Moving past the pandemic into the panpoetic IFT

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

Hello,

Little Tommy--certainly more tinsel might have let the boy/man die less prickishly, more poetic, gentle and serene in the hospital....is that not worth anything?
Also i've missed tinsel a great deal over the years and not asked for fear of de-decorating the glow of some treasured memories.
Thanks!
SP

Thanks, SP. I also loved tinsel as a child. It seemed magical.

Hey Brian. As usual I am smiling at your thread. Great humor and little Tammy. I totally identify with the winter snow that comes after spring. I’ll admit I’m a little more desperate this year for winter to be over, whatever might be in store for us next.

I look forward to hanging with you this month.

Jane

Thanks, Jane. Winter weather was mostly mild this year. It's just---why did freezing temps come back in early Spring?

Brian, the musing in ‘This Light’ on the longer days and the spring snow shower is really nice. We had ‘four seasons in one day’ style weather this last week, with a walk in my shorts in the morning to sleet and snow by school pick-up. Spring does like to keep one on one’s toes.

I can’t see the image for ‘Solvation’ FYI, but looked it up here. Not sure I’m awake enough for complicated science, so I’ll stick to the poem. There are some telling points here for me, that the poem encourages to meet our needs with the fish, not our excesses, and that nature should perhaps be left to its own accord and not quite so interfered with. It’s a successful ekphrastic, pulling the elements of the painting into the poem without feeling the need to repaint the image for us.

John

Thanks, John. I remember thinking the link for the painting looked weird, but when I posted it, I could see it fine. However, the link was weirdly structured (unlike the links for the two earlier poems, which I hope you can see). I fiddled with the link, and I think it should be okay now.

Apart from the technical difficulties, I'm glad you're enjoying the poems.

BrianIs AtYou

[Scrow]

I'm not that I'm understanding solvation, beyond that it is something to do with the combination of organic materials (I do understand hydration). The picture is beautiful (and I can see it) and I love the word 'fishcraft' - the idea of understanding how nature works, how nature multiplies - and how it is ruthless in its own way - unlike in the Bible story, where attention was paid to the hungry multitudes.

Sarah

[Tony Hoffman]

Hi, Brian--
Little Timmy is quite funny. This Light is well crafted and to the point; I like its visual form. I was a little bit confused by the intent in Solvation, knowing that the Sea of Galilee is rather salty (though not nearly as salty as the Dead Sea)--other than the obvious Solvation/Salvation.
--Tony

[SP Singer]

Hello again,

Solvation, what a word. i thought i was being spoofed, Thanks for the link. Having worked with solvents related to woodworking i had no idea anything could stabilize inside some of them.
Favorite strophe is the last, impersonally personal reassurance.
The plain, growth producing, water from the Sea in S3 is a nice nod to everyday transformation/miracle good as those in Galilee. I like "fishcraft" will be sharing that around.

Thanks for plucking a new accord,
SP

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

I'm not that I'm understanding solvation, beyond that it is something to do with the combination of organic materials (I do understand hydration). The picture is beautiful (and I can see it) and I love the word 'fishcraft' - the idea of understanding how nature works, how nature multiplies - and how it is ruthless in its own way - unlike in the Bible story, where attention was paid to the hungry multitudes.

Sarah

"Hydration" is a synonym for "solvation" when the solvent is water; solvation is a more general term that is applicable to any kind of solute/solvent combination. The first sentence at the link that I posted says: "Solvation is the interaction of a solvent with the dissolved solute—in the case of water, solvation is often referred to as hydration."

The idea I was pursuing was to live in the natural world, absent miracles--to eat the fish, grow the grain, swim the sea--not wait for someone to feed a multitude with a handful via a miracle--solvation being a natural process, and one that could happen readily in a place like the Sea of Galilee. To be an agent of one's own destiny, rather than a passive vehicle waiting to be saved. (I discuss this with a bit more insight below, in my response to Tony.)

Hi, Brian--
Little Timmy is quite funny. This Light is well crafted and to the point; I like its visual form. I was a little bit confused by the intent in Solvation, knowing that the Sea of Galilee is rather salty (though not nearly as salty as the Dead Sea)--other than the obvious Solvation/Salvation.
--Tony

Thanks, Tony. The Sea of Galilee is somewhat salty as you noted. The salt is dissolved in the process of solvation. I was taking a naturalistic viewpoint, with the natural process solvation being more likely than salvation. Solvation becomes in this regard a metaphor for an approach to life that says that the best way to achieve a kind of salvation is through your own efforts (learning to fish, to grow grain, to swim in the lake, becoming a human solute); a small challenge to the miraculous view presented by the gospel narrative. One could view it as a continuation of the Erasmus / Luther debate on salvation by works (which is what I largely mean by the metaphorical "solvation") or salvation by grace, etc.

Your question, and those of others, has inspired me to have another go at the theme, which should show in coming days.

Hello again,

Solvation, what a word. i thought i was being spoofed, Thanks for the link. Having worked with solvents related to woodworking i had no idea anything could stabilize inside some of them.
Favorite strophe is the last, impersonally personal reassurance.
The plain, growth producing, water from the Sea in S3 is a nice nod to everyday transformation/miracle good as those in Galilee. I like "fishcraft" will be sharing that around.

Thanks for plucking a new accord,
SP

Thanks, SP. I explored aspects of my intent with "solvation" in my responses to Sarah and Tony above.

As for "fishcraft," the dictionaries in my browser and in Microsoft Word don't like it, but I do.

BrianIs AtYou

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

I did an out-of-season Christmas poem, so I thought I'd try another out-of-season effort, one more suitable (maybe) for Halloween.
---
Dracula Dissembles



When Dracula is heard to plead
with lovers, as he feels the need,
he tries to reason with their fear—
their trembling hands when he draws near.

“Do not mistake me for undead!
Please banish fear from heart and head!
Don’t call me ‘necromancer,’ dear—
but ‘neck romancer,’ loud and clear!”
---
BrianIs AtYou

ps
I learned after writing this that various punning uses of “neck romancer” (including books, songs, etc.) exist, much to my dismay. See https://www.google.com/search?q=neck+romancer

[SP Singer]

Hello again,

Dracula Dissembles--I love the absurdity of an emphatic, "Do not mistake me for undead!"
neck-romancer--unsuspecting imitation is as worthy as when 7 scientists all come upon a great idea independently within 20 years of each other.

Thanks,
SP

[anita.a]

Your poems brought some smiles... loved 'This light' the best so far!

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

Hello again,

Dracula Dissembles--I love the absurdity of an emphatic, "Do not mistake me for undead!"
neck-romancer--unsuspecting imitation is as worthy as when 7 scientists all come upon a great idea independently within 20 years of each other.

Thanks,
SP

Thanks, SP. Writing it was fun.

Your poems brought some smiles... loved 'This light' the best so far!

Thanks, Anita. Glad you liked 'This light'.

BrianIs AtYou

[Sorella]

Brian,
Finally back to love me some Brian, and your no. 2 is effortless and effective and sooo familiar to a Norwegian. Nice photo!

The Sea of Galilee - a very original take and a stunning painting. Are you saying there are no miracles!? Solvation -- terrific find (says the chemistry ignoramus), and surprising association with salvation. Link worked for me, BTW, maybe you fixed it.

Hahahaha! Me too, never heard of neckromancer till you wrote your 4th poem here, for Halloween! on Dracula, what else. Cool!

So innovative this NaPo, your thread!

Sorella

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

Dreams Like This



When I lived in rural Ohio, I had dreams like this—
a funnel cloud would impinge on my sleep,
spawning a dozen more in fevered dreams.
Nothing like this had haunted me at university in Philadelphia.
In the waking world of Ohio, I had a co-worker,
a divorcee, with three children, who admired me,
and who often said she had no man to board up the windows
or place sandbags in a wall against the chance
that Grand Lake would overflow when The Storm finally came—
and it always did, in the stories told from years gone by.

I had looked at an apartment on the northwestern shore
of Grand Lake near Celina, several miles closer
to work than St. Mary’s on the northeastern shore.
Some friends and co-workers, however, had bought a house
out that more-distant way in a new development,
but away from the lake—
with open space where their dogs could roam.

Now, neither Celina nor St. Mary’s was a Big Apple
or even a Philly or a Trenton, but I had a job to do.
Blue sky and wisps of cloud over the water
were touted as a selling point—a beautiful view
made less appealing by the history of floods.

I ended up in a village south and west of Celina—
Coldwater, Ohio—almost at the Indiana border.
One could readily drive up 118 or 127 from there
to the factory offices in Celina. On 127 South,
just outside the small city's limits, I’d stop at the gym,
six or seven days a week, every workday coming home,
and once or twice on weekends—not much to do
in small-town Ohio, even in the county seat.
 
By comparison, Coldwater was even less cosmopolitan,
but it was cheap, and the people were friendly.
No tornado ever touched down
in the year-and-a-half that I lived there—
but Midwest drought in ’88 put Coldwater, Ohio
on the national news that first summer,
corn barely a foot high, withered in the heat.

The countryside around was farmland—
corn and pigs and sheep—and loneliness, too—
especially in winter, when the snow came.
Folks told stories of blizzards in years gone by
that took three weeks to dig out from,
but this year was a case of too little and too late
to save the coming summer’s withered corn with snowmelt.

My Coldwater apartment had no furniture—
empty but for a small TV, a cardboard box for a table—
an irony that my employer then would appreciate,
a maker of fine wood furniture and upholstery.

It was far from the threatening water of Grand Lake,
and on the second floor—safer during flooding—
but no place to hide if a funnel cloud should touch down.
I had no guests in all the time that I lived in that empty space,
not even a lonely divorcee with three children.

Back in Celina, the factory town was shuttered at night,
but the union hall was full, with men on furlough
spending unemployment and under-the-table cash.
The company man wanted to crush them—
he had his own dreams as the Furniture Messiah—
and a persecution complex to match.

Whatever happened in that regard
would not affect me directly, being an IT office worker
on salary with college and car loans to pay
and my own insecurities. Yes. No. Yes. No.

Yes.
No.
No.
No.

Everything was always hanging by a thread,
and I was afraid to pick at that thread,
for fear that it would all unravel.
One month, the company missed payroll,
and Chapter 11 soon followed, with a slow bleed
of reorganization that took everyone down, union or not—
with Chapter 7 lurking in the distance—liquidation.

I found my way back to Philadelphia,
where rent in the near suburb of Media, PA,
was more than double the going rate
in the rural village of Coldwater.
But my IT skills were in high demand,
and I felt a new sense of security and optimism.
I could finally afford furniture, a new TV, and a CD stereo system—
having friends over became an option.
Here, years later, I can still see that hanging thread, though—
sometimes longer, sometimes shorter—
slightly frayed, from time to time.
I still hold off from pulling at it,

but, at least, I no longer have those dreams.
---
BrianIs AtYou

[Cameron Clark]

If it makes you feel better I had never heard of the pun, and it was the highlight of the poem. I am smiling.

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

Brian,
Finally back to love me some Brian, and your no. 2 is effortless and effective and sooo familiar to a Norwegian. Nice photo!

The Sea of Galilee - a very original take and a stunning painting. Are you saying there are no miracles!? Solvation -- terrific find (says the chemistry ignoramus), and surprising association with salvation. Link worked for me, BTW, maybe you fixed it.

Hahahaha! Me too, never heard of neckromancer till you wrote your 4th poem here, for Halloween! on Dracula, what else. Cool!

So innovative this NaPo, your thread!

Sorella

I noticed you snuck in while I was making a new post. Thanks for the kind words. As for innovation, I feel like I've been a little plain so far (at last from the standpoint of form). The newest piece is quite different.

If it makes you feel better I had never heard of the pun, and it was the highlight of the poem. I am smiling.

Thanks, Cameron. Like Sorella, you snuck in whilst I was posting a new poem; hers landed just before, yours just after.

As for the pun, the trouble with it was how to build an effective poem around it; I hope that I succeeded.

BrianIs AtYou

[cookala]

This Light - late spring snows are always a surprise, and I think you captured that. It's like Mother Nature can't resist one last jab at us
Solvation - solution (water) meets solvent (seed) and reaction occurs, seed sprouts. and I love the opening 2 lines
Dracula Dissembles - well, I've never heard of that pun either, but I like the tongue in cheek (or should I say teeth in neck) humor
Dreams Like This - that's quiet the story! but enjoyable nonetheless. and yes, life goes on, no matter what dreams may come. and at least tornadoes are no longer a threat!

[Scrow]

Hi,


Dracula Dissembles is very funny and done well.
Dreams like this is a metaphor and a storytell that’s important, I think - we learn (well, I learn) through human stories, and I find them in the poem. I feel for the men/women on furlough, for the solitary narrator, for the divorcee. The metaphor of the funnel-cloud as a thread works, and is beautifully nightmarish.


Sarah