Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Read "Nightcap"

You can now read my poem "Nightcap" in the tweetzine Microcosms. Even if you don't use Twitter you can see the recent poems on the page there.
Tags: poetry, reading, science fiction, writing
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  • 14 comments
eseme

eseme

October 19 2010, 03:20:18 UTC 10 years ago

That is quite cool. I assume each line was it's own Tweet, originally?

I like the image. I'm not one for space normally, so that says something.
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

October 19 2010, 03:25:04 UTC 10 years ago

The original is a cinquain, which is a syllabic form.
eseme

Re: Yes...

eseme

October 20 2010, 03:09:42 UTC 10 years ago

Ah. I figured the / meant a line break, but was not sure if they poem had any sort of layout. And I will clarify my "space" comment below.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

October 20 2010, 03:14:55 UTC 10 years ago

The / is a standard poetic indicator for line breaks, when quoting a poem in a way that doesn't allow for exact duplication of format.

You can read more about the cinquain form here:
http://www.poewar.com/poetry-in-forms-series-cinquain/
eseme

Re: Yes...

eseme

October 20 2010, 03:36:58 UTC 10 years ago

Thanks for the link. I had not heard of this format. NEat.

I'd been reading this :

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/44850-why-some-e-books-just-don-t-look-right.html

It is about how poetry eBooks often have to be hand-coded, because machines mess it up, particularly anything with tabs. Which makes sense to me once I learned that they are formatted in XML or HTML, as HTML browsers traditionally do not support the tab tag well at all.

Which made me wonder if your poem had any tabbed formatting, and whether that would be lost when put on Twitter.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

October 20 2010, 03:50:50 UTC 10 years ago

>>Thanks for the link. I had not heard of this format. NEat.<<

You're welcome. I'm a serious forms maven. I have lists of short forms (10 lines or less), repeating/interlocking forms, and ethnic forms.

>>It is about how poetry eBooks often have to be hand-coded, because machines mess it up, particularly anything with tabs.<<

Not just ebooks, but regular book manuscripts too. Crystal Wizard and I have done a lot of hacking around, trying to get the formatting right for my two collections in progress. Poetry is just a pain to edit and lay out. You have to keep a really sharp eye on it.

>>Which made me wonder if your poem had any tabbed formatting, and whether that would be lost when put on Twitter.<<

No, "Nightcap" is left-justified, without tabs. Twitter just has a super-dense format. I don't think it allows for lineation.
eseme

Re: Yes...

eseme

October 20 2010, 17:40:13 UTC 10 years ago

Good to know. I hadn't thought about formatting poetry for ebooks until I read the article. And then thought of any poet working on their own e-chapbook, and realized how much work they would have to slog through, and the new skills they would have to pick up.

Good luck on your collections.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

October 20 2010, 20:16:02 UTC 10 years ago

I appreciate the moral support, thanks.
msstacy13

msstacy13

October 19 2010, 12:24:28 UTC 10 years ago

That poem didn't take up much space.
If you're not one for space,
maybe that's why you like it.
:)
eseme

eseme

October 20 2010, 03:11:31 UTC 10 years ago

*giggles*

Actually, I literally can't look up at the night sky for long without being nauseated. It's some wacky form of vertigo, I think.

Which means the images in the poem typically bring up that sort of feeling - and this time did not. A welcome surprise!
ysabetwordsmith

Okay...

ysabetwordsmith

October 20 2010, 03:12:55 UTC 10 years ago

I'm glad the poem worked for you, then. I love stargazing, but it can be overwhelming for some people.
aldersprig

aldersprig

October 19 2010, 13:06:44 UTC 10 years ago

Signal boosted on @lynthornealder. Liked it, too. :-D It's a neat little form.
ysabetwordsmith

Thank you!

ysabetwordsmith

October 19 2010, 18:04:15 UTC 10 years ago

I appreciate the signal boost.
aldersprig

Re: Thank you!

aldersprig

October 19 2010, 18:05:13 UTC 10 years ago

Any time I can! :-) (the twitter link function I'm loving so much makes it easier, too)

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