Today’s post is written for Dora from Dreams from a Pilgrimage for a round of Poetics!
Hosting at dVerse, she sets the stage for an interesting challenge:
Your challenge for today’s Poetics?
Using Duffy’s and Hughes’ poems as examples, write a poem using any animal of
your choice (real or mythological) as a metaphor for how ideas and words take
shape for you on a blank page.
[Hint: Do we approach the blank page with stealth and craft, or a burst of attack?
Hoard ideas like a squirrel her acorns? Drag glyphs onto our laptop screen in
exuberant abandon to later edit and score into shape, beaver-like? Capture a
stray thought like a . . . Well, you get the picture.]
Here’s my contribution
for
Poetics: Creatures of the Blank Page
Masquerading prose everywhere populate my sphere at odd hours rodents scratch, I itch but I play dumb lest they get wind it's them I'm after by and by I feel their impatience: snouts in the air, they come scurrying, sniffing the air for voguish handouts gnawing at specks of designs looming they nip and get closer to the write space— dangling driblets of prose on mustaches I watch them walk all over the white page then drooling I swoop in to cull the crumbs I line them in neat rows, add rhythm and rhyme before the rodents discover that I, unlike them, am just the background actor in the nebulous afterglow—pretending. © selma
Thanks for the fun prompt, dVerse.
Thanks for reading, everyone.
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Selma, this is delightful, cleverly using creatures as metaphors for the birth of ideas on the blank page. Your witty portrayal of the playful dance with words and the constant interaction with your literary creations is engaging. Well done!
~David
I so appreciate your lovely input, David. Thanks for reading and for this encouraging comment. Blessings.
a marvellous metaphorical on your Ars Poetica Selma – some divine lines:
“to the write space—
dangling driblets of prose”
Hey Laura. Xoxo Thanks for bestowing me this lovely compliment. Bless you.
Thank you, Selma, for this playful response. Loved it.
You’re very welcome, LuAnne. I’m honored you read and loved it. Blessings
A wonderful poem Selma.
So pleased you read it, dear Sadje. Blessings.
My pleasure 😇
Hi Selma, this is wonderful. A fabulous poem.
Your words lift me up. Thanks, Robbie. Xo
Wonderful poem!
Thanks, Dawn. Xoxo 🙇🏽♀️
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this poem, Selma! It’s like a midsummer night’s dream, with “masquerading prose” parading about, costumed, uncostumed, with the bard (that would be you) marshaling them about to show them in their best light, your thoughts that “swoop in to cull the crumbs” they leave in their wake. The brilliant metaphors abound in this rendering of your creative process and I, forgive me, drooled over each one. And the ending is most Bard-like, the Shakespearean one, leaving us wanting more of “the background actor/in the nebulous afterglow—pretending.” What a denouement! Gorgeous creaturely writing. How glad I am to have you join in this prompt!
Blessings to you, Dora
You’re too kind, dear Dora. It was a spectacular prompt that stretched my muscles. I’m so grateful to you.
So glad you liked it. Xoxo 🙇🏽♀️
~~~ an absolute delight!!!
Aww, Helen. You’re too kind. Thanks.
That was brilliant
You’re so kind. Thanks so much for reading.
This is the second poem from the challenge I read that is about squirrels, and I love that yours gives of a sense of watching a theater play, and I especially enjoyed the image of the moustache dangling driblets of prose!
Oloriel, thanks so much for reading and commenting. So pleased you enjoyed it. Thanks for the lovely encouragement. Xo, blessings.
That’s a lovely poem, Selma.
Love this line:
“dangling driblets of prose on mustaches”, hit a mark and also made me smile.
That line was a winner, it seems. So happy you mention it. Bless you. And thanks for the encouragement: it made you smile. Aww—Precious.
Hey, Zipferlake. You bless me 🙇🏽♀️. That line was a winner, it seems. So happy you mention it. Bless you. And thanks for the encouragement: it made you smile. Aww—Precious. Blessings.
Lovely poem, Selma. Especially the last stanza and that perfect last line 👌🏼
So pleased you enjoyed it, my lovely. Thanks for encouraging me so. 🙇🏽♀️
💜🌺
Squirrels are gatherers; as are poets. (K)
Same-same. 😉 thanks, K. Xoxo
So very beautiful, Selma
Thanks, Maria. You bless me. Xoxo
😊🌷
Clever and beautiful poem, Selma!
Si pleased you enjoyed it. Blessings.
Nice 👍
This is excellent, Selma! A wonderful use of the metaphor and response to the challenge. Love it! 🤗
Hey, Laura. 😉 so glad you liked my response. 🤗 blessings.
Selma, I’m surprised you see yourself that way, but it’s good to know more about your writing process.
You’re sweet 🙇🏽♀️
Salivating
and drooling I awake
impressionable
Thanks for commenting. 🤗
Selma dear, what a delightful verse! Love it.
Thanks most dearly Punam. 🙇🏽♀️
Great poem!!!
Belladonna. So pleased you enjoyed this one. Bless you, lady 🙇🏽♀️ xox
Yes, very much!