In honor of finishing the 28 (-ish) part poem, “Another Affair with Water,” I’ve finished with a two-page spread.
Usually, when we write in our notebooks, we don’t track our progress according to the weight of our work—ink on a page does not significantly change the weight of a notebook. But look; my little book has gained a little over an ounce!
Perhaps there is a name for the tendency to find the names of colors as appealing as the colors themselves. Some kind of synesthesia-type disorder. I don’t know. I just know that ever since I was a child I have loved the names of colors, in some cases more than the colors themselves. Pink, for instance.
In this week’s collage, colors arrive on the banks. This is, after all, the second to last collage in this particular series, which is super awesome and incredibly surprising, and I think it is time the banks of my sad specter and lonely fish king saw spring. Continue reading “colors arriving on the banks”
Aphrodite, Baby Bootlegger, Alexandria, and Mary. Four boats. Four good boats.
It’s more than a little funny how I’ve come to feel about the little black and white man featured in this gallery. I guess he must be the fish king himself, in his cozy sweater, with his mustache and curly hair. I can’t imagine he is the personification I would have chosen, but there he is nonetheless. Continue reading “The Fourth Book of Good Boats”
It is true, sometimes I start a poem for this book and discard it. The only thing that inspired me about the original draft of #25 was the color I’d mixed on a paint palette.
So, I cut everything but the number and the color and went in a more narrative direction. As it turns out, I am pleased with the final page so I am also fine with the process.
So, here we are at the final five poems in the “Another Affair with Water” series. I’ll be honest. I was not sure I’d make it through 28 connected collage poems. But I did and my little red book has gained a few ounces.
At this point, I started really thinking about how to tie up any loose ends within this series: my dear Fish King, Specter (Spectre), Light, Mistresses, Hearts, and Boats.
The pictures for this page are a little different this week. You’ll be seeing only process pictures, and no final images. Let’s start: Continue reading “Before the Flood”
I am a pretty big fan of poems that allow the reader to make their own choices about how they should be read. So, that is what I’ve gone for here. Hence the title … do your own damn thing.
The full text of this poem reads: “Sing a song in 1989. I sing in June.”
This would be the most direct reading of this poem.
For the less obvious read, follow me.
Song 1989
I Sin Sing
Sin Son Gin
I sin gin in June
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating. Experimental Poetry allows your writerly ego, go-to-themes & stories, and brain to take the day off. Otherwise, why would anyone write a poem called MYSTERY TO THE MAN?
We have reached the end of sex stories. For now, at least.
I really enjoyed doing this collage, especially after what felt like a lot of disorder in the previous ones (in this sex series). In contrast, this one is more focused and the black and white arrangement is easy on the eye.
I am feeling less than talkative this morning, so today: a couple of photos and a major prompt.
The second story is fairly similar to the way I behave on any plumbing aisle. All those pipes and fittings, with names so dirty, and me whispering / chanting them to myself until overcome with bawdy hysterics.
In all honesty, this was a fun page to make. It feels a little private/intimate, but not so much as to be excluded from a public blog. They are just boat-building supplies, after all. Continue reading “Story of Sex 2 / boatbuilding supplies”
Which once was Essex, but oh, sex is so much better. Ever since I saw this beautiful headline I have been waiting to use it, saving it up, plotting and planning. And yes, it was just as fun and satisfying as I thought it would be.
But I could not limit myself to just one — it is “storys” after all (Story in this case is a surname, hence the odd pluralization).
This past week I’ve been doing a lot of work on my poetry thesis: organizing it into three possible orders and working out themes and sections and all that. Each time I’d figure out one potential way into the manuscript, I’d take a break to finish a collage / poem.
Diversions like experimental writing can be quite useful for the writer–especially the writer who is entrenched in a project. I’d go as far as to say this is the most lovely stage of editing: the diversions. Continue reading “A Riverkeeper”
Today an image heavy post, with a sparse poem to accompany. In this case, I worked on the poem first, and then finished the image. Sometimes, certain words just pop out. In my case, it was “take care.”
Also, never underestimate the incredible power of white paint piled against yellowed pages. Continue reading “The Interrogation of the Ways”
This week is all about the process, because making this page required more effort than any other page so far. I am going to actually give you a step-by-step for this, so you really can follow along if you like. The following is all one big prompt.
I found one nice, neat page in my magazine. This was originally a review of a series of boat building books. This allowed me to have 5 spots for poems. Continue reading “THE REAL MYSTIC’S MUSEUM of the One WATER, Volumes I-V”
Today, a full page image/poem, meant to be a continuation of “bend and break in silence.”
For this poem I used a very simple process. I highlighted all instances of the word “sound” and then whited everything else out. I love using this technique because it lets you choose to leave some words only partly obscured, such as in the title image.
So, this is your creative prompt. Focus today on one word. Preferably a word that means something to you. Silence / Sound / Bend / Break. Continue reading ““what you hear is a map of sound””
(don’t) Bend and Break in Silence
Not justified. And I drove to the grocery store, the store I visit weekly, past the place where the flags and lights and tributes are still set up. Today, cameras. Today, voices. Today, news. But still, no resurrection.
Too many bodies. Too much silence. Too much broken.
Having spent the past two months caught up in a number of things that required that I abandon my sons to Minecraft.
Having woken in the middle of too many nights trying to shake the terrible feeling of complete domestic failure.
Having finished the first draft of my novel yesterday.
Having finally made Pasties from scratch.
Having missed my last two blog-Wednesdays.
For this page, the eleventh in the “Another Affair with Water” series, I was thinking about congruity–especially across the series.
The title echoes the series’ title.
Visually, it relates to the Broken White poem.
Poetically, both are between satire and abstraction.
Thematically, both come at a time when I am once again defeated by anger and sorrow at the ever-growing list of murdered black men. Continue reading “Library of Water”
Here, a return to the heart, previously explored in Young Fair Hearts… which is where you may recognize the heart stencil from. 
This time I used the cut out heart directly (rather than as a stencil): cutting some words out, leaving others, and inserting new ones. And red paint. And a little messiness, because I like a little messiness. Continue reading “Of Yachts and Men”
Magazines are always filled with letters to the editor. In them, you will find some of the very best language. Seems a shame to waste all those Dears.
In this case, the answer (above) was written first and then the question (below). Continue reading “Letters to the Spectre”
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