Still Here

This poem is an example of  the beau presente form.  Poets are to compose a poem using only words that can be made from the letters in that person’s name. For example, if you selected “John Travolta,” you may only use words that can be made from the letters A, J, H, L, N, O, R, T and V.  I choose to use the form to write a elegy for my friend and fellow freedom fighter, Gayle Hafner.  That means I could only use A, E ,F, G, H, L, N, R, T, and Y.

Angle her energy-

a free eagle.

Fin

Note: My assignment was to "conclude the project by writing a poem that incorporates words and lines from all of your past 29 poems"  I'm done.  I'm forever grateful for all my new skills, but all I can think of  right now is "Hallelujah!"

egg… egg… egg… egg… egg… egg…egg…

fire… fire… fire… fire… fire… fire…

food… food… food…food… food…

her… her… her… her…her…

a… a… a… a…

I… I… I… I…

they… they…they…

payment… payment…payment…payment…

dog… dog… dog… dog…

appears… appears… appears…

man… man… man

birds… birds…

cow… cow..

adolescents… adolescents…

movie… movie…

hope… hope..

story… story..

Frontier…

Opponent…

jailed…

tinker…

selflessness….

is..

axiom…

church…

plot…

quasi….

blunder…

epiphany

Q & A

Note: This is my Canada Dry assignment.  The name is taken from the soft drink marketed as “the champagne of ginger ales.” The drink may have bubbles, but it isn’t champagne. In the words of Paul Fournel, who coined the term, a Canada Dry text “has the taste and color of a restriction but does not follow a restriction.” (A musical example is Andrew Bird’s “Fake Palindromes.”)  Be creative, and write a poem sourced from your newspaper that sounds like it’s been Oulipo-ed, but hasn’t.  I had to create my own constraint today.  As a result,  I decided to try and tell this story with as few words as possible AND only use words that existed in the original text.

When I read this column, my first thought was, "It didn't work out with this guy before, why do you think it's going to now and won't you feel ridiculous when you've given up your pet for someone you no longer want?"  

Source:   

Van Buren, Abigail ."Grandparents take lots of pics" Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  28, 2014: D-4. E-Edition.

Woman relation­ship man.

Recon­nected.

Had dog.

One year into relation­ship,

asked rid of dog

Loved…

Kept...

Caused prob­lems boyfriend.

Moved to­gether three months ago,

Insisted get rid of…

caved.

I miss.

It hurts.
Memories everywhere.

I able get back,

but jeopardize relationship

because I want dog?

Don’t think  crazy.

People bond pets

event natural disaster,

some refuse separated companions.

Insist  get rid of

shows  insen­sitivity for  feelings

disregard beloved pet 

whom significant emotion­al investment.

you should

consider choos­ing dog.

Remaining Matters

Note: This is my melting snowball assignment.  Poets are create a poem in which each single word line in which each word has one letter less than the preceding one, and the last word only one letter. From the newspaper, select a starting word, and then continue adding words of decreasing length from the same source article or passage. Combining the struggle for justice with my love of poetry is my favorite thing in the world.  I got to do that today. I loved this article and turning  it into a found poem was thrilling.   Stories like Gladys McCauley's are one reason I oppose physician prescribed death (thinks Ari Ne'eman for the term).  No need to hurry the Grim Reaper when you have APPROPRIATE supports and, as the article points out, such supports are cheaper than nursing facilities. 

Source: 
Cahill, Patricia. "Hospice is about quality of life" Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  28, 2014: A-1 and A-2. E-Edition.

Massachu­setts

investigation

concentrates

end-of-life

continued

fortified

epiphany

quality

access

wanna

feel

you

do

I

Irrational Sonnet makes rational comment

Note: This is my irrational sonnet assignment.   Poets are to create a 14-line sonnet sourced from lines from your newspaper that is divided according to the first five digits of the irrational number pi – that is, into stanzas of 3, 1, 4, 1 and 5 lines.  I opted to use the Shakespearean style of sonnet this time.   This was the last Oulipost I was afraid of.  The final 3 days look easy.  Knock wood!

Sources:
Chimelis, Ron. “Owner’s bigotry can’t be ignored” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: B-4. E-Edition. 
Clements, Jonathan. “Refinance While Rates Are Still Low” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: D-1. E-Edition. 
“Event to honor Mass. workers hurt, killed” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: A-5.. E-Edition. 
Kellogg, Seth. “brightly colored cap proved the perfect lure for upclose encounters with hummingbirds” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: F-5 and.F-6. E-Edition. 
“Let Vermont Yankee Pay” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: C-1. E-Edition.  
Mellor, Miles. “Crossword” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: X-4.. E-Edition.
Kirst, Sean. “Eric Carle’s ‘Easter Miracle:’ Little girl in white dress is found “Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: A-1 and A-2. E-Edition 
Osol, Bernice Bede “Heriscope” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: G-5. E-Edition. 
Preston, Marilynn.  “Eat Real Food, Avoid Sugar, Gluten Makes You Fat Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: G-6. E-Edition 
Russell, Jim, “Program offers seniors in-home safety checks” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: C-2. E-Edition.                                                                      
Urban, Cori.  “Spring – Burstin’ out all over!” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: F-2 and.F-10. E-Edition.  White, Christine“Symphony’s still alive, well in Springfield” Springfield Republican [Springfield] April  27, 2014: C-1 and C-2. E-Edition.

 Sonnet

Down to the Connecticut River and over into the Maplewood Terrace area of Forest Park
must do the right thing: Hold Entergy’s feet to the fire.
appears to be a plain, dark

contamination… the cost to ship the entire

exchange for just under

the relatively low

chance of blunder.

Correctness exists, and the reason it probably must, is that when it is totally absent, people go

and then

maybe pull

once again

a full..

and it should be Entergy Corporation’s job to pay

who isn't afraid to say?