Charlene Delfin's Blog, page 5

I Am Made of Salt

 

I want to go beyond

Every single limit,

But I still have the bond.

Don't cry, don't throw a fit.

It's all made of moonlight.

It's not real, it's not right.

Think of him in the air,

In the shades of the sky,

Growing on trees of care,

And never wonder why

He appears to exist.

This vision does not cease.

Travelling through these walls,

It curves, it climbs, it falls

Through time and many halls.

I open my cold hands,

But they disintegrate.

Cubes sliding on these lands,

After decades of wait,

Finally out at sea

To be the real old me.

Welcome Home

 

Stepping into the shade,Away from distractions.Let the world's noises fadeWithin these protections:Lines of shelves of old booksFor any soul that looks.
Open a hardcover.The aged, brown pages.Ridges on the cover,In all the past ages,Were felt by fingertipsOf the most curious minds.Lose your realist binds.
Forget about today,All things dumb people say,And the popular way.
Stepping into a worldThat exists in your heart,Where you never get oldAnd everyone is smart.Breathe your life to this placeEvery day for all days.

GloPoWriMo 2023

Hello, readers! I am finally back and I will be participating in the GloPoWriMo once again! This event used to be NaPoWriMo when I started participating in 2014. “NaPoWriMo” stood for “National Poetry Writing Month”. It started on April 1st in the EST timezone. As the years went by, they noticed that there were poets from other timezones. So they came up with GloPoWriMo in 2016. “GloPoWriMo” stands for “Global Poetry Writing Month”.

What is GloPoWriMo?

GloPoWriMo is an annual event that takes place during the month of April. It's a global celebration of poetry, where people around the world write poems in response to prompts and then share them online. The purpose is to inspire others with your words, share your story and connect with other writers around the globe!

You don't have to be an experienced poet or writer--everyone can participate!

Why Participate in GloPoWriMo 2023?

Participating in GloPoWriMo 2023 is a great way to improve your writing and meet other poets. The benefits of participating include:

A chance to share your work with the world! You can upload your poems onto social media, or even submit them for publication.An opportunity to get feedback from other poets who will be reading your work during the month of April.The chance to make friends with people from all over the world who share your passion for poetry!How to Prepare for GloPoWriMo 2023

To get ready for GloPoWriMo 2023, you'll need to create a writing schedule. Don't worry--it doesn't have to be perfect or even final yet! Just set aside some time every day or week that works best for you and stick with it. You can always adjust your schedule later on if needed.

Once you've got your schedule set up, it's time to get motivated! Find inspiration in everything around you: nature walks are great places for poets because they provide lots of new images and ideas; reading other people's poetry can inspire us as well (especially if they're writers we admire). If all else fails, just start writing down whatever comes into your head at first--the important thing is getting started!

Tips for Writing Poetry During GloPoWriMo

If you're looking for some advice on how to get started with GloPoWriMo, I've got some tips for you. Here are some techniques that can help improve your writing:

Keep a notebook with you at all times so that when an idea strikes, it doesn't slip away before you have time to write it down.Read poetry often--the work of other poets will inspire new ideas and help improve your own craft as well as give insight into what works best in poems.Practice reading aloud what you've written out loud; this will help identify awkward phrasing or confusing syntax before anyone else has had the chance!Sharing Your Work During GloPoWriMo

Once you've written and edited your work, it's time to share it. There are many ways to do this during GloPoWriMo, from posting on social media to submitting your poems for publication in print or online magazines.

Here are some options:

Post your poetry on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. You can also use these sites to connect with other writers who may be participating in GloPoWriMo as well!Submit your work for publication at an online magazine like Thrush Poetry Journal. This will help you get more exposure for both yourself as an author and the global community of poets who participate each year!How to Celebrate Your Success After GloPoWriMo

Once you've finished your poem, it's time to celebrate! There are many ways to reward yourself for completing the challenge. Some people like to take a break and relax with friends or family, while others might want to treat themselves with something special like going out for dinner or buying a new book.

If this is your first time participating in GloPoWriMo, then consider taking some time after the event ends (on April 30th) to reflect on what worked well for you during this process. You may want to create an archive of all of your poems so that they can be revisited whenever needed--this could include printing them out or saving them digitally on a computer or phone app such as Google Drive/Google Photos/Dropbox etc...

Conclusion

Now that you've learned about the history of GloPoWriMo and its benefits, it's time to get started! If you're new to poetry writing, don't worry--you can start with something simple like a haiku or limerick. If you have experience with traditional forms like sonnets, go ahead and try those too.

I encourage everyone who participates in our global community of poets from around the world to share their work online at any point during April 1st to April 30th.

Happy Fiesta!

I was just in Barangka, Marikina City for preparations for tomorrow. It's surreal when I walk along a street and people stop and smile at me lol I grew up in Barangka and they still remember me as a little kid. I've recently been catching myself doing the same thing when I see children who've grown up. It's nice.

I took the photo above only a few hours ago. Tomorrow will be the fiesta of Barangka. A fiesta is a Filipino tradition that originated from the celebration of farmers for their good harvest. In modern times, we celebrate the date of our fiesta with street dancing competitions, music and other performances. Our street dancing is consisted of tribal war dances, complete with tribal clothes and face paint. It's a colorful and upbeat celebration of Filipino culture and tradition.

Everyone is invited to our fiesta. Sadly, I wouldn't make it tomorrow. I'll be somewhere else. I hope that it will be as great as it was back in 2008, my last year as a Barangka resident.

My poem, "Whatever," was inspired by a group of artworks. I just listed down the words that the artworks made me think, and put them together in a poem. I was trying to create a poem that expressed so much emotion. I think that I lost the rhythm by the final stanza, though. I was distracted by then.

For the final day of NaPoWriMo 2015, we are being made to write a poem in reverse. Another option is to take a poem that we published earlier this April, rewrite it from the last line to the first, and do any needed changes.

I've been nervous about what might be the final challenge for us, because it might be the hardest challenge. But this one is fun. I chose my poem from "For Day Fifteen." That poem had a certain rhythm and pattern where the beginning connected with the end. I wrote it in the same way that I wrote my first book, "An Unknown Narrator." So it's easy to write this poem the other way around. I didn't have to do many changes.

Poem My Dear
Only your humble words.
More than their deadly swords,
Though nothing do you have,
You're element of cope,
You're defining love,
You're the whisper of hope.

Just like the bull's eye darts
In the most serious arts,
O you live in the hearts.

From the word that starts do,
Blend like a tornado,
Where all water and fire
For life, and you agree
In same way you inspire,
In the same way you free.

Emotions sure you squeeze
As fragrant as the breeze.
The sweetness of beauty,
Inspiring sound of force
Desiring unity.
Words that convey colors.

Finished!

Camp NaNoWriMo 2015 word count: 50,088

I won in Camp NaNoWriMo 2015 by going past my goal word count of 50,000 words and I finished writing "10th Commandment" by reaching that sweet ending scene. The only thing that needs to be done to "10th Commandment" right now is some mixing and organizing of the scenes, additional scenes and, of course, editing. I need to organize the sequencing of events and make the names match. Because sometimes, just to keep writing, when I don't remember a name, I just write any name. Like, Randy becomes Ben in the middle of the book, and Mark in the end.

No matter how hard I try, though, "10th Commandment" just always ends up being wild. Maybe because the real-life inspiration behind it wasn't happy. I've tried making the book happier, but ... if the previous version had chase scenes and beatings, the latest version has murders and stabbings. There are just some ideas that keep leading to the same thing. Maybe novels are more similar  to poetry than I thought.

In poetry, there are ideas and topics that, no matter how I try to fix, keep turning into something twisted. That's why I choose my topics carefully. Odysseus and Socrates inspire good poetry. Odysseus inspires both romantic and universal poems. Socrates inspires poems that are all about dignity and sacrifice. I've had inspirations in the past who caused nothing but turn my poems into something weird, that I never wrote about them again. Writings tend to depend a lot on the inspirations.

I think I should just share parts of the novel here after editing, and see if it's really horrible. Even though that would be hard to do, because it has profanities and is basically R18.

On my own, of course, I love it because it's, well, it's my book. The settings are amazing. The transition of the characters from emotion to emotion is so natural, that it's like they come to life. The villain totally came to life, saying and doing things I never thought I could write. And he sure said and did a lot. I just worry a lot if the story will make people happy. It's a world where the outlaws and the law-enforcers are united, and good people find few places to hide.

Honestly, I'm exhausted after all that writing and has been dying to get my life back. I always do my best to sound happy after winning in the NaNos, but when I look back on this post years from now, I'd think that it sounds cranky. I like to look back to all of my winner postings, but often end up wincing at how cranky they sound. Even nice words can't cover up exhaustion.

For the NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Nine challenge, we are to write a poem that reviews something. It's kinda hard to do because reviews tend to focus only on the main points and are often impersonal. It's just all about facts and honest opinions.

For my poem, I reviewed the place that inspired my villain's home. It's the most beautiful place in the Philippines, in my opinion. Been dreaming of getting back there this whole April. I chose it for this kind of poem because it ensures that there will still be poetry basics like beauty and desire.

The Good and the Bad
You will love all the view,
All the smooth mountain slopes.
The tree leaves remain new,
Rustling like singer hopes
For sweet beauty of life.
Nothing but peace, no strife.

On the flip side of these,
You'll only be raided
By fierce people who miss
The cash that once aided
Their far and high living,
But please don't go leaving.

Stay only for this view,
Despite the things you knew
And although your cash flew.

For what good have we done
To observe this beauty?
In other worlds, it's gone,
Gone from earthly safety.
Cherish what's long ago,
Cherish before we go.

Near the Point of No Return

Camp NaNoWriMo 2015 word count: 46,545

I tried to finish "10th Commandment" last night.

I've created a new writing playlist, "The Third Move." "Liwanag sa Dilim" by Rivermaya is a Tagalog song whose title translates to "Light in the Dark." It's actually the quietest song from Rivermaya. The song follows the same theme as all of the other songs in the playlist. I just need to add some shine of goodness in the plot.

By 4am, though, a woman I'd call Edna asked me to visit a link on my laptop because she can't visit it from her laptop. I did. But once I was there, she said that her own laptop finally reached the link. She said that I didn't have to help anymore, and told me to close my browser. So I closed my browser and went on with writing.

About two minutes later, she asked me to visit the same link on my laptop again. She said she lost connection to it. I opened my browser again and went to the link. Once there, she said that she had reconnected. "Close the browser again." I did.

This went on for more than three times. It would have been fine if I was just watching videos on YouTube or talking with a friend, but writing a novel requires my full concentration.

It was like, So I'm in this scene where the search spans a wider area and Gerald learns that one of the volunteers has the same name as him. He is worried, and the volunteer is concerned. They learn to get along as they speak. Then I have that full impression on my mind and write through that. Then someone would interrupt, making me do a whole different thing.

It's like the whole world of my fiction dissolves into thin air when she interrupts. And after she makes me close the browser, I'd recreate the scene on my mind again. And then it gets dissolved by her again. And so on. I got a terrible headache in three minutes.

After around her fifth interruption, when she told me to close the browser again, I just sarcastically said, "No, I'll wait until you make me open it again."

I sat back, closed my eyes and tried to think of nothing to let go of my headache. These headaches don't come from sleeplessness or hunger. They come from frustrations. After listening to some songs and watching funny videos on YouTube, my headache was gone. But it was replaced by extreme sleepiness.

Woke up a few hours later to hear a woman, who I'd call Maureen, yelling at Edna about disturbing her while she was working at her laptop. So Edna didn't stop. I had a schedule to chase NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Eight, but the two women were totally angry. Maureen was accusing Edna of intentionally destroying her work, and Edna was accusing Maureen of having been angry all along. Then their argument reached many different topics that had no connection to the present.

When they're like this, they'll include anyone who they see in their fight. I know them well. I had three future scenarios:

1. I'd wake up and go to my own laptop. They'd pick a fight with me. I'd refuse to be provoked, and just suffer as they pelt me with their insults for hours. But I'd still publish my blog post on time.

2. I'd wake up and go to my laptop. If they won't stop yelling at me, I'd fight back. And win. And get excluded from their social lives for one month because I won another argument with them. That has happened so many times before. They hate it when I win because I'm far younger than both of them.

3. I'd pretend to be asleep until they finish fighting.

I chose the third scenario. Keeping up with the time zone of NaPoWriMo just doesn't seem to be worth having to suffer like that. That's why I'm late today.

By the way, I reviewed "The Interview" on Bubblews the other night. Now, I'm still looking for something to review.

For NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Eight, we are to write a poem about a bridge. There was only one bridge I can think of that I've always written about in my poems.

I actually kind of hate this poem because it's abstract and it goes back to my old form of poetry: elegy. I wrote a lot of elegy when I was a new poet. It's inspired by what most people call near-death experience, or NDE. It's inspired by my own NDE. It happened sometime between when I was 11 and 15. My old poem, "NDE," was also about it. (Photo credit: me)

The Travel
All those lights and shadows.
World of joyful voices
In the comfortable glows
Of my old friend no less.
Just following the light
Of my real home tonight.

And leaving the living,
So all these pains shall go.
Here I go, no feeling.
Their happiness grow
As I leave for their side.
By their calls I abide.

A connection between us.
What's between will and was.
Like mirror, like a glass.

I almost crossed the bridge
That was offered to me,
For there was not a ridge
And they made me feel free.
One day, I'll go back there,
Though I do not know where.

Trying to Create Perfect

My mother, eldest sister and I went to Sparks Place, Cubao yesterday afternoon. We chose the table near the door (and near the glass) of Chowking. My sister said that she was going to wash her hands, and walked to the sink at the other end of the room.

My mother got worried that my sister was taking too long, and stood up to go there also. I just waited for them, alone and eating my halo-halo. Halo-halo is a Filipino delicacy that consists of the sweetest fruits, sugar, ice, and other sweet food. Suddenly, a gigantic woman was standing next to me. She was holding a sharp umbrella toward me and cleared her throat in the most threatening manner that she can muster. Suddenly, my mother came running back to the table. My sister came sprinting across the room and passed Mother, putting herself between the woman and me.

The woman still tried to get to me, but eventually gave up. When she went out of the store, she stood behind the glass next to me, pointing at me and yelling. I smiled at her. She winced and shifted her attention to my mother instead, who was standing beside me. She was still yelling at my mother as she walked away.

I'm not one of those people who panic, lose their minds and become uncooperative afterwards in such situations. People often describe me as "scarily cool and collected." My family and I went on eating, laughing about what happened.

People from my family and crowd often end up in these types of incidents. I remember when I got my first death threat during my teens, my sister was like, "Welcome to the club."

In "10th Commandment," I spent last night being undecided whether to continue altering the plot, or to just leave it alone. When I first read "10th Commandment" some nights ago, I thought that it was excessively dark. I was gloomily staring into space after reading it. It was only an hour later that I recovered, and started taking notes on how to provide some brightness in the overall impression of the book. Those were the new characters, plot twists, and ideas that I added.

The only thing I'm going to do right now is to keep on writing the new plot, and see how it mixes with the previous version. If it doesn't feel right, I'll remove it and revert to the previous version. Also, I came up with a better ending scene and included it in the outline.

For NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Seven, we are to write a hay(na)ku. It's invented by Eileen Tabios and named by Vince Gotera. It's a variation of the haiku.

The form name actually made me laugh because there's a Tagalog expression that sounds like hay(na)ku. It's "Hay, na' ko!" We have a province where the locals have a distinct accent (Visayas), and their version of it is "Hay, na' ku!" Both versions roughly translate to "Oh, my God!"

Not only does my poem use this new form, I also wrote it using a new technique and a new inspiration. I still haven't figured out how I really did it, but it's most like my art technique when I was a teenager.

I loved to draw and paint during my teens. One of my techniques was dropping colors and ink on the sketch pad, and drawing and painting wherever they dropped. There was just something perfect about natural. This poem is similar to that, but I'm still figuring out if the poetic result is as beautiful as the visual art result. I removed the punctuation marks. (Photo credit: me)

Whatever
Wow
Beautiful face
Move, speechless me

I
Cannot think
What is this?

Reverse
Upside down
Oh my God

Fierce
But soft
Hold my breath

Woah
Mysterious evil
Loss for words.

The End is Only the Beginning

Camp NaNoWriMo 2015 word count: 43,715

Was on Facebook last night, when a notification suddenly popped up that one of my friends in the Nepal quake was safe. Then another notification showed, saying the same thing about another friend in Nepal. I checked the notification, and learned that Facebook already has this feature that allows international friends to check if their friends in certain areas are safe during disasters. Nice new website feature, Zuckerberg.

I'm glad that my friends in Nepal are safe. There's a talented poet there. He recently got a job as a writer in their local newspaper.

In Camp NaNoWriMo and "10th Commandment," I spent midnight describing a crime scene. Crime scenes in movies are made to be presentable, far from the truth about real crime scenes. I've seen real crime scenes. Was walking to church one morning when I passed by this empty lot and saw a corpse of a man with a hole through his head. I've also been to other crime scenes. Now, I'm divided between making my descriptions close to reality, or following the conventions of storytelling.

For the NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Six challenge, we are to write a persona poem. I've written persona poems since, like, I started writing poems. That has been my reputation in poetry: poetic shape-shifting.

My poem today is written from a pen. It's calling to the poet, who's been killed by "kings." Despite its longing for the poet, it also hints that it will soon be taken up by a new poet. This pattern of the poem actually demonstrates the story of poetry and literature since the ancient times: it never ends. It's a cycle that goes on and on, continuing to reflect reality beyond their creators' lives.

This poem also gathers inspiration from all of my other poems where I mentioned my pen. Like "Apollo" (one of my poems that are dedicated to the Greek god of poetry), and "Memory" (my poem about the eternal power of words). There are many previous poems from me that got mentioned a bit in this. Also, the title is another version of my old poem, "Rooster."

When my classmates and I graduated from our HarvardX Humanities course, we wrote letters (partly in Greek) to our professor. Some of us gave him pictures of a rooster. It's in reference to Socrates, with whom our course ended. Socrates said that he owed a rooster to Asclepius before he allowed himself to be executed. It's about the end of his life only being the victory and continuation of his cause. (Photo credit: me. The pen that I mentioned in "A Bow to the Queen," the one that hasn't written any great poem yet. I have four different handwritings and I used the one that I use the least for the photo of that post, intentionally messing it up to hide its real appearance and hide my character from the poem. Just a bit of art.)

For Asclepius
Hello, my long lost friend.
Since I lost you to sleep,
I thought this was my end.
For I no longer weep
Away my dark color
For all of your deep lore.

All of my soft tears stay
Within the cold of me,
No longer filling day
With a fragrance so sweet,
The fragrance of all words
That can break the kings' swords.

O we don't have to speak
To make the nations weak,
To make their secrets leak.

Loved to feel your embrace,
And we danced in the night,
Caught in your secret grace.
But when kings use their might
Take you away from me
Your thoughts I can still see.

Quotes from My Novel

My family tried to finish "American Sniper" again last night. And failed once more. Mother noticed me getting bored, and switched to "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies."

Even though not the best among all LOTR movies, the last one of the second trilogy still has some of the elements that LOTR fans loved. The theme about the destruction through greed, the whisperings, the possessions, and more. I've been an LOTR geek since I was a kid, and had even tried writing my own fantasy novel at the age of 11. Oh, I've got too much to say about the whole LOTR world and might make this post too long again. So I'd better stop talking about it right after this period.

For a little side topic, in 2014, the Armed Forces of the Philippines made a special showing of "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" to raise funds for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Educational Benefit System. My friend once asked me, "What's the significance of 'The Hobbit' with the military community?"

I'm not sure if they did the screening because of any significance. All that I know is that the original creator of all things LOTR, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a war veteran. His novels actually once got criticized because they focused on war, but that's the reason why we love LOTR. Tolkien's trilogy gives a calmer, softer view on war and everything that happen in it.

I think that the original trilogy was better, though, especially "The Fellowship of the Ring" --- alright! I really should stop all the LOTR talk right here.

After watching the movie, instead of writing, I simply read the whole "10th Commandment." Just had to make sure that it was really finished. Finished reading the book by 4am.

The verdict: "10th Commandment" is still not finished. I added scenes, plot twists, and characters. I added all of them to my novel outline. Here are some quotes from my characters - taken from different parts of the novel - that I'll be keeping. They are from Evelyn (protagonist), Gerald (protagonist's best friend), and the villain. I'm keeping my villain's name secret because the story actually begins with him, but not as the villain.

Evelyn: "I've always noticed. I've always noticed that I have this element in me that destroys me. It inclines me to do things I shouldn't do. Like I want to kill myself. The question is, will it really kill me?"

Gerald: "Because, sometimes, you look at the same things too much, that you actually see nothing anymore."

Villain: "There is always that time in your career when your success becomes more powerful than you. Your reputation spreads far and wide, and everyone creates a persona of you that is far greater than who you really are. Everyone comes to you, expecting magic. Your creation gets distributed to many places, and you are barely keeping up with the speed of it. What can you do? You are only human with only two hands and a single head. I had to lessen my work, I had to leave, or I had to ask for help."


Currently listening to my fave playlist on Spotify, Ultimate Epic Movie Scores. Planning to review "Troy" on Bubblews.

For NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Five, we are to write a clerihew. According to Wikipedia, a clerihew is a quatrain that features a famous person in an absurd light. The first line has the person's name, and all of the lines have an irregular pattern (despite a strict rhyme scheme).

I was still feeling grim from reading "10th Commandment" when I started writing a poem for the challenge, and my first victim was Justin Bieber. No matter how hard I try, I just can't stand Bieber music. One of the good things about my new address is the lack of Beliebers.

I later found a better victim for today's challenge, though: Harry Styles.

This kid and his band have always been one of the targets of my sniggerings. My friends and I just like laughing at them. Alright, Directioners, the band does serve an important purpose in this world: making us laugh.

Don't get me wrong. Those kids are actually awesome. It's just that I prefer to listen to other music. (Photo credit: me)

Harry Styles
London Bridge falls and Harry Styles.
Women so great he beguiles.
Two dimples and a hairdo.
He's sneaking out with somebody new, whatever paparazzi do.

Looking Back

Camp NaNoWriMo 2015 word count: 41,672

I finished writing the story of "10th Commandment." I certainly enjoyed writing the finale. Now, I will just spend the remaining 8,328 words on the scenes that I forgot:

When my protagonist's best friend revealed his correspondence with his other friend, and what Evelyn can expect from the correspondence in relation to her situation.Evelyn watching "Traffic." In my first draft of "10th Commandment," I used the movie as a vehicle for the theme of the story. In literature and poetry, authors and poets use popular titles and ideas embedded within the story to hint the theme of the story. In "The Talented Mr.Ripley," it was the bust of Roman emperor Hadrian. In the "Illiad," it was the shield of Achilles. In "10th Commandment," "Traffic" is only one of the many vehicles. I already mentioned many years back that my novel was going to focus on the manufacturing and distribution of cocaine.
I mentioned in my previous post that something happened to my family last year. I didn't clarify because it doesn't have anything to do with writing.

Last year, my eldest sister taught me how to shoot. She used the techniques that my father had taught her. According to the people who watched me that day, it was the highest score that they saw a beginner make. They called me Sharpshooter since that day.

I think that shooting the right target only needs strong awareness of how the air moves and carries bullets.

In poetry and my participation in NaPoWriMo, my poem in "A Bow to the Queen" was originally inspired by actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. In my opinion, the actress with the best side-view is Carrey Mulligan. But Catherine Zeta-Jones has played characters who are so worth being described in poetry. I just created my own drawing of a woman, and described her roles through the woman's head. I had "Entrapment" in mind.

My poem in "Monday the Menace" was directed to, um, well, my pillow. It's partly inspired by my friend's expression whenever she was feeling like being lazy, "I can hear my pillows calling me."

Most of my poems that look like love poems are directed to non-living things, especially Internet connection. "Lonely Blue" and many others were inspired by broadband.

On Bubblews, I reviewed "The Shining" and "The Ghost Writer."

For NaPoWriMo 2015 Day Twenty-Four, we are being challenged to write a parody poem of our favorite poems. Even though not my favorite (my favorite is "The Odyssey" by Homer), I chose "Purple Cow."

There are so many great poets on the Internet right now, even ones who are way younger than me. Reading their poetry is breath-taking. They are just amazing! That's why I was surprised when I read "Purple Cow." It was supposed to be famous. Maybe there is something more to the poem than what it appears, but I chose it as the topic of my poem today.

My poem warns readers about nonsense poetry, providing comparisons and alternatives. But the poem also lauds the poet, Gelett Burgess, as it admits that his poem did get me thinking about purple cows. Even though short and puzzling, his poem did get me pondering on the idea of a purple cow.

"Fore" is a golf term. It's what golfers shout when telling others to dodge a flying golf ball. (Photo credit: me. It's my stock photo from my other blog. I uploaded it when I was writing about what inspired the mansion of the villain of "10th Commandment." There are no drugs on the real-life location, though.)

Fore!
Poetry should inform.
Poems should make you think.
The inspiration form.
Beautiful words that link.
I saw something nonsense.
It doesn't make much sense.

Wastes reading energy.
So what about purple cows?
Rather write Elegy,
Than a poem that bows
To human silliness,
And great mental blankness.

Although on second thought,
A purple cow I sought
From the poet's own thought.

Never seen one before,
But, well, oh, my, oh my,
Readers, tell others, "Fore!"
How he made my thoughts fly
Toward a purple cow
Made me a purple cow!