IT’S FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY – 31 Jan 2014 : STARGATE?

The photo at the link and below is a piece of art that a city selected to plop down in a median between busy roads, in addition to a number of other interesting works throughout the city… Click on the link and write a little Flashy Fiction about it. Post your fiction at CREATIVE BLOOMINGS’ FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY

Remember to post a link to your blog and link back to CREATIVE BLOOMINGS so we stay connected.

You can write and post to the prompt all week. The badges on both the CREATIVE BLOOMINGS page and the FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY page are links to return to either site. So you’re never far from where your words belong! You know darn well, everyone has a “little” story to tell!

INFORM POETS – LENTO

A poetic form created by Lencio Dominic Rodrigues, the Lento is named after it’s creator, taken from his first name Lencio and rhymed to Cento, an existing form of poetry.

A Lento consists of two quatrains with a fixed rhyme scheme of abcb, defe as the second and forth lines of each stanza must rhyme. To take it a step further, but not required, try rhyming the first and third lines as well as the second and forth lines of each stanza in this rhyming pattern: abab, cdcd. The fun part of this poem is thrown in here as all the FIRST words of each verse should rhyme. There is no fixed syllable structure to the Lento, but keeping a good, flowing rhythm is recommended.

For an added challenge, one may write a four-verse Lento and call it a Double Lento, or a six-versed Lento to become a Triple Lento.

Below is an example of a Lento:

Composed in winter of Two Thousand Five, (a)
Proposed by my dreams, this entire theme, (b)
Exposed now for all to write and have fun, (c)
Supposed to be easy though it doesn’t seem. (b)

Two verses of four lines each you will write, (d)
Do rhyme the beginning word in every line, (e)
Pursue to keep last rhymes in line 2 and 4, (f)
Chew your brain a little, you’ll do just fine! (e)

For a real fun challenge, try the Cross Lento: The cross Lento has been introduced in 2012. The cross lento was introduced to make Lento writing more fun. However, a cross lento is applicable only in cases of double, triple and lento chains, where the rhyme schemes in alternate quatrains are reversed, as seen in the following example:

a——b
a——c
a——b
a——c

d——f
e——f
d——f
e——f

WALT’S CROSS LENTO:

SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT

Night falls upon the lowly,
bright lights fade and shadows creep,
right before they slumber, they slowly
fight their weary eyes to sleep.

Morning sits, a vigil silent; still,
Moon and stars align at will,
warning midnight sprites upon the hill,
soon their lights will die, become nil.

Day will pass in its allotted time,
hay made as the sun shines, lingers.
May the world know night’s toils in rhyme,
saying all that a heart desires. Fingers

curl to grasp the darkened shroud,
mist descends to cover lovers avowed.
Hurl the pall so all can call out loud,
kissed by evening’s shadow so endowed.

© Copyright 2014 – Walter J Wojtanik

For this example, the above LENTO combines aspects of all variations. It is a LENTO, a DOUBLE LENTO, LINES 1 and 3 rhyme, LINES 2 and 4 rhyme, and it is indeed a CROSS LENTO.

For more information on  Lencio Dominic Rodrigues and his LENTO form, visit these sites as well:

Shadow Poetry       Poetry Soup       Allpoetry    

“How to Write a Lento”, an article by Lencio Dominic Rodrigues

PROMPT # 139 – HEY, THAT’S STILL MY LINE!

This week we bring back a very popular prompt here at CREATIVE BLOOMINGS. You are asked to use the inspiration from a favorite line from one of our poets’ poems. That becomes your title of first line of your new poem. Any form, style, length… just be sure to credit the poet/poem so they can say,

“HEY! THAT’S MY LINE!”

And as always, both the poet and the inspirational poet will receive the BLOOM if that new poem is selected.

WALT’S INSPIRATION:

MAY WE WALK IN PEACE

We come as poets
proffering words of hope and expression
the lessons we learn have burned themselves
into each other’s hearts and minds.
All for the cause of community,
a unity of blessed souls joined
in worded wonder. No animus
or vitriole, not wresting control
of another. Rhyming and sharing
as sisters and brothers of verse.
There is no better “army” than this.
And surely, there’s no worse!

(C) Copyright 2014 – Walter J Wojtanik

***

The title is a line from Connie L. Peter’s poem “2014”

2014

Two thousand fourteen
We come, sight unseen
For we know not what’s in store
The last year was kind
Please, have the same mind
As we all step through this door

Let great dreams come true
And trouble be few
Be gentle with the weather
May we walk in peace
May our joys increase
And hearts be knit together

You only need reference the poem and author. I posted Connie’s poem because I had the ability to do so. Walt.

BRILLIANT BLOOMS – PROMPT #138 / PARODY POEMS

This first week at CREATIVE BLOOMINGS has been interesting to say the least. The name change was flawless, notifications have kept you abreast of our crossover. As we start to run on all cylinders, there will be less need for the constant  barrage of notifications to your e-mail due to the continuous postings here. Our test of the audio readings is proving to make this a very valuable part of our blog. Hearing our poets reading their works is bringing us a better glimpse of who they are and what they sound like. We have had additions to every new page, as photos, artwork and craftwork have made an appearance this week.

Starting February 1st, I will hopefully have the first trustees in place and have a Guest Host ready to take their turn at helping keep the garden tended.

The BEAUTIFUL BLOOM and been revamped as well to reflect the light shining on all of your creative works. Now as the BRILLIANT BLOOM we will highlight your poetic and literary works with this accolade. The BRILLIANT BLOOM is not necessarily given to the best entry of the week per se, since our belief is that all of your works would be honored EVERY week under that criteria. The written works selected are ones that touch us in some salient way. Either on an emotional level or in an intellectual way. It may make us smile or elicit a tear. If it is posted here, it will be considered. And so…

WALT’S CHOICES:

The first poem I chose was a powerful piece. I tend to think that we as poets like to reach deep inside and touch our pain so we can write how it feels. This personal “confession” is as emotional as it gets. When we pen these works we are again torn by either sharing our hurt or keeping it to ourselves. It is this openness that has made CREATIVE BLOOMING (POETIC BLOOMING) a very special place. A new contributor, Darlene Franklin earns our first BLOOM for such a work of heart.

THE DAY MY DAUGTER DIED
Jolene Elizabeth Franklin
March 13, 2008

By Darlene Franklin

I
wait by
the phone late
into the night.
Tick, tock, my heart grows
colder with ev’ry beat.
Will the police never call?
Mother retreats, perchance to dream.
Facebook friends join my pain-filled vigil.
Coroner’s office on caller I.D.
Time freezes, my heart stops. I demand
answers–How? When? Not asking the
most important question: Why?
It cannot be answered.
Dead. Three Days. Hanging.
I disconnect.
“She’s dead, Mom!”
Wailing
Grief

*

As with Darlene’s piece, the next BRILLIANT BLOOM goes to a poem that touches a memory and a point of interest for me personally. The subject has been one that I have used as inspiration many times. We remember where we were when certain event take place. We can recall where we were when John Kennedy was killed, we remember when the twin towers fell or the night the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. And some of us hold in memory the night a Beatle died. Sara McNulty’s “Death of John Lennon – Dec. 8, 1980” receives the second BRILLIANT BLOOM.

Death of John Lennon-December 8, 1980 by Sara McNulty (purplepeninportland)

Outside the Dakota, shots rang out,
four bullets in the back, John Lennon
gone. Forty years old, concerned
with mankind, and a gift for creating
music and art. He only wanted
everyone to share his true belief
in harmony by asking us to imagine.
I imagined; I believed–for a time.
How sad he would be at the escalating
violence in our cities and our world.
We never did give peace a chance.

*

On Wednesday we revisited a form a bit more in-depth this time around, the PARODY POEM. These retained the scheme and structure of the original, although with a completely different subject and tone. It seems a majority of us tended to choose song lyrics over other forms of expression since music seems to be universal. I can imagine our poets sitting at their computers and singing aloud the words of the parodies a la Al Yankovic, and smiling. But the piece chosen has a “music” all its own and it was rendered by our friend Salvatore Buttaci.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY by Salvatore Buttaci (flashpoetguy)

She walks in beauty, Pennsylvania,
Like the night is safe and who would harm her
In this one-horse town deep in the sticks,
Far from the stone faces of city dwellers
Who insist Beauty is skin-deep, Beauty
Resides in the eyes of beholders.
To that she will disagree and swear you this:
“Beauty is a joy forever, here still
In an unpretentious corner of an
America grown too presumptuous,
A town halted in long ago time
where my granddaddy hoed the soil,
Sowed seeds and dreams, reaped golden harvests
Of so many blesséd seasons that he believed
Himself as native as the Indians
Who led their tribes across the Bering Strait.”
You tell her Beauty is fleeting; it will not last,
Which she ignores, sets her jaw tight as marble,
Then loose again. “Oh, the heroes of Beauty!”
She exclaims. “Beneath this soil lie both
Granddaddies who fell at Gettysburg.
I am not afraid.I tell you this:
Beauty is as Beauty does.I walk, I run,
I graft my skin and bones, my soul– all I am
To this land of Beauty, this last stronghold
In a country fallen out of grace with innocence.”

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO DARLENE, SARA AND SAL FOR YOUR SELECTIONS AS THIS WEEK’S BRILLIANT BLOOM!!!

UPDATE

A wonderful sketch by Marjory M Thompson has been hung in the GARDEN GALLERY!

IT’S FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY! – 24 Jan 2014

Today being our FIRST FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY at CREATIVE BLOOMINGS, we thought it appropriate to deal in “firsts” and “lasts”; Alpha and Omega!

Follow this link to the FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY page and read the prompt! Then all you need do is write a bit of flash fiction based on that “nudge”

You can write and post to the prompt all week. The badges on both the CREATIVE BLOOMINGS page and the FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY page are links to return to either site. So you’re never far from where your words belong! You know darn well, everyone has a “little” story to tell!

UPDATES

We will update you when items have posted to any of the tabs in our main menu. Please be as encouraging in these endeavors as you are with the poetry.

A striking photograph taken by William Preston has been mounted in the PHOTO PHOCUS album.

Patricia A. Hawkenson’s Stained Glass Handiwork can be viewed on the CRAFTS tab.

Two paintings have been hung in the GARDEN GALLERY.

Added to the DAISY CHAIN: Sally Jadlow (3) sites, Chi Holder

A REMINDER: Tomorrow is FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY.

Please join us!

THE SPIRIT OF TRINKETS – A READING BY MARILYN BRAENDEHOLM

After the successful test of the audio system with “And Suddenly, the Room Fell Silent”, I am pleased to present a reading by Marilyn Braendeholm (Misky) of her poem “The Spirit of Trinkets”. Please enjoy another installment of our newest feature, And be sure to click on the title of her poem for a link to her blog, The Chalk Hill Journal, and read more of Marilyn’s fabulous work!

THE SPIRIT OF TRINKETS

(Written and read by Marilyn Braendeholm)

Bend through a curl and pull it on back,
Twisted and conjured this twine to a knot,
A hitch for to carry,
A cap for a nest,
A sigh from the spirits that we neglect,
Make wishes on bracelets, on pearly beads,
To knotted string, wearing our trinkets
And soft jangling bling.

(c) Copyright 2014 – Marilyn Braendeholm

Please note, all recorded poems and stories are being archived in the “READINGS” tab in the CREATIVE BLOOMINGS main menu. You can go back and listen to the files all in one location.

INFORM POETS – PARODY POEMS

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes… (Apologies to Bowie)

The Wednesday form prompt will have a slightly different title from here on out. The hyphen is on permanent hiatus. It reflects the teaching (or How-To) aspect of what this spot was intended to do… teach new structured forms of poetry. Here we will “inform” poets of the many forms available for our expression.

The first form of this revamped undertaking, is a revisitation to a form from November 2012. Parodies take many variations. Mel Brooks did wonderful movies that mimicked (and sometimes mocked) horror movies (Young Frankenstein), silent movies (Silent Movie), Alfred Hitchcock (High Anxiety) and the western movies (Blazing Saddles). Take “Weird” Al Yankovic’s body of work in song parody. The man has made a career out of this form quite nicely.

As poets, there are times we are inspired by another poet’s work, or the musings of a classic poet, causing us to use humor and wit to transform our work akin to theirs. 

Choose a poem or a song lyric (musical poetry) that inspires you.

Take note of the style and tonal qualities of your selection. Is there a specified rhyme scheme? Is there a repetition to it? Meter or cadence? A parody will mimic all of these.

The subject of the new poem should be 180° from the original. We’re going for a different poem (based on a tried and true poem or lyric). It should be playful and not of a harsh nature.

Read your poem aloud. Does it remind you of the original work in rhythm and flow. Does it make you chuckle? If so, you’re on the right track.

Let’s write Parody Poems.

****ADMINISTRATOR’S NOTE****

Parodies are slotted in the realm of fair use in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court. This means that written works such as parodies (poems/songs) are considered as commentary or criticism and are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Be mindful that transformative works (parodies) need to change the original work in a substantial enough way as to not be considered plagiarized.

WALT’S PARODY:

BOXING DAY

Christmas day,
that’s when Santa Claus comes out to play,
bringing toys that won’t be put away…
I’ll be relieved it’s Boxing Day.

By the tree
all the needles will fall out on me,
sticking to the sap that’s stuck on me,
I’ll be relieved it’s Boxing Day.

Why it had to snow, I’m not sure that I could say,
it just feels all wrong, Christmas’ gone, it’s Boxing Day-yay-yay-yay…

New Year’s Day,
seems more than a week away,
and one full year ’til Christmas Day
so we can relive Boxing Day,
oh I’m relieved it’s Boxing Day!

(c) Copyright 2014 – Walter J Wojtanik

(A parody of the Beatles song, “Yesterday” by Lennon/McCartney)

Another example of a parody poem is presented on my blog, “Through the Eye’s of a Poet’s Heart”, entitled “The Rhyme of the Poet Laureate” which parodies Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. For the strong hearted, this spans all seven parts of Coleridge’s original.

AND SUDDENLY, THE ROOM FELL SILENT

This poem from my chapbook, WOOD, was used to test and demonstrate the audio capabilities of CREATIVE BLOOMINGS. The player below, or in the lower right corner will provide the sound (make sure your volume is up). And suddenly, you know what I sound like! Walt.

(Read by Walter J Wojtanik)

 

Labored and shallow,
a respirator kept the last vestige
of breath on a regimented pace.

Inhalation and exhalation mechanized;
keeping the plane of life still in view
for eyes closed and mortified.

All sense of pulse was just
a faint memory, and suddenly
the sound of a father’s voice was hard to recall.

The strength of it nestled in a heart
so deeply that it defied fibrillations.
The ashen hue of his drawn cheekbones

made the vision of him indistinguishable.
Erratic and broken now, each gasp begged
to be his last. A faint squeeze

of a clutching hand flashed the image
of your “hero” walking you across the street
for the first time. Now as he crossed,

it was your grip that led the way.
There came a gurgle; a guttural gag.
And suddenly the room fell silent.

(c) Copyright 2010 – Walter j Wojtanik

UPDATE – CREATIVE BLOOMINGS WELCOME!

WELCOME!

A bit of a refresher for those new to Creative Bloomings (Poetic Bloomings)…

This is Creative Bloomings — a place where creativity grows and flourishes in a supportive and encouraging environment. Please join us each Sunday for our prompts and examples. Wednesday we explore a different poetic form. Friday, we delve into flash fiction. We ecourage you to share your paintings and other artwork, your photographic art, your music/songs… anything you create is welcome here! So, get creating..

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GUIDELINES AND FEATURES:

1. HAVE FUN. The guidelines aren’t meant to be restrictive. They are just to try to keep everyone on the same page.

2.  “SUNDAY SEED.”  Every Sunday, we will post a new prompt.  You may post your poems at any time throughout the week(s) ahead.    We ask that you try to keep to the prompt. It makes it easier to categorize the subject matter. 

3. HOW TO POST. Poems may be posted in the COMMENTS section for each prompt. You may also post to your personal blog and leave a link to your poem in the COMMENTS.

>4. WHO MAY POST? Creative Bloomings is open to all poets, fiction writers, artists and photographers regardless of skill level, point of view, or age. As such, we encourage members to “be mindful of this and keep it clean.”  Our goal is to encourage and learn from one another. Hopefully we’ll all gain a fresh understanding of the creative process.

5. “WILD CARD.”  We will have the occasional “WILD CARD” prompt to allow you to let your muse loose.

6. “BRILLIANT BLOOMS.”  Weekly, Walt and a Guest Host will each “pick” a “bloom” (poem) of the week to highlight. In the past we were able to publish “POETIC BLOOMINGS: The First Year” and the second volumeof these works. We’ll see what pans out.

7.  “POET INTERVIEWS.”  On the third Thursday of each month, we feature one of our Poetic Bloomings members, or other special guest.  This includes an interview with the poet, samples of their work, advice, photo, etc.

8.  “INFORM POETS.”  Every Wednesday we feature INFORM POETS!  A poetic form is presented for your consideration and information. (More of a tutorial for some of the lesser known or invented forms).  We encourage you to try your hand at these forms, and we may choose to highlight one of your in-form poems on occasion.

9. “FLASHY FICTION FRIDAY.” On Friday, a prompt will be offered for your consideration to write a bit of flash fiction, if you appreciate that discipline. Rob and Aimee Halpin, along with Walt will host these forays into that world.

10. “DAISY CHAIN.”  Please provide a link to your blog for our “DAISY CHAIN.”  We are about promoting your work. You retain the rights to all your poems — we just wish to help give you another venue for exposure.  Links may be e-mailed to Walt at poeticbloomings@yahoo.com.

11. “BOOK SHELF.”  Let us know if you have been published, and flaunt it here. We encourage success. If you have a collection or chapbook available, allow us to post it on our “BOOK SHELF” with your link for all who may be interested.

12. BLOG HOPPING. We encourage you to visit the blogs of other poets and contributors regularly. Leave constructive and supportive comments. We want to nurture the expression of these creative works.

13. QUESTIONS may be directed to our e-mail:   poeticbloomings@yahoo.com .

14. HAVE FUN.  Did we already say that?  Must be important. 😉

Any updates will be highlighted under that banner. We would like to establish a community of poets, writers and artists working for a common goal: the propagation of all things creative. Plant your creativity seeds here, and allow them to bloom in our garden. We look forward to your contributions to the creative process!