Hi, everyone! We hope you had a great week writing from the name prompt. Post links to your poems in the comment section and visit all your poet friends who spent the week naming names.
Next weekend, we'll post a free-for-all and then on March 2 we start the whole thing over again with a new poet and poem up for discussion and inspiration!
here's my name poem:
ReplyDeletea baby girl born in the early hours of july 20, 1972
forgot to mention, in case anyone's new, my poems are password protected. sorry. email me if you want it: art [at] polkadotwitch [dot] com
ReplyDeleteyou only need it once b/c i use the same one all the time.
My name poem is below. In French, my name "Therese" has two accent marks: one over the first "e" and one over the second "e." Those accent marks should appear in the poem below, but I don't know how to make them appear.
ReplyDeleteTHERESE
Don't think that I was named for the ecstasy
of Avila. My mother had me baptized only
for the roses of Lisieux--a peasant
sweetness, not a Goya passion.
But so many of you confuse "Therese"
with that other Teresa
that I have long been possessed
by what I am not--quite mad
with denial.
A wrathful angel, I brandish swords
at the gates of my name--
above two letters "e,"
accents "grave" and "aigu."
Along with the flower's perfume, O Mother,
its thorns.
Here's mine. Keeping my fingers crossed that this link works!
ReplyDeleteMy entry
therese--i really enjoy your writing style. here, at least, it seems delicate. even though you're brandishing swords. and the contrast of those sensations is exactly the crux of your piece as said in your last line.
ReplyDeleteso on every level/layer, this poem is true to itself. i don't think i'm careful enough to achieve that in my own writing yet.
so thanks for sharing it!
on another note--has anyone noticed how these poems about names showcase our different voices perhaps more so than our other work has? that's interesting to me.
Therese, this is such a cool take on the prompt! I just love the line, "I brandish swords at the gates of my name." I guess I'm lucky to have such a plain jane name, after all; no one ever messes it up!
ReplyDeletefrom Therese--Thank you so much for your comments. Yes, I have to admit that I have always had some antipathy for my name, so this prompt riled me up. When I went to graduate school for my MFA, I asked everyone to call me "Gwen" instead (in honor of Gwendolyn Brooks). I much preferred being called "Gwen" than "Therese"!
ReplyDeleteI just discovered this blog. It looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteHere is my poem: Pam(ela)
Nicknames
ReplyDeleteHere's my take on this. This is my first posting to this group...be kind :-)
ReplyDeleteNameless