Thursday, March 23, 2017

SOLSC Day 23 - The Blitz Poem


Slice of Life Story Challenge -- 
Day 23  #SOL17
The Blitz Poem

******************
I was poking around on the internet today, looking up information about various forms of poetry. I found a website called Shadow Poetry (shadowpoetry.com) which featured many different forms of invented poetry. I investigated some, and came upon one called "The Blitz Poem", created by Robert Keim. It is described like this:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
The Blitz Poem


The Blitz Poem, a poetry form created by Robert Keim.

This form of poetry is a stream of short phrases and images with repetition and rapid flow.

Begin with one short phrase, it can be a cliché. Begin the next line with another phrase that begins with the same first word as line 1. The first 48 lines should be short, but at least two words.

The third and fourth lines are phrases that begin with the last word of the 2nd phrase, the 5th and 6th lines begin with the last word of the 4th line, and so on, continuing, with each subsequent pair beginning with the last word of the line above them, which establishes a pattern of repetition.

Continue for 48 total lines with this pattern, And then the last two lines repeat the last word of line 48, then the last word of line 47.

The title must be only three words, with some sort of preposition or conjunction joining the first word from the third line to the first word from the 47th line, in that order.

There should be no punctuation. When reading a BLITZ, it is read very quickly, pausing only to breathe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Wow!

When I read all those intricate (and rigid!) details of how the poetry is supposed to be written, I was flabbergasted. And, I'll admit, a little intrigued. The inventor of the poem included three examples of his own poems. I thought his poems were interesting, and I liked the way they ended. But still.....I had my doubts.

So I decided to try writing one. What better way to find out if it would be more trouble than it's worth, or if it would be the best form of poetry ever? Haha yeah, not likely to be the best form of poetry ever, but you never know until you try, right? And so I tried. And it was more difficult than I thought it would be, actually.

When I wrote my first draft, I hated the ending, so I rewrote the last eight or so lines. I liked the ending of the second draft much better! But then I decided that I didn't like lines 36 through 43. Rewriting those lines changed the course of the rest of the poem, so in draft #3, the rest was rewritten as well. And I wasn't extremely happy with the last several lines of that draft, so I changed the ending a few more times.

Whew! I finally ended up with something that I like. At least I think I like it. It's definitely a strange poem, so I'm still a little on the fence about it. But it was fun experimenting! 

Here, for whatever it's worth, is my attempt at writing a Blitz Poem:


World of Life 

Look out below
Look out world
World wide web
World record
Record album
Record player
Player comparison
Player of the week
Week by week
Week of the Young Child
Child support
Child actors
Actors of the golden age
Actors of the silver screen
Screen printing
Screen door
Door knob
Door in the Wall
Wall to wall carpet
Wall Street Journal
Journal entry
Journal inspiration
Inspiration and motivation
Inspiration of the day
Day of reckoning
Day by day
Day in and day out
Day of rest
Rest stop
Rest in peace
Peace on Earth
Peace sign
Sign of the times
Sign of life
Life cereal
Life with Father
Father Time
Father daughter dance
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Dance with me
Me and Bobby McGee
Me and My Shadow
Shadow box
Shadow and light
Light My Fire
Light of my life
Life full of laughter
Life worth living
Living....
Laughter....

***************************************
JudyK  March 23, 2017


                       

6 comments:

  1. I am going to share this with my students. I love sharing the different ideas I get through reading other's blogs. I might try this tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am going to share this with my students. I love sharing the different ideas I get through reading other's blogs. I might try this tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE, Love, love this! Lots of directions but I think I'll try a mini-blitz :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool.This is a new format for me and I want to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm intrigued by the format, but keeping it up for 48 lines feels like a lot. Kudos to you for having a go with it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have never heard of this format and yours turned out so great. I love the ending and how it all pulls together at the end.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcomed, and very much appreciated! :-)