poetry lesson #3
spare a thought for the one trying to write some poetry...
photo of Sanjo, Kyoto by YunPing
poetry lesson #3
have you been awake and
trying to write poetry
at 1 a.m.
and all that is outside
are two drunks bitching?
i am starting to miss my
cigarettes but the doc says
65% blocked
those damn arteries, please
don't go messing with them
so i try to sit down with
a pencil and paper or the
old computer
trying to feel good, drink,
dream or pretend that i am
Bukowski
Pound
William Carlos Williams
Plath
Ferlinghetti
or the whatever poet
flavor of the moment
it helps
take my word for it
that's how i grind out
beautiful young women with poor fates
loneliness and the pitifully lonely mad
days gone and wasted at godforsaken camps
the comfort and friendship of raintrees
people i know who have come and gone
someone said the butterfly
counts not time but moments
is true?
and so is poetry, because we
live for that space in time
some nights soak in sadness
and i plead for the sunrise
the sky
has turned a hue of rusty red
a werewolf howls from a block
and there still outside
the two drunks are bitching.
written : 02/09/2020
revised : 08/10/2020
*****************
SCANDAL - Departure
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020
poetry lesson #3
have you been awake and
trying to write poetry
at 1 a.m.
and all that is outside
are two drunks bitching?
i am starting to miss my
cigarettes but the doc says
65% blocked
those damn arteries, please
don't go messing with them
so i try to sit down with
a pencil and paper or the
old computer
trying to feel good, drink,
dream or pretend that i am
Bukowski
Pound
William Carlos Williams
Plath
Ferlinghetti
or the whatever poet
flavor of the moment
it helps
take my word for it
that's how i grind out
beautiful young women with poor fates
loneliness and the pitifully lonely mad
days gone and wasted at godforsaken camps
the comfort and friendship of raintrees
people i know who have come and gone
someone said the butterfly
counts not time but moments
is true?
and so is poetry, because we
live for that space in time
some nights soak in sadness
and i plead for the sunrise
the sky
has turned a hue of rusty red
a werewolf howls from a block
and there still outside
the two drunks are bitching.
written : 02/09/2020
revised : 08/10/2020
*****************
SCANDAL - Departure
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020
Labels: Poetic forms, poetry lesson #, writer's block, writing
posted by dsnake1 at 10:00 PM
17 Comments:
https://youtu.be/glhW7W3oFMA
If you cant sleep this is nice jazz to inspire your poetry.Pour a bucket of water over the drunks outside.
Rall
Rall, i will take the suggestion. the jazz and the bucket of water. :)
I see you've tried to write poetry while sitting in my balcony on a Saturday night. There is something loud and distracting about an Irish pub. Or, perhaps, it's just people arguing that thicken the ink.
I've wished for better surroundings to inspire me or perfect timing when it comes to writing... but yes, if I waited for it, I'd never get anything set down. I take what I can get when it comes to sparking my words.
Those drunks, i know that scene so well
Stay safe
Much💛love
Perhaps a poem about what brought the drunks to their drunken argument in the middle of the night. That should be good for a stanza or two!
This is one of my all time favorite poems .... it resonated in ways I cannot describe. Rest assured, it did.
Inconsiderate drunks are the worst. Mind you I need my sleep and drunks or poetry do not persuade me to admonish them or even keep composing poetry when sleep calls!
A bit Raymond Carver, too. An enthralling read, whoever the Muses. I had fun seeing if the verse after the one in which you name them refers to each in order, line by line. I like to think so, and take Plath's love for trees as evidence; not to mention Bukowski's for beautiful young women; plus Pound's madness....
I feel this. I think I've been there.
Magaly,
ah, where's my beer?
some time ago, i stayed in an apartment that is just above a coffeeshop and some of the people used to drink deep into the night, causing all sorts of disturbances. there were fights, cops were called. yes, lots of instances to thicken the ink. :)
Rommy,
yes, if we wait for the perfect time and place to write, we may never get around to writing it. :)
Gillena,
thank you! :)
Beverly,
haha, worth a thought. or perhaps, i shall write about the time i was drunk instead. :)
Helen,
Thank you!
this is a series. #4 and #5 are in the works. :)
Robin,
oh yes, when sleep calls, no drunks or poetry can get in its way.
i used to be a night owl, doing most of my writings at night. age has caught up and i too needs my sleep. :)
Rosemary,
"A bit Raymond Carver, too.". i am pleased, and flattered. :)
i love how you are trying to see any connection between those two sets of 5 lines. i am excited that a reader sees the poem at a different angle.
i am elated by your finding/theory but i did not have this in mind when i was writing it. but yes, what is listed in those 5 lines, i have written about them before in this blog.
Thank you!
Colleen,
😁
Indeed!
Well written
Thank you, Ashok! :)
The thinking seems to be "If I can't sleep, or don't need to sleep, no one else needs to sleep either." One thing I don't miss from city life! (One of many.)
Thank you. Priscilla!
Yes, you are quite right on that. Once I stayed in an apartment in the city core, and just below on the block was a coffee shop, and there were drunken quarrels and fights almost every other nights. It was frustrating and draining. Yeah, I was glad I moved out later.
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