creativeStarting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "pets and livestock." (Or more generally, animals in a close relationship with humans;
my_partner_doug and I talked about elephants this morning.) 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. The linkbacks perk post is live, courtesy of
minor_architect. Click to read "The Picket Fence Committee" or notify her of linkbacks to reveal more verses.What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?
Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.
In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "pets and livestock." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things relating to that theme. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing 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. You can also donate via check or money order sent by postal mail. 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. General donations will be tallied, and at the end of the fishbowl I’ll post a list of eligible poems based on the total funding; then the audience can vote on which they want to see posted.
2) Swim, Fishie, Swim! -- Here is a progress meter showing the amount donated. At $150 you get a free series poem; at $200 you get an extra fishbowl featuring a poetic series.
$158 raised, first goal MET, $42 to second goal
September 6 2011, 18:23:17 UTC 9 years ago
"Sea monkeys" (brine shrimp, anyway).
Other pet fads from less careful times?
Having a favorite anything and calling it a pet.
Miniature ponies and other miniature creatures. It has been a trope of fantastical comedy and sci-fi excess to show miniaturized animals of all kinds, especially elephants and mammoth.
Actually, what if someone kept a regular mammoth as a pet in modern times?
The act of petting an animal. Or "heavy petting", as the case may be, presumably with someone sapient.
What about the "kink" practice of keeping people as pets? I see it often enough in online discussion and chat that I've managed to become accustomed, but the idea on its own feels a bit creepy to me still.
What happens when you have to set a wild creature free, and it comes back and treats you like family?
Poem
September 6 2011, 18:56:51 UTC 9 years ago
8 lines, Buy It Now = $5