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All content © 2009 Jama Rattigan. Please do not reproduce in any form without permission. All rights reserved.

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poetry friday

friday feast: 2 poems and the dylan winner!

mood: happy
 

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp.
 Or what's a heaven for?" ~ Robert Browning 



Happy Poetry Friday and Happy Spring! 

A big thank you for dropping by the diner last week. His Royal Twanginess, Bob Dylan, told me (via the wind), that his ears were burning -- always a good sign.

We decided to use a random number generator to determine the winner of the Dylan DVD.  There were 18 posts containing Dylan references. The number that came rockin' and rollin' down Highway 61 was 15!


 tulips-1.jpg picture by jamesmargaret3rd   [info]boreal_owl! Congratulations, Barb! Please send me your mailing address: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot com). Thanks for participating, and sharing your Dylan thoughts and awesome poem!!

Today, I'd like to share two poems about the writing process. Both resonate with me, even though I don't call myself a poet. I like what they say about confronting truth and being humbled by its presence. You know the rush of excitement when you are fired up about an idea, and your imagination soars with the possibility? You struggle with birthing it, shaping it, containing it, giving it the justice it deserves. I can't speak for everyone, but in the end, I always feel like I fell short. 

That seems to me the biggest irony about writing. We are told to write what we are passionate about, yet sometimes these things take up so much room in our hearts that they render us speechless. But that's the miracle of words. If you find the right ones, they set everything else in motion.

THE POEMS I HAVE NOT WRITTEN
by John Brehm

I'm so wildly unprolific, the poems
I have not written would reach
from here to the California coast
if you laid them end to end.

And if you stacked them up,
the poems I have not written
would sway like a silent
Tower of Babel, saying nothing

and everything in a thousand
different tongues. So moving, so
filled with and emptied of suffering,
so steeped in the music of a voice

speechless before the truth,

(Rest is here.)


A TRUE POEM
by Lloyd Schwartz

I'm working on a poem that's so true, I can't show it to anyone.

I could never show it to anyone.

Because it says exactly what I think, and what I think scares me.

(Rest is here.)

Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is at Wild Rose Reader.

                    
           
"My earliest poems sing of the absolute necessity of allowing love to invade and pervade one's life. That can make the miracle happen in reality. Try it."
                                                              ~ James Broughton

 
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Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 at 06:47 am | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Comments


[info]slatts

COOL! YAY, Barb! (kudos to Highway 401)...

Thanks for a fun-themed post, Jama!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 11:02 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Thanks again for participating. More Dylan is on the horizon . . .
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 12:27 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]slatts

:-)

If I truly was the rich and famous artist you so kindly lie about (and didn't have to slave away here on Maggie's Farm from Nine to Five Eight Days a Week!), I would paint your portrait in a poet's cafe with McCartney to your left and Dylan to your right...
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 12:35 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Re: :-)

Me, lie? Never. There's more than one way to define "rich." And if I say you're famous, then you're famous!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 01:25 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]saralholmes

The Poems I Have Not Written---ah, yes! And the Novels I Have Not Written, and the Short Stories, and even the Letters and the Notes to Friends. We leave more undone than done. I hope we all get to eat chocolate bunny ears anyway. :)
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 11:46 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

If only writing were as easy as eating chocolate . . .
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 12:28 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

cloudsome says:

Those are two scary poems! I try not to think that way but today I am glad to have the reminders.
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 01:36 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Re: cloudsome says:

Your response is interesting. I didn't find them scary at all.
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 01:52 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]boreal_owl

Wow!!! Thanks so much! And thanks for hosting a great Poetry Friday last week.

Love those two poems, especially "The Poems I Have Not Written."



Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 01:53 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Yay for you! Sending along a boatload of virtual tulips to help you celebrate!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 02:10 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

TadMack says: :)

Oh, dear.
The MANY things I have not written about the many acts that I have not done... that one is funny but also giving me a bit of a vicious pinch to get going already!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 02:48 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Re: TadMack says: :)

When I first read the poem, I was glad to learn that I'm not the only one with this mental load. But on subsequent readings, I'm interpreting more on the level of the human mind being so expansive and infinite that it can even conceive of what it cannot conceive of!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 04:18 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]crcook

wonderful, wonderful poems!! Oh, Kelly, I can always count on you to remind me how wonderful words can be
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 03:33 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Did Kelly sneak into my kitchen without telling me :)?
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 04:18 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]crcook

How funny! I saw the Poetry Friday icon and immediately assumed Kelly :)

lovely poems! now I have TWO ladies to remind me how powerful words can and should be :)
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 05:18 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

First of all, the quote and picture at the beginning of your post -- perfect pairing. Made me laugh!

I love poems about poems. There's a kids' book, Inner Chimes by Bobbye Goldstein that is all poems about poetry. Fun stuff.

Mary Lee
A Year of Reading
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 03:59 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Thanks for the tip! Will check it out :).
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 04:14 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]laurasalas

Jama, I really enjoyed both these poems. In the first one, the metaphors and similes were wondrous! And the second one...gut-wrenching honesty.

My online crit group and I are reading The Courage to Write, and the section I'm reading right now deals with this very issue: the fear of writing clearly because what you have to say scares you and might disappoint/upset others. Very interesting.

Thanks for both of these! And I put a Dylan lyrics compendium on reserve at the library, finally! Can't wait to read it.
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 04:59 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Is the Courage to Write that you're reading by Ralph Keyes? I need to re-read it.

Enjoy the Dylan lyrics. Here's my favorite recent song of his. It really grows on you after awhile. So mellow: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BTu__gj-1cQ.

Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 05:23 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]laurasalas

Oh, I *enjoyed* that, Jama--thanks!
Posted on May. 23rd, 2008 07:07 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

So glad you liked it :)!
Posted on May. 23rd, 2008 08:22 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

Some great pictures in that first poem, and the second is so direct. Great complementary perspectives on words... They can't capture all they need to, but we still have to try!

writer2b
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 05:09 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

You're absolutely right!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 05:25 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

From a. fortis:

The John Brehm poem is perfect--I'm almost sure I've seen it before and I'm so glad to encounter it again--thanks! And I'm glad I'm not the only one to post a poem today about the creative process!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 06:15 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Re: From a. fortis:

Nice to have you stop by! This is the only John Brehm poem that I'm familiar with. I should investigate him further!
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 06:40 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

Great poems, Jama! I enjoyed reading them in their entirety, and loved that they were both about writing. I like how powerful writing can be, and both those poets seemed aware of that. And yes--when you find the right words, so much can move. I love how you put that!

Cheryl (http://www.cherylrainfield.com/blog)
Posted on Mar. 21st, 2008 10:46 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Glad you liked the poems, Cheryl. Now if only the right words would drop into my lap!
Posted on Mar. 22nd, 2008 01:48 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

perfect pair

Wow, Jama. Nicely paired, those two. And I think I'm getting more of the fear/anxiety that Cloudscome described from the first one. I'm a chronic, life-long writer's block sufferer, and that one totally speaks to me.

~eisha
Posted on Mar. 22nd, 2008 02:56 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Re: perfect pair

I have the same affliction as you, I'm afraid. Now you and cloudscome are making me worry more :) . . .
Posted on Mar. 22nd, 2008 01:49 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

Meta-Poems

I love poetry about poetry. I wonder if there's an anthology of such.
Posted on Mar. 22nd, 2008 11:59 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jamarattigan

Re: Meta-Poems

Good question. I'd love to see it if there is!
Posted on Mar. 23rd, 2008 11:39 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply