Let's introduce ourselves

Yum. I like Chinese poetry, and of course haikus and tankas (I've heard that Finnish is the only language to which they can be translated preserving the syllable count). And yes, I do write poetry. All the time. That's why I always have pen and paper with me.

Will you be the first to post in the topic for this!

Running busy I noticed my footsteps Not going anywhere So I stopped, too. (DAMN, it is hard to translate poetry)

Fatty Moon here, first time. Brain very mushy after marathon 50th bash Saturday in the hills of North Alabama. Too zonked to say much, so I'll just drop a couple old things on ya. Fatty come back. Off two weeks for Christmas. Hoo ha! To pimp or not to pimp? God's bodikin, man! Course I'm gonna pimp! Tis better to be a living dead man than to die - you get my drift? Ahh, the world is grown so bad. You see that gold Lexus outside? Got it from pimpin'. Here, share a plate of worms with me. We'll frog our sides and talk of whores. Look around the room. Pimps and whores is what we are. We bear our birthright proudly on our buttocks. Mark me well, I'll not play the fool for no chump change. Real money's in beavers. Face it, Jack - I was born to pimp. Got a T-shirt says so. The Other Half To whore or not to whore. That's the question? Puleeze! You think I could maybe be a brain surgeon? Or maybe you think I should get my sweet ass to a nunnery. Ever think I might like whoring? I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them. O sweet heavens, do look at the time. Pray you, before I take my leave, think on this - let my candied tongue lick your absurd frankfurter, and you'll wonder why Germany ever lost the war. Leave me now. Twit!

Stands up on chair and applauds. The fatty has landed!

Gone Away My friends have all gone away What reason? To have a good time. I almost went myself. But stayed behind. They went in an overcrowded car. I was behind them. My car then broke down. Then it happened. They made a U turn at 90 mph. How stupid! How dumb I was. For I had almost gone in that car. That car then overturned. My friends have all gone away.

Hi Terry! It is me Cat from the hopeless addicts of P&P2. As you know I am eighteen and am a senior in highschool. I enjoy many sports such as soccor, horseback riding, basketball, and presently am a cheerleader. I take piano and singing lessons and as i did not mention there like to write poetry. It is something I don't really share with others. As Terry already knows I am a HOPELESS addict of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". I have two younger brothers and plan to become a vet.

This is such a lonely topic! Could it be that most people are afraid to post....feeling 'Fatty' is just too tough an act to follow???? I shall dare to offer a bit of Shelley to compete with Fatty: The fountains mingle with the river And the rivers with the ocean; The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Noting in the world is single; All things, by a law divine, In one another's being mingle-- Why not I with thine?

Such a wonderful topic.....but still so empty. Here is more of Shelley's 'Love's Philosophy': See, the mountains kiss high heaven, And the waves clasp one another, No sister flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother; And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea: - What are all the kissings worth, If thou kiss not me? (P.S. We should be noting that the 'noting' in response 8 is 'nothing! ;-)

One of my own love poems: (Not sure if I've posted this already) (Sorry, you NEVER should translate poems) *** Show me your true self So that I can Shout it in the woods And see the trees bow Tell me your name So that I can Shout in on the seashore And hear the waves stop Point me yourself So that I can Shout it on the mountains And feel the stones crack For you are Taller than trees Fresher than water More timeless than rock *** (It does lose something in the translation, I'm afraid)

Lovely, Mika-Petri. Thank you.

My God! Doesn't anyone come here? Have pity! Love is a certain something that brings me to despair. When my beloved comes to see his sad love the sunny shore will be covered with pretty flowers. But I do not see him, alas, my beloved is not coming. When he tells the breezes of his passion and lamenting gentle birds, he will teach you a sweeter song. But I do not hear him. Who has heard him? My love has fallen silent. You, pitiful and weary echo of my tears, return to him and he will gently ask for his bride. Hush, he is calling me, hush, alas! No, he is not calling me,o God he is not there.

How am I to respond? With a poem? I have many I have written.

Last Love I know that I will never love again My heart has lost its fickle wish for change. My eyes not longer look at other men And find them fascinating, new, and strange. I will not live in dreams and memories With mournful sighs because they are not true, Or try to capture vanished ecstasies, Because my heart is quite content with you. Like ashes....... I scatter my unimportant past. You are my first love........ you are my last. Written and Copyrighted 1989 By Marion I. Donegan

Very fine Marion. I hope it's the start of more postings. I'd love to read more of your poems. And welcome aboard the Spring's poetry conference.

A very interesting place here. A lovely forum with far too few poems. Really liked the works I've read so far. I'm a performance poet out of Chicago. I shoot poetry videos and have a band that plays around the city. Terry waved at my friend Tom while cruising through Electric Minds and the Unofficial Soup Kitchen and invited folks to drop in. I've heard nothing but good stuff about the poetry scene in Austin and would love to stop in for a day or two and read at a venue. a short poem d'you ever stop to notice a bubble? the delicious cacophony of melted rainbows madly encircling its globe. recombinant, glistening. burning itself into gray skin. exploding into evaporated shards. scattered breath mating with the afternoon sun.

Is there anything we can do to help you get connected to the local Austin poetry scene or hep set up a gig? Do you know Thom the poet?

Here's one I wrote a few years ago: Soaked To hold the face To kiss the eyes To press the lips Behind the lies To wade in the water To start to be drowned To fall softly under Without breathing a sound To grab for the wall To watch as it disappears To feel so timeless Showered with tears

Thank you Smoky.

i'm a poet specializing at the moment in translating spanish to english. i started doing this because i was more or less enraged to see what robert bly had done to the work of lorca and neruda. then, i started to write spanish stuff of my own. i love poetry. and i have passionate opinions about it.

You may be interested in some of Leonard Cohen's adaptations of Lorca. I know that his "Take this Waltz" is adapted from a Lorca poem, and I think he's done others.

Did you like il postino carmen?

Hello Smoky, nice poem. Hi Carmen.... Terry - thanks for the offer. As soon as I can save up some cheap airfare, you're on! I'm not really familiar with the names of the poetry venues in Austin; what's their names?

The main venue right now seems to be BookPeople, the largest bookstore in North America. They've had some packed events. It's a terrific atmosphere for poetry jams.

i have not yet seen il postino, but i bought the little book of poems that seems attached to the film. i'd like to see il postino very much, though, as soon as my schedule permits. things being as they are in my head, i have much more faith in leonard cohen's ability to translate lorca than i have in robert bly's. is there a corner around here for posting poems?

Sure is. Or you are welcome to create your own topic for your own poetry. It would be very welcome, hummie.

Does anyone live here anymore?

Yep, most of the excitement is in bronte, drool and apps. Check 'em out. What's your current interest in poetry? What are you reading?

Lately I've been attempting to create it. Always been my passion, though. My tastes are rather pedestrian, I'm afraid, by many lights...Yeats, Auden, Keats, Burns, Swinburne, etc...Don't know many contemporary poets, but my mind is always open to good poetry. I sort of participate in one poetry site on the net, but I thought it would be cool to interact with some local wannabe poets, like myself. Where are you, wannabe poets?! Anyway, I'll post something, anyway (have site- will post)... Merely earth, Oscar... What she was is here. Do refrain from "treading lightly", though. She cannot hear even a drop of rain, much less a daisy grow. I cannot feel her presence, you see. It is her absence that I know. The lack of her is what fills me now. The void has consumed the whole.

I'm physically in Silicon Valley. There is some poetry on my Web site at http://www.well.com/user/bubbles/ I'm presently in via a browser (lynx) that isn't always too good at pasting in text, so maybe I'll post some actual poetry later.

You're welcome to a shell account here Tom, if you'd like one. It might beat lynx.

I'm trying to find out if anyone knows anything about William Matthew's. I read in the New Yorker this week a new poem and at the end it had his dates.Does anyone know if and if so how he died?

I live in Austin and am looking for a poet's group. Started with love poems and such. Moving to the mundane of every day and reality. As follows: Slamming heads pitch and sway to the beat of the bass. Easing subjects slowly into walking comas. Sliding back and forth over the casserole of vomit and verve. Surrounded by a symphonic aroma of compact flesh. This is the lair of rebelious adolescence. No one questions right,wrong or indifference. Considered blatantly banal amidst comrades. Instead feed the ravenous appetite of id and ego. Tomorrow is too distant a concept. Yesterdays matter only to those who master memories. Today is only slightly closer to fathomed reality. Now, right now, occupies brain cells numbed from chemical stimulation. See them put right foot out, left foot out, shaking all about. Sinewy strands of chaotic citizenry slither toward exits. Remnants of plastic cutlery and foam plates attached to survivors. Ready to escape the next last temptation of fate. Casting out to exist with pointed passivity in sheltered society.

cool new poetry site... Diogenes Bob's Poetry Planet... http://www.angelfire.com/la/diogenesbob/index.html (it rocks)

I love writing poetry. I used to think poetry wasn't good unless it rhymed. And now I can't write rhyming poetry anymore myself! I hope it's no too boring for anyone. "Thread of Hope" holding on with only a thread of hope Products of circumstance, We roam our streets searching for what we shouldn't have Dangling above the cold, common ground of an understanding of a life that could never be But we will it to be And so it becomes the truth of our existance together An existance forbidden to be initiated but we're careless Throwing caution to the wind as always Breaking the rules, but keeping that common bond So closed to everyone, but so open to each other A decision so easy for anyone but me Anyone without my reason and my values If only this were easy, But it isn't and never will be And so the thread breaks and I fall It hurts--no lie But that's life And time passes without our permission Our hearts hoping for that which our minds wish us to forget

Very nice, Amanda, welcome and Merry Christmas.......

i like it very much...

Thank you and Happy holidays to everyone.

Wolf, great to see the new hostess has landed! If I had more time to read, I'd defenitely stay, but at the moment books are absolute strangers to me, so please forgive me if I don't stay long. I must start reading again - I'll make it poetry, so I can start coming here.

you're always welcome (and give me some time and this place will be happening!)

Oh, no doubt!

GREAT HOMEPAGE, Wolf!

thanks reitte!

Robert Frost and e e cummings are my favorite poets although I haven't read anything by either of them in several years.

well, now you have an excuse to do just that! welcome to poetry, tim....

Thank you, wolf.

Hello my name is Dawnis in here but in the real world.....or is it the other way around.... it is Debra Tenney. To read some of my poems check: http://members.tripod.com/~poetry_suite/poetry_of_debratenney.html

Welcome, Dawnis!!! and do please post some here...I will be off to read your site tomorrow...

Hi Dawnis! Nice to see you here. Dawnis is my poetry coach. I'm just now learning about poetry, at the age of 54. With the help of Dawnis, some of my prose is now finding a new incarnation in the form of poetry.

explore away! welcome and do come back often!!

(((((((Moulton))))))) Moulton already had the heart of a poet...he just didn't know it. (Dawnis giggles) Thanks folks It's good to be here. I look forward to posting and exploring. Is this the topic to post original stuff in? If not, point the way.

anywhere is fine as we usually aren't much of a picky bunch... poetry corner is the open original one...and if the poems fit any particular topic listed, then they are welcome there... (did I actually answer anything you were asking?)

Yep Yep Yep! But how do I find Poetry corner? I am having problems navigating in here since this is a new format. Below find my latest three poems. Written at Utne in the ongoing poetry game. I find the format there creates an incentive to write, which in my world I need or I get lazy. (Grin). Each poem contains 10 words chosen each week by one of the poets in the group. We write using the 10 words and then post our results and comment on each other's work. It is fun to see the vastly varied results that each of us come up with. . On Second Thought Tar Black, laconic platitudes slaughter reason. circling the downtrodden, turning away from suffering, stark naked before unseeing eyes. An invasion of armies desecrating sacred ground, in quest of the silver chalice, imposing a fatal reality, like silt enveloping fertile soil, slowly suffocating the divine center, until our planet is gasping for breath, as through a hollow reed. Myopic Reverie Laughter like Spanish moss drifts amidst balmy southern twilights. Dazzling jewels of vermilion and ginger pepper the sky, coddling fantasy like ice cubes floating among mint juleps. Silk in pastel shades, rose and lilac billowing above lace and crinoline as nubile pale skinned youth experiment, scrounging signatures in cotillion books History drained of ugly of hand-me-down calico dresses and cotton bankrupted with each punch, each bull whip, and chain. A legacy, built on sorrow. High School Sweethearts Summer tenses chafing between the beat of monsoon rain and anvil heat Desert willows bloom, extravagant chaperons of Devil1s Claw and and sandstone, returning every summer to bridge the space between my heart and commitment bagged beneath that desert bluff. Like a trapped animal something of me was lost in that first flurry of naive fervor, something more than innocence was lost as you walked away.

do you telnet in or come in from the web?

The Web.

cool...go to http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/poetry/2

Whew!!!!! I fanally found this place again. Thanks I found it and posted, Just learning how to get around in this new format. We used Motet before and then ended up in Yahoo while we looked for a new and everytime I finaaly get the basics dwon we are up and running.

Glad you found us again and hope you find us again and again! We run something called (oddly) Yapp, which is a clone of Picospan which the WELL and the River run. So folks that have been on the WELL, like Ray and Barry, should instantly be familiar with the interface here. And if you need it, I can provide you and Barry with shell accounts if you want to zoom along in a text only world.

Hello, I'm new here -- migrated with Barry and Debra, and am finding it a most simpatico place. Letter to me from myself, at 80... Oh darling one, what can I tell you from this wheelchair locked on the porch, my eyes dimmed, music mostly a memory -- that you don't know already? When your life is so uprooted and you've been so brave to get this far, yet not far enough to escape -- oh beloved, don't rush it no matter who pushes. There is time. Nothing but time and memories of vanilla pines and the salty Pacific, and fresh-mown hay under humid skies and night air rolling cool and damp over the prairie and through the stars. Breathe. Pray. You will answer your prayers. We all do. We are in this together in this wild mind, Loving and aching and in the end, sitting and feeling it all go by.

and we welcome you as well, Nan, and I thank you for sharing!

Welcome Nan, but you're not quite 80 yet, right?

nice piece, come back!

Yoikes... Sorry 'bout that being posted in the wrong topic! *blush* But thanks for the welcomes, and no, I'm not 80 yet -- that was a response to an writing exercise that wanted a letter to myself NOW from myself at 80, which happened to come out as poetry.

Hey Guys I posted in topic 8 and it did not show up on the topic list indicating new posts. I have to hit *all* and go in and find the topic to see if I got any responses... Was I mistaken when I thought posting brought it up on the front poetry page to alert others of a new post?

no you weren't. we run into glitches like this all the time. like, when you've read everything in a topic but the topic stays like you've not read anything.

It just might be easier for you to do as I do and use this to tell what has been entered recently under all categoties http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/confifty/poetry or for just poetry: http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/browse/poetry/all/new

Dorothy Epp is the newest contributor to the poetry conference, in the newest topic. She's orginally from Canada, but has lived in Austin for many years and is active in a flesh based poetry discussion group.

then let us welcome her: dorothy, already found your topic *grin* please post away!

Since I cannot do this for me, will you please create "AncientChinese Poetry" for me? Neil sends it with each email and it is so remarkable I want to share it with more than just my own eyes. Thanks, Wolfie!!!

done!

Thank you, Wolfie. The man is truly a gentlman and a scholar and an extraordinary friend who actually logged into Spring at my gentle urging. I am delighted and add another of his lovely offerings if he did not already do so. *Big Hugs* to you both!