On my two week vacation my reading time was largely devoted to reading aloud to my son. We finished HP2 and started HP3. There was little down time during the days, but when I did have a chance to read, I found myself immersed in Sage Cohen's book Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry. In it she introduced me to Lohren Green's work and his Poetical Dictionary. The poems in this gem of a book are written in the form of a dictionary entry (pronunciation, etymology, and definition). Here is an excerpt from the entry on glee.
I've been thinking a lot about this form and have a list of words I want to try. Will you join me in trying to write your own poetic dictionary entries? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.
I've never seen anything quite like this -- clever! :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://starkravingbibliophile.blogspot.com/
Not sure this formatting will work at all:
ReplyDeletePal·ette n.
A board, typically with a hole for the thumb, which an artist can hold while painting and on which colors are mixed.
[French, from Old French, small potter's shovel, diminutive of pale, shovel, spade, from Latin pāla "spade, shoulder blade."
1622, "flat thin tablet used by an artist to lay and mix colors” Sense of "colors used by a particular artist" found first in 1882.
A board and hole, wholly used, abused with color, from the choler of cadmium red to the dead black, lacking luster to the mustard and browns of soil, burnt sienna, burnt umber, the colors of the Palantine Hills, the palettined hills, the swirl and whirl and whorl of color all dug up and plastered on to the canvas with the help of the little spades.
©2009 Jane Yolen
Nope--format didn't work at all. Sorry about that. Written paragraph style it looks like James Joyce on a bad day.
ReplyDeleteJane
Jane,
ReplyDeleteIf you put / in for your line breaks, I can format it in the post. (If, of course, you feel like it!)
Eureka! Jane, your comment came through e-mail with the formatting intact. I'll use that version for the round up.
ReplyDeleteThanks--though I didn't know I sent email.
ReplyDeleteSigned, one totally confused Luddite
I don't know if this works, but here is my attempt.
ReplyDeleteLevigate
levi·gate (lev′i gāt′)
to grind to a fine powder
or paste, to smooth as a verb levigated -·gat′ed,
or make smooth [ L levigatus, pp. of levigare] levigating -·gat′·ing
like the potter who
suspends his clay in water, separating
fine particles from course,
keeping only the middle
to make his homogenous forms.
Some would say that clay so pure
is apt to crack when
under stress, though
most potters prefer
levigation
for its soft and easy
manipulation.
Diane M. Davis
Cool challenge! I posted a short poem here:
ReplyDeletehttp://laurasalas.livejournal.com/164664.html
Thanks, Tricia. I missed the Poetry Stretches while I was out of town.
Underword
ReplyDeleteChthonic [from the Greek, meaning "under the earth," or simply "earth"]
Drags your tongue down unless
you let go of the ch; if not
the pull extends to your head,
your neck and your chest,
your limbs. The dark
waits, the heavy blanket of earth
with its wriggle of worms
belying the wait of dead rocks
beneath, and farther still
the great deep with its subtle river,
its silent ferryman, its triple-headed thug
of a dog, then a god
with a burning black crown
and stony eyes not-shining
a welcome.
--Kate Coombs
Oh. Could you fix my poem's header as follows for clarity?
ReplyDelete[from the Greek chthonios, meaning "under the earth," or chthon, simply "earth"]
Thanks! And thanks also for letting me know If the World Were a Village has a new edition; maybe I'll replace the earlier copy I have.