Why write and share? "What constitutes the dignity of a craft is that it creates a fellowship; that it binds men together and fashions for them a common language." Antoine de Saint-Exupery in, Wind, Sand and Stars

The Taste of

Fabulous evening last night. Mary and I made a "Poet's House Call" -- invited to a friend's home, where 10 of us enjoyed dinner then shared favorite poems, including Ferlinghetti, Langston Hughes, Sara Teasdale, Bukowski, etc. This morning I was reading La Cucina, the Italian cooking mag. The back cover has an ad for Rose liquor with the lead in line of: "The Taste of Love"; the inside cover was an ad for a coffee maker with "Simple Pleasure," and an ad for their sponsors with gourmet magazines, the line, "Across North America." Voila. Re-arrange the lines, found poem that can be a power prompt: Across North America Simple pleasure The taste of love when You kiss your mate before going to work The smile from your baby Sunlight in the bare winter trees The taste of love when You walk in the door, tired from work And smell heavenly dinner aromas Holding your lover's T-shirt to your nose and enjoying the memory of last night Well, you get the picture. WRITE ON

New Years. I think of Ralph Hodgson's poem, "Time, You Old Gypsy Man" and suggest that you Google it. Its brief and timely. Today the weather an responding to the cold brings this short, almost Haiku: Crunching through the snow Freezing wind bites my face. Arms Loaded with firewood.

writing is work

So, now that I have made the fire in the fireplace. added water to the heated bird fountain, fed the cats, cleaned up wrapping paper, and procrastinated as much as possible, I will sit down my butt and write the Christmas story that has been on my mind for three days.

As you may know, I had knee surgery recently, that and other life challenges knocked me out of both energy and motivation to write here. I like today's crossword puzzle clue, a quote from the French novelist, Albert Camus, "A work of art is a confession." I say yes, especially when the work of art springs from our deepest emotions, values, knowledge, etc. I had to stay in bed with my leg higher than my heart -- keep fluids from pooling in my leg and foot. So I had time to read magazines and clip out what I call "Power Prompts." For me a power prompt is any phrase, or memory, that prompts me to respond, either with words or actions. Most of these came from lines in advertisements in magazines: unmask yourself a second chance for in case you forget introducing anti-aging benefits (A the fearof growing old -- emotion based -- poetry) baffling behaviors (A good prompt for a short story) experience good clean sense I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT THESE, like, "What anti-aging benefits? to be able to hear the worm eating through the bark of the tree? like knowing how to rise to heaven and return in two seconds?" but you get the point, so take on and write, or open a magzine and find your own power prompts, their triggers for what lies within us.

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/.

A Day In The Life Of A Poet

Yesterday, a wonderful audience of 6th thru 10th grade at MacLaren Charter School here in Colorado Srings. Afterwards, a 6th grade student asked me if I wanted to hear one of her poems and I said yes. She said, "First I was a seed, and then I sprouted, and then I became a flower, now I'm a seed again." I praised her for the lovely words and the idea within them, and then her mother arrived and she hurried away before I could get her name. And driving home Rumi's words came to mind, "For ten thousand years I was a mineral. The I was eaten by a plant and for ten thousand years I was a plant. Until I was eaten by an animal, and for ten thousand years I was an animal, until I was eaten by a man. Note, how Rumi's poem dead ends with death by man. But the girl's poem continues the life cycle.