I have to say that unlike when I was still fresh in my nearly daily poetry writing, writing from these Rachel McKibbens prompts is more than challenging. Before they seemed to bring out a part of my poetry that I was unable to reach alone. Now that I am really only writing in April for the past three years, it is a totally different experience. A good experience, just a bit daunting as I look at these at first.
The prompt and my process are after the poem. I would love to see what you make of the prompt so please post your poem in the comments or post a link to your blog entry. Write on!
~~~
Far, Far Away
an ancient constellation opened her palm and released a star
who drew graffiti in american english on jogging steel with the tip of a whip
he learned the voice of time in the middle of an aged cheddar
throwing stones from his glass house with his zircon arm
it's a fine line for the brave and the foolhardy
his shooting meteorite heart gave three times a charm flocking to the most beautiful name
prior seeds sown in fertile fields fathered from a distance
there is no recrossing the split oceans on his one-way flight
so the gray of his beard passed on looking across at the things that never were
~~~
From Rachel's blog:
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009 WRITING EXERCISE # 11
Write a bio in verse for someone. You don't have to know them personally. Include:
1. An act lifted from a fairy tale, myth, or bible/fable
2. Something you only assume of the person (but state it as fact)
3. What a part of their body is made of (preferably not humanly possible)
____________________
The cradle fell and out he spilled.
He was the fourth of five sons.
His mouth was a gun tornado.
His first kiss was a lonesome man.
He went to school in a small town where a bottle of gin was elected mayor.
The love of his life had twelve toes and sang like an arsonist.
He married her and had two brilliant mistakes.
He worked in a high heel factory until his hair turned white.
He died in the arms of an unsent love letter.
- - - - -
(This exercise was inspired by Gerald Stern's "Pennsylvania Bio," from Last Blue)
~~~
Personal note on the process...
The first instructionwas that it was a bio in verse of someone... so technically #1 should be the who... So who should I write a poem about... hmmmmmmm... tempted to write a poem about the singer whose song I've had on repeat all day but then I would want to send it to him and that would just be awkward so... who? I decided to do a famous person and there is actually a random celebrity generator online! (https://www.randomlists.com/random-celebrities). It gave a few and I decided on Harrison Ford or Han Solo (who after all these years is still the first character of his that pops into my head).
Then, the "ingredients" from the prompt
1. An act lifted from a fairy tale, myth, or bible/fable
parting the red sea
2. Something you only assume of the person (but state it as fact)
(Thinking of Mr Ford here) brave?
3. What a part of their body is made of (preferably not humanly possible)
Zircon (random generated by http://www.rdinn.com/gem_generator.php because I wanted a gemstone body part) Nipple (randomly generated by http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=251)<-- ...which="" 2nd="" arm="" choice:="" ford="" go="" harrison="" i="" inapproriate="" is="" it="" lol="" man="" me="" of="" one-armed="" one="" p="" related.="" reminded="" since="" so="" sort="" the="" think="" this="" will="" with="">
I love/hate when Rachel puts an example. The hate part is because her writing is so harshly original. I feel shoddy and trite in comparison and nothing in my head feels like poetry anymore. *sigh*
Back to my poem... BIO... born, grew up, life events (accomplishments, school, marriage, kids), death... pretending this is a postumous historical reference of Mr Ford as his most famous characters (the president, han solo, the fugitive, indiana jones, etc) done by someone who only had the films as a reference... I think...
The preliminary poem skeleton looked like this:
born,
grew up,
school,
marriage,
kids,
best known for,
death
Wrote the poem and then realized it had NONE of the listed items! So...
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