As a kid, I loved magnets.
I loved to try to press the magnets together on the repel sides. I loved how the "force" between them felt when I swished them around and tried to make them join. It felt very alive, that negative force and I could nearly "see" the form between the magnets or at least I would "feel" its size and everchanging shape. To this day, I still prefer to press magnets on "wrong" side.
I think poetry is art.
I think making art is discovery.
I think in order to discover you must be willing to repel all that is "known and accepted" or at least "hang a question mark on everything you think you know."
In my opinion, some of the most interesting artists are also inventors who by their nature, "attempt to press the magnets together" despite the negative force.
For this contest, I am asking to see, read, feel, experience a poem in a new way.
Please don't explain your new way in your author's notes or comments.
Rule:
1. Make the title of your poem 1 word.
This is a completely subjective contest.
I will pick the poem that my gut reacts to most strongly because of its "newness" because the author was willing to attempt success by failing miserably or falling the farthest over the horizon. The winners will probably be the poems that forgot everything they were ever supposed to know.
Oh if you want to check someone out that I find very poetic as well as experimental here on AP
check out:
http://allpoetry.com/Saint%20Jai
Have fun.
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on June 24, 2007
- Rewards: Gold: 300, Silver: 100, Bronze: 50
- Final notes:
I loved reading the experiments in this contest. Thank you to everyone who put something up.
The poem I wanted to give the Gold trophy to was titled Wu, but sadly for some reason it disappeared from the contest. It was the first one entered and by far the most experimental of the bunch. I loved it.
So with Wu gone, I have decided to de-virginize aboutface and award a Gold to his National Anthem -rhythmed poem Patriot.
I just thought Heaven had so many great and wild lines I couldn't help but like it enough for a silver. And I went with Liza's Void for third because any poem that opens with being dead must be experimental.
Thanks to everyone and I hope people took the time to poke around and read. There are some dynamite experiments here...
Peace out.
Lisa
Contest Winners
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• Commented on by judge. [remove]
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 3066200, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
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• Commented on by judge. [remove]
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 3047124, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
Gold trophy winner
Bronze trophy winner
Entries [21]
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OH! / breakout child, / You go over his whelm eachneverytime- / Grins begin growing / Keeps gall from flowing / And those Breakloose runfreby Lugh 36 lines, 5 comments, on Jun 4 2:14 PM 2007. In My own style• Commented on by judge.
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And WE'RE still not speaking / You s-s-s-studder your way into anewonesidedfriendshipdarlingdearest / And I'm the only side / Cause you're still not speaking / ppppaaauuuussseeeee /by wonderbandalice 64 lines, 1 comment, on Jun 4 4:26 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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When the games begin / and the screams come and go / scaled silences and a thousand / -• Commented on by judge.
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Our mouths are rich with words / describing the full epic qualities of life. / The words formed by our lips leave / feet into miles, / days into nights, / small into large, / and boredom into strife. / We cast oby Taxing Minds 22 lines, 4 comments, on Jun 4 12:21 PM 2007• Commented on by judge.
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by crisstiena 77 lines, 10 comments, on Jun 5 3:28 PM 2007. In other• Commented on by judge.
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• Commented on by judge.
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Impaired vision in condensed medium / Clustered thoughts in claustrophobic particle / Occasional tangents on differential surfaces / Captured moments in vertical space / Undetermined emotions / Unattained exist• Commented on by judge.
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Essence of ORnament / essense of NAMEe / essense of MENTality / All about ORder / All about NAviby Anastasiya 17 lines, 7 comments, on Jun 17 1:39 PM 2007. In Conceptual, Abstract, Acrostic, Pattern, Lost in thought• Viewed by judge.
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Running down the street with an electronic / typewriter, doesn't make a lot sense / Sure you can do eighty words per minute / Run the ribboby luvdrkchocolate 34 lines, 12 comments, on Jun 17 12:50 PM 2007. In Random humor• Commented on by judge.
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Double dipping / Triple tipping / Kind of flipping / But so hipping / Are you slipping / I'll be zipping / you kind of whacky / That's so tacky / where'• Commented on by judge.
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Comments
1 - 29 of 29
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oooooooooo
what a wonderful! idea .....
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Sounds challenging. I will bookmark this and see if I can come up with anything original. Great contest idea, Lisa.
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my plume's title will be Rapunzel
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Where is my fucking Rapunzel poem?
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I know exactly what you mean about the magnets...Good luck with your contest and take care x
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This sounds very interesting. Will definitely try to get my creative juices flowing.
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Snap!
Now that's my kind of party! -
a wonderful contest idea... i always loved turning the magnets the wrong way, feeling them squish that springy nothingness that was both so clearly there and not there. I had some particularly strong small magnets that I used to put one on a thumb one on a finger and squish around until they flipped and snapped shut.
The poets I love most are those who can do this and yet retain some quality of familiarity which makes the poem accessible at the same time it is so unknown. That's what I get from cummings and those other modernist/futurist/early 20th century explorers. I try sometimes to think of how I'd like poetry to take on new shapes, how I want it to be and work before I crash and resort to the comfortable and known.
I am the most forgetful person I know who has not been diagnosed with actual brain damage. I still don't know _how_ to forget, though. It's like all those phenomenologists talking about how we need to bracket out our assumptions to perceive the real within the interpreted... it's a box that is once opened can't be shut, and just when you think you've got it, it becomes apparent you are right back in one of your starting places.
i remember your early poems on this site that dripped from the tongue and ran down the crevasses of the body. i loved those. i wish i could forget to do that. -
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Well as I believe in the circle, you'll probably get to see more of those dripping messes soon.
You know I've been studying poems and poetry and art for 3 years, pretty much nothing else -- because in my heart of hearts, I want to create something worthy as stupid or arrogant as that sounds. Last night I realized that I don't know shit. I mean I always kind of knew I knew shit but now I really know I know shit.
So I decided, it was time to take all that shit I didn't know and start over again. So I took out the Mary Oliver, Poetry Handbook that someone sent me as a gift way back when I first started writing (and there is this lovely hand drawn flower on the first page) and started reading from page one. Fuck I still don't understand the first thing about meter and I swear I don't know if I really believe a poem should be "manufactured" .. or rather I don't think you can take poor writing and manufacture into a poetry -- I believe in Inspiration and the Divine Spirit that imbues the work of the people that I love to read, the paintings I love to look, the music I like to listen too. I believe that a million people can take words and make the punctuation and enjambment perfect and creative -- I don't believe those things make the poem the poem. It is something else, that magic.
So all this blabbing about myself must be getting hideous but
I do believe becoming a poet is a lifetimes work even if one is born a poet. I do honor the art even if those think that is foolish, I can't help but be who I am. So like a circle coming back to the beginning, I hope that I can take some of the shit I've learned that helped me realize I don't know shit and make a leap forward --
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Well, up until that last paragraph, I was intent on saying "Boy, you really don't know shit, do you?" and even after it, I wonder.
I have been far less studious than you the last three years, and while there is room for varying judgement let's just say that you are at least as good a poet as I am. That said, there are a couple simple truths that I've learned in the last 30 oh-my-god-thats-a-stunning-number-of-years-trying-to-write years.
1) It is the words and all those things you mention which make the poem. They just don't nessesarilly make it great. A truly great poem isn't magic, it is simply the remarkable confluence of _all_ the factors coming together in the right way. Those aspects that make up the poem are only ever as good as that they perfectly elicit something that is worth eliciting.
2) Nobody (I repeat... no... one) knows exactly how those words and sounds will neccesarily strike the reader/listener. It is all guesswork and approximation. Once upon a time it was believed that there were perfect rhythms which conveyed particular things. Iambic pentameter was stately, dactyls were the essence of music, etc. While there is some truth to the different effects of sounds and meters, such things are conditioned, they are historical artifacts, and everyone shares some but not all of their history.
As a quick aside, just consider that our notion of meter is actually pretty arbitrary. One person who comes out and pretty much admits this is Robert Pinsky in The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide. There aren't just "stressed" and "unstressed" syllables, there is a scale of emphasis, and where the stresses may fall is dependent on a whole host of factors. I suspect you have problems with it for the simple reason that you actually pay attention to the sounds. Meter is nothing but a map, and anyone who mistakes the map for the terrain is in for a bumpy ride.
3) What makes something worth eliciting? I'm not sure, but I do know it isn't complexity or profundity per se. I suspect that at least two things matter though: the degree to which the poet cares, and the extent to which others share some tantalizing glimpse of the same thing. This is where I have always fallen short, it's where I will probably always be an inferior poet to ed p, e.e., and you. I _envy_ ed his ability to consume the details of a scene. We can attribute that ability in part to his training as a painter, but there is something else: he pays attention. He wants to capture the details of the things he sees, because he cares. I don't mean in some "I love the universe" way neccesarily, but he wants to grasp the details of what this thing is that strikes him. Then he puts it into words to the best of his ability. You, too, have that quality.
4) It doesn't really take a lifetime. You can improve and learn and get more capable of conveying something... but you can also lose something in the process. Most of my favorite poems (like most of my favorite albums) are from early in the artists' stage of development. While she may have written technically better poems, to me Edna St. Vincent Millay never surpassed "Renascence." E.E. Cummings wrote a lot of great poems, but some of the greatest were included in his first couple books all of which were written during college and just after. There is a joy of awakening that we have in our youth. Sometimes we lose it, sometimes we recapture it. Cherish it (and yes exploit it) whenever it comes.
5) I won't say that someone can't become a poet. They can. But the truth is that this reification and glorification of "the poet" is a lot of stupid shit. You ARE a poet. Anyone who tries to write poetry is a poet. Maybe you're a good poet, maybe a bad one. Some people are born with a capacity to see things uniquely and learn very early to move people with words. Others have life changing experiences and manage to just say things so plainly we can't help but be moved. Other's gradually accumulate experience and childlike wisdom. Others (like bukowski who actually got a lot better over the course of a lifetime) just stick to their guns... trying to say things in their own voice until their own voice comes through.
With all respect and love, what I think you need more than anything else is to stop seeing poetry as something out _there_. Lisa, you are bursting with poetry. It oozes from your pores as you type out your replies. Embrace your feelings. Share them with us. There can be nothing greater.
I remember a time when you were starting to study Eliot. You sought to learn from him by emulating and mastering his style before moving on. That's a worthwhile exercise, but only if you hold onto the complete understanding that you have something to say (those feelings I mentioned) and that you will be able to say them better than anyone else because they are _yours_. I worried then that you might get caught up in this trap of "becoming a poet."
Learn, but learn to say what you want to say. No one can tell you what is great poetry, but if you say what is inside you, you'll discover it.
Off of soap box. Hoping I've done no harm. Realizing what an old man I am at such an early age (not to mention an extraordinarilly pretentious asshole). -
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wonderful words
I enjoyed reading this comment so much that I had to thank you for it, Windhover3. Not only is your comment encouraging, but your words were wonderful advice for both new writers and old who have spent time seeking the magic, the grace, and the rush. You know, that feeling, that thrill, when "it" works.
“The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master--that's all."--Lewis Caroll
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Lisa is one of my favorite poets, not "AP poets" but poets. We're all addicts for that thrill, and we all go through periods of self doubt and struggle. I've been through more than one. People do deserve our respect during those periods, though, and I hope I didn't overstep my bounds.
I'm not sure whether it's great advice... I'm inclined to think that different people need different advice (and Lisa probably doesn't need mine), but thank you. I did mean it to be encouraging, and I think we can all use a good dose.
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Hellooooo Windy,
I was waiting to reply when I had some time to properly respond and thank you for your post.
1) Reply: I believe in the Magic.
2) Reply: Why does a dactyl remind me of a dinosaur? I believe in the Magic. I will look at Pinsky's book! I've come around to believing in the organic-ness of the poem (that is at least todays theory). Over manufacturing is not appealing to me at present. PV reminded me that when Shakespeare was writing his sonnets (which I believe almost no one has surpassed in Beauty) everyone talked that way. It was the common language of poetry as you said somewhere in this post. (p.s. read generic's sonnet posted here about the man who builds a birdhouse, you must you must).
3) Reply: When I first came back to poems, I painted what I saw (pretty poorly). I was so happy for the folks here that sort of "took me on" as a project and critting the hell out of my poems etc. Then I started studying to learn and started to mess around with imitation (as per Mary Oliver's instructions) and I think, drifted away from my "roots" and was concentrating on learning technique and exploring Voice.
I have always suffered bouts of severe self doubt and probably always will but this latest episode the worst to date. It may be a growth spurt, an "awkward phase." LOL. I love what Manet said, "I paint what I see" and I think I did that in the beginning, wandered from it into painting what I "thought" and have returned somewhat back, only hopefully equipped with a bit more knowledge about the craft. Though, I'm can't be sure about that last part. Also, I believe in the Magic.
4) Reply: When I get obsessed about a poet (or musician or painter) I have to take in as much of their work as possible -- from the beginning middle to the end. I tend to look at all of the work (lifetime) as the Whole. A beginning Middle and End -- and then of course I even love to learn who that particular artist influenced and have been known to become obsessed with their "offspring" LOL. I think probably people are born poets, some become poets but that it takes a life of living to become a Poet. Also, there is that Magic.
6. See above.
Thanks for the really nice kick in the ass, Windy. I was watching Dustin Hoffman in the Actor's Studio the other night. He said something that sort of broke me out of this funk a bit. He was talking about his portrayal of Raymond in Rainman, about the scene in the bathroom with Tom Cruise and the "water not hurt baby" He said something like:
Everyday I read the upcoming days schedule and knew that scene was coming up. I didn't want to do it. I just didn't. That scene was something I was not capable of doing. It pushed me into a place as an actor I wasn't prepared to go, I wasn't good enough to do it. And that really pissed me off, facing my own limitations.
And he pushed through it. And of course the scene is gut-wrenchingly good. I am notoriously lazy when it comes to writing (not studying or learning etc.) and I think I found myself in a pissed off place because of what is required of me if I want to leap to the next level, work. (This is what I mean about a lifetime cause I never want to stop learning). But I feel as though I'm coming out of it a bit. I still may not work too hard but at least I may find myself enjoying writing again.
We've talked about this before briefly, knowing exactly the poem you want to write but have no clue what it is about or how the fuck to do it. LOL. But dammit it is perfect!
Oh by the way, I've decided I hate poets and love Artists.
Also, I believe in the Magic.
You rawk as we once used to say round these parts.
Lisa
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I konw for myself that an initial idea can get bogged-down if I over-think it.
I enjoy being thoughtful, but in terms of producing something that's 'got something', it's usually the stuff I write in a maze ment (lost in a beautiful idea) that I personally rate myself. However, I don't just chuck it out to leave it, I like to arrange punctuation and stuff (ahem ,like that small matter of narrative) later, when I'm feeling more in control.
it's worth saying here that we have to have confidence in our slurges, because even if they start out spindly, the seed can be tended to grow something eventually full and satisfying
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crazy crazy....but i like... i may even have a bash at this one.... on nights right now... but will muddle with my brain in these next 3 nights
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thanks for pushing us beyond our boundaries.
I was immediately struck, so I'm working on something - a poem I'd be most unlikely to post. Whether I do post or not depends on how well I approach the line without crossing over into vulgarity and absurdity.
But I'm grateful for the encouragement to stretch. -
best contest idea i've seen on AP-
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wow
I've never seen such quality in one contest (granted, I've not seen all the contests!)
a great idea that's sparked some beautiful and shocking stuff
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By experimental does that mean you want completely unique forms or do you only require the content to be "new"?
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um. yes? just experimental. however your poem defines it.
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I actually had something almost there for this one... so thank you for the inspiration to put pen to paper and hopefully it eventually takes form.
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hope to read it. soon.
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thank you .... very much.. this was a wonderful contest..
congrats to all
I've enjoyed reading ...
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Thank you so much for the silver Lisa. This was a fantastic contest and kind of opened up a whole new way for me to consider line lengths. lol. So many fantastic entries here, it was a pleasure to rank among them and come away with a trophy. Congrats to the other winners as well.
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Yay!
Tell me the secret to getting so many entries, ok?
Must have been tough to judge - bravo you, and congrats to the pixel-winners. Thanks for having me in the numbered few, too.
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Bravo.
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A wonderful contest! - i may be forced to steal the idea-
congrats to everyone for reaching outside their box-
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Oh do steal I'd love to read some more and not have to judge !!!
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