Issue 9
Poetry Splash! - http://members.rediff.com/poetrysplash
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Poetry Splash! /_/_/-'`
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'Poetry Splash! E-zine'
Issue **009**
Date : 08 March 2000.
Frequency : Once every 15 days.
Arvind, Sangita, Pushkin Passey
http://members.rediff.com/poetrysplash
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CONTENTS
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1. Forms Of Poetry (Parody)
2. ...The Delectable, Memorable Poem... (Metaphysics -- By: Oliver Herford)
3. Poetry In/From India (Love in a Bathtub -- By: Sujata Bhatt)
4. Your Requests! (Nigel Rees on Dylan Thomas)
5. Let Us Connect With Poetry (Invest in Poetry! -- An Article)
6. A Poem For You All -- From Me (A Poet On His Craft -- A Poem)
7. Comments, Ideas, Contributions from Readers (A Bird in ASCII + Huw's
poem)
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Hello~
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius,
power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
>>Goethe.
A few of my friends asked me for a short mantra to help them begin their
romance with poetry writing. The above lines by Goethe seem very
appropriate.
It is very important that the first step be taken ... and it isn't an easy
task as one can see hard work ahead. There is an excellent phrase in
German reflecting this thought that I came acrosss the other day and I
simply have to share it with you all:
"Die äußere Einheit ist eine Chance, die innere Einheit ist eine Aufgabe."
It means: The external unity is a chance or coincidence, but the internal
unity is a work, a task.
So, poetry is tuning one's internal unity. It is really as simple as that!
One more thing ... poetry is a magic that must never be used as a tool to
destroy, hurt, intimidate,... Florence Scovel Shinn once said that 'the
game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return
to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.' If not anything else,
then what Florence has said should be enough incentive to prevent any
temptation to misuse this art-form.
So poetry indeed is fine-tuning one's internal unity!
Well, read and enjoy the poems included in this issue ... and do take that
first step to writing your first poem!
And then *send* that poem to me ... share your thoughts!
From:
asp.
PS: This issue has been delayed due to ... :-) ... unavoidable
circumstances.
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--* Forms Of Poetry
*--
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*PARODY*
This time we will not discuss any form of poetry in particular, as I would
like to share with you all a lovely example of a PARODY.
We may talk about this form in some later issue.
Lord (Gerald) Berners wrote a delightful Parody of W. B. Yeats's 'The Lake
Isle of Innisfree' which goes:
I will rise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And tell them, at the little Inn,
That there'll be twenty-four for tea.
Twenty-four ladies of the Band of Hope,
United in their hatred of the Pope,
Each one declaring loudly she would rather
Serve the Devil than the Holy father.
The bee-loud glade may hum with sounds, I fear,
Other than the murmur of the bee.
I do not fancy they'll be very welcome there --
At Innisfree.
(This parody is taken from 'The Guiness Book of Humorous Anecdotes -- By:
Nigel Rees. He writes: 'This was sent to me by Philip Lane of Cheltenham
in 1984. I know no more of its provenance.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--* ...The Delectable, Memorable Poem... *--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This poem takes you on a poetical journey where the fine tuning of
internal unity is dealt with mathematical precision!
>>METAPHYSICS<<
By: Oliver Herford
WHY and Wherefore set out one day
To hunt for a wild Negation.
They agreed to meet at a cool retreat
On the Point of Interrogation.
But the night was dark and they missed their mark,
And, driven well-nigh to distraction,
They lost their ways in a murky maze
Of utter abstruse abstraction.
Then they took a boat and were soon afloat
On a Sea of Speculation,
But the sea grew rough, and their boat, though tough,
Was split into an Equation.
As they floundered about in the Waves of Doubt
Rose a fearful Hypothesis,
Who gibbered with glee as they sank in the sea,
And the last they saw was this:
On a rock-bound Reef of Unbelief
There sat the wild Negation;
Then they sank one more and were washed ashore
At the Point of Interrogation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--* Poetry In/From India *--
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*LOVE IN A BATHTUB*
A poem by SUJATA BHATT
Years later we'll remember the bathtub,
the position
of the taps
the water, slippery
as if a bucketful
of eels had joined us...
we'll be old, our children grown up
but we'll remember the water
sloshing out
the useless soap,
the mountain of wet towels.
'Remember the bathtub in Belfast?'
we'll prod each other--
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--* Your
Requests! *--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Often I get messages that only poetry tends to lend a rather serious air
to moments ... and so why cant I include some humour associated with the
serious business of writing , reading and understanding poetry?
Well, here is the solution...
**Nigel rees on Dylan Thomas**
'Llareggyb' is the name of the Welsh fishing village which is the setting
for Thomas Dylan's much loved radio play 'Under Milk Wood' (1954). It was
originally 'Llareggub' (and, indeed, that was the provisional title of the
radio play) until somebody read the name backwards.
>>Subsequently, David Holbrook wrote a study of the poet entitled
'Llareggub Revisited' (1962). Thomas had earlier used the place name in a
story called 'The Orchards' (1936).
>>Source: The Guiness Book of Humorous Anecdotes -- By: Nigel Rees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--* Let Us Connect With Poetry *--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<>INVEST IN POETRY<>
-- From the desk of Arvind Passey.
When I was at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, the first sentence
that we heard during our WT Class (Weapons Training) from our WT
Instructor was:
'Your rifle is your life -- invest your time and love in it!'
The same can be said of poetry. Let me be a bit more expansive:
**1. Invest in your Dreams.
(1) Invest 10 minutes every day to identify an incident or thought that
need not remain fleeting. Write it down. Visualize it. Talk to yourself
about it. Ten minutes, every morning! And,
(2) Take an action step every day. Do something that moves you in the
direction you want to go. Convert a mundane moment into a rhyme, think up
a lilting parody for any advt. slogan in the newspaper, read a stanza,
break your thoughts into small sentences with a specific number of
syllables,...
**2. Invest in Time and Space.
Human beings can not do our best when we are surrounded by clutter! Peak
performance requires focus, organization, concentration and freedom. It is
important, therefore, that you consider:
...each moment as a potential poem,
...be open to unconventional ways of expression,
...ideas, other than those connected with poetry, must be kept at a safe
distance.
**3. Invest in Connectivity.
Success requires high-speed, effective communication in your relationships,
and with yourself. Invest in clarity. Invest in understanding. Invest in
patience and caring and sharing. Invest in yourself and your loved ones,
and expand your network ... send your poems to be published in the 'Poetry
Splash! e-zine'. :-)
**4. Invest in Skills and Education.
Try to practise writing in all the existing forms of poetry. Obviously, it
is essential that you first learn about them. Try to keep a track of
poetry events taking place wherever you are, and then attending at least a
few of them.
All these things will surely help you realize the great poetic potential
within yourself. But most importantly, you will have taken the first step
towards understanding your own self!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--* A Poem For You All -- From Me *--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*A POET ON HIS CRAFT*
--A poem by Arvind Passey.
What makes one write?
What brews poetry in the mind?
What brings forth words one wants?
Would staring at a book help?
Would juggling colours inspire?
Would doodling take the form of words?
Writing is as simple as breaking
An egg in a hot pan
To make something
That you know you will have to eat.
And like it too.
Looking back
You know how much it helped
To fry eggs daily.
______________________________________________
Comments, Ideas, Contributions from Readers
______________________________________________
>>>
Note: Here is a beautiful poem composed by an 8 year old ... Huw Prosser
from York, UK. One can almost hear the way the wind misbehaves at times. A
good poem to read for those who wish to take their first step into poetry
writing. This is the way the words are supposed to go about in a poem ...
mesmerized!
*WILD WINDS*
--A poem by Huw Prosser (Age: 8 years)
Blustery, wild, wooly winds
Invading leaves, roaring winds
Bags skimming treetops.
>>>
There is poetry in ASCII!
You see below, an ASCII splash --
With dollar signs just everywhere!
With dollars here, and dollars there
But poetry centered as eye-lash!!
--Arvind Passey.
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asp asp
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Please send us any thoughts, ideas, comments, suggestions,
stories, quotes, jokes or anything you feel that could help
make this a better E-zine. They should, of-course, be linked
to poetry. Please send comments to:
passey@vsnl.com
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All materials used in this E-zine are, what we believe to
be, of public domain or copyrighted articles that we have
been given permission to publish. If we are infringing on
anyone's copyright, please contact us at:
passey@vsnl.com
We will give credit to the deserving party.
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Until The Next Issue
Rhyme away your time!
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