Read full prompt here.
Today’s online journal is Tinderbox Poetry Journal its archives are available online. In their latest issue, I’ll point you to Grace Q. Song’s “HOW THE STORY GOES,” and Ayokunle Falomo’s “ETYMOLOGICON.”
Prompt: Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about a very large thing. It could be a mountain or a blue whale or a skyscraper or a planet or the various contenders for the honor of being the Biggest Ball of Twine – versify in praise of the huge.
Today my head is not in the game as funeral arrangements begin. I spent my time writing a reflection for the funeral and my head and heart are very much there. I may not post for NaPo tomorrow, as we have the funeral. I will double post on Wednesday, if I can.
I started with With Ardent Affection for an Indifferent Moon one of the featured poems, a love poem to the moon.
They say
we’re out of ways
to woo you.
But I,
heart tied to sky,
Are you the smudge-sketched
thumbprint tintype of some long
-forgotten goddess,
An open jar of firefly hope,
Some beautiful reflections and questions of the heart.
Unfortunately the 2nd link doesn’t take you to the participants site – I did a quick search last time this happened and managed to find the website, no success this time.
I will come back to the magazine when I have time. Today I just read the recommended poems. I listened to HOW THE STORY GOES Grace Q. Song, a beautiful poem with lingering memories.
Like the dark, watery spell my finger traces
in search of the Little Dipper. Or the reason
we scream at each other like wild horses.
That love so helpless must be a child
in a field of lilies. That you can hear a blue whale’s heartbeat
10,560 feet away,
Then I listened to ETYMOLOGICON (Winner of the Majda Gama Editors’ Prize) by Ayokunle Falomo. Delighted I could listen to these in the poet’s voice – as I don’t have the strength to read poems today. I am not sure I will be able to write one either.
Depending on
how you say it, three letters—A R A—
can mean thunder or wonder or body
or family.
A poem exploring language, mistranslation and meaning (and so much more than these themes). Thought provoking.
I had a quick look at the biggest ball of twine – who wouldn’t! Before going off to use a vast object in a poem of my own. After a couple of days of sharing the poems in their entirety I think we may be back to extracts.
At first I collected the idea of BIG objects, starting with this Ferris wheel. Some I’d seen before like the giant rubber duck art (especially as Mr G. has always wanted one)! There’s quite a collection here, although many are art/sculptural and not objects which usually command praise for being huge.
They did remind me of the giant teddy in Qatar Airport that I saw in 2018, Urs Fischer’s famous Lamp Bear. I started to think of other massive things I’ve seen, the Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, the Grand Canyon, both of these already feature in several poems I have written since visiting in 2005.
During my search I also found this site – which will blow your mind! mindblowingfacts.com/megalophobia I was particularly taken by the giant driftwood and the reminder (from the sun) of how small we are – not to mention that small circle of ALL the stars we see in our night sky compared to the entire galaxy!
For a long time today (not surprisingly) I was blocked. In the end after hours filled with other things I sat to write the only thing I could. I wrote in one prose block/ separating thoughts with backslashes/. I wrote about how I couldn’t write about any of the big things whilst my head and heart are dealing with such a big thing.
Some extracts from today’s as yet untitled poem:
When challenged to write about something big today/ all I can think about/ is how big it was to lose you/ how colossal grief can be/ how huge the emptiness brought by your body missing in our time/
I can’t think about what I would write in praise of the Ferris wheel or Grand Canyon/ when all I want to do / all I need to do /is praise your life
how soft your hugs/ how huge your prayers / how dominant your light and love
how can I think of teddy lamps in Qatar or Redwoods in the States/ when all I want to be filled with is thoughts of you and your life/
awritersfountain 