Friday Writings #163: Backwards, Upside Down, Inside Out

  

 

Dear Word Weavers, in late 2023 a very dear friend of many years died. I wrote a poem about that some months later, but was disappointed in it. It said things I wanted to say, but the saying seemed somehow lack-lustre. I let it lapse for a while.

Recently I was looking through one of my favourite books of exercises for poets: WINGBEATS II (the sequel to an equal favourite, just-plain WINGBEATS), edited by Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen, with chapters by a number of other poets. I came upon a chapter called ‘An Exercise in Derangement’ written by Carmen Gimenez Smith. She suggests copying out a poem backwards, word by word, starting with the final word and finishing with the first one. But that’s only the first step. Then she advises treating the result as ‘an open space’ which may be used in a number of further possible ways — turning verbs into nouns and vice-versa; or using the fractured syntax which the back-to-front poem ends up with to create ‘new and strange phrases’. Her idea is that you may make a completely new poem.

 

I didn’t go quite so far with my elegy for my friend — for one thing, I didn’t end up with a poem on a completely different subject, but a more interesting version of the original. Reading it through backwards gave me a new perspective. The new version keeps the reverse order, beginning at what was the end, and finishing with what was the start. In between, the ‘deranged’ sequence of words suggested ways to re-order the details: rewriting some, omitting others, adding a few that weren’t there before. It’s now a poem I’m much happier to make public. I’ll use it as my link for this week.

(In the process, I abandoned the original Sevenling form. I just now went back and tried yet another revision, much closer to the original, in couplets. I think it's better than the original, but I don't like it as much as the 'deranged' version.)

A thing that wasn't part of the exercise, but which it occurred to me to try with some other poems, is to write the backwards version (initially) as a stream of prose, omitting punctuation. I find this opens up a wider new creative space to work in.

Your optional prompt this week is to rewrite one of your not-quite-working pieces by transcribing it backwards, and then following wherever that leads you. (Tip: try it on a fairly short poem, or else it could become too tedious and time-consuming.) Perhaps you'd care to show us the earlier version too — either by a link on your post or including it there? Up to you!

Guidelines: One post per person. 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). It can be old or new, poetry or prose, on prompt or not. Use Mister Linky, below, to take us to that post on your blog. When possible, please enjoy and comment on each other’s posts. (Talk to us here too, if you wish.)

Preview:
 Next week, Magaly will invite us to find inspiration in the phrase “love is love”.

 

Friday Writings #162: Joy in Chaos

 

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! It's times like these that I am grateful for my tea practice. Things have been feeling jarringly chaotic of late, so time spent with my fellow tea students (or practicing an abbreviated version of it on my own) goes a long way towards helping me stay sane.

This week's optional prompt is all about finding "joy in the chaos". As always, poetry and prose are welcome, as are fiction and non-fiction. Just please be sure to stick to one entry per person and 369 words or fewer.

Next week, Rosemary will ask us to 'rewrite one of your not-quite-working pieces by transcribing it backwards, and then following wherever that leads you. (Tip: try it on a fairly short poem, or else it could become too tedious and time-consuming.)'

Friday Writings #161: Brain Rot

Brain Rot: (n.) Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.

Such a telling word, don’t you think?

The Oxford Word of the Year for 2025 is a phrase. Or a two-word noun, I suppose. Whichever way we spell it, dear poets and storytellers, brain rot casts a clear picture. And since I am known for enjoying a word that says it (writes it? shows it?) like it is, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to use said word in your poetry or prose.    

Please, add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant. 369 words maximum (excluding title), for prose and for poetry. You may share old or new pieces of poetry or prose. You may write to the prompt or to a topic of your choosing. Visit other writers. Read their contributions. Let your comments show them your lack of brain rot. 😜 

 next week, Rommy will invite us to find inspiration in the phrase “joy in chaos”.

via

Friday Writings #160: Low Battery

 

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! How was your holiday season? It was a bit of a whirlwind for me. January looks very, very slow in comparison to my December, but that's just fine by me. The post-holiday slowdown is exactly what I need to recharge. 

So this week's optional prompt is "low battery". Interpret that phrase however you wish in either poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. Just be sure to keep your response to 369 words or fewer, and one entry per person, please.

Next week, Magaly will invite us to write poetry or prose which includes the phrase “brain rot”.

Friday Writings #159: Making It New

Hello again, dear Word Weavers.

I very much hope that none of our USA participants are in the middle of the horrendous Los Angeles fires!

On a happier note, I trust you enjoyed our end-of-year break. I am still partly in holiday mode, having had a very pleasant — and lazy — time of much reading, watching TV, and getting together with friends.

Writing? Not so very much. However I did embark on one strange little project.

I have long been a member of the Found Haiku group on facebook, and realised I hadn’t posted there in a while. So I began to actively look for haiku in unexpected places: some happy juxtaposition of words never intended as a haiku at all.

Here is an old one I found on my own front window. The bottom sign was there when Andrew and I moved in here at the start of 2010; the other I added some time later. Later still, I glanced at the two in conjunction and realised I had found a haiku:

 

warning —
fairies live here
(Neighbourhood Watch)

from my front window

In the last few days, actively searching, I have found some in a magazine, a book, and one in a longer poem of my own:

Feline

In the dim light
he is hard to see,
the tawny tiger
resting in the height
of the shadowy green
in the sly dark.

Though his face is dark,
his eyes gleam light
not yellow but green,
and I know he can see
where I try to hide,
my fabulous tiger.

And I can see, against the green
of the bedroom chair in which he hides,
my cat in the dark with eyes of light.


April Poem A Day Challenge 2014, day 13: an animal poem. Suggestion: use a sestina. As I am having an insanely busy April, I opted for a mini-sestina, a form devised by Aussie poet Myron Lysenko.
(Published in the collaborative collection She Too, CXD, 2014).

which became:

tawny tiger —
my cat in the dark
with eyes of light

(Intended not as a replacement but a new poem.)


I then wondered how many more haiku I might find in my longer poems and set about hunting. It was fun, and quite exciting, and reminded me of the whole concept of remixing.

The definition of remix in Wikipedia is: 'A remix ... is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The only characteristic of a remix is that it appropriates and changes other materials to create something new.' 

That suggests that one takes someone else's artwork to make one's own remix; however I don't see why we can't remix our own originals too.

 
Prompt:
So, for your optional prompt this week, I invite you to look through your writings and see if there is anything you might remix to make a new piece. You needn’t turn them into haiku (unless you want to); there are many possibilities. Please add a link to the original piece if possible, or if not include it as a note on your new post.

Guidelines:
One post per person.
369 words maximum (excluding title and notes).
Old or new / poetry or prose / on prompt or not.
When possible, please enjoy and comment on each other’s posts. (Talk to us here too, if you’d like.)

Preview:

Next week, our Rommy will ask us to reflect on the phrase "low battery".

 

Friday Writings #158: Prioritize

Greetings, word lovers! Are you excited about 2025? Hm… I almost deleted that question, then decided to leave it. The truth is that I’m more anxious than excited about this year. So much to do. So little time. So much turmoil. To survive—and to thrive—we must plan and prioritize with care (at least, I must). 

With that in mind, for today’s optional prompt, I (and by “I” I mean Rommy and Rosemary and moi) invite you to write about what comes to mind when you see the word “prioritize”. 

Add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky, please. One post per participant. 369 words maximum (excluding title), for prose and for poetry. Share old or new pieces of poetry or prose. Write to the prompt or to a topic of your choosing. Visit other poets and storytellers. Comment on their words. Wish them a Happy New Year!

for next week, Rosemary will invite us to look through our writings and see if there is anything we might remix to make a new piece.

via