Sunday, April 27, 2008

Another Ring/Drum/Blanket Poem

NOTE: Read my Interview with Janet Wong for information about ring/drum/blanket poems.

The following ring/drum/blanket poem was written by Melina Ragazas, a friend of Janet Wong.

Impressions of Crete
By Melina Ragazas

Lazy palms sway above,
Laughter bellows below,
A tuberleki drum,
Beats in the corner alcove.

Wooden chairs squeak.
Paint-peeling tables parade,
Blankets of vine leaves serving,
Fried fish of scorched jade.
Or curly calamari rings,
Spilling off in a raid.

Elderly walls cradle the honeyed air,
Silently watching their new friends.
All seafood-grazing in this magic square,
Until the silvery half-moon bends.


Here is a link to my post Ring/Drum/Blanket Poems Redux where you can read several more poems written by Janet Wong, fellow bloggers, participants in a poetry workshop that Janet presented, and me.


Poems of Apology: An Open Invitation

The invitation is still open to write a poem of apology. I'll post the "sorry" poems before the end of April. Gregory K. of GottaBook has already submitted his poem to Wild Rose Reader.

Read my Interview with Joyce Sidman and A Poem of Apology for information about and examples of poems of apology.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the line : "fried fish of scorched jade". I get a real sense of Crete. This poem prompt has eluded me. I love these three words and yet have no poem. I think I will stop pursuing and maybe it will come to me.

Anonymous said...

Curly calamari rings: my favorite kind of rings! Melina is a visual artist who has only recently begun to write poetry, and I think her talent for "seeing" comes through in this poem. Thanks for sharing your poem with us, Melina!

Jone: When I lead a poem-writing exercise in a school, I give the kids just five minutes to write the poem. The workshop takes 45 minutes, but much of that time is spent setting things up: I give examples, have us talk about our initial ideas, do a little doodling, talk about rhyme, off-rhyme, repetition, and rhythm...and then the kids have just five minutes to write. Almost 100% of them write a poem that fits the exercise. For the few who couldn't write anything down, I then offer a "start" that they can easily finish (so they'll leave the room with something).

I think it's easier to write a poem DRAFT in five minutes than it would be if you had the whole day. So, if you ever decide to tackle this exercise again, perhaps you can sketch some Dada-esque drawing depicting a ring, blanket, and drum in a scene, keep an eye on the clock for five minutes, and simply write a few lines to describe what you've drawn?

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Janet. I appreciate the suggestion and will try it with soome students.