Friday, November 4, 2005

Dark and Stormy

Billy of Poetisphere (and of Billy the Blogging Poet fame) has tagged me with a new movement within the... well, within the poetisphere. It's called the First Line Giveaway, and the first line he''s given me is:

"It was a dark and stormy night, but we'd heard that line before."

Now, for the record here Billy, in giving me that line, you've also given me too much credit, trusted me far too much, but I promise I've done my best not to besmirch the newly born rosey cheeks of the Poetisphere blog! So here we go:


Dark and Stormy

It was a dark and stormy night,

but we'd heard that line before
so I spoke instead of lilacs
or lilies cradling May at dawn.

And I told her of morning glories
in a garden where death
is an intentional catachresis,
as much a malapropism as
the language of nature,
when it constructs April sentences
for a November stroll -

as undeniably wrong as an ivory casket,
twenty four square inches of snow
unforgettable against the umber August earth.

To that, we prefer a dark and stormy night.



Now I'm passing along this torch to Trebuchet at legwarmers, and the opening line I offer up is:

"The clock runs in the shadows
as well as in the light"
Tags:
  • I Sing My Evolving Hands - Daniel Barkowitz of Talking to Myself
  • The Spinning Cyclone Spoiled the Sky - Daniel of Finally Getting Somewhere
  • Beneath the ice we waited - Andrew Nichols of Philosophical Poetry
  • A dusty brow and a glistening road - Billy the BloggingPoet

  • The Credits:
    Inspired by The Practice of Poetry.

    4 comments:

    1. Anonymous11:05 PM

      Very nice piece Erin... I especially liked the turn of theme...

      And here I was expecting some trite and pedestrian poem. No, not really. Trite and pedestrian you never are....

      ReplyDelete
    2. Thanks Billy, you didn't make it easy!

      Daniel
      When I first read the line Billy gave me, I decided to go with humor, but I couldn't manage to come up with anything I'd be able to post without being embarrassed, because I'm really just BAD at funny poetry. I'm still not thrilled with this iece, I think the end needs more transition, and it, to me, IS a bit pedestrian, but I can always work on that.

      I just didn't want to hold up the process for too long.

      ReplyDelete
    3. I found your poem while searching for all-too-rare phrase "intentional catachresis". I'm gathering those who appreciate the beauty of it. I own a writing site and would love to see some of your work there. http://www.litmocracy.com

      Dave Scotese.

      ReplyDelete