My poem, “Frailty,” which is included in my collection Glass Awash is featured at Hotel / Masticadores. Many thanks to Editor Juan Re Crivello for his support.
Ken G.
(Image source: pixabay.com)
Obscurity ~ American Sentence
Obscurity is a matter of perception, subject to bias.
This is my response to An Artist Gets His Due, the prompt from Lillian at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to write a poem inspired by one of five portraits by Thorvald Hellesen, a Norwegian abstract artist known for his Cubist paintings. I have chosen “Portrait of Elvind Eckbo,” painted in 1914.
The American Sentence was created by Allen Ginsberg
~ loose American form of haiku, with 17 syllables
~ represented as a sentence
~ reference to a season is not required
~ similar to senryū
~ read more here & here
Image source: ACC Art Books
Just a Memory ~ haibun
Just a Memory
We often treasure what is hardest to obtain, or retain. So it is for me with memories. They say that every time we remember something the details of that memory are altered. If only that were the case for me. Details are the first to go, so altering them is an entirely different matter. If I have to re-enter a room to remember why I entered it to begin with, what are the chances that I will remember specific details, whether from distant or recent past?
Consider a recent conversation I had with two people. I might recall part of the conversation, but I’m just as likely to credit a statement to the wrong person.
And a specific event? I might be able to visualize it, but there is no guarantee that I will remember anything other than a snapshot. It’s always been this way for me, compounded now in my later years. At least, that’s the way I remember it.
leaf falls and is gone
tree waits for return of spring
just a memory
This is my response to Haibun Monday 5-22-23: Memory,
the prompt from Frank Tassone at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.
with the wind ~ senryū
with the wind
on final journey
his ashes
This senryū is my response to Twiglet #324: his ashes.
Shared with OpenLinkNight #338 at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.
By the Stars ~ quadrille
By the Stars
No map exists for the course
that brought me to you. Yet,
with the stars as my guide,
there was but one path.
Once a heart knows the way,
it cannot be denied.
Mine would not stop
until it found its way to you.
This is my response to Quadrille #155 – Mapping out our poems, the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to use a form of the word map in a Quadrille – a 44-word poem (excluding title), with no required meter or rhyme.
Image source: freeimages.com
Post Na/GloPoWriMo 2023
National/Global Poetry Writing Month is now over, and I met 10 of the prompts from Maureen Thorsen at napowrimo.net, plus the warm-up prompt on 31 March. I posted a total of 31 poems in April, including 2 with audio. I responded to various other prompts, including those from Ronovan Writes (Weekly Haiku & Weekly Sijo Challenges), The Sunday Whirl, Misky’s The Twiglet (here, here, here, & here), and dVerse ~ Poets Pub.
My responses were in various forms, one of which – a sonnet – is among my least favorite to write. All are listed here:
1 palinode (in free verse)
3 ekphrastic poems (in free verse)
21 free verse (in total)
1 sea shanty
1 gogyohka
11 senryū (including 8 in 2 sequences of 4)
1 magnetic poem (one of the senryū)
1 tanka
1 American Sentence
1 sijo
1 sonnet
In addition to these poems, I kept busy during National/Global Poetry Month. I participated in several Zoom open mic events and viewed a Zoom event with three authors that included Lynne Burnette. I participated in three live open mic sessions, one at Gumbo Bottoms Ale House in Jefferson City, Missouri, one at Barb’s Books in Belle, Missouri, and one at Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, Missouri. I was the featured reader at a poetry open mic at Savannah’s Coffee Corral in Pevely, Missouri. Also, I had poetry published in two anthologies – six poems in Reflections and Revelations, from Editor Susi Bocks, and three poems in Wolf at the Door, Nobody Home, from The Gasconade Press. I received notification that three of my poems are forthcoming in a “Well Versed” anthology from Columbia Writer’s Guild (Columbia, Missouri).
This year seemed harder for me than in the past. Thirty-one is close to the fewest poems I have written in the ten years I have responded to this challenge (thirty in 2015). This may be due to my busy month, or it may be this sign of my commitment to meet this annual challenge: Including the five poems I wrote about writer’s block there were a total of eleven poems that did not meet a prompt and that I might otherwise have saved for submission elsewhere.
It was National Poetry Writing Month that inspired me to start this blog in 2014, and I have participated and completed the challenge each April since then. I always enjoy reading the many wonderful prompt responses from other poets at napowrimo.net, where I’ve been introduced to many of the poets that I follow on WordPress. I look forward to next year’s challenge. Thank you to all who read my poetry this past month and especially to all who commented.
Ken Gierke
Wolf at the Door, Nobody Home ~ Poetry Anthology
My poems “My Paddle Slices the Water,” “The Final Cost,” and “Downstream” appear in Wolf at the Door, Nobody Home, from The Gasconade Review. It’s available in a print edition, and the details can be found here.
Many thanks to Editors John Dorsey and Jason Ryberg. I’m honored to have my poetry included in this collection.
Ken G.
More or Less About Time ~ palinode
More or Less About Time
blank, black disc
wrist-centered
tells me nothing
until a quick tap
or flip of the wrist
brings it to life
shows its face
chosen by me
to emulate analog
in a digital world
imagination
the only gear here
appearance simple
yet detailed
time a primary concern
weather at a glance
health in numbers
pulse, steps
another tap
exercise calories
and another tap
phone texts for eyes
younger than mine
still adjusting to digital
I’m closing out National/Global Poetry Writing Month by actually being on prompt for
Day Thirty at napowrimo.net, where Maureen asks us to write a palinode
– a poem in which you retract a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem.
Compare this to Watching Time, a poem about my heirloom pocket watch
written for an April 2017 challenge.
accept peace ~ senryū
accept peace
years have passed
yet you still wear black
in your mind
your sorrow
worn like a mantle
weighs you down
if unchecked
you will be consumed
by darkness
allow light
to enter your life
accept peace
This senryū series is my response to Twiglet #322: you wear black.
Shared with Day Twenty-nine at napowrimo.net (off prompt)
Reflections & Revelations ~ Poetry Anthology
Susi Bocks, Editor of The Short of It, has announced the release of Reflections & Revelations, which includes seven of my poems. It’s available in a paperback edition, and the details can be found here.
Many thanks to Editor Susi Bocks. I’m honored to have my poetry included in this collection.
Milestone
Reading Between the Lines
Shorter Still
Beneath the Waves
In the Dark
Path to Winter
Ken G.
rivrvlogr 