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Monday, April 25, 2016

Brother



One of the methods I've used to learn more about writing poetry is to copy a poem by someone else, then study how that poet created the images and made the poem work. It sounds simple, but isn't.

I copy the poem longhand and leave every second line blank. Then I make several photocopies and use the pages as study work sheets. I begin by going over the poem line by line and making my own notes in the blank spaces about what happens and how in the poem; what metaphors are used and how they are working together; how the sounds of the words echo each other and echo the sense of the line, and any additional ideas this study process creates. This is a messy but fruitful project. I end up with many pages of notes.

Sometimes I learn something new about how to write, the importance of enjambment for example, the uniqueness of where the poetic line ends, or keeps hanging until the next line.

Sometimes this process leads me to a poem of my own. This poem "Brother" is loosely based on Ted Kooser's poem "Mother" from Delights and Shadows.

Brother
(after Ted Kooser's poem "Mother" from Delights and Shadows)

Late August already, and the mountain ash
sways, weighted with fruit, clusters of orange.
Colour so bright, it stops my breath.

You have been gone thirty years today
and have missed my two marriages and one long
divorce. I sat in that smothering house,
restrained inside my own ribs, until the memory
of your words pulled me out
gasping.

Late goldfinches exchange ragged feathers
for fearless wings. Hydrangeas bloom.
Sturdy white blossoms deepen dusky pink.
This season bursts into the one coming
and the air is delicious.

This poem was published in The Nashwaak Review, Volume 34/35, the Summer/ Fall Issue of 2015. Thanks to TNR for this opportunity and permission to share.

For additional information on Ted Kooser, click here. For a copy of Delights and Shadows, click on the title.

The photos and poems on my blog are copyright 2014-2016 Carol Steel, unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

My Interview by Quest





I am delighted to have been interviewed by Quest, The Prayer Bench newsletter.

Here is a link to the interview, in which I respond to questions about my poetry and which includes two of my poems: The Late Season (published by Galleon III) and The Orb Weaver (published by The Nashwaak Review).

Thank you to Janice MacLean for asking me to be part of this month's communication to the followers of The Prayer Bench. To find out more about The Prayer Bench, click here.

All work by Janice is copyright to her; my poems and photos are copyright to me. The photo of me reading at the Attic Owl Reading Series, which is included in Quest, was taken by George Griffin, used with his permission.




Monday, April 18, 2016

Common Mergansers




Hello again.

I'll share some poems on my blog from now on, but only ones which have been previously published by literary journals. The reason? Most journals consider posting on a blog to be "publishing" and will not accept anything which they consider to have been previously published.

This poem was included in the Summer 2015 Volume 46, No. 182 of The Antigonish Review. I am happy that TAR accepted one of my poems and thank them for that opportunity.


Common Mergansers

We heard them coming,
              notes out of tune,
                           flying low and straight,

racing their shadows
              over the water.
                            They splashed down

to drift and to fish,
              in front of the cottage.
                           "There's something about

these ducks," you said,
             "they take every damn trout.
                           Fishing isn't as good

as it used to be.
              Nothing is."
                            I felt the mud

cold sludge
              between my toes,
                           the strike of your hook.



A friend told me that fisher folk hate Common Merganser ducks as they are capable of cleaning out entire fishing holes with their hooked bills and efficient diving tactics.

I hope you enjoy this poem. I think it captures those moments in relationships when we each say unkind things to one another. Because we know each other so well, we know where to sink the hook.

You can find out more about The Antigonish Review literary journal by clicking on this link. Thank you to TAR for publishing my poem.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

I've Been Absent



Hello.

I've been absent from my blog for some weeks. Life has squeezed my writing out of the way for a short period. I'll be back very soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Carol