Saturday, October 21

Poem about joy

Why do we write? We write to find where the words will lead us. We write because we're inspired. We write because we're trying to find healing. We write because it's fun.

Anyhow, sometimes the best way to find a poem is to be surrounded by art. That happened tonight as I went to a small concert at a music store called the High Strung. Amazing art on the walls and the musicians performing were good too.

Something like that. I just started scribbling on a newspaper I found and here's the result. But I also do feel like it's a pretty decent piece of work and I may do it at this week's slam. It's got a much better chance of being performed than the Eat Your Words piece.

I keep forgetting that time
we got drunk
in the church.
my head spinning
with your truth
with your joy.
I keep forgetting that time
we got so drunk
I forgot everything
that didn't matter.
I want to feel like that again.
I want to stutter.
I want to stumble
I want to find myself again
lost in that place.
A spiral staircase,
a false wall,
a hidden chapel.
And what is this.
We've found the communion gin.
Do you remember that?
You were laughing and laughing.
Is this a sin?
Is this asking too much
to believe joy like this
can be remembered?
Oh, perhaps, perhaps.
Joy like this can only be lost.
But I take no sorrow
in the losing of it.
This joy will come again.
Holy gin
Holy wine
Holy, holy
whooly blown away.
I forget you
more and more
everyday
And I get lonely sometimes.
But I do believe
I'll be righteously drunk
again someday.


OK, so that's a pretty rough draft in itself. But I like it for now. Revise, revise, revise.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've never been to a poetry slam, but I'd like to go. When you say one poem will have a much better chance of being selected/performed than another, how do you know? What are the criteria? And do you only like to perform poems that you think will win something, or do you like to get them out and give them a try to see how they sail in public, perhaps rewriting afterwards? I really like the "eat your words" poem, and I'd love to hear that you performed it...

October 23, 2006 10:34 am  
Blogger bl said...

Well, the slam is a competition so I try to pick poems that will score high and help me win.

However,slam judges are selected somewhat randomly from the audience, so you never really know. But I try to pick poems that I know will do well or that I really like.

I like to go in with a plan that I'll do poem A in round one, poem B in round two and if I get to the finals I'll have a strong closer.

Open mike poetry nights are a little different. I like those because there's not the same pressure to win and I'll do something without worrying about getting a high score.

Part of the problem though, as I wrote recently on the blog, is I don't really consider myself a real creative poet and so I shouldn't think too much about winning period.

But I do like to win.

October 23, 2006 12:11 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, it is not up to you to judge your creativity. It is up to you write. Here is a quote that I find so compelling and instructive...

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...No artist is pleased...There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”
MARTHA GRAHAM to AGNES DeMILLE

October 23, 2006 1:02 pm  

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