Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

Our discussion forum for topics related to writer's block, poetry, the literary arts in general, and anything else of cosmic import.
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Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#1 Post by Michael (MV) » 31 Jan 2020, 00:23

Voice your recommendation(s) here, and

Please let us know ASAP if you are not going to be available to represent the Writer's Block -

then we will know not to consider your poems further for this month's IBPC.

I/we will be looking for consensus - in keeping with a communal workshop environment

Which 1-3 would we like to see represent the Writer's Block in the finals?

After the 3 are selected, then will each author post - in this thread - the poem as the poet would like it forwarded,

and ALL the needed info/statements

Ideally, the only poems that really need to appear here are the final 3, when announced, hopefully by the 1st of the month, if not sooner

^^ the intent is organizational - if poems appear here before the selection of the final 3, then there is a congestion -

Until the final 3 are announced, please maintain poems & workshopping to the Workshop Forum. Thanks.



************

any newcomers or returnees this month, Welcome!

and here is a home link to the IBPC rules: http://ibpc.webdelsol.com/rules


In this thread, from the poems posted in the workshop forum during the course of the month, recommend/nominate by title & author.

Nominated poets, please acknowledge the nomination here in this thread.
Please reply by accepting or declining the nomination - in this thread.

Please note & observe: This is not a workshopping thread.

In this thread, poems that are ultimately selected to represent the Block are then posted here
as the author would like for the poem to be forwarded
along with all IBPC required info.

When the 1-3 poems are decided upon, and permission granted by each author of the selected poems,

along with all the info needed by each author:



1/Your name

2/e-mail address

3/statement that the poem is your original

4/and unpublished work

5/and that you don't have a poem committed to represent another board in the current IBPC. One poet one poem one board
for each monthly,

6/and the poem as you would like it forwarded to the finals.

^^ All of the above is the usual needed info as part of the process.


I will then forward the 1-3 to the IBPC finals.


Thanks

Michael (MV)

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#2 Post by BobBradshaw » 31 Jan 2020, 01:18

I nominate Siva's "Black as the coal workers..." and Eira's "The Nestling".

capricorn
Posts: 382
Joined: 21 Sep 2017, 23:23

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#3 Post by capricorn » 31 Jan 2020, 02:58

Thanks Bob

I second Siva's 'Black as the coal workers and nominate Bob's 'Sleeping on a Roof'

Eira'

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#4 Post by SivaRamanathan » 31 Jan 2020, 21:08

Thanks Bob and Capricorn
I second Bob's 'Sleeping on a Roof.'

Siva

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#5 Post by BobBradshaw » 31 Jan 2020, 22:13

1/Bob Bradshaw
2/bobbybradshw@yahoo.com
3the poem is my original
4/and unpublished work
5/and I don't have a poem committed to represent another board in the current IBPC.

Sleeping on a Roof

She brought me home from a reading,
saying no poet should sleep so rough--
then trimmed my long hair.

She waitressed during the day.
I wandered the streets
admiring the dark barges of rain clouds,
the Chinatown bins
of ice and fish, the bay’s white skirts....

Increasingly she scolded:
"Get a job...
Why shouldn't poets work?
Are they any better
than short order cooks,
doctors, janitors?"

I tried to accept the idea.
After all, maybe Homer, too,
bending to his wife's will,
wrote poetry on the side.

I think of him
repairing sandals as his trade.
Was it while working that he first thought
of the Achilles heel?

I could see my future:
employed, I would be released
like an osprey
whose torn wing has mended.

I moved back to my old address,
3 stories above the pavement.
Look, even the stars
have welcomed me back,
lighting their penny candles
so I will never again lose
my way home.

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#6 Post by SivaRamanathan » 31 Jan 2020, 22:46

'Black as the coal workers, soot collects in her hair.' is my orginal,unpublished poem and I am not representing any other board.My mail id is sivakamivelliangiri@gmail.com

Black as the coal workers, soot collects in her hair.


Grandmother ran to pick up a fallen mango
during her own wedding procession.

She plied me with her recollections of railways,
of engines that ran on coal fires and steam.

When a bicycle was brought down from the train,
a man pedalled in circles making her head spin,

while men with shovels fed the coal fire
and the train coughed.

The engine driver, his mate, the fireman,
their whole bodies were black with soot;

she begged oil and powder of green leaves
‘shikaki’ to help them scrub.

I can relate to those coal-fired engines
opening up the Western Ghats,

but now we look forward to 'The Bullet'
whizzing 400 kilometres an hour.

My tiny grandchild prayed to the roadside coal-iron box
fumes resembling incense---a God.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#7 Post by BobBradshaw » 01 Feb 2020, 10:18

Siva, you have a typo...."very evening" s/b every evening. By the way, I really like what you have done with this poem....strong and poignant at the same time.

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#8 Post by SivaRamanathan » 01 Feb 2020, 11:52

Deleted

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#9 Post by SivaRamanathan » 01 Feb 2020, 14:28

deleted

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#10 Post by BobBradshaw » 01 Feb 2020, 22:53

Click the little exclamation point icon to edit it(you may need to login first to see it) on your post.

capricorn
Posts: 382
Joined: 21 Sep 2017, 23:23

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#11 Post by capricorn » 02 Feb 2020, 02:45

This hasn't been seconded but Bob said I should post it here - so here goes!

Eira Needham
presentideaseira@hotmail.com
My original and unpublished work, not representing any other board.


The Nestling

Hunched over the breathless body
tumbled from its sycamore
cradle, her mind takes flight.

He arrived quietly, entwined.
Voices hushed, they rushed
him away in a hospital blanket.

One glimpse
no caress
no goodbye

The attic keeps her secret
for forty years, a white shawl
folded in a dusty crib.

Laying the naked hatchling
in a tea carton, with marigolds
and rosemary, she hums Rock-a-Bye.

Earth to earth
poppy seeds
scattered

Now buds bloom, crimson, she
wonders where he lies and what
he might have looked like.

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#12 Post by SivaRamanathan » 02 Feb 2020, 07:38

Michael

I second Eira's poem,'The Nestling'.


PS
Eira,I wondered what was taking you so long to post your poem -I thought it was understood.

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Update Feb. 3rd re Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#13 Post by Michael (MV) » 03 Feb 2020, 19:56

 
As I read it:

1/ Eira's The Nestling

2/ Siva's Black as the coal workers, soot collects in her hair.

3/ And although, of course, I like his Emily Dickinson poem,

Bob's Sleeping on a Roof

 
a productive week to every one

Michael (MV)

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#14 Post by SivaRamanathan » 04 Feb 2020, 20:27

Michael
Please note that I just now changed these two lines--

When a bicycle was brought down from the train,
a man pedalled in circles making her head spin,

Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.

Siva

SivaRamanathan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 14 May 2011, 20:30

Re: Upcoming February IBPC 2020:

#15 Post by SivaRamanathan » 04 Mar 2020, 20:25

Dear Michael

Please tell me if I am representing the Writer's Block for February. If so,I would like to withdraw the poem.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards
Siva Ramanathan

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