I love it.
I did give my own poetry workshop this same assignment: write a very short poem with a very long title. Here's one I wrote myself:
What doesn't make us better makes us
bitter.
It's short enough to be put in the category of poems we can also call epigrams. Who knows? Maybe this is an existing epigram, but my arrangement of it makes it a short poem. All I know is, I certainly felt that when I wrote it, and it seemed funny to me in echoing such useful but often annoying, cloying platitudes as "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Which is probably true, but, on some days, pisses me off.
Oops, I've just had to add "Cranky Doodle Day" to the labels for this post. But I wasn't cranky when I started it. I just remembered my bitterness! Ah, the power of short poems.
And I highly recommend her book. The blog post has samples of 3 short poems, and her own blog has links to more of her poems online!
As you can see, this blog post got so dark so fast, I had to put a bird on it. By Pamela Callahan. And then another one, for good measure.
Great post. Heading over to EIL as soon as I stop typing, get dressed, and get my head wrapped around a poem.
ReplyDeleteYay, Maureen!
ReplyDeleteKathleen- You make me smile. Very fun, witty post. The poems are marvelous. Yours and Sarah's.
ReplyDeleteIn a writing class I took not long ago, we had to compose six word memoirs. I ended up writing several--it was so much fun! Here is one of mine: Kids digging in late bloomer's garden.
:)
You make me smile, too, Jayne! I love your memoir.
ReplyDeleteLove this as a prompt - I gave it a shot over at Escape into Life.
ReplyDeleteI love it, Donna! Thanks!
ReplyDelete