Monthly Archives: October 2019

Prose from Poetry

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Christine Irving

An interesting challenge from Björn Rudberg at the d’Verse Poets Pub  came my way yesterday.  he offered a line of from Louise Gluck’s poem All Hallows and asked us to write a prose piece of no more than 144 words, incorporating, This … Continue reading →

Posted in dVerse, Halloween, Latin America, Meaning, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Polyptoton

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Christine Irving

Frank Hubeny at the d’verse Poets Pub challenged us  to use a polyptoton in a poem.   I couldn’t think of a thing to write and played with using polyptotons in Tuesday’s list of Neruda questions.  This morning, however,  I woke … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, dVerse, Nonsense, Poetry, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Attendant to Enquiry

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Christine Irving

Laura Bloomsbury has directed us to muse on the power of rhetorical questions.  She’s cleverly set the entire d’Verse Poets Pub to answering, rather than posing, such questions in order to see for ourselves where such enquiries might lead. Asking, … Continue reading →

Posted in beauty, Consciousness, dVerse, Metaphor, Myth, Poetry, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Quadrille for d’Verse

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Christine Irving

The prompt is “quiver,” suggested bt whimsygizmo at the d’Verse Poets Pub. Suckered The quaking quagmire lies quietly on hot afternoons.  Barely a quiver marks the hungry quicksand lurking beneath a thin layer of blue green algae and flowering pygmy … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Poetry, quadrille, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Treating Myself

Posted on October 19, 2019 by Christine Irving

On looking through my seasonal poems, I found the following, originally called Pumpkin Shell (written  circa 1999).  It comes from my first book of poetry, Be a Teller of Tales.  It’s always strange looking back on something one wrote years … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Consciousness, Halloween, Poetry, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Indigenous to d’Verse

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Christine Irving

When does immigrant, migrant, refugee, nomad, citizen become indigenous? One year, Ten years, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand?  And who stays in one place forever?  In truth we are all indigenous to Africa, our birthplace, starting point, origin.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Poetry, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Didactic Poem

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Christine Irving

I recently had a conversation with a friend about didactic poetry.  Her poem had been negatively critiqued for being didactic.  The Poetry Foundation defines didactic poetry as, “Poetry that instructs, either in terms of morals or by providing knowledge of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cultural icons, Poetry, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Word Portraits

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Christine Irving

This week at the dVerse Poets Pub, Anmol challenged us to write a portrait, paint a picture in words.  I’m actually cheating a bit because I am including the picture I describe (making this work double as an ekphrastic poem).  … Continue reading →

Posted in Archetype, dVerse, Women, Writing | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Quadrille # 89 for d’Verse Poets Pub

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Christine Irving

I really love the quadrille  – for me it’s a challenge to tell a tiny short story.  Most of my poetry probably classifies as flash fiction  I almost always tell a story.  You probably know the six word short story … Continue reading →

Posted in Haiku, Politics, quadrille, Storytelling, wisdom, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

“How Doth the Little Busy Bee…”

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Christine Irving

Yesterday, at the d’Verse Poets Pub,  Kim set us to writing haibun about insects. Bees came to mind immediately… Bees are never far from my thoughts and my interior prayer wheel stays in constant motion petitioning for their well-being.  This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, dVerse, Nature, Poetry, wisdom | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments