poetry shingle. At August's end, our weekly online writing/poetry community will cease. Founders Liz and Dana have enjoyed their 18-month run, and are now ready to move on to other endeavors.

But wait! Another poetry door might be opening. A few generous Poetry Thursday participants are creating a new online community to fill the void that will be left behind. More soon.

Root for the little guy, for he is us.

The above video, "i lived on the moon", has inspired me to poetry. It is animated by Yannick Puig, who was inspired by the band Kwoon's music to make this for their song. The combination of image, story and soundtrack are absolutely stunning.

I've been living in an imaginary world lately. My young one has reached the age where an unfamiliar sound outside the window most definitely means a lion is approaching. We instantly morph from parent and child into two explorers saving baby animals as we run from the predator, our arms full of plush creatures. Tinker toys become a satellite space station, until it breaks and spills rocket fuel all over our carpet. Then a dinosaur with a mop appears but admits it cannot clean the entire mess by itself. So three firemen, one firelady, and another dinosaur with a special "cleaning mouth" show up to help. And these were just some of today's adventures.

At this age, children create imaginary monsters and conflicts in order to problem solve, to develop mastery over social skills, to learn to deal with emotions. Seeing this now with my own child, it's so clear how this rich pretend world helps to cement feelings of self-confidence and budding independence. We have to do this, and we've all gone through this. We humans are wired to do so. The mythical quest to overcome obstacles and grow beyond them will forever be a basis of our stories — our most personal and private ones, and those we share as a culture.

Seeing my little one face and overcome these pretend, yet also very real, frights leaves me speechless most days. I've seen already that I can't provide all the answers to these big questions, but I also know that being there, like the steadiest rock, in the process, is so vitally important. This video somehow helped me find words around it:

We hold hands
To explore and imagine together,
To create and tell our stories,
To face monsters.
Our hands still touch
Even when
You are on the moon
And I am at my tree.
I will see you
Because I can fly now!
Through it,
Above it,
I can do it.
I'll be there soon.

Visit Poetry Thursday for a vast collection of poetry from our community.

I want my PTV! (Poetry TV, that is.)

When MTV started in 1981, it revolutionized the way people heard music. For the first time, listeners saw the music along the lines of the musicians' artistic vision. (We rabid fans and true believers didn't realize until later that videos were often more the directors' or their agents' or the record company's p.r. and marketing department's creation.)

With this added visual dimension, we felt closer to the music and the musicians; if the video also featured the band in it, and the lead singer sang right into the camera, many impressionable teens could believe that the band played just for them. These virtual mini rock concerts cemented our love for our favorite songs and singers; even decades later, I can't hear many tunes without also recalling snippets from the accompanying video.

Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate, has a series of animations for his poems. They are poetry videos, and when we view them, we understand his poetry in a new way. We see Collins' and his animators' shared visions for his words. He calls his poetry videos "action poems."

Here is the video for his poem "Forgetfulness" animated by Julian Grey/Head Gear:

Which poems would you like to see videos for? Or do you prefer to keep your own images and interpretations of the poems your primary visuals?

Found at Bad Banana.

Poetry: here’s why

Photo: Thumb(s)nail by Cieleke

My post “Poetry: why?” received so many insightful answers to the question. Here are brief highlights of these comments with links back to the poets who wrote them. These poets' blogs are rich poetry and creative destinations if you’re up for a virtual tour; add them to your "Places to see in Blogville" list.

Thanks again to all who answered. To read the complete comment thread (which I recommend because the answers are so brilliant), click here.

In chronological order of when comment was left:

1. “...much of the joy of poetry is found reading between the lines or in double entendre. Poetry is proof that it doesn't take hundreds of words to make a point.” — Paris Parfait

2. “...good poetry can take the personal and make it universal.” — Crafty Green Poet

3. “Poetry, in its ideal form, uses form and structure to create nuance and meanings that prose can't quite reach...” — EKSwitaj

4. “...it takes us into inner journey within ourselves. Poetry gives us the freedom for expression.” — gautami

5. “POEM; Praise of emotional moment...Prose is the flowery prom frock, poetry the simple black dress.” — rel

6. “I truly believe that there must be some kind of internal 'wiring', for lack of a better term, that makes some people highly receptive to the magic of poetry...” — Rob Kistner

7. “I would also add for a person who doesn't claim to 'get' poetry, that actually *hearing* it rather than reading it might make a world of difference...” — Crystal

Poetry: why?

Photo: Prickly poetry by Cieleke

Poets and poetry-lovers, here's your chance to enlighten a fellow writer about the merits of poetry. A reader recently left the following comment:

I'm not sure what it is... as much as I love structure I've never been able to get into poetry much.

I think it may have to do with the obsession of structure/form over the function of communication or telling a story in a lot of cases.

Then again it could just be that I see poetry as being too similar to song lyrics, without the music.

Something is missing for me, and I just don't get it. Anyone care to enlighten on what they get out of poems? Not just creating (because creating is always fun) - but what is the end product, and what makes it good? (Not just the cleverness with which it was constructed... I'm talking casual reader benefit -- entertainment.)

My take: Poems which move me often reveal details of life I haven't noticed before. Other poems I find distill moments in time for further reflection, like photographs do; they capture a look, a moment, a memory, a feeling, an essence, and guide the reader to step into the poet's experience.

Anybody else? There are many of you out there. Open thread in the comments...thanks.

Is 140 the new 5-7-5? Writing, haiku, and Twitter

Photo:ほたるかな by ionushi

When was the last time you wrote a poem? If you use Twitter, you might be a poet, and you don't even know it.

With Twitter, the public messaging service which limits responses to its question "What are you doing?" to 140 characters, found poems, mostly unintentional, bob in its sea of second-by-second updates.

Structure defines different types of poetry. Sonnets have fourteen lines, and villanelles have nineteen, each with different rhyme schemes. Haiku have three lines, each following a 5-7-5 syllable pattern.

After looking in a book of haiku and counting characters (including spaces between words) in a few, I've found that haiku can fit in the Twitter 140-characters format.

Blogville's resident Servant of Chaos Gavin first introduced me to Twitter by inviting me to join a TwitterPoetry account he set up. It's turned into a continually forming epic poem, written anonymously by those who log in, and each line is 140 characters or less. (If you're interested in joining, drop a comment and I'll forward you the log-in info.)

More poetic musings exists in Twitterland.

Some of the sharpest Twitters (a.k.a. "tweets") I receive are from a cat named Sockington. His Zen feline observations, typed by his owner, fit so well with this format. Some of my favorites:

- Sleeping with my little legs tucked under my head, tongue slightly out
- How am I ever going to learn to write if you won't let me take the pen?
- Does this whole thing make me Cat 2.0?
- Calculated deterministic probability of alternative fuel sourcing... j/k meow

Another Twitterer who excels in one-liner communication is Fake Steven Wright:

- I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
- I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit but it wouldn't matter.
- In school they told me "practice makes perfect." Then they told me "nobody's perfect." So then I stopped practicing.

It takes practice and skill to write something memorable and brief. A thought has to be completely distilled to make an impact or it's ignored. Fluff blows away on the digital breeze; the diamonds stay.

As I Twitter, I'll continue to grind my one-liners, and I'll soon throw in a haiku. After discounting Twitter as one more needless distraction in my media-saturated life, I've come to see its usefulness as an occasional, community-based writing exercise.

Though poets often write about the small moments of everyday life, I'm still not convinced that anyone needs to know that I just took my laundry out of the dryer (one of my first silly "tweets"). I do like the idea of sharing wit and poetry with others, however. My Twitter address is here, if you're interested.

Image above is of "Yosa Buson, great painter, poet and calligrapher, by himself. The haiku says, more or less:
Hours of study..
a firefly coming out
of buttocks?"

Bonus links:
• This blog found me as I finished up the draft of this post. (Serious B.S.P. — thanks, Sharon!)
TwitterKu — unintentional poetry pulled from the Twitter Public Stream

• In honor of Sockington:
Mr. Lee Cat Cam

Want to read some amazing poetry?

If the poetry-reading mood has struck and you're looking for recommendations, check out this power list being created at Poetry Thursday.

Drop by to read what's there and perhaps add your own favorites. Here's my contribution, in the order of how I found them on my bookshelves:

1. Circle on the Water — Selected Poems of Marge Piercy

2. New Selected Poems — Philip Levine

3. Dropping the Bow: Poems from Ancient India — Andrew Schelling

4. The Complete Poems — Randall Jarrell

5. 50 Poems — e.e. cummings

6. Haiku: This Other World — Richard Wright

7. The Love Poems of Rumi — edited by Deepak Chopra

In the driver's seat

As we checked out books at the library today, I happened to turn and look over my shoulder. A basket filled with bright bits of folded paper sitting in the center of a large table stopped me. I could hear the librarian scan in each book, close the covers and stack them in front of us. I continued to stare at the basket, wanting one of those secrets. They were blank on the outside, but I knew there had to be words somewhere on them. We were in a library, after all.

"These are due April 28th," the librarian said, pushing the pile towards me.

"Thanks," I said, picking them up to put in my back pack.

Then I saw it. A sign on the basket read, "Please take. Happy National Poetry Month!"

I grabbed a sky blue and a buttercup yellow and hurriedly zipped the books into their carrier so that we made it to the car before the parking meter expired.

In a moment's calm at home, after cooking and dinner and teeth brushing and stories, I remembered what I'd shoved into my pocket hours earlier. I've scanned one of the poems, on its actual slip of paper, and featured it above.

If you didn't read it as you started this post, I recommend you go back to "At Last" by James Stevenson. It has that smile at the end that makes so many poems, especially those written for children, memorable. It creates insight through focusing on one detail or strong central image. It brings parts of life to our attention that we miss as we rush around in our tracks, acting out our daily routines, often with blinders on.

Now when I see a dog being chauffeured about, I'll think, "Oh, I bet that puppy can't wait to get to the parking lot." But Mr. Stevenson's glimpse into hidden canine driving desires raises a question for me: what about the cats?