Poem: "Up/Down" response to Poetree's Challenge #3...

...and also jjhunter 's dare that I enter. This idea has actually been kicking around in my brain since Friday, and it turns out a poem was the perfect way to express it. The following is an etheree, which is a very fun poem to write.

"Up/Down"

up
pedal
pump up hill
keep beat with breath
don't stop, don't think just
feel body flow breathe in
still on the edge of the hill
mockingbird breathes its soulmate's song
warbling in time with legs' up down
crescendo and crest the hill, fly back down


poem cross-posted to bicycles 

Lizcommotion's "Best of Poetree" posts...Weekly Challenge #4

In response to poetree 's Weekly Challenge #4, I give you some of my favorite posts from the comm...and if you're not subscribed to it, I highly recommend you check it out, because it's a lot of fun. (By clicking on some of the links below, for example.)

Poem: "Present", format: etheree, by ariestess , posted March 21, 2012

In addition to really enjoying this poem, I thought this format was really intriguing. So intriguing, in fact, that I wrote one of my own. I had never heard of it before, and I really enjoyed having another poetry format in my arsenal that I can actually remember the rules for off the top of my head (as opposed to having to look them up constantly). It also reminds me a little bit of a tanka or haiku, but gives one a few more syllables to work with. Starting with one syllable at the beginning of the poem also makes a bit of an immediate impact, because whatever you start with is going to frame the rest of the poem. Thank you again, ariestess , for sharing such a wonderful form!

Poem: Ghazal of the Transcendental, format: ghazal; by Luisa A. Igloria; posted January 22, 2012

The ghazal is another wonderful format that I had never heard of before poetree . The format is originally from Persia, and Luisa A. Igloria has done wonders with hers. The poem pokes a little bit at how "the Buddha was not a woman doing chores all day, much less singing." Yet it is not necessarily a "dissing" of Buddhism, more of an exploration of how we can free ourselves from suffering while still doing all of the mundane tasks that people (especially women) have to do in the mundane world. If you don't have the time/freedom to go sit on a mountaintop and meditate, how can you obtain enlightenment? If you want to know, go read this poem. Or go read it if you want to find out what a really good ghazal looks like.

Poem: "Cibola" (exceprt); format: historical epic poem; by Dave Bonta, posted February 14, 2012

Dave Bonta has posted a very interesting and engaging excerpt to his epic poem Cibola, which is a very well-researched historical epic poem. You can read the full poem on his site, Via Negativa. What I found interesting was the use of research in the poem - a year and a half! - and also how the symbolism from that research infused that poem. There was also a deep sense of longing in the poem, as evidenced by such lines as:

Toss cornmeal out before you,
straight, like every holy intention.
Smoke tobacco so prayers will have
their own road. Follow the sacred
transect running north.

Poem: "A Knot of Thyme", format: free verse fantasy; by Elizabeth Barrette, posted October 10, 2011

I love this poem for what it shows can be done with epic/story/fantasy poetry, for lack of a better word. A lot of the poetry that I read/have read tends to be about particular moments in time, as opposed to creating a character and a world for her. Perhaps I'm just not reading the right literary magazines, but Elizabeth Barrette did a really excellent job here. She reminded me a bit of all the hours I spent in Latin class translating the Aeneid, except I wasn't so mad about all the anti-Feminist things that are present in the Aeneid (don't get me started on Dido...).

There are so many more wonderful posts out there in poetree , but these are ones that struck me in a particular way when I read them. Go, check out the community for yourself, and perhaps make your own "best of" post in response to challenge #4! (The deadline is Friday, March 30 at 11:59 PM EST)

Poem: "Mother-Tongue"; format: epic, retelling of Beowulf from of feminist perspective; by jjhunter , posted October 23, 2011

I know it may seem as though I am playing favorites if I post a moderator's poem, but I really love this one. (I do seem to be stuck on epics as well today, yes?) In "Mother-Tongue," jjhunter retells Beowulf from the perspective of Grendel's and Beowulf's mothers. I feel like there should be more reworkings of classic literature like this, so really you should read this poem for this alone. In addition to that, jj has really captured the style (imho) of a classic poem and Beowulf in particular, while giving it a more womanly slant. Go check it out! You won't regret it.