It’s funny how we run for the things on the horizon,
the storms that chase us with fierce wind and darkness as we gaze other days, all the quiet glow of the setting sun.
And we wonder, will we see another day of storm and sun?
As she watched the sun rising on the horizon
she realized that her life would also.
“On the horizon I see my future,
just waiting for me to put one foot in front of the other
and claim it.”
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THE PARTICIPANTS
Jen Tissot
Mickey Cherry
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THE POEM
This month, our poem prompt offered lots of room for experimentation as participants were asked to contribute up to three lines prompted by the word “horizon.”
For me, most of January was one snag after another as Covid number surged, events and classes cancelled, and quirky technology mucked up the poem prompt link and monthly mailing. All of which is to say that in the midst of that two poem participants picked up the ball with this reminder that while we might be in a momentary muddle, new opportunities are just over the horizon.
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This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.
BRIGHT MORNING I AM MEANT TO BE
(a collaborative poem)
Hello darkness, my old friend, as time’s incessant pendulum swings yet again.
Adios thinking, being, self-realization.
Billionaires with their dragon-hoards
Sit still and get stupid.
Fields of control rampant,
Strength in numbers, working poor,
Deeper questioning, open-ended.
Hello frigid, bright morning
There is a light on in the living room – just a candle in the window, but it lifts my heart with joy because I know he’ll be up, anticipating.
Goodbye to what you knew, to what you said,
Hello to what you will know, to what you will say.
Hello another trip around the sun.
.
She raises her hand and waves it, but it’s nigh on dark and I can only imagine her there, hand up, lips in a smile, standing a little on tippy-toe, to reach over the high gate.
Goodbye Daylight.
Goodbye short sleeves and sandals.
Goodbye the last trip around the sun.
Goodbye to what no longer aligns with me.
Hello to what I believe is what I am meant to be.
* * * * * * * * * *
THE POETS
Janet Coburn
Miki M
Maur J DeLaney
dwa
Jack
Justin Rielly
Yvonne DiVita, founder of Nurturing Big Ideas
Lynne
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THE IMAGE
Photographer and artist Anne Murphy provided the image for this poem, altering a photo she found on Pixabay. Anne was given only the prompts when she offered to provide the image.
* * * * * * * * * *
THE POEM PROMPT
Our contributors were asked to provide two lines, the first prompted by Hello and the second prompted by Goodbye. They could begin the line with those words or just use them to inspire their contribution. Their two lines could be full sentences, fragments, lists, single words – whatever they wanted. The two lines were then separated from each other and rearranged to create the poem you just read.
* * * * * * * * * *
This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.
Transition is the main theme of my life,
trepidation around stepping into the unknown.
The transition from wife to widow is like the transition from spring to winter;
something was lost in translation.
No longer allowed to teach Mockingbird?
So impossible to understand.
Did anyone fight this?
Get off your ass and do something!
I feel the sun pulling me outdoors.
Another warmest month ever recorded,
helping me transition from there to here,
never knowing if the demons in the shadows are real or only my imagination.
Sometimes the burden of coming out repeatedly is heavy, like elephants swimming.
Or transition.
Vulnerability to overflow the confines of expectation and assumption,
strength to expand into galaxies of authenticity and wholeness,
curiosity and excitement about the future.
* * * * * * * * *
THE POETS
C.W. Rainbeaux
Mickey Cherry
LDA
Greene King
Maur J DeLaney
Jack
Yvonne DiVita, Founder of Nurturing Big Ideas
* * * * * * * * *
THE PROMPT
For this month, contributors provided two lines prompted by the word TRANSITION. Those lines were then used to create a free verse poem.
* * * * * * * * *
THE PHOTO
For every poem, I ask someone to provide an image, photo, picture of their own artwork, whatever they want offer up to go with the poem. Here’s the thing: they get ONLY the prompt. They don’t get to see anyone’s submissions or the finished piece. This month, I posted on Facebook, said I needed an image, explained the prompt was “TRANSITION”, and I’d take the first image offered up and that it would be the right answer.
Beth Boatright, who’s participated before in some off these poems and gets that the process really is about making an offer and letting the creative gods sort it out, responded right away with this photo of the produce section, saying, “That’s the first pic in my camera roll that strikes me as evocative of transition. I was surprised that they [the bananas] were edible in just two days.” Perfect.
* * * * * * * * *
This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.
One of my new paintings, as yet untitled. (c) Joanne Brokaw
A note about this poem:
During the November Holiday Shop Hop at Central Creatives Co-Work of Art, I invited visitors and shoppers to write on an index card one hope they had for the new year and then clip the card to string I had hanging around the entrance to my studio. I explained that these would then be combined to create a community poem. This was the first in-person poem I’d facilitated since the Covid lockdown began in 2020.
Most people were skeptical at first, until I explained that they only had to write one hope they had for the new year – the rest of the poem would work itself out. I added that they shouldn’t try to be funny and don’t overthink it. I loved watching people’s faces when they finally grasped the concept; even the most resistant took time to jot down a thought and quietly clip it up with the rest of the cards.
Well, here’s what you all came up with!
Every contribution was included: 37 cards, 37 lines, from all ages, sorted into hopes, frustrations, and positive intentions for the coming year. The only changes I made were to capitalization and punctuation. Nothing else was changed to force it to fit. This is what is is, and that’s what it is supposed to be.
My hope for the new year is that you know that you are born of the heavens and stardust courses through your veins. May you be a willing portal for creativity, innovation, and community in 2022. xo
At the end of this post, you can read more about the Exquisite Collaboration Project, and find links to past collaborative poems.
And now, the poem….
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HOPE FOR THE NEW YEAR 2022
My hope is that Melania and Ivanka can bury the hatchet since they’ll be roommates at the crowbar hotel.
I hope that empathy find its way back into the hearts of the people,
for everyone to be treated equally,
hoping that people can be kind to each other and respect one another again.
More common sense.
Less division.
Will it get better?
For the new year, I want Covid 19 dead.
Celebrate the small things:
Happy, healthy family
Beautiful clouds
Rock hunting Lake Ontario by moonlight
Finding joy in my art
Healthy new granddaughter; a peaceful, loving community; an end to the division in our country.
I hope my fantasy football team wins.
To discover my purpose and live it every day,
I want a cat.
I would like to stop putting things off until tomorrow,
find more “heart” in all I do.
I hope for improved health and well being for all of my loved ones and a bright future for all.
My hope is to find my soul-mate in 2022.
My sister and I have a better relationship.
More open hearts, ease,
more sunshine, less pain.
Joy and self love!
Finding hope again.
My hope is for the humans to treat other humans equally,
build bridges to end these divides,
find more gratitude,
joy and peace, contentment,
the end of Covid worldwide.
I hope that I will be successful in going through the college process.
I hope my future explodes like a supernova, so bright!
To take a journey, enjoy the adventure and have a new story to share,
to be happy without others,
you are exactly where you’re supposed to be right now. You can only compare yourself with yourself.
Hoping that the world heals, in as many ways as possible.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE POETS, in no particular order:
Laurie Dobson
Chris Hipps
Lynne
Ella Eckert
Amy Krecker
Nancy@scavengedthoughts
Joan R.D.
Christina G
Wendy Kaiser
Connie Gaylord
Marilyn
Sue Anulis
Remi
Marcella
Mark Groaning
Beth
Maxwell M Clement
Alex Eckert
Toto
Lisa
and those contributors who wished to remain Anonymous
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE PAINTING
The method I use to paint requires a lot of mess, some experimentation, and then patience to let the paint do its own thing and let the images or message reveal itself in its own good time. This is one of my new paintings. It started as a giant mess – I mean, it was a disaster – and I was going just to scrape the canvas and start over. But I was tired and decided to leave it overnight and deal with it in the morning. I was delighted when I checked on it – the colors had settled and images started to emerge. It’s exactly the process we used in this poem – I took what we had and let it reveal itself when it was ready..
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This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.
I used to be in a town called Panic
in Charleston, SC,
floating in a lake of despair wondering, “How many clouds do I swallow to keep my head above water?”
I once was lost, but now am found,
involved,
trapped between layers of ether,
in steamy heat and a cacophony of cicadas surrounding me
I don’t know where I’m going now.
To the land of I don’t know?
Let it go, let it go, that perfect girl is gone,
back to Alaska someday
to trust my inner voice again and walk into the thick mist which seems to wrap its arms around me.
I’m going to create magic, mischief, & mayhem
wherever I choose.
I learned what everyone else learns – adulting can be hard sometimes.
I’m going to continue traveling because I enjoy learning about history
to embrace the chaos in order to organize it.
Together we will seek out and entwine our arms around each other like the roots of the tree and walk onward grounded in our truth,
everything, and nothing at all.
If it makes you happy do it!
You belong among the wild flowers; you belong somewhere you feel free.
* * * * * * *
THE POETS
Justin Rielly
Laurie Borcyk
Penelope Horan
Mindy Wells Hoffbauer
Mickey Cherry
Coriander in the Spice Rack
MNL
This month’s prompt asked contributors to respond to three questions:
Where did you used to be?
Where are you going?
What’s something you’ve learned along the way?
Originally, each person’s responses were going to stay together to form each stanza, but when I saw the submissions it was clear that if I removed the the sentence intros of “I used to be” or “I am doing”, collectively each person’s responses to each question organically built on each other. So in the final poem, the seven answers to “Where did you used to be” make up the first stanza; the seven responses to “Where are you going?” make up the second stanza; same with the last.
I confess that this might be one of my favorite pieces so far.
Thanks to Rebecca Flanders who has been chronicling her up close and personal interactions with cicadas all summer, and was willing to share a photo to go with this poem.
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This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.
12:59 pm. Building a kitchen, Dansville NY (photo courtesy Mike Clemons)
Note: This collaborative work was created during National Poetry Month with participants across the US and around the world. At the end, you can see a list of the participants and information about the prompt.
A DAY IN OUR ROOM
A chilly, rainy spring morning
In my Springboro, Ohio, US kitchen
Shiny granite countertops, stained-glass back splash, a blooming white orchid, new leaves emerging from acres of trees, a sleepy ginger tabby tom
My bougie cat’s water fountain, the refrigerator humming, typing fingers click-clacking away in fits and starts, slow deep breaths
A chair warm from sitting too long, the lined texture from my mouse’s scroll wheel, the random whiskers on my chin
The kitchen hand soap’s lingering vanilla scent, freshly ground coffee beans
My cinnamon toothpaste
9:30 a.m.
Rochester, NY, 2nd floor home “office”
“I Voted Today” sticker, jar of butterscotch candies, upstairs hallway, calculator, Wi-Fi thingie
Keys on my laptop, Pandora music stream, my breathing, scratchiness of unshaven face
Fingertips on fingertips (spider doing push-ups on a mirror), computer mouse, scissors
Soapy smell of hands, coffee – really, you too?
Triple berry yogurt
9:30 a.m.
Living room, sitting in my rocking chair, looking out the window
Snow, trees, yellow, pillows, hands
Birds, furnace, thoughts, breath
Mug, pen, heart
Heat, citrus
Coffee
9:32 a.m.
At my desk in an international school in Hong Kong
Smelly markers, green grass, masks, lipstick, my lunch
Vowel practice, playground chatter, air con humming, chair squeaks
Curly hair, a new wart, tangled phone cord
New Jo Malone, bleach
Lavender toothpaste
10:25 a.m.
My couch in Texas
Squirrel, creek, tree, sculpture, sky
Airplane, siren, traffic, voices
Laptop, blanket, mug
Fresh air, leftovers
Coffee
11:16 a.m.
My desk
Computer, lamp, mug, scissors, frame
Chirping, snoring, raindrops, train whistle
Paper, printer, phone
Lotion, lemon
Water
11:29 a.m.
My favorite chair in the family room, Vero Beach, Florida, US
Mug, sofa, cat, computer, bookcase
TV, traffic, air conditioner, husband talking
Keyboard, computer mouse, pencil
Remnants of breakfast, coffee
Aftertaste of peach yogurt
11:30 a.m. in the morning
Sitting at the table in my great room looking outside in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA
Birds, butterflies, books, bench, beauty all around me
Music, wind chimes, clock ticking, birds chirping
Mug, table, chair
Coffee, wet plant soil
Coffee
11:58 a.m.
East Rochester, NY, US
My sister, the television, three lamps, a dreary day outside, dog toys
Voices on a TV show, music from the same show, dogs outside talking to each other, birds chastising the squirrels in the food dishes
My iPad screen, my coffee mug, the remote
Coffee, air freshener
Coffee
Morning work hours
A safe place, USA
Roses in a vase, computer screen, credit card, reminder note, rain
Children bustling, husband’s work meeting, food wrapper, rain
Wood desk, smooth keys, cozy sweater
Dust (ha!), rain
Oatmeal
12:25 p.m.
On a couch in my daughter’s home in Lititz, PA, USA
Folded laundry, three lime green pillows, a bag of Reese’s pieces, a pencil with a cow topper, a charging cord
The fire siren, an amber alert on my phone, a ticking clock, clicking of laptop keys
A TV tray, my laptop, my coffee mug
Rotting lilies in a nearby vase, a watermelon candle
My morning coffee
12:55 p.m.
Rochester, NY, USA, my bedroom office
Computer monitor, window, printer, wall, calculator
Rain, computer fan, grandkid singing, cars on wet road
Chair, desk, keyboard
Cat box, the shoes I just took off
Left over pieces of lunch in my teeth
2:00 p.m.
Home office space, in a comfy office chair, green screen behind me, in Bangor, Maine, USA
Zoom screen, cup of coffee, water bottle, cell phone, cat
Zoom meeting, keyboard, can of air, cat
Cat, keyboard, cushion
Coffee, litter box
Coffee
2:45 p.m.
Sitting in my home office
Coffee, cat, dinosaur, cape, sword
Fan, chewing, computer humming, rattling
Lunch, keyboard, phone
Smoke, litterbox
Pineapple
3:10 p.m.
Rochester, NY
Cup, wallet, books, boxes, stars
Car horns, rock music, water dripping, bees buzzing
Alabaster, apples, records
Barbecue, cough medicine
Chocolate
5:50 p.m.
My Office Chair, Georgia, US
Paper, computer, mug, deck of cards, stapler,
Hum of the computer fan, clicking of the keyboard, my own pulse, notifications
The letters on my keyboard, the linen of my shirt, the plaque on my teeth
Leftover lunch, stale coffee
Fermenting sugar
6:00 p.m.
A Dining Room in Western NY
Chinese Checkers board, Thimk board, Parcheesi board, Chess board, Scrabble board
Neighbor’s ATV, the Thruway, clock ticking, footsteps
Laptop keys, notebook, placemat
Hand soap, coffee
Werthers
8:15 p.m.
My kitchen, Chelsea, Michigan, United States
Houseplants, ceramic piggies, stove, bananas, plates
Pages flipping, refrigerator humming, dog whining, husband talking
Measuring cup, spatula, oven timer
Bacon, peanut butter
Syrup
10:45 p.m.
In bed in Rochester New York
Philip Glass reminds me
The hours that pass by blindly
While it snows in April
I am lost in thought through mines
From borrowed ideas recycled like the cans on these pages
12:30 a.m.
Bedtime in an American suburb
Two black cats, one yellow dog, my 4-year-old daughter, a wall full of art
White noise, crunching, a snoring cat, my own heartbeat
Fur, a warm cheek, a cool window
Vegan cheddar puffs, damp sphagnum moss
Cinnamon
Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry comprised of short lines that don’t rhyme but work together to create powerful imagery. For this Exquisite Collaboration, participants were asked to write a haiku following a 5-7-5 syllable structure. The following prompts were offered for inspiration.
– exploration/discovery
– joy/happiness
– fear
– technology
– community
You’ll notice that one of the verses doesn’t follow the haiku format. That’s the test entry I did to make sure the form worked before the prompt went live. I forgot to delete it from the contributions but when I saw it I realized that it still worked as part of the collaboration.
I’m trying these days to embrace mistakes as creative gifts. This was one of those mistakes.
I used to be in too much of a hurry to notice the little things, but now I am more intentional and focused and thankful for nearly all of it–even the stuff I wouldn’t choose, for it all contains a lesson.
I used to be together, but now I am scattered, lonely, alone.
I used to be the happy, hopeful mother of two living children, but now I am a grieving, sorrowful mother who has lost one of them.
I used to be hopeful but now I am cynical.
I used to be hopeful but now I am resigned.
I used to be a garbage can collecting all the sin, but now I am a refrigerator that has to stay plugged in.
I used to be good looking but now I am old
I used to be a public frog but now I am nobody
I used to be moldy, but now I am cold-y.
I used to be tan, but now I am not.
I used to be troubled but now I am better.
I used to be an empty rain-catch but now I am a reliable well.
I used to be busy doing, but now I focus on being.
I used to be young and ambitious but now I’m older and wiser.
I used to be the guy saying ‘stick it to the man’, but now I am a safe, careful part of the establishment machine.
I used to be a scientist, but now I am an experiment.
I used to be the one who asked the questions, but now I am the one who knows the Answer.
I used to be unsure, but now I am aware that I don’t have to have all the answers.
I used to be opposed to opposition, but now I am content embracing hugs.
I used to be too old for this shit but now, thank heavens, I am a child again.
I used to be young, wild, and free but now I am old, wild, and free.
I used to be a guitar but now I am a trombone.
I used to be timid, but now I am fearless.
I used to be burning, perhaps not the fire, but the wad of documents, flaked edges aglow, the light hypnotic, paper on the verge of becoming ash, a supply of memory, the inked word shrinking into nonsense as they were consumed; but now I am rising, a spark gleaming in the air, the cascade of heat shimmering above the coals, the searing chronicle of the blaze.
Earth sunrise greets astronauts aboard the International Space Station; taken Apr. 8, 2015. Courtesy NASA free images.
a note on the final poem of 2020:
For this final exquisite collaboration project of 2020, almost 40 people from around the world contributed one sentence expressing a hope for the new year. These sentences were then sorted to create the following poem that, despite everyone contributing independently of each other, echoed common themes of peace, health, and the desperate desire to hug again.
I want to thank everyone who participated in these poems this year. Facilitating these gave me a creative purpose during the pandemic lockdown and put into action what has been my writing motto for more than 20 years:
Connect. Inspire. Change the world.
May your 2021 overflow with all things beautiful, and may we have many more opportunities to create magic together. xo
Joanne
If we all treated each other and the planet with kindness and respect,
Then there would be no need for war,
And the world would be at peace.
If you recall, a hooded stranger ran up to me in the street.
Then I greeted them warmly, and asked them to join me at the community faire.
And the world sang joyously at our arrival.
If the skies burn and the storms rage and the winds rush and the seas churn
Then no human life will have the privilege of comfort and safety
And the world will laugh and dance to celebrate the new life to take our place.
If I could climb to the top of the apple tree
Then I could breathe in fall like the starlings and the last of the butterflies
And the world would hurt a little less.
If they told me to go home and make crafts with my daughters
Then I’ll craft my ambition to show them what’s possible
And the world, doubters and believers alike, will watch me rise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE POETS
Kay Ross
Coriander Rainbeaux
Maur J DeLaney
Carrie the Bat
H.H. Wood
The poets hailed from Hong Kong; Rochester, NY; and Pennsylvania.
THE ARTIST
The video presentation of the poem was created by Crystal Hayduk, who also provided the poem’s title. She hails from Michigan.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE POEM
For this poem, each participant wrote three lines that together form one stanza or thought.
Line 1 began with the word “If”
Line 2 began with the word “Then”
Line 3 began with the phrase “And the world”
This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work one bit at a time, with no one seeing what the previous participants contributed. The goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment.
I am an imperfect beast
I am here to solve more problems than I create
I came from bigger places
I am going somewhere worse, hand basket free.
I believe hand baskets are for sale, but I can’t afford them.
I am dandelion fluff and dewdrops
I am here to enchant and to vex the minds of small mice
I came from the edge of the meadow where the pine trees nod
I am going to the midsummer fair to buy milkweed and maple sap
I believe in stardust and salamanders.
I am a masterpiece in progress,
Working on my canvas every day.
I came from the earth, the stream, the stars, the wind.
I am all those things now, and will return to their pure forms once again.
I believe we are all connected to each other and our universe.
I am me, soft, old, pliable, feminine me.
I am here to pave the way for the next generation of dreamers to become believers.
I came from the stars and to the stars I will return.
I am going everywhere and nowhere.
I believe we are on the edge of a great discovery that will change the world for the better.
I am different things to different people but to myself I am just me.
I’m here because my parents created me.
I came here from another state.
I don’t know where I’m going as long as I’m going and hopefully it’ll be fun.
I believe that someone, somewhere will eventually answer any and all questions we really need the answers to.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE POETS
Lori B. Duff
Carrie the Bat
Mindy Wells Hoffbauer
Jan Heverly. Writer.
Mickey Cherry
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE POEM
For this poem, each participant wrote five sentences, one each in response to these questions:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
I believe…
Everyone participating responded to the same prompts without knowing how the others responded and how (or if!) the verses would work together as a whole poem. The goal was for participants to turn off their internal editor and reflect for a moment on their own moment in existence. The end result, posted with almost no editing offers a glimpse into our interconnectedness.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work one bit at a time, with no one seeing what the previous participants contributed. The goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment.
“Gretchen and The Bear” by Carrie Anne Noble is available now from WordCrafts Press.
As part of the online book launch party yesterday for “Gretchen and The Bear”, by my friend, the delightfully talented Carrie Anne Noble, I invited readers to contribute to a collaborative poem.
Ten people participating, providing five random sentences in response to five prompts. I then arranged the sentences according to a pre-set pattern to create the poem you’re about to read. Note that no one saw what anyone else was writing, and that no verse contains more then one sentence from the same person. You can read more about the prompts and how they were arranged at the end of the poem. Here’s what they created:
I am a genderless perfectly flawed human being.
I am a healer, using sound and the written word to transform the impossible.
I arrived from a time full of fear, anxiety, depression, and suffering.
I am walking into the unknown, with faith, strength and hope.
Alas, I am a wizard.
I have come forth to warn you of magic not yet known.
Stillness has come across the land, but I have not come from a place of stillness.
It is here creativity emerges! With the swirl of time and space together as one!
I am a mother, a ghost-writer and a pianist,
reaching out to relieve my boredom.
Stuck in a city without peace and justice,
longing for a place with true freedom.
I am just another wounded soul, wandering, stumbling, hiking, running, skipping (sometimes, rarely), creeping, crawling, spinning, swirling, swaying, moving, journeying through time.
I am here to live, and then die, which is a good thing in the right season.
I came from a long line of people, starting with Verity Tree-dweller from Central Africa
and going to death
I love to love and I love to laugh.
I am here to abracadabra Magic Makers.
I came from some blip in the twinkling stars some galaxy somewhere.
I will go when my earth job is done to lands who knows.
I am the unicorn, an angel, or a mermaid-
I have come to carry you through a time of dismay.
It was human imagination and folklore that created me to
Stand by your side until you can stand alone.
Now I am an orphan —
Looking for family without the blood connection.
What began so conventional, nuclear,
Moves toward something wholly of my own invention.
I am a mighty river, slowly altering my course.
I am the result of a million tiny decisions.
I come from a sacred place, where thoughts and dreams arise.
I am sailing a course, charted by my wisdom.
* * * * * *
THE POETS
Coriander Rainbeaux can be found IntheSpiceRack.com
Fred Dean says “Writing gets me to the places I’d rather go when I do not know how else to get there.”
Judy Lam is a Hong Kong-born pianist. https://judylam.wordpress.com/
Laura V.N.
Sheryl Hooi, a curious smithy of all sorts.
Kathy Ann Morris Self-proclaimed poet since age 8
Leslie Joan Millenson
Laura Fleming
THE POEM
Participants were asked to write four lines, with a prompt for each line:
Line 1 – Who am I?
Line 2 – Why am I here?
Line 3 – Where did I come from?
Line 4 – Where am I going?
None of the contributors saw what the others wrote; all four of each contributor’s lines stayed together as one stanza.
Note: this is the last in this poem in this phase of our Exquisite Quarantine Poem project. I can’t thank the participants enough for their time and effort!
But that doesn’t mean the collaboration is over! As we begin to venture out of The Pause and into our “new normal” lives, I’m simply rebranding these projects as the Exquisite Collaboration Project. The goal is the same: to bring together strangers who will contribute individual parts to make a collective, creative whole.
As I sit at home on day whatever of the quarantine,
Contemplating how many days it takes to use a roll of TP,
I have seemingly endless hours to watch my grey roots grow,
And ponder, “Is it just a matter of choice to feel connected?”
One click to see a face long absent,
Glowing screen a beacon in the dark
Miles traversed in seconds
Intangible strands linking voices.
Phone, phonetic, frantic connection.
Hello? Speak to me.
I’m alone, lonely, bored.
Can’t you feel what I’m feeling?
I’m grateful; peaceful. I’m feeling quite blessed.
I have shelter; food, and a furry nice guest.
He comes every morning, eats, then sits in the sun.
He’s the sweetest companion; the very best one.
He’s the one who watched and waited silently as I shed my hair and picked my nose
and ate the last few crumbs of brittle brownies flung with abandon by angry children locked in high chairs when we grew too tired to chase them.
Shaking skittishly, I realize suspicions of the subtle snobbery of surreptitious scarabs savoring tidbits of that which it was he was.
Wresting the last sweet smell of baked cinnamon buns from that brown, embarrassingly frayed cardigan, I turned toward no one as I start to weep.
* * * * * *
THE POETS
Mindy Wells Hoffbauer is a professional explainer, still trying to figure out what she wants to be when/if she grows up.
Robin Murphy
Kay Ross lives in Hong Kong and is the Head Tour Guide in The Playground of Possibilities. https://playgroundofpossibilities.com.
Allia Zobel Nolan writes about God and cats….in that order.. www.AlliaWrites.com
Michele Manting is the Artistic Director, Vintage Improv Festival www.vintageimprov.com
THE ARTWORK
There were some starts and stalls with the artwork for this poem, so in the end I chose “Operator”, by Jim Croce. It just felt right.
THE POEM
Contributors were asked to write four lines of free verse. The first contributor was given the prompt “Disconnected”; each of the other contributors got to see only the last line of the previous verse.
Why do I have to notice everything?
Because acting aimlessly misses the target
If you take off your mask.
Then yellow became my signature color.
I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener.
Why do we close our eyes when we kiss?
Because when you don’t raise kids, you can’t mess up their lives.
If one doesn’t nurture their own personal narrative
Then Humpty Dumpty wouldn’t fall.
I wish I had tried harder.
Why do you always have to say that?
Because she put all her eggs in heaven’s basket, she stopped living in the now.
If they didn’t acknowledge me on Mother’s Day, I wouldn’t notice.
Then I would have taken more solid, pure, possibly different actions.
I wish I was a creative genius.
Why do masks make us feel both safer and more alone?
Because there’s always time to get a DeLorean.
If my dog could talk, I’d know the secret to contentment.
Then I would not be a mother.
I wish I was more aware of my personal narrative earlier in life.
Why else would it matter?
Because of that night, we never made it to Saratoga, or the concert.
If this works, we’re going to be rich.
Then maybe all of this would make better sense.
I wish I never gave birth.
Why would anyone else?
Because the collective is the whole.
If Sheila had given ten percent more effort, she would have earned that scholarship.
Then, you won’t believe it, I just got up and walked away.
I wish I had asked my mother how she felt when my brother died.
* * * * * *
THE POETS
Teri Foltz is a playwright (Teri’s Play Date on YouTube) and a poet (Green and Dying on Amazon)
Sara Moore www.hypnohelpcounselingservices.com
Sam Cardamone is a native of Buffalo, NY now living in Rochester and, as of late, desperately trying his hand at improv.
Jason Rugg Instagram: @deviations_in_the_dust
Jenean Roth is lover of words read, written, spoken, dreamt, and arranged in entertaining ways.
Stephanie Lewis is wondering should we be on lockdown or locked up? Onceuponyourprime.com
THE POEM
This poem was an experiment in a word collage, similar to RESTRUCTURED. Without knowing anything about what the final product would look like – or seeing a prompt or the line before theirs, as with the other poems – six contributors were each asked to provide five unrelated sentences: Continue reading “Exquisite Quarantine Poem: UNMASKED”
Notes From The Funny Farm 