Re: Envelopes of Air
Pathospassion
c.d.latin
Forum Posts: 172
c.d.latin
Thought Provoker
8
Joined 1st Feb 2014Forum Posts: 172
Poetry Contest Description
Respond to the poem presented by the poster before you
Poets Limon and Diaz wrote poems back and forth to each other like letters. This writing was published in the New Yorker as Envelopes of Air. In that lovely, ambitious lies the basis of this competition. Each poet must write a poem in response to the ideas/ lines/ structure etc etc of the poem presented before them. The first poet should respond to this poem:
cargo
Limón to Diaz
I wish I could write to you from underwater,
the warm bath covering my ears—
one of which has three marks in the exact
shape of a triangle, my own atmosphere’s asterism.
Last night, the fire-engine sirens were so loud
they drowned out even the constant bluster
of the inbound freight trains. Did I tell you,
the R. J. Corman Railroad runs five hundred feet from us?
Before everything shifted and I aged into this body,
my grandparents lived above San Timoteo Canyon,
where the Southern Pacific Railroad roared each scorching
California summer day. I’d watch for the trains,
howling as they came.
Manuel is in Chicago today, and we’ve both admitted
that we’re travelling with our passports now.
Reports of ice raids and both of our bloods
are requiring new medication.
I wish we could go back to the windy dock,
drinking pink wine and talking smack.
Now it’s gray and pitchfork.
The supermarket here is full of grass seed, like spring
might actually come, but I don’t know. And you?
I heard from a friend that you’re still working on saving
words. All I’ve been working on is napping, and maybe
being kinder to others, to myself.
Just this morning, I saw seven cardinals brash and bold
as sin in a leafless tree. I let them be for a long while before
I shook the air and screwed it all up just by being alive, too.
cargo
Limón to Diaz
I wish I could write to you from underwater,
the warm bath covering my ears—
one of which has three marks in the exact
shape of a triangle, my own atmosphere’s asterism.
Last night, the fire-engine sirens were so loud
they drowned out even the constant bluster
of the inbound freight trains. Did I tell you,
the R. J. Corman Railroad runs five hundred feet from us?
Before everything shifted and I aged into this body,
my grandparents lived above San Timoteo Canyon,
where the Southern Pacific Railroad roared each scorching
California summer day. I’d watch for the trains,
howling as they came.
Manuel is in Chicago today, and we’ve both admitted
that we’re travelling with our passports now.
Reports of ice raids and both of our bloods
are requiring new medication.
I wish we could go back to the windy dock,
drinking pink wine and talking smack.
Now it’s gray and pitchfork.
The supermarket here is full of grass seed, like spring
might actually come, but I don’t know. And you?
I heard from a friend that you’re still working on saving
words. All I’ve been working on is napping, and maybe
being kinder to others, to myself.
Just this morning, I saw seven cardinals brash and bold
as sin in a leafless tree. I let them be for a long while before
I shook the air and screwed it all up just by being alive, too.
RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Forum Posts: 1257
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
29
Joined 24th July 2012Forum Posts: 1257
Sanctuary Of Replay
wrote the book
never published -
held it
in closet dust
for seven years
took it out
read it
for seven years
in closet dust
held it
never published -
wrote the book
read it
took it out
-x-
Written by RevolutionAL
(Alistair Plint)
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ReggiePoet
Reggie
Forum Posts: 363
Reggie
Fire of Insight
28
Joined 13th May 2018Forum Posts: 363
Layla
Forum Posts: 1216
Fire of Insight
7
Joined 3rd May 2018Forum Posts: 1216
***
eswaller
Forum Posts: 764
Dangerous Mind
31
Joined 22nd Dec 2015Forum Posts: 764
Love for a Stranger
You want to make love to something,
So you say. Make love to the words.
Make love to them beneath the stars
So you feel something other than
Empty. If you love, you will have a ring
On your finger. Every time the birds
Fly you think of the book that is ours.
Maybe in your mind I am the man
Of your dreams, but I am just like you
Because I want to feel. I want to feel
This earth come alive. I want to know
What it is like to see the sky reveal
Its true colors. I want to see the glow
Of your skin and to know what is it
Like when you look at me with that
Magical smile. I know you are trying
To justify life’s logic, but nothing fits
Or sticks perfectly that way. The bat
You adjust within your grip is prying
Itself away from you because all
That you know versus what you think
You need to know are two completely
Different things. So get behind a wall
To get a reality check, but do not sink
To the bottom of despair. Concretely
Get the answers you seek because
The world needs more than just
Questions and no answers. Pause
To take it all in because yes, I love
You, a stranger that I have to adjust
To and let in, but is someone of
This world I feel like I have known
My whole life. You are the backbone.
So you say. Make love to the words.
Make love to them beneath the stars
So you feel something other than
Empty. If you love, you will have a ring
On your finger. Every time the birds
Fly you think of the book that is ours.
Maybe in your mind I am the man
Of your dreams, but I am just like you
Because I want to feel. I want to feel
This earth come alive. I want to know
What it is like to see the sky reveal
Its true colors. I want to see the glow
Of your skin and to know what is it
Like when you look at me with that
Magical smile. I know you are trying
To justify life’s logic, but nothing fits
Or sticks perfectly that way. The bat
You adjust within your grip is prying
Itself away from you because all
That you know versus what you think
You need to know are two completely
Different things. So get behind a wall
To get a reality check, but do not sink
To the bottom of despair. Concretely
Get the answers you seek because
The world needs more than just
Questions and no answers. Pause
To take it all in because yes, I love
You, a stranger that I have to adjust
To and let in, but is someone of
This world I feel like I have known
My whole life. You are the backbone.
Written by eswaller
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RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Forum Posts: 1257
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
29
Joined 24th July 2012Forum Posts: 1257
Thinking In Poetry
Morning awakes
with personification
of weeping birds
and rays of
sunshine ballerinas on barre.
Traffic that roars
-lights that giggle.
Whilst pointsmen
at intersections
conduct
traffic orchestras
in perfected unison.
Lunch: a metaphore
of marble tiered
bagels
covered in
the thick blood
of tomatoes, flowing over
meat
- beaten to mince
rolled and smoothed
before a grilling
in basted, sticky sauce.
Sun-dials rotate
into long shadows
bringing
a lake of dandelion
tea, sprinkled in
rivers of dreams
ducks waddle through
flicking tadpoles
from webbed feet
in the dusky mist
ending the days
warmth.
Seeping through
unkempt clouds
covering a
crisp-blue-sky.
And you!
A conjured figure
resting
in my mind
since day-break, like stone.
Holding leather bound
covers
of a life story
we'll only remember when
the cleaning
and clearing
of the never written
-read everyday
in a simple walk
through
green grass, in a park.
A quiet seat
under a
larger than life
statue;
armed with
a journal
and fond
memory
surrounded
in a sea
of carnations...
whispering ballads
in the drafty
winter-winds.
And I fall asleep, in the imagery of dreams spoken in free verse.
Pen between teeth.
-x-
Written by RevolutionAL
(Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Forum Posts: 1216
Fire of Insight
7
Joined 3rd May 2018Forum Posts: 1216
***
RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Forum Posts: 1257
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
29
Joined 24th July 2012Forum Posts: 1257
When Rose Petals Awake
i)
Dried rose petals
fascinate me
The delicate death
of blooming
colour and scent
has an unsurpassed beauty
Similarly, empty streets
sharing architectural
wonderlands
in the direction stones fell
grasping historical stories
that walked over surfaces
for decades;
a raconteur
I've dreamed of studying
for silenced days
(and years between them)
Sometimes, poetry is intercepted; words splashing about
like sugar cubes
causing tidal waves
and ripples
drowning
in a cup of tea
brewed
-left in the pot
longer than an expiry date
ii)
Had moment to picnic
this morning under
a large oak tree
speaking wisdom
from it's trunk
like dying leaves
in autumnal mist
One leaf fell
like crumpled paper
wearing unused words;
knowing
in the reading
someone surrendered early
Branches left shadows
accross the ground
in a web
of indifference
Sat there
staring at nothing
reading each word
dropped through tea
and roses
-hoping to find
living, in the beauty of it
iii)
Found acorns;
jolting memory verses
in hats of kind phrases
brought to the forefront of my
mental theatre's
screen and Dolby system
Took them for a walk
-in my pocket
through Tuscan streets
to the confectionary
Sipping at coffee
with a smily face
whirled in the froth;
leaving those acorns on the table
felt apt -
next to the salt and pepper
facing the window
gazing towards a
quiet unobtrusive lake;
where, under the table lay
a lonely, dried, pressed rose petal.
-x-
Written by RevolutionAL
(Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Forum Posts: 1216
Fire of Insight
7
Joined 3rd May 2018Forum Posts: 1216
***
RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Forum Posts: 1257
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
29
Joined 24th July 2012Forum Posts: 1257
No Title Needed.
Nearing my fourty fifth
birthday;
Arthritic joints
worn skin
and a spine that
shrinks in water
leaves rusted body panels
under bed covers
an extra hour;
when the birds
wake the sun
during chimes
of Grandfathers
and Coo-coos
Limbs lay warming
in the winter breath
-dehyrated bone
Did you know one third
of a living bone
is water?
The heart
takes longest
to propel, with
engine starter cranks
on a Model T
It splutters
vibrates
stalls
falls
and clanks off
-on the morning's
incline
I wonder how much
slow starts
are age
versus
miles driven
on African
pothole ridden
dirt roads?
I'd imagine if
a lamp worth rubbing
was found
wishes would be
as abstract
as our virginity
or cracks in bones
filled and recoated
in the reincarnation
of personalities
powered on WD-40
If honesty
splashed across
poetic paper
Prayers
would light
thornless
stems
holding buds of colour
upright
and confident
as bodies ache
in the blood spins
of the half century
marathon
To me poetry that wears "heart" and "soul" without the nausea, in a single write...
is Citalopram
Written by RevolutionAL
(Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Forum Posts: 1216
Fire of Insight
7
Joined 3rd May 2018Forum Posts: 1216
***
RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
Forum Posts: 1257
Alistair Plint
Dangerous Mind
29
Joined 24th July 2012Forum Posts: 1257
In Thinking And Reading .
I read a poem;
magnificent
literature, in which
a woman
reckless in her writing
wrote of her own
persona,
wild and fiery
then calm as a lake;
it reminded me
of our rose stems
Filling my heart
with a love
for her unique mind
and attitude
I'm certain
that poem
coupled with your
previous letter
has brought
un-ending masculinity
Do you think
men are born
with a natural
feminine side?
-x-
Written by RevolutionAL
(Alistair Plint)
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Layla
Forum Posts: 1216
Fire of Insight
7
Joined 3rd May 2018Forum Posts: 1216
***
anna_grin
ANNAN
Forum Posts: 3367
ANNAN
Dangerous Mind
15
Joined 24th Mar 2013Forum Posts: 3367
Dear Poet
i confess to not know what in the fuck you are on about.
i confess that i do not intend to try very hard
to unravel your meanings,
to respond in in a conscientious and well thought out manner but rather to take your springboard
fuck your springboard
today i thought about something i'd seen
the other day:
four magpies stealing cherries
it reminded me of something i'd noticed the day before:
this tree that has leaves that blacken as you reach the edge of the branches
a wind powered flock of dark birds
that never fly
such a false threat but it looked sinister to me
and i suppose we all
we evolve to protect ourselves in some way
don't we;
i wouldn't let you know the crows on my fingers weren't real
even if you already knew
i confess to not know what in the fuck you are on about.
i confess that i do not intend to try very hard
to unravel your meanings,
to respond in in a conscientious and well thought out manner but rather to take your springboard
fuck your springboard
today i thought about something i'd seen
the other day:
four magpies stealing cherries
it reminded me of something i'd noticed the day before:
this tree that has leaves that blacken as you reach the edge of the branches
a wind powered flock of dark birds
that never fly
such a false threat but it looked sinister to me
and i suppose we all
we evolve to protect ourselves in some way
don't we;
i wouldn't let you know the crows on my fingers weren't real
even if you already knew
Jade-Pandora
jade tiger
Forum Posts: 5134
jade tiger
Tyrant of Words
154
Joined 9th Nov 2015 Forum Posts: 5134
*resubmitted below*