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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.25

Broadway Tower, Cotswolds, England (Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year for 2007)
Creative Commons photo by Newton2 (cropped by Yummifruitbat
)

FAIRY TALE

Once upon a long ago,
I stood before a tower.
Magic blew in from the east;
the hero met the coward.

Obstacles were overcome,
the happily came after.
Evil withered, crumbled, turned
the page to the next chapter.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013




I light a match
to this cardboard castle
and burn the story to the ground,
finally free after so many years
of the roles into which we have been thrust:
the hero in shining armor
the damsel in distress
the fool juggling lives before the fickle king.
So now begins the new adventure,
free from the shackles of past
riding hard and fast 
into the fading sun.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast is here.



From Carol (Carol's Corner):

“Castle Dream”

the day is all about blue sky
and green grass and
a few wispy clouds and
i will march right up
to the enormous stone castle
after crossing the moat
filled with hungry alligators
i will lift the lions head knocker
bang authoritatively
on the heavy wooden door
and proclaim
i am a long lost princess
here to meet my prince
please let me into
and they lived happily ever after…

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013


From Linda (TeacherDance):


A Plea

Will you come to my castle fair?
I am so awfully lonely there.
‘Tis sitting tall at the top of a hill
and surrounding land is bereft and still.
No forest primeval’s near this hold;
no witches or dragons to shiver you cold.
Just me in the upper turrets of stone
wanting, oh wanting to call you home.

©Linda Baie, 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.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:32 AM

    Wonderful! I love how you use the tropes of fairy tales with a subtle twist. Your words are a perfect match for the tower: traditional, yet slightly askew.
    Catherine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! That's EXACTLY what I was aiming for!!

      Delete
    2. I'm always amazed at how you can say so much in so few words. And how those words are so crafted. Every. Single. Day. WOW!

      Delete
  2. I light a match
    to this cardboard castle
    and burn the story to the ground,
    finally free after so many years
    of the roles into which we have been thrust:
    the hero in shining armor
    the damsel in distress
    the fool juggling lives before the fickle king.
    So now begins the new adventure,
    free from the shackles of past
    riding hard and fast
    into the fading sun.

    - Kevin

    Podcast: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0HbGeBTTFwS

    (not sure why I saw this castle as flat, and maybe cardboard, and what would happen if we tossed aside our story stereotypes and set the characters free. Of course, the last lines brings the stereotype right back.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting, Kevin. You and I took almost opposite approaches. You imagine people stepping out of stereotypical roles. I imagine someone who has lived outside those typical roles stepping into one. Hmmm…

      Delete
    2. It does look flat and fake! And like the rest of the castle got lopped off or something!

      Delete
  3. “Castle Dream”

    the day is all about blue sky
    and green grass and
    a few wispy clouds and
    i will march right up
    to the enormous stone castle
    after crossing the moat
    filled with hungry alligators
    i will lift the lions head knocker
    bang authoritatively
    on the heavy wooden door
    and proclaim
    i am a long lost princess
    here to meet my prince
    please let me into
    and they lived happily ever after…

    (c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only I were a fairy godmother, I would surely grant your wish (even though it sounds a little demand-y)!!!

      Delete
  4. I wonder if we had more castles here in the US if we would think less of the stereotypes? This is an amazing photo, Mary Lee. I keep wondering too what used to be there; it doesn't seem complete? All the poems are awesome approaches to what we grew up with I suppose-the knight, the damsel, etc. I'll try to write later in the day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This image gave my students a clear example of denotation and connotation. It's a castle (denotation). It makes us think of fairy tales (connotation).

      The bizarre thing about this castle/tower, Linda, is THAT IS ALL OF IT!! It's triangular, with three towers and a little bit of castle in the middle. That's it! I had to Google it myself, thinking there must have been more at one time. But no. Broadway Tower in the Cotswalds. Check out the aerial view -- that's where you can really see the triangle.

      Delete
    2. I looked, and it's true-that's it! I'll be back!

      Delete
  5. Mary Lee, thank you! Here's my response:


    A Plea

    Will you come to my castle fair?
    I am so awfully lonely there.
    ‘Tis sitting tall at the top of a hill
    and surrounding land is bereft and still.
    No forest primeval’s near this hold;
    no witches or dragons to shiver you cold.
    Just me in the upper turrets of stone
    wanting, oh wanting to call you home.
    ©Linda Baie, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lovely. So wistful and full of longing!

      Delete

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