Heard while writing

A meeting of our little writing group, held in a lovely house at the head of a gully, halfway up The Mountains, led us down some interesting paths - as it always does.  One of those roads less travelled, for me, at least, is poetry.  Try as I might, it nearly always stumps me.

One of our group, though, brought with her the idea of black-out poetry.  An interesting term, when you haven't heard it before, and one that left me wondering where we were about to go.

A simple enough idea, once she had explained it to us - it was, after my initial reservations, a lot of fun.  The idea is to take a page from a paper or magazine and go through it searching for words that might form a poem.  Use a marker pen to cross out all the unwated words, and see what is left.

I got the TV guide, and this is what happened.....

The long

dark shadow

imposing a

power pendulum

Creating opportunities

excites old powers

and the truth

projects my characters abroad

A huge paradigm shift

provides intrigue

gender bias

reflects the other

Does it mean anything?  Read in the right tone of voice, it sounds like it could.  One of our group produced a short piece of prose using more or less the same method.  Once again, by constraining ourselves, we open up new pathways.  The fascinating thing is that once this prompt got me started, I found myself willing to dash out more bits of poetic whimsy.  At least, it could be poetry - only the experts could say for sure, and I ain't no expert in the field of poetry.

However, here is an aural representation of our afternoon together.

 

AT WRITERS GROUP

When the magpies and

squabbling rosellas

have gone,

for now

The creak and scratch

of pen and paper

is all the sound

I hear

But listen – just then

the fireplace creaked

A distant dinosaur

growls its diesel roar

Small feathered bells tumble

through shadowed leaves

A page turns

A writer sighs

Outside a crow

calls the falling sun

The fridge

hums back to life