The Interloper Journeys From Page to Page
Between the lines each poet writes
there is room for my bold new thoughts.
Beneath the bright ballooning moon
she walks quietly through seasons
where even a bare twig trembling
in the bright mid-afternoon sun
bows to the bronze garden Buddha.
Within the walls of my own house
a slumber of tranquility
claims our lives each night as we wait
and watch the ten o’clock world news.
We see bent old men, children and women
in Africa or foreign lands
telling the same stories we tell.
These are the pictures of our souls
like wind blown thistles in a bush—
we marvel at the gray white light
reflected through thinly painted
trees where a dragon lady struts
through bristling silence bearing
a bleeding heart saved in Mama’s
rosebud teacup. No! I do not
have to invent my tales—no one
bangs the drum slowly or scribbles
in a notebook while a painter
hangs his landscape in my blank mind.
I have a hole in my hurt heart…
blown there by gossip one black night.
The future is always empty—
more clouds today than yesterday
obscure my unique odyssey
of discovery—the night comes
with a million stars, a black sky…
my hair so white, my journey long,
I thread my way through the vast space
and the stranger I come to know,
wears my clothes and uses my name.
Were I to see no more beauty
in my life, I have seen enough
to be content with what poets
write between the lines in their books
beneath the bright ballooning moon.
Construction of the Found Poem: The Interloper Journeys From Page to Page
This poem is constructed of mostly random lines selected from poems of poets appearing in the main index of Sketchbook Poets in the November / December 31, 2012 Issue. I opened each page, read the page, selected a line that I liked because of its poetic tenor and then listed it randomly. Once the lines were selected I began to arrange the words into a poem; the original text from the resource is in black and my words and alterations are in blue. About half way through the process the title emerged in my mind. Below are the exact lines excerpted from the texts, the genre and the title of the verse as well as the author. I have also included the link to the web page of the original verse. I spent approximately seven hours completing this process.
Resources:
“threading his way through them” from Free Verse Found Poem: Adding Insult to Injury by Neal Whitman, US.
“the night will come with a million stars” from Ghazal: Before His Eyes by Sunil Uniyal, IN.
“The future / is always empty” from Tanka Prose: The Carmody-Blight Dialogues, 1-3 by
Charles D. Tarlton, US.
“a stranger I came to know,” from “Silver Anniversary” by Brian Strand, UK.
“An odyssey of discovery” from Yugen by Vania Stefanova, BG.
“like a wind blown thistle in a bush” from “Area Code” by Zvi A. Sesling, IL.
“You take pictures of my soul” from “Moon of Sadness” by Iolanda Scripca, US.
“a dragon lady struts” from Kyoka by Shanna Baldwin Moore, US.
“and marveled
at the gray white light reflected
through thinly painted
trees… “ from “on the bus ride from Marco Polo Airport to Mestre” by Norman J. Olson, US.
“Bristling silence” from Yugen by Georgi Milev, BG.
“his hair so white” from Haiga “old man with crutches” by Christina-Monica Moldoveanu, RO.
- http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook6-6NovDec2011/Sketchbook_6-6_NovDec_2011_I_Cristina-Monica_Moldoveanu_Haiga_old_man_with_crutches.htm
- “I have a hole in my heart…blown there by gossip” from “Malady” by Tracy McPherson, US.http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook6-6NovDec2011/Sketchbook_6-6_NovDec_2011_I_Tracy_McPherson_Free_Verse.htm
“More clouds today than yesterday” from “Found Poem: The Modern Day Romeo and Juliet: Ebarrassed To Talk About Love” by Karina Klesko, US.
“not a scribble in the notebook” from Haiku by John Kinory, UK (England).
“bearing your bleeding heart” from “Concrete Poem: On Your Birthday” by Munia Khan, BD.
“in Mama’s rosebud teacup, “ from Rhonwen Cordelia Weatherstone by Elizabeth Howard, US.
“I have to invent my tales,” from “The Absence of Mind” by Jan Oskar Hansen, PT.
“in a slumber of tranquility” from “Winter Night” by Bernard Gieske, US.
“Within the wall of your own house” from “Rough Winter” by Joseph Farley, US.
“we wait and watch the news,” from “in between” by Joseph Farley, US.
“bent old man” from Haiku by Tatjana Debeljacki, CR.
- http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook6-6NovDec2011/Sketchbook_6-6_NovDec_2011_I_Tatjana_Debeljacki.htm
“telling / the same stories” from “Cinquain: Christmas Song” by John Daleiden, US.
“I bow to the Buddha / teaching the Wisdom” from “Five Bows” by Matthew Caretti, US.
“In the mid-afternoon sun” from Haiga--”close to my house” by Richard Biscayart, US.
- http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook6-6NovDec2011/Sketchbook_6-6_NovDec_2011_Haiga_Richard_Biscayart_04_Right_close_to_my_house.htm
- “Between the lines, room for thoughts” from “Sketchbook ~ Acrostic” by Karen O’Leary, US.http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook6-6NovDec2011/0_Contents_Sketchbook_6-6_NovDec_2011_Index_Sketchbook_Poets.htm
“She walks quietly through the seasons” from a review of an’ya’s book, Seasons of a hermitess, 101 haiku by an’ya, US.
- http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook0-0BookFair/Sketchbook_Book_Fair_an_ya_Seasons_of_a_hermitess.htm
“beneath ballooning moon” from “Black Lace Netting” by Karin Anderson, AU.
“she signals him with a glance /ly” and / or “the painter hangs his landscape /t”
From Renku ~ Yotsumono* “A perfect day” by Tomislav Maretić, CR and Lynette Arden, AU. Tomislav Maretić, CR and Lynette Arden, AU.
“No one bangs the drum slowly” from “The Swirling Dust: A poem for Kell Robertson” by AD Armstrong, US.
“Were we to see no more beauty in our lives,” from “The Path to a Village” by Helen Bar-Lev, IL/
- http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook6-6NovDec2011/Sketchbook_6-6_NovDec_2011_I_Bar-Lev_Free_Verse.htm
“even a bare twig trembles” from “Even a Bare Twig Trembles“ by
Danica Bartulovic, CR.
1 comment:
John, quite an achievement. Wonderful creation. Thanks. I am glad to be a part of it. It's rewarding to recognize so many familiar names. Bernard Gieske
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