Poetry Forum

clhiggins - all messages by user

7/5/2014 9:46:41 AM
Posting a poem for critique - no "enter" button?	Hi, folks, just joined and went to post a poem and request for help with scanning and line endings, but after creating the post, there is no button for "posting" the post, as I am noticiing there isn't one in this section either. I may find a way to do it, but so far it is eluding me.
7/5/2014 9:47:08 AM
Posting a poem for critique - no "enter" button?	May have figured that out.
7/5/2014 9:53:09 AM
Scanning/line endings help request	Hi - new to the forum. I have difficulty deciding on line endings, if a poem doesn't have a particular form, such as the one below. I want to present the poem so it can be read and heard by the reader as I would read it aloud, but where to end the lines? How to think about that? I try not to use commas at the end of the line, or in general, so commas may be useful, but I want the poem to look on the page the way it sounds in my head and I end up with many versions of the same poem all different line endings. Any comments at all about the poem are entirely welcome. Line endings and discussion about that would be particularly helpful. Thanks. A Good Bed of Ashes by Cheryl L. Higgins I met the year’s first frost running fence lines at dusk your coat was frozen in folds where it lay since spring I picked it from the damp stump, picked kindling and sticks and big cracked logs from the woodpile picked splinters from my sweater at the hearth and sheets from piles of old summer news. Picked a cheat. Picked a new can of lighter fluid and a lavender-scented match. Laid a new fire in the remnants of last year’s Began a new winter on a good bed of ashes. /* Style Definitions / table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} edited by clhiggins on 7/5/2014 edited by clhiggins on 7/5/2014 edited by clhiggins on 7/5/2014 edited by clhiggins on 7/5/2014*
7/5/2014 10:03:31 AM
To hear the sickle reap	I agree - there's a bit more intensity with "when", because it makes something actually happen, than does "to". "To hear" is meaningless in this instance, I think. edited by clhiggins on 7/5/2014
7/7/2014 7:17:38 PM
To hear the sickle reap	Hi - There's something we don't realize we don't need to do, when starting to write poetry, and its that "dot, dot dot" at the end of a line. You made some dashes. In poetry, you don't need anything at the end of a line, except a period if its the end of a thought or sentence. The end of a line in poetry implies a breath, a pause, a comma. No commas at the end of a line, no dots, no dashes. We know you want us to pause, and we do, because you chose that line ending. Give your reader some credit! We know how to let a pause breathe!
7/7/2014 7:21:36 PM
To hear the sickle reap	Here's my take on the form for the poem: What is it like in that moment before the end? When the abyss stares you through? I'd think you wouldn't know When the sickle reaped. edited by clhiggins on 7/7/2014
7/7/2014 7:56:57 PM
poetry forms	Forms are a fun way to experiment. I often will read a poet and like how they used form and try to break it down then try it myself. I tried a Tanka. Tanka is a Haiku, which is three lines of 5, 7, 5 syllables. Tanka adds two more lines of 7 and 7. A Tanka takes the representation given in a haiku, and expands on it with a bit of surprise or interest. For example: Tanka (by Cheryl Higgins) In the winter cold grey trees crack in the grey air an old harrow rusts The woods, waiting, draw no breath Nor can I waiting for you
7/7/2014 8:03:17 PM
Is there something I'm missing?	When I copy and post my poems to my personal memeber area, they are mashed up and ruined - all the work I did with line endings is gone, and I have to re-scan them and its worse than just typing them in. Do I have to type them in, or is there some way I can format them before cutting and pasting so that they hold their line endings? A soft enter? I am not enjoying the work after I post a poem!
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