Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Weekly Scribblings #89: Keeping It Real

Hello again, dear wordsmiths. Let me introduce you to my facebook friend, Manu Kant, who lives in India.

I first met Manu when he started submitting to a haiku group I used to administer. He also uses other Japanese short forms such as sedoka and tanka. 

He is an exponent of Realism, and over the years, I have become very impressed with the way his verses chronicle the society around him.

Wikipedia tells us that Realism in art (including literature) is ‘the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality.’ It tends to focus on ‘the depiction of ordinary, everyday subjects’ and ‘attempts to represent familiar things as they are’.

Here are some examples of Realism in photography, taken from Unsplash:




Lenin by Lian Begette; bikes and man in street by Obi Onyeador.


As you see, the art is not only in the subject matter, but how it is presented. Anyone can depict something as it is – but that is not the same as creating art, which must also take account of such matters as composition and focus.

I think, if nothing else, Manu’s poems add up to an important social document. However, the realist style could cause you to miss how excellent they are. They are not only a social record but also a body of poetry.

As a  Realist, he focuses on observable details and adds no other commentary. It would therefore be very easy to dismiss his writings, or to consider them lacking in poetic qualities. In fact he tells me his work is not at all appreciated in India but only in the West. Perhaps that is because his Indian readers already know the environment he writes of, and therefore might possibly take it for granted?

Below is a selection of Manu Kant’s poetry (separate pieces, not a sequence) to give you the idea.

It would be easy enough for a Western reader to underestimate this writing too. But have a look at what details he selects to focus on. Further commentary is not needed because the mere mention of those details reveals so much. It’s a matter of knowing what to show, and how to show it. The apparent lack of artistry is actually extremely artful – and artistic. It’s the ‘art that conceals art’.

And then have a look at the unsaid: that which doesn’t actually get onto the page, but nevertheless is there to be inferred.

on my morning walk
inside an abandoned house
trees laden with unripe mangoes

hot June afternoon
beggars crossing the road
hanging on their cart
a cute stuffed toy panda

late August morning
passing through a slum
two kids playing with mud
outside their shanty

hot April afternoon
busy road
a crow's caw caw
as a small cat hurriedly
scampers towards
the backside of the house
holding a pigeon

April evening
right on a roadside
a coconut vendor opens coconuts
with steady strokes of a chopper knife
and turn by turn
offers it to his customers

April afternoon
walking behind his beggar mother
in Sector 17
a kid sucks up the ice cream
from the pointed end
of the cone

Holi morning
a Bihari construction worker
smeared with garish orange
dancing in the middle of the road

sunny February morning
a newly wed street sweeper in bridal finery
sweeping the plaza

As you see, some of these record the slightly unusual, but others – the slum kids, the coconut vendor – detail the everyday.

Another chronicler of reality, in his own style, is second-generation Greek-Australian poet Pi O, one of whose books, Fitzroy: the biography, is about the Melbourne suburb where he was brought up and still lives. (Melbourne is reputed to have the biggest Greek population outside Greece.) He too is carefully recording his social environment, in the conviction that this is not only worth doing but vital. Here is a poem from the book:

 

You'll note that Pi O brings himself into this poem, in a way that doesn't disrupt the realism. Also he is recording patterns of speech which are part of the character of this suburb. He is still describing what is so – a very particular instance of what is so – and allowing us to draw our own inferences, just as Manu does in his way.

Today I invite you to write something – anything – from a realist perspective. I’m not demanding that you regale me with haiku or other Japanese forms – though you can if you wish.  It can be any sort of poetry, or it may be in prose. If it’s prose, please restrict it to 369 words, max (excluding title). See if you can describe something realistically, in a way that indicates more than what is actually said.

When you’ve finished, please link your ONE, NEW entry in the `Mister Linky’ below. Newish pieces (written within the last month) which happen to fit the prompt are acceptable too. So are older ones which you have extensively rewritten for this purpose. (If you can show us the original too, even better.)

The prompt will stay open all week, because we don’t want to rush you. But if you link late, you might not get many readers because they won’t know you’re there. In that case, feel free to link to the same piece again on a Sunday, when we accept whatever you wish to share.

Have fun!

 

Material shared here is presented for study and review. Poems, photos, and other writings and images remain the property of the copyright owners, usually the authors. (Older material may be out of copyright).



Sunday, September 26, 2021

Writers' Pantry #89: Ghost Walk

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! I hope you are all doing well this morning. In an attempt to get in as much outside fun as I can before the weather gets too bitter, I went on a ghost walk held in my town! I expected a couple of American Revolution stories (lots of battles happened all around the area where I live), but there were plenty of stories from other eras of history, some of them quite chilling! Have you ever been on a ghost walk?


For this upcoming Weekly Scribblings, Rosemary will ask us to try Realism – which ‘attempts to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality.’ It tends to focus on ‘the depiction of ordinary, everyday subjects’ and ‘attempts to represent familiar things as they are’. She invites us to see if we can describe something realistically, in a way that indicates more than what is actually said.

On to the pantry! I’m taking both poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, old and new pieces. Just be sure to keep all prose to 369 words or fewer and one entry per person please.



Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Weekly Scribblings #88: Equinox

Greetings, dear poets and storytellers. I hope the Autumnal Equinox (or Vernal, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere) found you well. Autumn and spring—the first with its cooler weather and the second with the promise of rebirth—always put me in a good mood. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had all the summer (and rotten moods) I can handle for a year.

Today, I’ve selected three of my stitched blackout poem bits to offer as inspiration. I invite you to write poetry or prose which includes at least 1 of the following three. Of course, you are more than welcomed to choose 2 or all 3:

Happy and strange words are my home.

I see you.

Reason is music to a jaded heart.


As always, this prompt shall remain open for a week. We welcome fiction and nonfiction, short and long(ish) pieces—if you go for prose, let the word count be 369 words or fewer. Please, add the direct link to your contribution. And after your share your words, do take a moment  to visit other poets and storytellers... and share your thought-filled comments on their words. Significantly rewritten pieces are also welcomed.  

 

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Writers' Pantry #88: The Season Turns

Hello again, dear Wordsmiths. Here we are in a time of transition once more.

In Australia we are in the first month of Spring, with that lovely feeling of renewal as the weather warms up and flowers burst out all over. Let me share with you the delight of the first rose in my street! (The neighbours are used to me by now, happily snapping all their best blooms on my trusty iPhone.)

 


For most of our P&SU community, living in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll be entering Autumn. Or Fall, but we don’t call it that here – not only because we tend to follow English usage, but also because the majority of our trees are evergreens whose leaves don’t fall.  (I know many people love the distinct demarcation of the seasons. While I agree that Autumn colours en masse are very beautiful, I don’t envy you the stark, bare branches of Winter.)

Either way, it’s a time to take stock: to think about what we’ll let go of along with the season just departed, and what we’ll seek to harvest (if we’re entering Autumn) or what new seeds we’ll plant in our lives (if we’re at the beginning of Spring).

Meanwhile let’s share our writings on these or any matters, in poetry or prose, old or new. (Please keep prose to 369 words max.) Link us up to you in Mister Linky below, leave a link to us too in your post if you’d be so kind, and enjoy each other’s inspired and varied words!

Thinking ahead: Next Wednesday, Magaly will ask us to write poetry or prose which includes one (or all 3) of the following phrases: 1. “Happy and strange words are my home.” 2. “I see you.” 3. “Reason is music to a jaded heart.”

STOP PRESS
I just heard from our friend Old Egg's daughter that he is OK. He has had computer issues which are now resolved, however is in a writer's block at present. Hopefully we'll be reading him again soon!


Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Weekly Scribblings #87: Let's Go to the Fair

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Around this time of year, many places in the U.S. have fairs or carnivals popping up, which include things like iconic festival food, games and rides. For today’s prompt I want you to write about one (or more) things you might find at a fair and write about that. Possibilities include (but are not limited to) cotton candy, Ferris wheels, ring toss, merry-go-rounds, corn dogs, and roller coasters.



I'll take poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction, but the piece must be either new, new-ish (less than 30 days old), or significantly reworked older pieces. Please keep your prose to 369 words or fewer and one entry per person, please and thank you!

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Writers’ Pantry #87: Words Never Die

“A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.” And since I agree with Emily Dickinson, dear poets and storytellers, lets say our lived words in ink (pixels?).  

The Writers’ Pantry is open to all! Let’s share poetry or prose that is new or old, fiction or nonfiction, short or longish (if choosing prose, your word count should be 369 words or fewer). One link per participant, please. This prompt shall remain open for a week. Write on!

- on Wednesday, our Rommy would like us to write about one (or more) things we might find at a fair. Possibilities include (but are not limited to) cotton candy, Ferris wheels, ring toss, merry-go-rounds, corn dogs, and roller coasters.

 

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Weekly Scribblings #86 Mining the Journals

Greetings, dear wordsmiths. How are you surviving the pandemic so far? In Australia, many of us are currently in lockdown. In some places, everyone’s losing count by now of how many times.  People have been saying it feels like groundhog day – and we don’t even have groundhogs in Australia! 

Thus restricted, where does one turn for inspiration? Already there’s plenty of poetry about the whole COVID-19 situation – and room for plenty more – but what if you want to write about something else?

I have been thinking I could start mining my journals for material. I'm not actually keeping a journal at present, but I still have quite a collection from past forays into the practice.


Back yard journalling with my cat Selene, August 2016.
Photo © Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2016


Then I remembered that I have done this a few times before, leafing through old journals at random until something appealed to me. It’s a bit like found poetry, except one is finding the unintended poems in one’s own writings rather than some other text.

Or one can turn a chronicled event into a story – either memoir or, with judicious changes, fiction.

The following post comes from my old poetry blog (now an archive) The Passionate Crone.


To Describe This Garden

I've been going through old journals. Among other things I am finding poetry I didn't know I was writing — such as this, which I'd now call a prose poem. I haven't altered a word.

To describe this garden — the constant ruffling of sunny trees, light moving on water in the pool, the gloss of green, wide sky, sometimes birds …. Swallows that skim the pool even when I’m in it, playing in air and water. Big starlings trotting and squabbling under the bushes. Slow grey doves. A quick wattle-bird with trailing tail.

I like the way the sky takes up a lot of room, even in the squared-off picture framed by my doorway. When it’s dark, and the trees are merged black walls and towers, the sky still soars in all directions. The traffic is almost silent, dogs bark now and then several blocks away, the stillness could be far from suburb and city.

When I swim, I look up at clouds and trees, or stars, and it might be Mataranka Springs, it might be Bali …

— Beaumaris, 15 January 1987 


© Rosemary Nissen-Wade 1987



The 1987 date is from my journal. The blog post was made on November 10, 2014.

It’s good to use really old journals if you have them, so you don’t remember what you wrote (though you may well remember the events you wrote about) and see the words afresh. However, even recent entries can surprise you, because they weren’t written with the intention of becoming poems or stories. When you’re looking for poetic or narrative possibilities, you re-read them in a different way.

Old or new, it’s rare (I think) that an entry can be reproduced verbatim. That’s OK. It’s a source of inspiration. Where you then take the inspiration is up to you.

So – today I invite you to mine a journal entry (or several) for material and give us a poem or a story drawn from that source.

What if you have never kept a journal?  (Really – a writer who never has?) In that case, try your old emails. If all else fails, write about keeping or not keeping a journal.

You know the drill: Using Mister Linky below, link to the specific post on your blog; one link per person. You may share poetry or prose, prose pieces to be 369 words max. New writings please – preferably written new for the prompt, but we'll also accept anything written within the last 30 days which happens to fit, or an older piece if extensively (and newly) rewritten. As always, we'd love you to leave a comment below; also to read each other and leave some appreciative words.

The prompt stays open a week. If your inspiration comes a bit late, do feel free to post (or repost) in Sunday's Writers' Pantry.

 

Material shared here is presented for study and review. Poems, photos, and other writings and images remain the property of the copyright owners, usually the authors. This time the copyright's all mine, for everything.

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Writers' Pantry 86: Pet Training

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! My dog Kit has quite a personality. I think he thinks the only reason he has to wear a leash is to keep me and my husband from getting lost when Kit goes on walks. Lately he’s taken to trying to get us to change the path of his afternoon walks, if the sweet old retirees he loves visiting aren’t around to spoil greet him on his morning walk. We usually let him get away with it. He’s been a bit moody since Darling Eldest went back to campus and it cheers him up. Did you ever have a pet that tried training you too?

We still don't let him get out of taking a bath.
He has Definite Opinions about baths.

Next Wednesday Rosemary asks us to create a poem or story from a journal entry (or several). If you don’t keep journals, try your old emails. If all else fails, write about keeping or not keeping a journal.

Now it’s on to the pantry! I’ll take your old and new pieces, both poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction. Do be sure to keep your prose pieces to 369 words or fewer, and just one entry per person please. 



Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Weekly Scribblings #85: “Take Care of your body”

Greetings, dear poets and storytellers. I’ve spent the last few weeks discussing nutrition and fitness with my Crohn’s disease group. So, a prompt that focuses on flesh and bones and such felt just right. With that in mind, I invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by the following Jim Rohn’s quote: “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Feel free to use the phrase literally or figuratively.

As always, this prompt shall remain open for a week. We welcome fiction and nonfiction, short and long(ish) pieces—if you go for prose, let the word count be 369 words or fewer. Please add the direct link to your contribution. After you share your words, please take a moment to visit other poets and storytellers, and share your thought-filled comments on their words. Significantly rewritten poetry and prose are also welcomed. 


Let us delight in this week’s body of words.