Fear

I might as well confess
although I do profess
to see the positive side of things
negative things keep happening

which makes me have to rethink!
Then there is the pity party
I tend to wallow in for a while
As if, it can fix anything!

Too many times, too many tears
all for naught but for my fears
Fear of tomorrow, fear of future sorrows
fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, and more fear!

So by now you're probably wondering
What's wrong with this chick?
Would you stop being a dick
and let my mind do its wandering!

A Poetry Prompt: The Ekphrastic Experience

Have you every walked through a gallery and an artwork hypnotized you where you can't help but look and it leaves you will certain feelings? Well, these poets have captured these feelings and placed them into poems. 

I like reading other's experience or vision about an oil painting, photography or film especially when different poets write a poem on the same artwork.  Breughel’s Icarus has inspired poets like W.H. Auden and William Carlos Williams. It is always interesting to read the poem produced from the impact that the artwork had on them.

 I like seeing how the poem relates. Then again, it may not even relate as the artwork could evoke a feeling that the poet explores. This is one of the reason that I like encouraging poets to write Ekphrastic poems. It is a different form of a prompt. Prompts are great as starter fuel for the mind and many websites offer writing prompts such as 

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-promptshttp://poetryprompts.tumblr.com/http://www.creative-writing-now.com/creative-writing-prompts.html

These sites were the first three results of my Google search for terms "Poetry Prompt"  so I have another poetry prompt for you. 

1. Register by November 23, 2016 - form and more details at http://www.browardartguild.org/docs/BAG-Call-For-Poets-Small-Works.pdf
2. View art work between Nov. 23rd and Dec. 3rd during regular business hours to select an artwork as your inspiration.  (Gallery will be closed Thursday Nov. 24th & Friday Nov. 25th for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Gallery closed Sun., Mon., Tue.) 
3. Email your poem to info@BrowardArtGuild.org by December 7th @ 7pm.

This kind of poetry prompt has produced many poems including some of the poems in the anthology "Bards of Broward: The Courtyard Chronicles" 

"The Last Inhabitants" by yours truly inspired after viewing an acrylic painting "Lizards in Space" by Cynthia Inkleburger.
"Abuelita En Havana" by Shawn Jackson inspired by painting of same name by Lourdes DeWick
"OH Shucks" by Shawn Jackson inspired by photograph "Aw Shucks" by Ken Harrison.
"In Black and White" by Meryl Stratford based on a black and white photograph of a foot in a ballet slipper.

I like when art and poetry share a space and I hope you like it too!

In the meantime, here is my own artwork with its poem

:

Bringing Poets Together

In the article "Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize is a vindication of popular poetry,"  some points I agreed with but had some contention with orders.

I agree with the author that "poetry bifurcated" sometimes in the 20th century. Whereas he splits them into academia and popular poetry, I feel the division is slightly different but there are a handful of poets who are academia and also popular (Billy Collins come to mind).

Not sure how to process when the author says:

In the universities, poets ceased to write for the general reader, instead writing for their peers in poetry and academia. Their poems, espousing the abstract and the obscure, grew steadily out of touch with public taste.

But I do agree that popular poetry tend to have some rhyme scheme making them more memorable.

I felt like the article meant to defend Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for poetry but read like it was bashing academia (elitist) poets.

...poets ceased to write for the general reader, instead writing for their peers in poetry and academia. Their poems, espousing the abstract and the obscure, grew steadily out of touch with public taste.

Yes, there is some infighting among poets about who is a poet and who is not but let's not create a crater from a crack. I feel that all poets can work together and have created an anthology that showcases many styles from poets of different training (Bards of Broward:The Courtyard Chronicles  ISBN:978-1537135137).

What poetry is and isn't will always be a contentious point among poets. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder then poetry is for the ear.



Reference:
Pratt, David. "Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize is a vindication of popular poetry." Daily News:Lifestyle.