| David Mattews Barnes | Joe Cottonwood | Stephenson Muret |
| Colin Dodds | Peter Goodwin | Olivia Grayson |
| Larry Hollist | Scott Luddati | Richard Lufting |
| Catherine McGuire | Suchoon Mo | Rodney Nelson |
| Cath Nichols | Jared Pearce | Laurel Peterson |
| Simon Perchik | Janet Reed | Marian Shapiro |
| Brett Thompson | Leonard Zawadski | Lisa Lynn Biggar |
| Jason Daniels | Hugues Dufour | Monique Hayes |
| Marina Rubin | Jose Sotolongo | Elaine Webster |
| Christopher T. Werkman |
One day is there of the series
Termed “Thanksgiving Day”
Celebrated part at table
Part in memory –
Neither Ancestor nor Urchin
I review the Play –
Seems it to my Hooded thinking
Reflex Holiday
Had There been no sharp subtraction
From the early Sum –
Not an acre or a Caption
Where was once a Room
Not a mention whose small Pebble
Wrinkled any Sea,
Unto such, were such Assembly,
‘Twere “Thanksgiving day” –
In the times of turmoil, I always turn to Emily for comfort and wisdom. No matter what part of the world you live, these are the times of upheaval. It’s that annual day of giving thanks in the United States. I, for one, am thankful for poetry in my life, so I am sharing this poem here today.
The poet says it’s a “series/Termed “Thanksgiving Day.””
Perhaps, she means to say that we should be grateful for our blessings, whatever they may be, every day, in a series of days, and not just for one day of the year.
The holiday is “Celebrated part at table” and “Part in memory -” because perhaps, not every loved one is sitting at the table to celebrate.
She refers to the day as a “Reflex Holiday,” a celebration carried out without much introspection. She feels that the holiday would not have held a deeper significance had there been no loss. “Had There been no sharp subtraction/From the early Sum -” Because life is full of losses, the celebration of the bounty is more meaningful.
This theme of some loss making the joys of life sweeter appears on several of her poems. The Elsewhere she says, “To comprehend a nectar/Requires sorest need.”
We certainly have the sorest need for the nectar right about now.
May you have a joyous day today and every day of the year give you satisfaction.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Dear Readers,
For some reason, these words seem apt for this winter, and I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. It can hold any meaning that suits the season in your heart.
Glee! The great storm is over!
Four have recovered the land;
Forty gone down together
Into the boiling sand.
Ring, for the scant salvation!
Toll, for the bonnie souls, —
Neighbor and friend and bridegroom,
Spinning upon the shoals!
How they will tell the shipwreck
When winter shakes the door,
Till the children ask, “But the forty?
Did they come back no more?”
Then a silence suffuses the story,
And a softness the teller’s eye;
And the children no further question,
And only the waves reply.
| Devon Balwit | Kelly Belmonte | Wendy Taylor Carlisle |
| Natalie Crick | Holly Day | Rebecca Ellis |
| Karl Harshbarger | Adam Matson | Joan Mazza |
| R. Holt McAdams | Thomas M. Mcdade | Martina Reisz Newberry |
| Susan Pittman | José L Recio | Shawn Yager |
| Grace Grafton | Mary Ann Honaker | M. Lee Alexander |
| Allen Forrest | Andrena Zawinski | Anne Whitehouse |
| Athena Kildegaard | Barrie Darke | David Marquard |
| Deborah Guzzi | Dimithry Victor | Donna Walker-Nixon |
| Doug Steele | Eileen Van Hook | Elizabeth Mercurio |
| Eric Goodman | Ion Corcos | James Valvis |
| John Grey | Julia Halprin Jackson | Lindsay McLeod |
| Lois Manning | Naomi Konigsberg | Patricia J. Miranda |
| Sheri Vandermolen | Shruti Sareen | Simon Perchik |
| Skyler Nielsen | Susana Case | Vern Fein |
| Zachary M Hodson |
Thanks to Ani Poet and Poetrywitch Magazine contest, this week, I discovered an interesting poetic form, ‘Bop.’ It’s a relatively new format invented by Afaa Michael Weaver.
The basic rules are:
Here is the complete form definition.
And here is the contest information.
Here is the well-known poem, Rambling,” by Afaa Michael Weaver.
I am creating a series of posts as a handy reference of poetic forms and meter. The Spring 2016 issue of The Literary Nest includes a pantoum, so let us talk about that form.
According to all the sources, the Pantoum is derived from an ancient Malaysian folk poetic form. The most significant feature of this form is the interweaving of lines with certain repetition built in the design. This repetition gives the poem a feel of forward movement without losing the historical context, sort of keeping the memory alive.
A Pantoum contains four-line stanzas with the following rhyme scheme: lines 2 and 4 of the previous stanza are used as lines 1 and 3 of the next. The poem can have an indefinite number of stanzas. In the final stanza, lines three and one from the first stanza are repeated as the second and fourth (final) lines. A perfect Pantoum contains four four-line stanzas. Let us illustrate the scheme by an example. I use Harmonie du soir by Charles Baudelaire, to avoid the copyright issues. This poem does not circle back to the first line.
| Structure | Harmonie du soir by Charles Baudelaire |
| Stanza 1 A B C D |
Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige Chaque fleur s’évapore ainsi qu’un encensoir; Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir; Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige! |
| Stanza 2 B E D F |
Chaque fleur s’évapore ainsi qu’un encensoir; Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu’on afflige; Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige! Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir. |
| Stanza 3 E G F H |
Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu’on afflige, Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir! Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir; Le soleil s’est noyé dans son sang qui se fige. |
| Stanza 4 G C (or I) H A (or J) |
Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir, Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige! Le soleil s’est noyé dans son sang qui se fige… Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir! |
It is important to remember that the form should not “drive” the poem. If the form begins to restrict the expression of content, the poet can choose to change the form to fit the content. If you are inspired by the form, expect to practice a lot and have patience. I can’t wait to see more submissions of form poetry.
Some well-known Pantoum examples are:
“Something About the Trees” by Linda Pastan
“Parent’s Pantoum” by Carolyn Kizer
“Iva’s Pantoum” by Marilyn Hacker
“Pantoum of the Great Depression” by Donald Justice
The Literary Nest 