Tuesday, January 05, 2010

The Poet Makes It Looks So Easy



The Poet Makes It Look So Easy


Words that hum

taut lines

an effortless bridge from image to image

at the end, the aha.


But me

I get a few good line breaks,

a metaphor, a clever image,

a poignant note,

correct spelling even.

Apparently solid and firm.


Later,

like night dreams at sunrise,

snowflakes on the window pane,

the words dissolve

and I am left with cross outs and arrows

false starts and a furrowed brow,

letters scattered across the page

like noodles for alphabet soup.

1/4/2010


Transferred from Word where it was single spaced. Advice welcome on how to get the poem single spaced here on the post other than typing it in directly. I've done this X#@X#@ post about 8 times and this is the best i can do.

27 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

This one has that nice "aha" at the end, Suki. I can certainly relate to this one and the alphabet soup letters! Well done.

YogaforCynics said...

Essential to any kind of art, I think, is to put lots of work into it, while making the reader/viewer/listener think it just flowed magically out of you...

YogaforCynics said...

Oh, and the way to deal with the endless strange formatting difficulties, such as those involving line spacing, one encounters when transferring text to Blogger, is to change the html (which is easier than you might think, if you're htmlphobic--in this case, you probably want to simply delete any code that's in between lines).

Lynn Cohen said...

I think your poem is terrific! A ha! came through loud and clear...love the line about the dreams at sunrise...

Sometimes/most times I cannot even get words from WORD to copy over to blogger!!! I press CTRL and C to copy and V to paste but it hasn't been working for me lately, very frustrating. Would like to hear how you finally make this work for you.

And yes, I cut up the collagraph plate for my collage! Loved those pieces.

sukipoet said...

thanks willow. ironically this one did have an aha.

YogaforCynics, I agree that most art, whether verbal or visual or musical has behind the scenes time sweating work behind it. To the reader, looker or listener it always seems as if it appeared as it is. The sweat is in the process.

Thanks for the suggestion about HTML. I'll try that.

Kim Rodeffer Funk said...

Happy New Year, Suki! I think this is truly your year!

I love this poem - then your words always inspire me to consider things in a variety of ways. Even though you say this is not the case, you sure make the creative life look so easy (and that is the name of the art game, don't you think?).

sukipoet said...

Lynn, one of my attempts was via copy and paste from Word however Blogger would not publish it due to something or other.

In my Word program (1997)there is an option to send any word article directly to my blog. Look in the main menu where you also find "Print" etc and see "Publish." YOu have to register your blog with the Word program via prompts they give you, and then you can just send yr poem, essay whatever over to the blog directly from Word. However as with the poem, blogger sometimes rearranges the spacing.

layers said...

wonderful words about the creative process-- the cross outs, the start overs-- like Beethoven!

marianne said...

When you create a post click on the button HTML there you can adjust more add space or delete it.

Great to see you creating in different ways again Suki! What a promise!
I also love the picture with the bridge!

♥♥♥
>M<

Lynette said...

Hi Suki, I hope you had a nice Christmas and New Years! What a lovely picture and poem, it really brightened up my day!

Katiejane said...

Well, I'm no help at posting. I get the @#*%! also. But I want to say that the poem is lovely, no matter how it is spaced. I love your play with words. Like a ribbon across the page.

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Oh love this photo. Its so green was expecting snow. Is it new or old? Love your header too.

studio lolo said...

What a fantastic poem! I really love it Suki. And the collagraph header...wow.

I agree, this could be your year ;)

Annie said...

Wonderful.
As for blogger, it is always doing weird things to poems and I can never figure it out.

~Babs said...

LOVE that new header Suki,,,you are really taking off this year,,,the poem is just another example of that.
And of course, I'd know nothing about the posting,,,

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I had a similar issue recently with WordPress...trying to have a hard return without a space between lines. What I did was start out with each line a bullet point. This will cause them to have no empty lines between. Then I selected (highlighted) the entire paragraph (in your case stanza) and clicked the bullet list icon to toggle that formatting option OFF. Magic! The bullets disappeared but the lines remained single-spaced! I hope it works in Blogger, too.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

No matter how it is posted I can so identify with this poem. The photo is just great with it.

soulbrush said...

i think poetry is such a personal thing, a few words can speak volumes whereas sometimes loadsa pages can be meaningless. we relate it to our history and our souls.

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful, SUki. It paints images in my mind, images, pictures of you sitting with your poetry, brow furrowed. Lovely words, and oh, I love the double space here. It gives the word room to roam.
Litte snowflakes and love from Paris
Andrea

Mary Richmond said...

lovely poem...and i so get the frustration with formatting blogger...

Marion said...

Thank you for the lovely poem...it makes no difference re formatting for me...I loved both the poem and the photo of the bridge.

I am very excited that you got my name for Debra Kay's exercise in Blogland Lane.To answer your question, someone else would be sending you a parcel...not me, because I send to Debra Kay.

I understand about the weather...it's very cold and icy here at present and to venture out is dicey. I believe we've got till March at any rate, but I will send mine out as early as I can.

Mim said...

lovely poem suki - and as for html - it's beyond me! Better minds will guide you -

Happy New Year to you

human being said...

wow!
a great poem!
you don't write poety very often but whenever you write, it really touches...

i loved this a lot and read it several times... aloud!

love

Nancy Bea Miller said...

Word can be very mysterious and annoying! Type in your email program instead...address it to yourself to save it. Just copy and paste the email text.

Cathie said...

Yummy poem. So poignant.
THAT is the Art of writing. Really - like Yoga said, that is the Art of any kind of everything creative. Taking all that labor, all that blood, sweat and tears and transforming it into an effortless appreciable language - to move us, inspire us, speak to us. All of which - your poem successfully accomplished.

(Suki - send me your e-mail)

Mary Richmond said...

hi again--i'm posting here rather than emailing you--you can post anything you make, like your awesome books, just add the link on a wednesday!

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

Great poem...you nailed it!
I am htmlphobic...good luck with all the details...very frustrating!