CYNDI MACMILLAN's Blog
 Writing a biography irks me. How much to reveal? What tidbits to conceal? The Basics: I’m a 45 year-old, stay-at-home mom of an adorable two year old girl. I’m happily married to a wonderful man who is my living contradiction, the quiet to my loud, the calm to my frantic. Life continually amuses, bemuses and confuses me.
My first poem, which I wrote at five, was entitled, “Lov is Magik” and my father kept the fading, folded paper I scribbled it upon in his wallet for decades. I have tinkered in poetry ever since, but my main passion is fiction. My short stories have been published in the local papers. Occasionally, I dabble with creative non-fiction. I have a several chapters of a book completed which I’m hoping to submit to Avalon Books. Despite years of living in Ontario, I will always consider myself foremost a Montrealer. Now living in Waterloo County, home of Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry, I am content in our downsized apartment which is close to uptown, but overlooks Laurel Creek. Though considered Canada’s Silicon Valley, the city is surrounded by a picturesque countryside filled with Mennonites. It is not uncommon to see a Mercedes Benz carefully pass a horse drawn wagon. Even our local hardware stores provide parking for buggies. We have many wonderful festivals, two universities, and culture galore. I spent years as an E.C.E. teacher and adore children. Now, that I have one of my own –after 16 heartbreaking years of infertility – my days are filled with finger paints and drinking imaginary tea from tiny pink tea cups. Sleep is a distant memory and writing is my night time balm. My hubby works evening shifts. After my girl is asleep, my imagination runs wild and I write. I am a Jill of all trades. I've worked as a personal care attendant in a home for young people with physical and developmental challenges. Had a short go as a dishwasher in my younger days, oh joy. I've also been an engraver, a store manager, a cashier at the Sally Anne, but my last job was as at an office where I worked on databases (I WISH I was a geek.) As a newer member of Poetry Soup, I am often dazzled by its diversity,the quiet, shy voices, the bellows in the foreground, the cackles in the corners. There is so much talent here! I love the contests run by its members as I enjoy a challenge.
Nice to meet you! Looking forward to growing together, as writers and friends. Hugs, Cyndi
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Most Recent Blog Post
INTRODUCING MY NEW FORM: the I DO NOT CARE
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Blog Posted:3/20/2013 8:27:00 PM
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I have created a new form which I will be submitting to Soup for consideration.
The form is called .... drum roll.... the I DO NOT CARE.
Now, the I DO NOT CAREis the hardest of all forms to write. It is the opposite of the I DO NOT KNOW form. The two forms are in no way related.
In fact, the I DON’T CARE makes David’s VOW/CON sweat-maker look like a cake walk.
Here are the requirements for my new form
1) The subject matter can be anything. Toe jam. Pestilence. Butterflies. All is acceptable. But the subject must be understood by the poet and/or researched to the best of the poet’s ability.
2) The poem must make you think or feel something, anything. If the poem works better than the shopping channel at 2 am with a warm milk chaser, it can not be a DO NOT CARE. It must be some other form. It could even be several other forms.
3) Syllable count can be arranged as you see fit. The perfect word will not be tossed due to syllable count. BUT imperfect words are discouraged. Find the best words possible.
4) The following must be avoided at all costs: turtle dove. Seeing these words will result in you being publicly flogged with your own poem ( I am open to other words being added to this short list. All suggestions will be considered. Reply below.)
5) The poem must flow, yet can begin at the end and work its way back to the beginning. It’s called suspense or story development (you may tell a story with an I DO NOT CARE). Oh, yeah, this form should not stagger along nor should it rush.
6) It is not pretentious, so overblown with self-importance that it will only be understood by...well, err, yourself.
7) It is not so simple that it sounds like a third grader wrote it for her mother... with an extra-special rainbow crayon. Aww, how sweet, rhymes with tweet tweet, pitter patter little feet, down the street, what's to eat... sorry, tangent.
8) It may look and sound like any other form that has ever been created and is currently being considered. In fact, it may look exactly like ‘that’ form.
9) It may look SOMEWHAT like another form, but seems to have been slightly altered. In fact, upon further study, it has deviated from the other form with obvious intention as though the poet PLANNED the alteration with a great deal of forethought.
10) There is no redundancy, no needless modifiers, no adjective after crappy adjective filler, no three lines that say the same thing, but with so much prettier words.
11) A DO NOT CARE will be crafted with purpose and diligence. There is a reason to the rhyme, a place for the space and just the right junction for that punctuation.
12) The I DO NOT CARE form requires you to edit your work. You will usually edit it about four times before it can be called an I DO NOT CARE. Strange, huh?
13)There are a few devices used, not so many that the HEART of the poem requires Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but enough to stop the poem from being prose.
14)The language breaks all molds. It uses nouns to play spin the bottle. Verbs copulate pronouns on every line, nasty buggers.
15) Each stanza matters. Stanzas connect.
16) An I DO NOT CARE should not read like anyone else’s I DO NOT CARE. It has a unique voice and style.
17) But... oh there are so many buts... But an I DO NOT CARE can explore other voices and try on hats and shoes whenever it sees fit. It can at times be like a chameleon, other times like a venus fly trap. It borrows concepts, but steals nothing.
18) The last line, when read, will become imprinted on the reader’s brain. The last line may grope a thigh with a sweaty hand or, instead, it may lift its leg and wet a trouser leg. The line is voracious. It makes you want to go back to the beginning of the poem and read it again because you can’t imagine that poem being any other way than the way it has been written. The last line (w)itch slaps predictability (excuse the redundancy).
19) The I DO NOT CARE form requires about thirty years to perfect, give or take two decades. REAMS of paper will end up in your trash can writing an I DO NOT CARE poem.
20) Warning, please treat this form with caution. It will change you. Without your permission, your writing may improve and creativity will flourish. It is addictive. Once you try an I DO NOT CARE, you may not want to write anything else ever again. You will feel driven to write, a compulsion to let that poem OUT. You will begin to appreciate other people’s I DO NOT CARE poetry... poetry... poem? HEY!
Oh dear... this is not a new form at all. I can list a hundred famous poets who write I DO NOT CARE .... and only SOME of them are free versers.
What the hell was I thinking, foolish me.
The I DO NOT CARE form is actually called....
JUST DAMNED GOOD POETRY.
I suggest we have the ability to choose from our form list
JUST DAMNED GOOD POETRY.
BUT I wonder then who would be brave enough to select that form?
Anyone? Anyone?
Hello?
Love,
PUCK
So...?
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My Past Blog Posts
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THE IRONY OF MY IGNORANCE--RE: BANGLADESH
Date Posted: 5/19/2013 7:15:00 AM |
HO HEY: WRITE ME A PUB SONG, WINNERS!
Date Posted: 5/14/2013 9:16:00 PM |
A LOVE LETTER TO INDIA... A TRIBUTE, FOUND ON THE CONTEST PAGE, update on pub songs
Date Posted: 5/14/2013 6:47:00 AM |
PRAYERS AND CONCERN FOR BANGLADESH
Date Posted: 5/7/2013 12:34:00 PM |
Daily Haiku: The journal of Contemporary Haiku
Date Posted: 5/7/2013 5:30:00 AM |
DOES ANYONE HAVE NEWS OF OUR LINDA-MARIE?
Date Posted: 5/7/2013 4:51:00 AM |
HAIKU AND PHOTO-- Use as a prompt, share news, whatever
Date Posted: 5/5/2013 4:54:00 PM |
HAIKU AND PICTURE... feel free to use as a prompt, add a haiku, thought, news, whatever! <3
Date Posted: 5/4/2013 11:16:00 AM |
MOMMY BLOG: TACTICAL PARENTING
Date Posted: 5/1/2013 8:35:00 PM |
SOME OF THE PEOPLE ON SOUP. WHO I THINK YOU ARE. TAKE A PEEK!
Date Posted: 4/29/2013 8:14:00 PM |
SYLVIA, A CROWN OF SONNETS, FOR CRAIG & ALL PLATH FANS
Date Posted: 4/26/2013 4:11:00 PM |
Sak Vid Pa Kanpe, ghostwritten... YO RUBEN!
Date Posted: 4/25/2013 12:10:00 AM |
NEXT DARE, FIX SOMEONE'S UNFIXABLE. PROVE IT CAN BE DONE! WHO'S IN? RUBEN, I TAG YOURS... LET ME DO IT!
Date Posted: 4/24/2013 5:43:00 PM |
OH, LORD, I SWORE I'D NEVER SHARE THIS... JUST FOUND IT... CIRCA 1998
Date Posted: 4/24/2013 4:58:00 PM |
OLD SERVING OF CRAP FOR PD AND RUBEN... COME 'N GET IT WHILE IT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN
Date Posted: 4/23/2013 3:43:00 PM |
Z IS FOR ZARIA, WINNERS and CONGRATULATIONS!
Date Posted: 4/16/2013 10:30:00 PM |
NEW CONTEST, HO HEY: WRITE ME A PUB SONG
Date Posted: 4/11/2013 8:33:00 PM |
A POEM FOR FRANCINE ROBERTS, FREE VERSE
Date Posted: 4/10/2013 8:32:00 PM |
ONTARIO'S PROVINCIAL FLOWER-- Photo for all, but especially for PD
Date Posted: 4/10/2013 11:22:00 AM |
THE THORNY CROWN, A RONDEAU
Date Posted: 3/28/2013 9:57:00 PM |
SOUPERS, PLEASE READ. AN IDEA I SENT TO TPS. WATCHA THINK? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THIS, TOO?
Date Posted: 3/27/2013 4:53:00 PM |
LINDA IRMA --- PD---- LOVE AND SYMPATHY CARD, SOUPERS PLEASE SIGN.
Date Posted: 3/26/2013 6:03:00 AM |
101 WAYS TO OUT YOURSELF AS A POET. WHAT MAKES A POET... FOUND HERE.
Date Posted: 3/25/2013 5:02:00 PM |
PALADIN, FREE VERSE
Date Posted: 3/21/2013 9:32:00 PM |
INTRODUCING MY NEW FORM: the I DO NOT CARE
Date Posted: 3/20/2013 8:27:00 PM |
My Poems
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| Date Posted | Poem Title | Form | Categories |
| 5/18/2013 | POETRY | Free verse (vers libre) | poetry, |
| 5/13/2013 | MADE IN BANGLADESH | Ghazal | change,clothes,death, |
| 5/10/2013 | Contemporary haiku | Haiku | children,family,mother,sw |
| 5/7/2013 | LOVE CLAMORS, A DIRGE FOR CIVILITY | Villanelle | care,people,rights, |
| 5/6/2013 | haiku for Catie | Haiku | games,sexy, |
| 5/5/2013 | SUNDAY SOJOURN | Haibun | garden,morning,time, |
| 5/3/2013 | a cluster of men | Haiku | summer, |
| 5/3/2013 | haiku - For Moms | Haiku | life,may,mother, |
| 5/3/2013 | haiku 7 - verbless | Haiku | seasons, |
| 5/2/2013 | FLOWER FAERIES | Quintain (English) | fairy,flower, |
| 4/28/2013 | WOMEN, FOR DEBBIE GUZZI | Free verse (vers libre) | friendship,gender, |
| 4/26/2013 | SYLVIA, FOR CRAIG CORNISH, FOR ALL PLATH FANS | Crown of Sonnets | life,poets,writing, |
| 4/20/2013 | THE POET'S CREED | Free verse (vers libre) | poetry,world,writing, |
| 4/18/2013 | TYPEWRITER | Free verse (vers libre) | lust,writing, |
| 4/17/2013 | IT---FOR A TEACHER AND FRIEND ON HER RETURN | Free verse (vers libre) | poetry,writing, |
| 4/11/2013 | GET ME TO THE PUB | Lyric | funny,life,places,song,me |
| 4/10/2013 | TWELVE DOLLARS, UNLESS PRICED DIFFERENTLY, dedicated to Francine Roberts | Free verse (vers libre) | nostalgia,women, |
| 4/9/2013 | haiku 2013 | Haiku | flower,food, |
| 4/8/2013 | THE ADJECTIVE IMPERATIVE | Couplet | on writing and words,word |
| 4/1/2013 | MY JANE | Sonnet | romantic, |
| 3/31/2013 | haiku for Charles | Haiku | nature,people,time, |
| 3/28/2013 | THE THORNY CROWN | Rondeau | easter,faith, |
| 3/26/2013 | THE FIRST OF APRIL | Haibun | holiday,hope,pain, |
| 3/24/2013 | CRUCIBLE | Villanelle | hate,suicide,teen,heart,h |
| 3/21/2013 | PALADIN | Free verse (vers libre) | people,sympathy, |
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Fav Poems
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| Poem Title | Form | Categories |
| The Sowing | Free verse (vers libre) | devotion |
| Ten Little Toes | Rhyme | daughter,lifeold,old,,gra |
| Woodland Rhapsody | Quatrain | inspirational |
| Contradicting Keats | Sonnet | introspection,life |
| Surrender to Love | Rhyme | loveme, |
| A Totum Pole Ode | Concrete | native american,people, |
| MORE DREAMS TO ROW | Rhyme royal | inspirational,life, |
| FALLEN LEAF | Dizain | nature, |
| When the Tab Comes Due | Free verse (vers libre) | inspirational,introspecti |
| Lighting My Candle From Within | Quintain (English) | caregiving,introspection, |
| The Kirk by the Sea | Couplet | nostalgia,religion,love, |
| Moonlight On The Ward | Choka | health,life, |
| Nocturnal Poetry | Rhyme | imagination,life,poetry, |
| Slumber | Epic | dedication,epic,slam, |
| FROSTY MOONLIT STROLL | Couplet | inspirational,seasons, |
| Our Thanksgiving | Light Poetry | holiday, |
| Tomorrow's Grace | Etheree | peace, |
| A New Star Shines Above Hawaii | Rhyme | dedication,music, |
| UNSPOKEN | Lyric | angst,love,people, |
| Jesus, Our Savior | Shape | religion,life, |
| Monarch of Summer | Verse | animals,devotion,inspirat |
| Untouched | Rhyme | forgiveness,me,me, |
| Midnight Pearls | Than-Bauk | introspection,love, |
| Beaucoup Blooms | Terza Rima | nature,spring,spring, |
| On Heaven's Doorway | Narrative | inspirational,life,care,c |
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