Saturday, April 20, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.20


Map of San Antonio, Texas
(Image is in the Public Domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

For the third Saturday in a row, I am not at home, enjoying the leisure and luxury that is sometimes known as Saturday. 

I am in San Antonio, Texas at the International Reading Association conference. As I'm out and about today, I'll be thinking about San Antonio's past, the river that runs through it, and maybe those flat, dry plains that spread to the horizon from its edges. Maybe today's image is about the known and the unknown. So many possible directions to go with your writing, when you've got a map in mind.


winding ribbon of water

fed by natural springs
lined by hundred year-old cypress trees
polka-dotted by restaurant umbrellas
serenaded by mariachi bands
cruised by tour boats

beloved heart of San Antonio

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


From Linda (TeacherDance):


In My Mind’s Eye
This older map
of straight lines
hides the crooked stories
of the past:
in the houses
down the street,
next door,
across the way,
in the alley,
catty-cornered,
in the park,
third floor,
a street away,
at the second stop sign,
along the river,
just out of town.

I just need to look
and imagine.

© Linda Baie, 2013



Heading left,
I turn right;
North then south,
then easterly towards the wildest west,
until the present fades from view
into the past,
sepia-toned and yellowed with age.
The color drains
out of experience
as I dig deep into the stories
sunk down deep into the grids
of time.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013


From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

the river
ever moving
meanders
surrounded by trees
watching
listening to the stories
that envelop it
for centuries
it babbles
gurgles
yet keeps many secrets
the river
ever moving
yet eternally entrapped
within this bed

©Cathy Mere, 2013


From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Travelling"

long before the sun
climbs over the horizon

we travel eastward
across the plains of Colorado
past the cornfields of
Nebraska and Iowa
over the wide brown Mississippi
into Illinois.

The map,
once a precisely
fractioned pamphlet
becomes an unwieldy mass
as it is recreased
refolded
then reopened

my stubby seven-year-old finger
wonderingly
traces our route
amazed that
I have journeyed this
so far into this
big wide world.

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2013



The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 


"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 


Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

16 comments:

  1. Hope you have a super day at the conference, Mary Lee! I love the old maps!


    In My Mind’s Eye

    This older map
    of straight lines
    hides the crooked stories
    of the past:
    in the houses
    down the street,
    next door,
    across the way,
    in the alley,
    catty-cornered,
    in the park,
    third floor,
    a street away,
    at the second stop sign,
    along the river,
    just out of town.

    I just need to look
    and imagine.
    © Linda Baie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda
      Love those last lines ...
      Kevin

      Delete
    2. I love those "crooked stories/of the past"!!

      Delete
    3. Linda,
      Love the way you structured this poem.
      So many stories
      just waiting to be told.

      Delete
  2. Heading left,
    I turn right;
    North then south,
    then easterly towards the wildest west,
    until the present fades from view
    into the past,
    sepia-toned and yellowed with age.
    The color drains
    out of experience
    as I dig deep into the stories
    sunk down deep into the grids
    of time.

    -Kevin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think we had similar thoughts, of wondering about the stories, Kevin. I like the "color drains/out of experience/as I dig deep..." I love the old maps. We have a great collection in one place at our main Denver library-fascinating!

      Delete
    2. I love how you dug into the stories and sank "down deep into the grids/of time."

      Delete
    3. Kevin,
      Love how the first few lines leave me slightly off kilter, then "sinking" into the grids of time. So many buried stories…

      Delete
  3. the river
    ever moving
    meanders
    surrounded by trees
    watching
    listening to the stories
    that envelop it
    for centuries
    it babbles
    gurgles
    yet keeps many secrets
    the river
    ever moving
    yet eternally entrapped
    within this bed

    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love the repeating lines. Gives the poem such a rhythm!

      Delete
    2. More stories, but this time you focused on the river. I like 'it babbles, gurgles/yet keeps many secrets', Cathy!

      Delete
    3. Yes. The river is a part of the heart of the city, and yet it is its own world, too. It "keeps many secrets."

      Delete
  4. "Travelling"

    long before the sun
    climbs over the horizon

    we travel eastward
    across the plains of Colorado
    past the cornfields of
    Nebraska and Iowa
    over the wide brown Mississippi
    into Illinois.

    The map,
    once a precisely
    fractioned pamphlet
    becomes an unwieldy mass
    as it is recreased
    refolded
    then reopened

    my stubby seven-year-old finger
    wonderingly
    traces our route
    amazed that
    I have journeyed this
    so far into this
    big wide world.

    (C) Carol Wilcox, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I commented on the blog, too Carol. Love the memory aspect brought out. Being the navigator was a big job!

      Delete
    2. Thanks for your command,and i agree with you.

      book publicist

      Delete
  5. Mary Lee-
    You make me homesick for San Antonio! I loved the River Walk!

    ReplyDelete

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