Friday, February 12, 2010

Purging Poetic Presention

I rarely use First Person.  I never consciously use Form.  I never Allude to Classic Literature. I don't use Apostrophe. I never employ Rhetorical Questions. 

The assignment for ReadWritePoem was to take one's poetry writing to the SPA and detox old habits.  This is a busy time for me - snow, travel, double duties - and I wasn't going to participate this week.  Then  I remembered - several years ago I wrote this poem because I wanted to purge my poetry technique.  There is a synchronicity in creative endeavor - what I did on my own, was exactly what this week's prompt asks us to do.  Please consider this poem, tucked away as an exploration, as my contribution this week.


Mad Mooness



I awake to find the moon
sitting on my window sill
glorifying the perfect
roundness of himself.


Aren’t you the fat fellow
preening there! Have you
stopped running to hide
behind my thumb?


Is it safe to lie here under
your cool gaze, knowing
your reputation for rascality,
your devious charms?


Or your jealousy? But surely
even Artemis wouldn’t covet
my plump body and its
lost virginity.


Maybe you’re a bodiless head,
flung into the void by your avenging
mom, a family thing.
If so, I need no coaching.


Though your shining’s turned
me blue, an unfamiliar corpse,
I won’t succumb to your
mad mooness. . .


but wait, where’d you go?
You’ve slipped from my sill
to hide behind a tree.
You are being chased after all.


                  Wanda McCollar

12 comments:

  1. To recognize one's unique, authentic voice, one must try so many that ring as "other."

    This poem is not in your normal voice, but it is enjoyable, a playful experiment. I enjoyed reading it.

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  2. I really enjoyed the gentleness and "magical" quality of this piece.

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  3. I found this piece to have a wonderfully fantastical sense of humor -- most engaging and enjoyable... bravo!

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  4. Wanda's gentle subtle humour at her best. I like all this mooness.

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  5. Charming piece - I really enjoyed this!

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  6. Thank you, everyone. Very glad you dropped by. I appreciate your comments. This was fun to write.

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  7. Nicely done, a good romp through the woods (or words). And yes, the thing about changing coats is that you can always change back again, but you never know what you'll find along that "other" way. Thanks.

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  8. I really liked this poem and the personification of the moon.

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  9. nicely done....thanks for sharing this

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  10. A charming apostrophe to the moon and the lunacy symbolised herewith.-Irene

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  11. Quite magicial and beautiful Thanks for sharing!

    Pamela

    p.s. I love Doris Lessing

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