Daily poems

Let me remind us all that if you go to www.poets.org and sign up you can get daily, poems. Here's a shorty by Blake: Eternity by William Blake He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy He who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sunrise.

thanksgiving

Many thanks to all my friends, family and mentors. yesterday, a dear friend reminded me of that wonderful quote from Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, " The Poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven and as imagination bodies forth, the forms of thing unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shapes and give to airy nothing a local habitat and home." Today I am reading that wonderful pet from Kentucky, Wendell Berry, and since I am not permitted to quote him at length, I do encourage you to read him. Here's a cheerful song to wake up to: "When I rise up, let me rise up joyful like a bird. When I fall let me fall without regret like a leaf." You'll find this in Berry's "Collected Poems 1957 -- 1982."

Power Prompts

Nov. 16, my 68th journey around the sun begins today. Yesterday, Food and Wine magazine arrived and it sort of flopped open to a fold out that sent my imagination into overdrive. Look at the power prompts that stimulate sensual thinking and feeling for engaging the imagination for journal writing, even new poems. "Supercharge your senses." "Host a blind tasting" which I alter to, "Host a poetry tasting." "Value vs Splurge" I change to, Duty vs Dessert First. Quote from the Infiniti ad: "Performance measured as much in heart rate as it is in horsepower." I can alter to: Sensual poetry -- performance measured as much in heart rate as in mind power. AD reads: Pick scents for an aroma party ( to compare wine scents with the actual food scent they imitate. I alter it to: Pick scents for an aroma POETRY party. Ad audio ad: An audio experience crafted to reproduce the richness and clarity of a live performance. AND this ad lien prompts me to say: The live performance of the elm tree branches clattering in the autumn breeze; the song of the mother finch heard by the unborn chick inside the egg; the hum of mother to the child in the placenta, oh the music of the world, my toes talking to themselves, . . . see what I mean? open any magazine, or the newspaper, and you will see ad lines and head lines that if you alter a word, can stimulate writing that can be a fun exercise, or even lead to a poem. Exercise writing? yes, athletes lift weights all week long, but not out on the playing field. Poets lift up pens and perform exercise writing, so that when the poem arrives, we have the language skills to score with. Cheers. Oh, by the way, I made a poetry house call, with Mary, on Sunday, to a friend's home, as he was hosting a book reading group, and had a marvelous time sharing poems, and delicious food, and very stimulating conversations. You poets out there, try making a poetry house call, and you poetry aficionados, host a poet in your home with a poetry house party. Cheers. Ciletti

Joe Hutchison's Workshop

Today I salute Joe Hutchison for his splendid workshop and reading for Poetry West, here in Colorado Springs. Joe's workshop included a sharing of how the "turn" in a poem, to create a new direction in the poem, supports the structure of the content. His use of Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" provided numerous examples of how the "turn" kept the poem moving forward to richer and richer meaning. Most of all, I loved the authentic resonance of Joe's voice in the readings of his own poems. Cheers to you Joe, you are an excellent example and inspiration for us all. Joe Hutchison, living in Indian Hills, Colorado, is a veteran poet to the Colorado Poetry scene. His email is joe@jhwriter.com, and his wonderful blog is http://www.perpetualbird.blogspot.com/.