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Poetry: New Adventures

While I’ve always admired and enjoyed poetry, the skills it takes to craft such beautiful imagery within the framework of a poem have eluded me. In an attempt to improve my writing all around, I enrolled in a poetry class specifically designed for fiction writers. We meet once a week and have assignments that I find both challenging and enjoyable.

I’ve decided to be transparent about my journey, as a way to chronicle my exploration and perhaps inspire others. Here’s the culmination of my first week’s work. There are three free-verse poems.

  1. A poem borrowing heavily from Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky”
  2. A poem critiquing something we dislike in genre fiction
  3. A combination of the two poems

I hope you enjoy my first, clumsy attempts. As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

Part I: My gimble love

we were to meet near the Tumtum grove
sweetest Mimsy and I
in the wabe of the bright callay moon

vorpal drunk on too much gyre and honey-wine
myriad dreams rollicking, frolicking
singing multitudes, manxomes, moments

yet snicker-snack, quicker-quack and outgrabe
you caught me instead
slithy and slimy-the ultimate uffish trickster

tying my hands with rough tulgey strands
behind my burbled back
whispering wicked words under frumious breath

wound and wound, like ugly bandersnatches
to silence whiffling cries
hands and heart knotted, cold as beamish bears

you couldn’t let violet joy breathe between
sweetest Mimsy and me
no, not with such a frabjous, frivolous hallow heart

oh, what will become of me, dearest mome
without my gimble love
stuck within the fettered borgogoves for all eternity

Part II: Too sweet for me

Super sweet taffy names
sticky, pointless, giant cones of
toothaches
you feed them to me relentless
as if more is more is more
confused I throw you down
and you smile and tell yourself
it’s me
who doesn’t
get
you

wheels of definitions, connections
turn in place while
story gets lost under
sideways leanings
cleverness loses characters
messes mess with me
wondering
where
did the
story
go

where is the truth behind
the many, many words
names, places, movement
half-light and half-truth
half right
don’t tell me a lot of nothing
tell me all of one thing
I can
believe
is
real

where is the soul of the sweet
the ingredients of the truth
the messy darkness
cloudy with connections and conversations
the door within the door
the dream within the dream
truth 
I can
truly
feel

don’t just tell of deeds done
action, reaction, repeat
but the why and the why and the way
curiouser and curiouser
deeper and deeper
secret journals
in watery caves
monsters within who
fight
with 
gospelly
fingers

give me contradictions wrapped in truth
make me feel something I know
make me know it again
with the kind of 
unexpected gasp
I won’t, can’t forget 
so when I close the book
your words live
inside
me
forever

Part III: Lover, tell me more 

in the wabe of the bright callay moon
you feed them to me relentless
as if more is more is more
confused I throw down
singing multitudes, manxome, moments
you smile and tell yourself
it’s me
who doesn’t
get
you

slithy and slimy—the ultimate uffish trickster
turning wheels of definitions, connections
sideways leanings behind burbled backs
messes mess with me
whispering wicked words under frumious breath
to silence whiffling cries while I’m left
wondering
where did
you
go

untruths hidden behind many, many words
wound and wound, like an ugly bandersnatch
messy darkness stuck in action, reaction, repeat
half-light and half-truth—half right
vorpal drunk on too much gyre and honey-wine
don’t tell me a lot of messy nothing
tell me
the thing
I
seek

unwonted discovery, hidden verity
knotted, cold as beamish bears
door within a door—dream within a dream
secret journals in watery caves
frabjous, frivolous hallow hearts
monsters who fight with gospelly fingers
everyone, anyone
stripped
naked
real

let violet joy breathe between 
contradictions wrapped in truth
lost and found within the pulsing borogoves
make me feel something I know
but make me know it again
with unexpected gasps I won’t, can’t forget 
your words 
alive inside
me

my love

52 thoughts on “Poetry: New Adventures”

      • I’m just starting, really, other than some free verse in journals I’d be mortified for anyone to read. It does feel a bit more vulnerable, as it strips away the barrier between you and the words. There is no hiding behind characters-its more like trying to capture a moment or feeling through words. It feels so much more intimate.

        Liked by 1 person

      • It does and it is! Sometimes it can be really hard to use descriptive words correctly when you’re writing poetry and trying to catch a readers attention in poetry is a lot more complicated as well.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Yes! I often hear people say they don’t “get” poetry, but I think that’s perhaps because they aren’t allowing themselves to be still long enough to savor how the words sound and the images they invoke. I subscribe to Poem-a-Day and I’ve been reading some really amazing poems. I think the brilliant ones are those that are straightforward, but with some kind of double meaning that comes at you in a wave at some point. Like it sneaks in…and then you are left a little breathless. I am not sure it’s in me for create something like that, but I’m sure going to try!

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Loved you determination to write poetry. I can assure you it is well worth the time and effort!
    I would highly recommend reading the book “POEMCRAZY” it dramatically helped me.
    Especially how to keep and use a Word Bank/Pool as a source of inspiration.

    I would also like to encourage you to try writing Elfchens – 11 words in five lines. Simple, fun and meaningful. Here is a great post about it. One of mine was included. 😊
    https://stepsinbetween.com/2020/02/02/youre-invited-elfchen-poetry-potluck/
    Chuck

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you! I just ordered the book and I look forward to reading it and seeing where it can take me!

      Those Elfchens not only have a delightful name, but look fun to write! I’ll for sure play around with that style.

      Like

      Reply

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