amy in alabama

poetry practice

Friend, fellow writer, and UNA professor of writing, Rob Koch, and I lead writing workshops through the Lauderdale County Public Library several Saturdays a year. Today we had a small group, as many of our high school age patrons are on vacation. So we did little critiquing and a lot of playing - with forms. 

We flipped through Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics and selected first the Epithalamon form: A B A A B B with four feet, three feet, four, four, four, and three. All the A's must rhyme and all the B's must rhyme and the last two lines must end in the same word, albeit the sixth and final line has only three feet, six syllables where the previous line has four and eight, respectively. Each foot in each line consists of one unaccented word followed by an accented word then an unaccented word and so forth, alternating accented/unaccented throughout the poem. Lost? Bored? Try this - inspired by my recent trip to the slaughterhouse:

My feet grow colder, blocks of ice

while a hog's life is taken

next door, losing his game of dice.

But it's not for me to think twice.

I watch for the love of bacon;

only, for the bacon.

Next we tried a looser form, no rhyming. The Katauta form originated in Japan and follows a 5, 7, 7 - five syllables, seven syllables, seven syllables. The first line makes a statement and the following two answer the call with the turn directly after the first line. This is fun, if not exactly on the mark.

I don't want to clean,

but the house is damn filthy.

And there goes my Saturday.

I can not clean now.

For my hunger is too great.

Please, let the clock strike twelve noon.

Blood sugar is dropping.

Help me please, before I die.

Melodrama is rising.

Sometimes the point is simply to play - no judgement, no goal, but for the sheer enjoyment of words and their possibilities.

a blogger not blogging

I started this blog as an online portfolio to show interested editors of various publications I might query for freelance work. It's supposed to be a practice in discipline and writing. I haven't posted in a month. Clearly the process is working.

Truth be told I haven't written much of anything in weeks, other than a few journal entries. I've done a little drawing and very little reading. I've just been so busy with the garden and chasing my red broiler chickens around the yard, watching them get fat and happy on natural feed. I'm starting up a business with a friend - a part time project certain to bring in money. Writers not writing, especially, need an income. I witnessed a hog slaughter and learned to carve a side of beef. I've been cooking up a storm, following other's recipes and creating my own. I've worked the Master Gardner helpline and fought the japanese beetles threatening my garden - an ongoing battle of wits and soapy water. 

The next few weeks aren't looking any calmer: party to plan, parties to attend, more gardening, more cooking, copywriting deadline, fuel the new business. And through all of this the ideas continue to flow. It's all I can do to jot down the tune, so to speak, and file it away on my desk, worktable, nightstand, or in my purse. 

Natalie Chanin, friend and ardent blogger, never mind she's an internationally known designer with a substantial, growing following (my current numbers cap at three), she blogs nearly every day. And ten years ago, she recently told me, despite everything that should have been or could have been, she started doing exactly what she felt drawn to do: she sewed. Everyday. 

In a recent blog post Natalie shared a link to Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, discussing creativity . Gilbert reminded me of the ancient Greek belief in genius. A person could not be a genius, but could have a genius - a spirit, a muse, a daemon, who worked with the artist, the writer, the performer, to create. She says, in having a partner, the creator can share the huge responsibility of creating. Perhaps it also holds the creator accountable. We have to show up and do our part, do the work. 

It suddenly dawned on me, my genius is working a lot harder than I am.

So I'm crossing off projects, postponing others, and working to make time to do the work. How fortunate I am to have been blessed with an active, prolific genius. She's standing here now, tapping her toe, giving me that look.

don't h8 me cuz i'm *twittered*

For all who have been waiting with bated breath, the new computer has arrived. Same as the last one, a little more hard drive space and a slightly different keyboard. No more numbers lock. There goes my aspirations for part time number crunching.

OMG LOL & btw I totally h8ed the movie last night but brad pitt is so hot. beers @7 & FYI I'm loving this sandwich!

With only 116 characters, counting spaces, I'm able to give kudos to some unknown fellow twitterer's joke, critique a film, expound on an actors abilities (physical), and make plans for the evening, all while indulging in a sandwich on Twitter, the latest in social networking. News travels fast these days and I hear in the publishing world editors change houses and decisions are made so quickly it's near impossible to keep up with, or was. Those on the newswire attach links, images, and even video to move the word along. I can imagine the free and easy service aids the tech world as much as Hollywood. I hear Wall Street has started it's own, highly guarded network called Warble where in-the-knows can peck out rumors and suspicions of who's going to jail and who's headed for Skid Row (although I have not confirmed this information).

I love the Guardian's take on Twitter. They're re-writing their archives and it's damn hilarious.

From an April 1, 2009 article by Rio Palof for the Guardian online:

From the archive

Highlights from the Guardian's Twitterised news archive

1927
OMG first successful transatlantic air flight wow, pretty cool! Boring day
otherwise *sigh*

1940
W Churchill giving speech NOW - "we shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender" check YouTube later for the rest

1961
Listening 2 new band "The Beatles"

1989 
Berlin Wall falls! Majority view of Twitterers = it's a historic moment! What do you think??? Have your say

1997
RT@mohammedalfayed: FYI NeilHamilton, Harrods boss offering £££ 4 questions in House of Commons! Check it out

And thank you to the New York Times for showing me just how broad my twitter networking can reach. The Celebrity Twitter Ecosystem made me realize just how many of my favorite celebs are on twitter, posting all day, many of them making conversation, presumably with someone else, I can't follow. But that doesn't stop me from feeling a little bit closer to them, like we really are friends. Demi Moore keeps me up to date with all things she and Ashton, complete with pics, and Snoop Dogg always remembers to give a shout out to his "hungry twizzles" (I fell a gin and juice break coming on - oh shizzle), Martha Stewart thinks Seth Myers is cuter than Jonathon Rys Myers, and Ellen, dear old Ellen always keeps me laughing. 

Of course not all my friends are famous, but those other guys, some local, some in far off places, are just as dear to me and I'm so fortunate to keep in close touch with them! I like to keep in touch by posting my incredibly entertaining and insightful blog entires. Boo-ya (and a double snap)! 

Meanwhile, I'm thinking of writing my first novel right onto to Twitter. 140 characters a day and I'm golden. It's the next thing in self-publishing. Daily installments with nail bitting action will surely keep the fans attention. What do you think Bessie will do tomorrow? Will she kill her best friend's lover out of jealousy or eat a doughnut? I can't hardly stand it!!

Stay Tuned!

 

young YA authors visit the Shoals

On Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion with three new Young Adult authors at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. These ladies are expecting their first books out early next year. They talked a little about the writing process (big kudos for King's On Writing), but namely about finding an agent, dealing with the publishing house, and how slow the process works even after you sell your manuscript. Number one lesson learned? You have to write the book first. Write the book. Finish the book. And anyone can write a book. Just write the damn book.

I hope they will all come back to Florence and sign a copy for me. They were so delightful, entertaining and inspiring about the process, even if you're writing in another genre. When I find the story I have fun with the way they are clearly enjoying theirs, I will know I'm on the right path. 

Irene Latham, Leaving Gee's Bend (G.P. Putnam's Sons) - historical fiction chronicling the life of a ten year old girl in Gee's Bend Alabama (of Quilt fame and traveling art exhibit: The Quilts of Gee's Bend) who attempts to save her sick mamma by creating a quilt.  

Lindsey Leavitt, Princess for Hire (Disney-Hyperion) - 14 year-old Desi hires herself out as substitute for vacationing princesses. Two books to follow this one!

Rachel Hawkins, Hex Hall (Disney-Hyperion) - teen witches and warlocks fill a reform-school like boarding house for "bad" behavior, featuring the life of half human, half witch Sophie. Rachel also grabbed a three-book deal and will publish in far-off places like Denmark and Portugal. Sweet!

my found putty poem

My friend Rob recently gave me a green Silly Puddy.  "It's a stress reliever," he said.  

I've been using it all week as I struggle to finish a final draft of a story I've been working on for a long, long time.  This evening I'm very close.  This afternoon, when I was close, I sent Rob an email thanking him for my Silly Puddy, and he sent this back:  

"My God, that's a found poem!" 

Found poetry is taken from already existing text and re-shaped, re-designed into poetic stanzas, often without the poet adding a single word.  T.S. Eliot is noted to use this form in The Wasteland.  Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams are also noted to have worked in the genre.  I share my Silly Puddy poem with you, as originally written and misspelled, but re-formed into poetic lines by practiced published poet friend, Rob.  Kumquat Meringue  is an inside joke (and also a magazine).  I'd share the joke, but it's not that funny.  

Kumquat Meringue! 

by Amy Collins

I love my green Silly Putty!

It helps me think and write.

I play with it all the time.

I can't stop touching it.

 But I dropped it on the carpet

and now it's all fuzzy.  

Here are some found poems from our former Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, as re-printed by Slate Magazine.

The Unknown

As we know,

There are known knowns.

There are things we know we know.

We also know

There are known unknowns.

That is to say

We know there are some things

We do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns,

The ones we don't know

We don't know.

—Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

Glass Box

You know, it's the old glass box at the—

At the gas station,

Where you're using those little things

Trying to pick up the prize,

And you can't find it.

It's—

And it's all these arms are going down in there,

And so you keep dropping it

And picking it up again and moving it,

But—

Some of you are probably too young to remember those—

Those glass boxes,

But—

But they used to have them

At all the gas stations

When I was a kid.

—Dec. 6, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing

A Confession

Once in a while,

I'm standing here, doing something.

And I think,

"What in the world am I doing here?"

It's a big surprise.

—May 16, 2001, interview with the New York Times

Try your own found poetry                    

and post it 

here 

under comments!!!

Nothing to Lose

My friend Ayana sent this link to me, and suggested I watch the video when I feel lazy and disinterested in writing (working).  There is nothing more tangible in life than the present and the present is exactly what we do with it.  I find inspiration in this woman's very real, very present condition.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/11/multimedia/1231547593665/a-paintbrush-and-nothing-to-lose.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Is "self-publishing" a bad word?

NY Times Books - article on self-publishing

a moment of silence for great American novelist John Updike

John Updike died today at age 76.   The New York Times online obituary features a recent interview on Updike's latest novel "The Widows of Eastwick" and some pre-election thought's on Barack Obama.  Rabbit would have loved Obama.

NY Times Obit: John Updike

Grammar Girl Rocks!

All writers struggle with grammar from time to time.  Grammar Girl podcasts are short, entertaining and not the slightest bit judgmental or scolding.  Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, is the founding and managing director of Quick and Dirty Tips, a company that creates and distributes digital content in the form of brief, friendly advice.   I love Grammar Girls podcasts!

Quick and Dirty Tips with Grammar Girl