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| Dumbarton Oaks crystal canopy Washington, DC |
Musing…
“The poet writes the history of his own body.” – Thoreau
“Reality only reveals itself
when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry.” – Georges Braque
Charise’s Turn:
I’ve caught a poetry bug that has taken
hold like it’s own kind of fever. Stumbling upon a column in the American Scholar titled “Next Line,
Please”, I discovered an open invitation to create stanzas for a poetry form
called a sestina. This is an online challenge, seven stanzas to complete, one
chosen each week by the columnist, poet David Lehman. The first week was easy,
but then to follow another person’s work and make it coherent as well as unique
using specific words to end each phrase, well…it’s been a lesson in humility,
persistence, and dedication.
Collaboration on a
poem brings its own sense of community to what is usually a private, alone kind
of art. Not only do the
participants inspire each other, we ignite each other’s efforts and I’m thrown
into a frenzy to write. Even when I think I’d rather pursue what I started the
week before rather than build on the last winning stanza, I clear away any
residue of my previous work and start over. This isn’t a matter of competition;
it’s a matter of the direction of the life of the poem and where my muse wants
to go with it. On February 10, my
submission was selected as the winning third stanza: https://theamericanscholar.org/her-winsome-style/#.VNz5SCh14Qi . I
thought my muse would now rest in the accolades and bow out, but she’s still
going -- with lines popping up for the subsequent stanza -- without
my asking.
Get Fired Up:
Put your attention
on something that inspires you and let that inspiration ignite! Give it your
passion, your devotion; and your creativity will be revealed, like the
prismatic colors of crystals in the light.
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