Friday, March 17, 2017

A Jealousy Post

Slice of Life and Poetry Friday Post.  See Two Writing Teachers and Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge for more great links!


"I am not inspired for writing green yet.  Maybe a tad jealous. We are so snow covered and cold, even the spring Jo-Ann Fabrics flyer feels out of place!  Tomorrow's post maybe!"

This was a comment I made yesterday.  I quickly copied and pasted it here yesterday.  Then I came back to it this morning and realized I hadn't copied or written where I'd left the comment.  Oh, well, at least I still have the idea!

Maybe.

I'm not sure where I was going with that.  Wish I'd written just a bit more to jog my memory as to the points that were on my mind at the time.

Do you ever do this?  You must.  You are writers.  Writers write down their ideas that come to them at inopportune times so that they will remember them.   You can probably tell the age or stage of a writer by what they do when an idea comes to them.

If you are new to it, you just think.  You don't even know you have an idea (though that happens to all writers at some point).  You don't see that fleck of dust just waiting to be written about, expounded upon.

As you get more experienced you see the dust, and try to remember it.  We all after a dozen times doing this, realize that just doesn't work.  Sometimes even when we know it won't work we try to do this still.

Then comes the stage of carrying a notebook - at least I think this is next... no.
Then comes the stage of wanting to carry a notebook and pen.  You usually have a pen anyway.  So you don't have a notebook, but realize you should.  So you use anything that is paper-like - receipt in your pocket, napkin at McDonalds, the back of an envelope, the border of an advertisement flyer, the program for the musical you just attended, the church bulletin (Heaven help you if you were needing to write in church...) - really, any papery pond.

When you tire of scridges of paper, you may actually go an buy a notebook.  But the trick then is to actually carry it ALL THE TIME.  When you don't, you have to resort to one of your other failing methods.

I was clever here and used a different form of "writing it down" before it escaped.  I copied and pasted.  I had my blogger window open, and pasted it there.  Sometimes I've emailed myself an idea when I only had my phone.

Phones, iPads and other tablets have made it easier to capture your idea and hold onto it until you can publish or post, or whatever it is you want to do with your writing can be done.  The tricky part is still writing enough of it, so you can fill in, flesh out and let it grow.  I did not do that.

But it still gave me something about which to write.
Maybe I'll remember tomorrow.

I decided to do a poem today using the above post.  See all is not lost!

A Found Poem from the Above

Inspired for green
Yet so snow covered
And cold this morning
Not sure -
I wish
A bit to
Jog my memory.
Probably the age or stage;
You don’t even know
That fleck of dust -
See the dust.
Remember it.
That doesn’t work;
Any papery pond
May carry it!
It escaped:
(I had my
Window open)
An idea
To hold,
Grow;
Maybe tomorrow
a poem
is not
lost.

by Donna JT Smith

12 comments:

  1. Donna, I can relate to this post. Just to let you know, sometimes the priest says something so inspirational in his homily that I do scramble for a piece of anything to write the thought down. Your poem paired well with your thoughts so all came together. REMINDER: I do not have an offering from you for my winter gallery. I am designing it this weekend. It sounds like you have a lot of snow to weave into a poetic thought-the tree laden with snow might be your image.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, yes! I take notes from the pastor's messages, too! But every once in a while something pops into my head that might not be divinely placed there! Then I feel so guilty if I try to jot it down!!!
      I will see what I can find today for your gallery. Thanks!

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  2. I can relate to your poem too! It's happened to me many times. Love your found poem!

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  3. Oh my, I think I've been through most of those stages! Even though you couldn't remember what you first might have meant, those captured words still led to writing and poetry!

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  4. Yesterday I had to deliver a scarf to my neighbor up the hill. On my walk up there I composed an amazing slice! I was super excited to get home and write it down. Then I got distracted by another neighbor and by the time I got home, all I had left was the title. The rest of my genius inspiration was completely gone. Your poem is perfect. (Of course...)

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  5. You make me laugh....because I can relate....but the post and the poem are lovely. Oh, those papery ponds!

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  6. I love this found poem. I'm down the road from you on the East Coast (well, far down the road in North Carolina), but spring has sprung. Green is flourishing. But, I love winter. And I will miss it. So, enjoy it for a little longer. :)

    Brian--http://briankissel.weebly.com/brians-blurbs

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  7. Love this line:
    As you get more experienced you see the dust, and try to remember it. Also I love how you cleverly crafted a found poem from the body of your post. Thanks for commenting on mine. I am in snowy Maine too.

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  8. You have captured the stages so well. I keep circling around a notebook. Forgetting it and resorting to other failing measures. But then again, maybe the scrap of thought is enough to give you a new thought. Like this post!

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  9. Very clever circling of the green, without delving right into spring. We are still covered in snow here, too. But I long for a bit of green.

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  10. What a fun found poem you made from your own notes! I can't find the citation for this, but here's a quote attributed to Edgar Allen Poe: "If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.”

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  11. I love your "papery pond" line, and the flow and movement of your poem as it moves down the page. I've also been in all the places you talked about above. I've been carrying notebooks for years but have to resort to bits of paper at times too. Thanks for a lovely blog post Donna!

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