Month: April 2010

April 4 Poem

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, New Things, Poetry, Reading, Your Poetry5 Comments

Today’s device:

Confessional Poetry: Poetry that reveals crucial material about the personal life of the poet. The term was coined by critic M.L. Rosenthal to describe a loose movement in contemporary American poetry that began to focus on intimate details of the poet’s own psychic biography.

from The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices (by William Packard).

I want to take the opportunity here to say that I love my mother and I loved my father, may he rest in peace.  While that fact is not completely irrelevant, it is also not controlling.  Pastor Scott W. Gustafson wrote in his book, Biblical Amnesia, the following:

This commandment [to honor one’s father and mother] is the only one that has a promise associated with it.  The promise says that, if the 12 tribes of Israel honor their mothers and fathers, they will live a long time in the land that God is giving them.  Israel was, in fact, relatively successful in keeping this commandment.  The Bible itself is testimony that they honored their mothers and fathers.  The Bible tells stories of their mothers and fathers.  It does not lie about these people.  We see them “warts and all.” Yet, the Bible interprets these people in relatively positive ways.

[emphasis mine]

In poetry, we see people “warts and all” too.  I could write much more on the topic, but I prefer not to do so.  Only this:  There is redemption and forgiveness in poetry, but there is also lamentation; all of those things are legitimate.  Before there can be any of those things, however, there has to be emotional truth.  This poem attempts to describe the truth as seen by a 12 year old girl.  It was first published in Cairn, vol. XXXV. Continue reading “April 4 Poem” →

April 3: May “the force” be with me

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, New Things, Poetry, Reading1 Comment

Today’s poetic device:

Catalogue:  The listing of persons or places or things. Catalogues are sometimes endless genealogies or listings of proper names and places that can create an hypnotic effect in the rhythmic repetition of strange and curious and exotic names, like a recitation or an incantation.  Eventually the phonetics of the items being listed will become soporific, thus lulling a listener or reader into a mild trance state.

(The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices by William Packard)

You may have heard these kinds of poems referred to as “list poems.”  I have never been a fan of these types of poems because I don’t feel I have ever written a good one.  The first one I remember writing was a study of all the things on my daughter’s bedroom floor when she was about 7 years old.  Really, I found the whole exercise quite depressing.  At any rate, my reluctance is exactly the reason I am making myself do this today.  “Get out of your comfort zone” and blah blah blah.  Continue reading “April 3: May “the force” be with me” →

April 2: The “B” Word

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, New Things, Poetry, Reading4 Comments

As I explained yesterday, I am going to be taking on a poetic device a day, from The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices by William Packard, in celebration of National Poetry Month. You are invited to play along.

Yesterday, the device was Alexandrine.  Because I wrote one alexandrine (one line), I later posted a poem, because I did also promise a poem every day this month.

Working with today’s device, however, will involve making the effort to draft a complete poem.  Now might be a good time for a Warning!  I am not afraid to post “bad poems.”  Remember – in my world, “bad poems” are known as “drafts.”  I am embarking on an exercise here.  Revisions will be in order, certainly; I am transparently starting at the beginning of the process, and inviting you to start with me.    Have at it!

Today’s device is:

Ballade:  Early French form with twenty-eight lines divided into three octave STANZAS, each stanza having a RHYME scheme of a/b/a/b/b/c/b/c with the final line as a repeated REFRAIN line; the ballade ends with a four-line ENVOI rhymed b/c/b/c with the final line being the refrain line.

[all caps indicate another poetic device that is defined in the book].  What follows is my first draft of an attempt at a ballade.  There are many things wrong with it, but I would prefer to let you find them on your own.  Thanks for reading! Continue reading “April 2: The “B” Word” →

April 1st Poem

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn My Poetry, Poetry5 Comments

Appetite
(by Suzanne Baldwin Leitner)

Why do I begrudge
the older woman beside me
in the café
the noise her soup spoon
makes as it scrapes
bowl’s bottom?

Is it because she seems hurried
furtive and afraid
as if she thinks
she is taking up too much
space and
for too long?

The rattle of her ample
metal spoon
on the brittle white
finish of the bowl:
Comfort
and emptiness.

I came here to eat,
not think.

It’s April. I Must Be a Fool.

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn New Things, Poetry, Writing and Not Writing1 Comment

I get nervous even typing that word.  Must be a southern thing, since here we learn the Bible practically by osmosis (see Matthew 5:22).  Anyway, it is April, and it is Poetry Month.  And if your response, in your head because you’re too polite to say it aloud, is “That just proves that April is the cruelest month,” just let me remind you, that little ditty is poetry too.  Therefore, every day this month, I am foolishly going to attempt to post a poem a day.  But wait!  There’s more!

Continue reading “It’s April. I Must Be a Fool.” →