Week 159 (March 10-17) Poems. Topic: Micro

[Stephanie]

Interesting. This'll be fun.

[Stephanie]

I like it. It's different from what we usually do. I'm excited to write something for it.

[Kristen]

Belly, my first response was 'cute'! But then reading again, you've managed to capture that timeless theme of 'good vs. evil' in such a short little ditty :)

[Stephanie]

I love it, Belly! Beautiful!

[M]

Belly, for some reason I find myself misreading “infinitessimal” as “infinite,” then I look back up at the title and burst out laughing.

[Ryan]

Perfect, Belly! You are on fire :)

[Kristen]

Micro Mini Skirt

I see her standing there
in her micro mini skirt,
a pair of high-heeled boots,
and a transparent t-shirt.

I see her standing there
leaning on the bar
asking for some fruity drink
and revealing a tattoo star.

She stands there unaware
of how she commands attention.
Both the guys and the girls
sneak glances in her direction.

But as she stands there
I can't help but wonder
is it just that micro mini skirt
or is she truly unlike any other?

[Stephanie]

Well done, Kristen.

[Kristen]

thanks Stephanie :)

Al, I think you have an interesting subject here, keep playing with it ;)

[M]

Kristen, you did a nice job with rhyming trimeter. I find that the shorter the lines, the more difficult they are to write. The images are sharp!

I like “Unfinished,” Alex. There’s a rawness about it, a spontaneity, that makes the whole sense of it come across to me quite clearly.

[Kristen]

thanks guys! I'm surprised to hear really good reactions to it! I was a little uncertain whether I liked the ending or not myself...

[Andrea]

micro-management
by andrea

you're just so perfect for the job!
thanks a bunch! i'll do my best
don't forget to finish that
i won't
now, here's the rest

make sure you finish this task
I have it scheduled
done by noon
and this is how you write this down
you will have it soon

follow my example here
i think i have it down
read this report
i know i know
(i think i'm going to drown)

i'm just not sure you've got this one
don't fret
here, give it to me
you have to do these things just so
or they'll fall apart
oh please

good job (i knew you just
would not fit in with us here)
gee thanks (i'll go home now
i could really use a beer)

tomorrow you can finish up
there's so much more to do
great
maybe i'll just get a start
it's just too much for you

can you--no wait--i know you can't
i can (why was i hired)
nevermind you really don't know how
that's how the last got fired

that's it i've had enough of this
i honestly know my job
get off my back so i can do it
man you're touchy bob

[Kristen]

haha, his name being Bob at the end makes it so much more hilarious for some reason :) Very fun!

[Kristen]

I love how the word "micro" can make people think of so many different subjects!

[Craig]

Haha - great work. Everything is better with more Bob!

[Rikki]

Bug


Look at your hands
Then see all of me
I drowned in them
You see?


I am too measly
Old
For your full-fledged youth
You do not notice
my petty gestures

Bold is your brimming
over sized heart
Yet your eyes are blind
Too my limited art


Of my quite, whisper paintings
Compared to your
Sizable brush

Squish me now now
For I don't deserve
Your giant gaze upon me
I don't exist

Your generous portion
You have it all


Because you are too tall
And I am too small

[Andrea]

Oooooh, M, I like it!

[M]

Staves


“The thousandth-and-one of the blackbirds,” she said,
“has lit on a limb of the trees by the cove.”
A Creole stew steamed on the cast-iron stove.
A book of strange verses lay open, half read.

Though others had warned me of her spectral eyes,
I’d drawn the staved, mossed bucket up from the well,
then brought in more stove wood as long shadows fell
and icy clouds dimmed in the moon-pallid skies.

Her scarred Eastlake rocker was sprung and threadbare.
Her smile made me wonder if I were awake.
The birds, as though startled, took wing by the lake--
a vast, shifting cloak--then were no longer there.

[M]

Thank you, Andrea and Alex!

Andrea, I’m sorry I got the posts out of order! I didn’t think anyone had read it, and I pulled it down to revise it. Sooner or later, I’ll learn not to do that.

I got the initial idea for the poem (though it wound up something entirely different) from a crossword puzzle clue: “What they cook with at 1001 Blackbird Avenue.” The answer is, a microwave. The Roman numerals for 1001 are MI. A crow is a black bird. The abbreviation for “avenue” is “ave.” (MI-crow-ave.)

[M]

Thank you, Belly! I’ve been experimenting.

[Kristen]

I was wondering what it had to do with 'micro'...

[M]

Andrea, your poem really gets across the whole, maddeningly frustrating feeling of what it’s like to be micro-managed in a job.

Rikki, “Bug” is the perfect title to summarize the contrasts the poem, with great facility, illustrates.

I think the writing in both of these poems is concise and effective.

[Rikki]

Thanks M!

[Andrea]

Thanks, M. This is a real challenge for me since #1 I haven't written for years, and #2 I think my writing leaves A LOT to be desired.

[Jim]

can't find time to write these days. so forgive me for trawling from my old stuff.

-o-

Organic Geometry 2


most private spaces,
cells, laced fragility
a single dry leaf

an eye can only go
so close to beauty
without the inevitable

blur

the universe in one’s palm
lines weaving
an intricate pattern

thousands of miles
reduced to this moment
with you

March 2009 – August 2010
-o-

this poem is in my book Alien to Any Skin

[Andrea]

Very nice, Jim.

[Jim]

Thanks, Andrea!

[Kristen]

are we voting soon?

[Paula Tohline]

Well, looks like I missed out on getting one up this week. Sorry, because it is probably the greatest piece of poetry ever written! (The stuff you can't find always is). I'll try to make up for it next week. All the Micro poems are great this week (not, of course, as great as mine was, but no one else's would be!).

Think about me in the coming days and weeks. I'm having some fusion surgery on my LEFT thumb on the 29th, and it appears that I have now been declared "homebound" and will be confined to a wheelchair for at least as long as it takes to figure out what is going on with me neurologically. That neuro stuff is probably why my poems have sounded so neurotic of late. . .JOKE!!!

Thanks all, and good work every one of you, as usual!

[M]

Thank you, Paula!

[M]

Hear ye! Hear ye! All pirates of the W.S.S. The Week 159 polls are up. Cast your votes! Please don’t feed the mice.

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/80...

[Ryan]

Best of luck to you, Paula. Our thoughts and wishes are with you.

[Christa VG]

Do you want the mice to starve? What are you heartless?

[M]

Mouse #3: You tell him, Christa!
Mouse #1: You see, Earl, she’s looking out for us.
Mouse #6: Let’s see to it that she gets the best of everything, Phil.
Mouse #3: Right. I’ll tell the boys to keep her cabin supplied with honeycombs and munchies.
Mouse #8: (Chuckles) We’ve stolen enough of those to stay stocked for quite a while.

[Guy]

Excellent efforts, everyone! I'd love to review each individually, but time has been especially squeezed this week. These were all a pleasure to read.

And, Paula, my unimagined poem, neither thought of nor posted, was dreck. And best of luck with the surgery. Have you considered lyme disease? It can have bizarre neurological symptoms.