The Wordsmith's Forge - Poetry Fishbowl Open!

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Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! (Sorry for the delay due to service outage on Wednesday; we'll hope the connection holds today.) I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

Cyberfunded Creativity

I'm practicing cyberfunded creativity. If you enjoy what I'm doing and want to see more of it, please feed the Bard. The following options are currently available:

1) Sponsor the Fishbowl -- Here is a PayPal button for donations. There is no specific requirement, but $1 is the minimum recommended size for PayPal transactions since they take a cut from every one. If you make a donation and tell me about it, I promise to use one of your prompts. Anonymous donations are perfectly welcome, just won't get that perk.

2) Buy It Now! -- Gakked from various e-auction sites, this feature allows you to sponsor a specific poem. If you don't want to wait for some editor to buy and publish my poem so you can read it, well, now you don't have to. Sponsoring a poem means that I will immediately post it here, with the name of the sponsor (or another dedicate) if you wish; plus you get a nonexclusive publication right, so you can post it on your own blog or elsewhere as long as you keep the credits intact. You'll need to tell me the title of the poem you want to sponsor. I'm basing the prices on length, and they're comparable to what I typically make selling poetry to magazines (semi-pro rates according to Duotrope's Digest).

0-10 lines: $5
11-25 lines: $10
26-40 lines: $15
41-60 lines: $20
Poems over 60 lines, or with very intricate structure, fall into custom pricing.

3) Commission a scrapbook page. I can render a chosen poem in hardcopy format, on colorful paper, using archival materials for background and any embellishments. This will be suitable for framing or for adding to a scrapbook. Details are here.

Additional Notes

1) I customarily post replies to prompt posts telling people which of their prompts I'm using, with a brief description of the resulting poem(s). If you want to know what's available, watch for those.

2) You don't have to pay me to see a poem based on a prompt that you gave me. I try to send copies of poems to people whose eddresses I already have. If you want to see the poem inspired by your prompt, give me your eddress; I recommend using {at} and {dot} to discourage spammers. These are for-your-eyes-only, though, not for sharing.

3) Sponsors of the Poetry Fishbowl in general, or of specific poems, will gain access to an extra post in appreciation of their generosity.

Feed the Fish!
Now's your chance to participate in the creative process by posting ideas for me to write about. Today's theme is languages, linguistics, and linguists. (Natural and constructed languages, linguistics and xenolinguistics, etc. are fair game.) I'm specifically seeking ideas for:

characters

settings

historic or current events

languages

types of wordplay

poetic forms

But anything is welcome, really. If you manage to recommend a form that I don't recognize, I will probably pounce on it and ask you for its rules. I do have the first edition of Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms which covers most common and many obscure forms.

I'll post at least one of the fishbowl poems here so you-all can enjoy it, plus any poems individually sponsored by someone. The rest will go into my archive for magazine submission.

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, linguistics, poetry, writing
Current Mood: busy

	From: browngirl	Date: June 13th, 2008 04:42 pm (UTC)		(Link)

You remember the old gladiator's chant, "we who are about to die salute you"? I've always wondered what the Minoan bull-leapers might have said or sung, before going into the arena to jump the bulls. (I was thinking of a hymn, and/or a prayer. Ancient Greek references, in lieu of having any translated Minoan languages to work with, would be nifty.)

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 07:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I went looking for Greek poetic motifs, figuring they would suit the Minoan theme. What I found was Classical Hendecasyllable:
http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/46.shtml
This neatly matched the breathless excitement and effort of bull-leaping. "Bull-Dancers" captures the emotional experience of the sacred dancers in the ring.
8 lines, Buy It Now: $5

	From: browngirl	Date: June 14th, 2008 04:45 pm (UTC)		(Link)

That is sooooooooo awesome! I sound like an idiot, but I am literally waving my arms in excitement (well, I did, I'm currently typing) over this.

	From: browngirl	Date: June 14th, 2008 05:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

So I had to go upload this icon just to properly praise this. The rhythm really is reminiscent of the fast-paced, heavy gallop and the quick-footed leapers.

May I post this poem in my journal? And may I include a link to your latest Fishbowl?

	From: browngirl	Date: June 14th, 2008 05:48 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	PS

(Last comment, I promise)

I hope Paypal put my payment through: I had to fight with it. But I wanted you to know I at least tried to pay you, and if it didn't go through I will make sure I pay you somehow, even if I have to haul my broken piggybank over to your house!

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 14th, 2008 10:48 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: PS

I'm just going to roll my replies into one post...

Yes, by all means please link to the latest Poetry Fishbowl from your LJ. You might also want to include a pointer to the day's freebie poem, posted separately.

If you sponsor a poem, you're free to post it on your LJ.

We checked the PayPal account and no payment has come through. So, I suggest sending a check via postal mail; I'll send you my address in a private message.

I'm glad you like the poem so much! It took some hunting through the Greek styles to find one that would match the topic, but I'm pleased with the results. And flattered that you consider my poem worth cracking a pig over!

	From: browngirl	Date: June 15th, 2008 02:48 am (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: PS

I shall send a check on Monday, with a drawing I do believe you will find appropriate. :D

I LOVE the poem. Thank you.

	From: haikujaguar	Date: June 13th, 2008 04:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

newroticgirl posted this in her livejournal today:
... this morning, I thought it would be hysterical to have a character who learned English from LOLCATS.

SRSLY, U GUYZ, WHUT IZ RONG WIF MEE?

I just know you can run with this idea. -_-

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 05:16 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	laugh

Thank goodness I didn't have my mouth full when I first read that. That is so wrong. I am still giggling. Ladies and gentlebeings, I bring you "LOL_ALIENS," a free verse poem about an alien scout who's trying to make first contact through LOLspeke. Teh owch. 2 bad iz no fotos.
15 lines, Buy It Nao: $10

	From: tonithegreat	Date: June 13th, 2008 05:17 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Oooh, how about something regarding the secret language of a pair of twins.

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 05:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

From this came "A Language Built for Two." This poem has an odd structure: written in quatrains but rhymed in couplets. The meter takes an envelope shape: the first and fourth lines have one meter, the middle two lines have a different meter. And it's all in short little lines, so the poem kind of curls around itself like a pair of twins -- a very involuted kind of verse.
20 lines, Buy It Now: $10

	From: minor_architect	Date: June 13th, 2008 05:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Okay! It took me a while to come up with some prompts this time (and a lot of thumbing through "Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang," edited by Clarence Major), but here are two phrases I thought were interesting:

1) Hus-no-harra, n. (1920s-1930s) A conjuring potion made from jasmine lotion, thought to bring good luck to gamblers. This makes me wonder what sort of ritual one had to go through to make the potion and what the costs of using it might be...

2) Dog finger, n. (1920s-1930s) The middle or index finger of either hand; an unlucky finger; tabooed finger. I guess I just haven't paid enough attention to my folklore, but I never knew that everyone had unlucky fingers! So what would happen if someone with enough power behind them chose to use their dog finger to...?

I hope you can get some use out of these! :)

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 05:59 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Okay, from this I got the free verse tale of the gambler Dog Finger Donny and his adventures in Vegas.
30 lines, Buy It Now: $15

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 08:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Your reference to jive stuck in my mind, and eventually stuck together with "Africa" and "class issues" from

je_reviens post. The result is "Voices from the Tree of Liberty," a free verse poem celebrating African-American speech patterns.
19 lines, Buy It Now: $10

	From: minor_architect	Date: June 13th, 2008 08:50 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Hrm, now I have a dilemma. I'd like to sponsor one of these two poems but I can't decide on which one! (Wish I had the funds for both, but some extra bills hit the household this month and now my pennies are not as plentiful.) Help a girl out - any advice on which to choose, or will I have to resort to the "eenie-meenie-minee-moe" method? :)

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 09:17 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Go check your LJ inbox; I just sent you a message with both poems so you can decide which one you want to sponsor. Thanks for your support!

	From: minor_architect	Date: June 13th, 2008 09:46 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Dog Finger Donny" it is! I do like the other poem, too, and I appreciate the point it makes - but that first one just swings, right from the hips.

As I did last month, I will send payment via snail-mail since I'm not a fan of PayPal. I will not expect to see the poem posted to your blog until you receive my payment and it clears the bank. Is this still all right by you?

Thank you so much for helping me to decide!

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 09:53 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Yay!

I'm glad that you liked them. Payment via postal mail is fine; do you still have my contact info for that?

	From: minor_architect	Date: June 13th, 2008 11:53 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yes, I do. Thanks for checking, though! :)

	From: je_reviens	Date: June 13th, 2008 06:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)

ok I have a bit of cash on hand so I sent a small donation.

I am interested in:

triolet
rondeau
terza rima

Africa
Angels and Demons
memory
class issues
prairies

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 07:27 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I put together "memory" and "triolet" to get "Memories of Wind and Clay." That one neatly captures the theme of language, so I'll post it separately as today's freebie poem.

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 14th, 2008 02:03 am (UTC)		(Link)

This time I matched angels and demons with the terza rima to create "Through Shuttered Wings," which considers how technology might look to immortals.
11 lines, Buy It Now: $10

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 14th, 2008 02:51 am (UTC)		(Link)

Okay, this is the last of the prompts, prairies and rondeau. The result is "Prairie Dreams," about the history and natural cycles of a prairie. I live in what used to be one, and it's reclaimed part of the yard, so I'm familiar with the imagery.
15 lines, Buy It Now: $10

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 13th, 2008 09:08 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Kitty Kitsch Inspires Poetry

e_cunningham posted some images of kitty kitsch:
http://e-cunningham.livejournal.com/128882.html
The mug inspired me to write "Sacred Duties," a free verse poem about an enchanted coffee mug, a Siamese cat, and a student of Chinese calligraphy.
49 lines, Buy It Now: $20

	From: ysabetwordsmith	Date: June 14th, 2008 02:57 am (UTC)		(Link)
	Done for the night

I've gone through all the prompts posted, and nothing new has come in for hours, so I'm closing the fishbowl for tonight. Slow day, but I got a handful of good poems. Thanks for your attention.

Name: Elizabeth Barrette

	July 2009
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