Monday 9 April 2012

NaPoWriMo, day 9

Nine days, nine poems or sections of a longer poem completed. Whew. When I began, I thought I'd be writing individual poems, but a few days in, I accepted a commission to write for a Sylph Editions' booklet on Peter Coker's painting "Sunflowers." It looks to be a series of poetic prose meditations, that will hopefully also operate as independent prose poems. As my deadline is the 17th, the timing of NaPoWriMo and Bath Spa's spring break really help.

My second project is one I've long thought of, using fragments from Esther Summerson's chapters in Bleak House to create individual poems. Some critics have found her voice cloying, but I, as a fellow illegitimate, have felt her behaviour and voice motivated by the senses of not belonging and abandonment. I have been able to draft and revise the sections, but so soon after completion, and with writing so much, I find it hard to judge their quality at the moment. As others have said, that can be done once the month's over, poetic material to rework over the summer.

How are we doing now? Who's still on course at day 9?

22 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:09 pm

    Well, I have faltered slightly -- missing day 6 and writing two poems on day 7. Then I missed yesterday, and so hope to reprise my make up move today. Wish me luck. The thing is to be forgiving of whatever deviations arise, at least for me. The higher the stakes, the greater the expectations of perfection, the more the muse hides away and will not be summoned. So I still consider myself on course, with a bit of a wobble.

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  2. Anonymous9:10 pm

    The Esther Summerson project sounds interesting; I agree entirely about her half-concealed insecurity.

    I have yet to produce anything for today, and they're all fragmentary, but to be writing anything at all is astonishing and marvellous, for which I thank NaPoWriMo...

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  3. Kristina C9:20 pm

    Still there. On the day, on the lines. But damn it sure buggers up the evening if I leave it too late.

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  4. I've kept to it each day, which is nice--a good feeling to put some of my own work on the list among the rest of what I have to do. I would like to continue my practice beyond April, too, but it's always easier with someone (or a community) to be accountable to, and I don't have that so much now! Another reason I appreciate the challenge.

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  5. Been OK so far, trying to write a different style and subject each day. Done formal and informal, light and not so light, local and distant. Ideas have been occurring one day, to write the next, but haven't had anything today for tomorrow. Still, tomorrow is doubly notable, being double-figures (the 10th) and a third of the way through.

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  6. I am working on a series of short pieces, tentatively titled "Displacements/Deformation", collaged fragments from a literal translation of Atkapas-Ishak narratives recorded in 1931 when a few people still spoke the language. This is part of a longer project devoted to place, or rather to this place: South Louisiana. Keeping up anyway, which is cheerful! Thanks for the jump-start, Carrie.

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  7. I am working on a series of short pieces, tentatively titled "Displacements/Deformation", collaged fragments from a literal translation of Atkapas-Ishak narratives recorded in 1931 when a few people still spoke the language. This is part of a longer project devoted to place, or rather to this place: South Louisiana. Keeping up anyway, which is cheerful! Thanks for the jump-start, Carrie.

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  8. I've been writing a daily poem since 12/29/2011, so I've felt as if I were running out of steam. I took yesterday off, but was able to write a poem today. I'm not using prompts. I leave the poems to cool off before revision, so I'm now revising poems that are a couple of years old. Will submit some tomorrow. I often begin with whatever is on my mind. Where it takes me is always a surprise. It's almost a habit. Last time I lasted 6 months.

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  9. Anonymous2:14 am

    I am managing to keep up and in one day produced two. However, I do feel a little concerned about the direction they are taking me. I think I need to focus a little more on standard techniques and see what the outcome will be.
    Natalia.

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  10. Anonymous2:21 am

    I am finding inspiration in the mundane and managing to write daily. As to the outcome, there is bad poetry and there is good poetry. It does help that Stephen Kellogg is also attempting Napowrimo and isn't afraid to share his work on his blogsite. As, you and he say, the editing and revision can come later.

    Best regards Carrie.

    Natalia.

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  11. 100% so far :) Really enjoying the challenge so far. Today is going to a little difficult as I can't find the blessed note book where I have written all of the prompts I came up with (freaking out!!!). I will have it uploaded, whatever "it" is before 1700 GMT. I'm not going to revise anything until after I finish the challenge then I will go back through them and edit. All of mine are tagged as #napowrimo on tumblr... Ooh wait just found the notebook. HUZZAH! Update will be imminent.

    Keep writing :)

    Jack

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  12. As Frank Dullaghan has been unable to post, I'm posting this for him here:

    "I'm still in. Pretty happy with what's coming, though a few pieces feel very slight. One piece I started triggered a short story (written over the weekend) - so that was good. I have a very heavy workload coming up, including a week-long business review in Egypt. These are likely to be 12 to 14 hour days, so writing may be difficult. Then again, I'm hoping the change in location will prompt something."

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  13. Jenny Martin2:31 pm

    Both of your projects sound amazing - I can't wait to read them. I'm still happy and on track with it, though today's poem is a bit lovey and soppy even by my standards. I've also found going on longish walks is a good aid. It's kind of like throwing open windows in the brain, or something...

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  14. Diana Gittins4:58 pm

    It started well with a few short poems, but last week my sister-in-law died so all routine and space have been rather upside-down. But I am making notes and, when possible, reworking some old poems. What's good about this is that it makes me aware of wanting and needing to write poems, and from that awarenes images and phrases begin to amble in.

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    Replies
    1. Still on track, though Sunday was a close one. And yet I did write something: can decide if it was poetry or not next month!

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  15. Reissy6:35 pm

    Still there, actually wrote about 16 poems in 9 days, keep going to literature essay, then just writing another poem or two.

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  16. kit kennedy7:55 pm

    enjoying a sense of play & the unexpected with this writing project. I read the day before and then write a poem. it's joyous construction work using words & space. thanks, carrie!

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  17. I think it is reassuring to hear of the stumbling and struggles--how simple it seems at times to write a single poem a day. In fact, some poems seem to demand simmering on low heat for days to emerge and others pop out like bright, excited kernals of corn exploding into clouds. For me, this has not been a period of writing poems that feel entirely mine--if that makes any sense? I feel like I am caught in a tug of war between some sort of space of dialoguing off of others' poems and then inside me a desire to reconnect with my very own projects which are not projects I am going to publicly blog or write about. Anyway, for certain days the format of the rewords blog has felt like the fun space. But how to get deeper into my own poems in a space of pressing words out each day towards what I feel pressured into making into a finished poem? SO, is a poem a day a POEM or the sketch of poems, sometimes working, sometimes not?

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  18. Hi Carrie--in fact, the poeming has gotten me also to reflect on what writing is for me-the public and the private space of it. I blogged about that today, mentioning your blog and linking to it, at http://jenniferkdick.blogspot.fr/2012/04/april-poems-questioning-genuine-act-of.html Bises and hope you will perhaps have some thoughts back on that!

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  19. I've been travelling around and seeing people, so it's been difficult to find those temporal nooks that I need to write. Monday went for a burton, but I finished a small and snarky thing yesterday, and I'm hoping to be able to get something down today. turn push | turn pull has 15 pages now: I'm imagining it as a 28-32 pp pamphlet. so I'm pretty much halfway.

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  20. I am fairly relaxed about it. It is day 11 and I have written eight. That's actually better than beating myself up for not keeping up. I aim to write something each day, and when it doesn't happen it's no big deal. It's still a very valid exercise, and I'm writing more than my usual expected average of ten per month. Long live it.

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  21. I'm writing a series of poems based on Scumann's 'Kinderscenen' as part of a pamphlet sequence on the theme of memory.
    For a long time I've wanted to write about music, and now this idea has presented itself. It really seems to be working. I move between playing the Schumann pieces on the piano and exploring personal memories that get evoked - though some of the memories are, as far as facts go, fictitious. The poems seem to be flowing. Today found a Youtube clip of Cortot playing the final piece as part of a masterclass, with comments. Very moved by it.

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