The Zingara Project

Tag: Verse Daily

  • After Frank Frame by Kitty Jospé,

    I love “corresponding” with poets, borrowing lines, or trying erasure technique on other  poems, as if I were in the same room, having a silent conversation.  Just the idea of another human being looking over my shoulder as if to ask, “so, where are you going to go with that line?” changes the writing from scribbled thoughts to something to which I add extra polish.  

    The April 3 prompt was to read three different poems from different sites.  It seemed there was an option to start with a line…then remove it and find an original title, OR, title the poem after XYZ, using the poet’s name.

    I tried both.  I “borrowed” different lines from Frank Frame (his poem here: 

    Come In, Houston, or Everything I Know I Learned from the Guitar Solo in Tori Amos’ “Doughnut Song” (Live in Frankfurt, Germany )

    Two-and-a-half months later, I am submitting a new attempt, using his last two lines as epigram and keeping his first line.  

    I’m using a word game technique, where words made out of the letters that spell transformation are in italics.

    I liked the idea of penning 14 lines about a 14 letter word, having two lines in a row filled with 14 words made from transformation, scattering another 14 (one of which is an invented verb). 

    After Frank Frame
    Remember, you and I began as stardust. Whatever
    we turn into, let us live up to that brilliance.

    Lately, I’ve been into transformation, 
    sifting the words formed from its 14 letters:
    formation, format, form, fit (the) fan —
    ration, rim, ram, rant of rat, tit for tat;
    what norm means in this nation,
    what storm roars, how fit is fat,
    how a trot ran to rot.  Your turn 
    to find words to describe the rifts
    in this country, the senseless
    hatred, violence, distrust when
    it could be so easily otherwise,
    each one of us an instrument
    of peace.  I want  transformate, ion 
    by ion, to roll in l – v-e, full circle. 

    Kitty Jospé, retired French Teacher, art docent, moderates weekly poetry appreciation sessions since 2008 after receiving her MFA.  Known for her teaching enthusiasm, joyful presentations, demonstrating the uplifting power of art and word, her work delights the ear with the sound of sense.  Her poems appear in numerous journals, books.  

  • Praising the Familiar by Brian Fanelli

    We hardly write about each other now,
    comfortable in daily routines. You lean in,
    press your back to me each morning
    as we linger in bed.

    I scroll through my phone,
    share news over coffee.
    I used to karate chop the air
    over headlines I disliked.

    You taught me to uncurl my fists,
    put down the phone, find beauty
    in the familiar, such as the taste of blueberries
    at breakfast, their sweetness like thickened wine,

    or the way the cat dashes
    from window to window,
    trying to paw at birds, or how you leave
    lipstick prints on mugs once done.

    So here is a poem in praise of those routines,
    the warmth of your back pressed to mine,
    the groan of floorboards after you shower,
    the way you pull a chair out and always sit across from me.

    You showed me there is holiness in the everyday,
    the first morning light, the quiet of those hours.

    —

    Brian Fanelli’s poetry collections include Waiting for the Dead to Speak (NYQ Books), winner of the Devil’s Kitchen Poetry Prize, and All That Remains (Unbound Content). His work has been published by The Los Angeles Times, Verse Daily, [PANK], World Literature Today, The Writers Almanac, and other publications. He teaches at Lackawanna College.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Woman, Please Poetry Prompt

    Woman Please Prompt
    From Washington State University, Fine Arts Page

    Since about the mid-twentieth century, feminists and historians have gradually, and, sometimes painfully, worked to restore the voices, images, and contributions of women and reinstating them, incrementally, into history and the literary canon.

    While it’s long been understood that women are as instrumental as men in the making and destroying of empires, whether domestic or of a grand scale, their contributions have consistently been relegated to dark corners and back kitchens.

    In time, perhaps women’s roles will be as obvious and as representative as those of men, and to that end, I offer today’s prompt, which incorporates two distinct approaches to poetry: ekphrasis and persona.

    Ekphrasis, in simple terms, is a response to a piece of artwork. Contemporary poets often stretch this tradition to include popular culture, music, television, movies, and every day objects, in addition to traditional or contemporary art.

    Persona, on the other hand, is stepping into another’s shoes and telling a story from their unique perspective. This approach takes a great deal of imagination and is often tweaked to fit a poem’s purpose.

    You are probably familiar with the novel, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, which explores the untold stories of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, and Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, which reinvents the female subject of Vemeer’s painting of the same title. Both stories respond to existing works of art and both consider the perspective of withheld or otherwise down-played characters to create a compelling story.

    For today’s prompt, consider works of art which were created by or feature women. Think expansively and include in your perusal everything from ancient art to modern Hulu favorites. Your piece of art may be a song, a hand crafted item, carefully prepared food, a character from mythology, or even an image as recognizable at the Mona Lisa. Don’t give up too easily; instead trust that you will know the right subject for your poem when you see it.

    For further inspiration for today’s prompt, check out “Women Defending Castle With Bow and Crossbow” by Christine Stewart-Nuñez  over at Verse Daily.