It’s hard to believe we’re more than half-way through this year of form challenges.
The whole thing has been equal parts hard and dreamy, really.
And this month, no exception.
So our agreed-upon challenge was to write a poem “In the style of….” and we finally decided to write “in the style of” e.e. cummings. Because who, pray tell, writes in a more recognizable style than e.e.?
We each chose a different poem, wrote our own piece based upon the original, and then recorded that piece so that we could experience the echo both on the page and aurally.
It was tricky to decide how closely we should hew to e.e.’s pieces, but what he offered up in terms of language and sensuality and risk and playfulness? WOW. What a pleasure. So, humbly, I offer up my poem, in the style of:
i liked you when you were curled within
me and now you are so yes a new thing.
Touch tiny and drift more.
i like your cry. i like how it calls me,
i like its round lips. i like to feel the weight
of your still-soft skull against my neck, and the ache
pain-love ness and the what will
always and always and always
be, i like knowing the almost all of you,
i like, slowly seeing the, deep tunnel
of parts I’ll never plumb, and the wholeness
inside out… And heart-blinking baby,
certainly this mother love
of mine, for you, so yes so new.
And here is that very same poem read aloud!
And here is the poem it was based upon….
Finally, here are my poetry sisters’ poems and recordings:
Kelly Fineman
(Find links to even more awesome poetry at this week’s Poetry Friday host, The Logonauts!)
Fare well, friends. Thanks for stopping by and happy weekend.
