I attended a writing workshop last weekend taught by the Oregon Poet Laureate Emeritus Paulann Petersen where I was asked to participate in a generative process very much unlike the process I am used to in my own creative work. It was a very particular kind of brainstorm activity she called “priming.” Now, as aContinue reading “#278: When I Was Away, Before I Was Born, I Have Never Been”
Tag Archives: poetry
#277: The Topography of Our Intimate Being
The Topography of Our Intimate Being is a box or a series of boxes. I’m in there, over four decades on hundreds of scattered pages, in a drawer, on a shelf, the most recent version of myself in a box on my writing desk, or, where the oldest pages are stored, in bins in theContinue reading “#277: The Topography of Our Intimate Being”
#277: Dog and Bunny Medieval Marginalia
I A dog astride a bunny is jousting to the death against a bunny astride a snail, battling while balancing precariously on a thorned tendril of a rose bush. The dog appears joyful in the face of this encounter, but both the bunny he is riding and the bunny he is battling look surprised, concerned,Continue reading “#277: Dog and Bunny Medieval Marginalia”
#276: Paradox–a Double Elevenie
On day 23 of National Poetry Writing Month, I’m back to the suggested prompts: Here are the instructions for an “Elevenie” from Napowrimo: “The first line is one word, a noun. The second line is two words that explain what the noun in the first line does, the third line explains where the noun isContinue reading “#276: Paradox–a Double Elevenie”
#275: At the Writers’ Workshop
This is a special kind of torture. On day 13 of my Whole 30 regimen, as I have sworn off alcohol, grains, beans of any kind, dairy of all sorts, cheese of all stripes, all things artificial, AND sugar, our workshop facilitator today puts a pile of candy in front of me as a writing prompt.Continue reading “#275: At the Writers’ Workshop “
#273: One Must Have Toys at Work
I had to hide my rubber ducks because for some reason my freshman boys could not leave them alone. Now they are hiding inside my office with my owl lip balm and my librarian action figure with shushing motion and my James Joyce finger puppet and my Shakespeare, complete with quill pen. They’re all gathered around myContinue reading “#273: One Must Have Toys at Work”
#272: Let There Be Rock
In the beginning Back in nineteen fifty-five Man didn’t know about a rock ‘n’ roll show And all that jive The white man had the schmaltz The black man had the blues No one knew what they was gonna do But Tchaikovsky had the news He said Let there be sound There was sound LetContinue reading “#272: Let There Be Rock”
#271: The Neologist Speaks about Food
Lately, I have had two dreams, both inexorborific, one concerning jelly beans, another about beer, farfignewtons. I will dream next about cheese. I have not had a sandwich in ten horrorflopnoggen days. Candy is no longer thingful. I wouldn’t recognito a potato chip if it bit me right on the keatettle. I’ve not had milk.Continue reading “#271: The Neologist Speaks about Food”
#270: A Poem Spoken in the Dark
I’m not proud of it, but yeah, I made it up on the spot in this video and then transcribed it. That’s why I’m speaking so slowly. I’m not drunk. I’m just trying to choose words: The reason my last two poems have been prose poems is because I have been composing them using theContinue reading “#270: A Poem Spoken in the Dark”
#269: A Letter of Gratitude to My Wife and Son (another prose poem)
Dear family, I am about to begin my journey home. Almost everything is put away and the trailer is hitched up (I never did unhitch); all I have to do now is climb in and start up the engine. It was a good trip. Even though I was with my brother and his friends, I spentContinue reading “#269: A Letter of Gratitude to My Wife and Son (another prose poem)”
michael jarmer 