Monday, December 08, 2014

Monday Poetry Stretch - 13 Ways of Looking at Winter

This weekend I was savoring Wallace Steven's wonderful poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. I began to think that looking at winter in this way might be an interesting thing to do. Now, you don't need to come up with 13 stanzas of your own. Perhaps we could write this as a modified renga, each contributing a verse or two.

Here is the stanza I'm starting with (I think).

I
Short days
long nights
the coldest of seasons
heralds the approaching light

However you want to approach it, the challenge this week is to write a few stanzas (or more!) about winter. I hope you'll join me. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

9 comments:

  1. Twelve Days of Winter Paintings

    1.
    Nights drawn in
    by a shaky hand.

    2.
    Poster child
    for starveling sparrows.

    3.
    A shiver of robins
    dot the landscape.

    4.
    Mountains in white lace caps
    pose for their portraits.

    5.
    Black and white
    winter lithograph.

    6.
    Ice, snow, plow,
    December collage.

    7.
    Eaves icicles
    sculptural happening.

    8.
    Like a drop of errant red paint
    cardinal blots the snow.


    9.
    Bobcat tracks through drifts,
    dry brush master.

    10.
    Ice melt stipples
    the snow below.

    11.
    Through the window
    a mural in white.

    12.
    Water monochromes the world,
    rain, snow, ice.

    13.
    That's winter.
    I lied about the number.

    2014 Jane Yolen all rights reserved

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    Replies
    1. Jane, I read the last stanza and laughed out loud. Your poem is a beautiful description of winter.

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    2. I love that bocat, the"drybrush master"!

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  2. 1,3, and 12 are my favorites, Jane. And ONCE UPON ICE is a brilliant anthology--one I return to repeatedly. I knew you'd do something wonderful with winter:>)

    Tricia, I love your line lengths. They get hopeful as your stanza goes on!

    Here's mine, inspired by the beautiful, silent pause the world seems to take after a good snowfall:

    After snow,
    whitebreathed world pauses

    slowly
    silently

    exhales

    --Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

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  3. "whitebreathed" of course. Though I have read it aloud now three ways: white breath'ed, white breathed, whitebread.

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  4. Wow, Jane and Laura, beautiful!

    Whirls, drifts,
    lifts white dust,
    sighs, sifts,
    and then lies
    quiet till
    the next gust

    —Kate Coombs 2014,
    all rights reserved

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The lines feel like gusts, Kate. Thanks.

      Jane

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  5. Tricia, I love your line "heralds the approaching light." It reminds me of a line I came up with years ago that has stuck with me. Maybe over the holiday I'll have time to play with it. In the meantime, these two winter poems have been floating around in my head this week. Not sure they'll fit with your renga, but you definitely got me thinking!
    http://readingtothecore.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/poetry-friday-snowpiaries/

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  6. VISITOR

    Crystals of lace float
    Against my windowsill to
    Keep me company.

    (c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete