creativeStarting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! This is the perk for the December 6, 2011 fishbowl meeting the $200 goal. Today's theme is "Fiorenza the Wisewoman." (You can read the other poems in this series on my Serial Poetry page.) 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.
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 "Fiorenza the Wisewoman." 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) 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 on my blog for everyone to see, 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. Commission details are here. See latest photos of sample scrapbooked poems: "Sample Scrapbooked Poems 1-24-11"
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 "thumbnails."
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, mostly using the LJ message function. (Anonymous prompters will miss this perk unless you give me your eddress.) 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. While you're on the Donors list, you can view all of the custom-locked posts in that category. Click the "donors" tag to read the archive of those. I've also posted a list of other donor perks there. I customarily leave donor names on the list for two months, so you'll get to see the perk-post from this month and next.
4) After the Poetry Fishbowl concludes, I will post a list of unsold poems and their prices, to make it easier for folks to see what they might want to sponsor.
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 "Fiorenza the Wisewoman." I'll be soliciting ideas for villagers, visitors, fairy tale characters or creatures, rural Italy, historic cottages or gardens, sacred or historic places near Fermo, ordinary objects with mystical effects, fairy tale plot twists, personal conflicts or challenges, side scenes from previous events, gaps in the storyline that need to be filled, everyday issues transmuted into rustic fantasy versions, and Italian poetic forms in particular. 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. (Remember, you get an extra freebie poem if someone new posts a prompt or makes a donation.) The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.
January 18 2012, 05:40:28 UTC 9 years ago
There were traditional employees that worked for the noble:
Shire-reeve (which later became the sheriff)
Game Warden or game keeper,
Huntsman, forest warden and lumbermen, charcoal makers
(important positions in an area where there weren't many natural forests--trees had to be protected or they'd literally be chopped down and cleared away without any thought about future needs for wood or game habitat.)
Nobleman's Fool.
This person seemed to have varied according to the noble and his/her needs and personality.
Sometimes just an entertainer, sometimes a personal favorite who could do no wrong--a trickster, and sometimes the noble's spy--his/her eyes and ears who strolled around keeping an eye on things inside the noble's territory.
Hope this helps.
:)
January 18 2012, 07:34:45 UTC 9 years ago
We had game-wardens, huntsmen and lumbermen and charcoal makers and noblemen had fools (often those were people affected by dwarfism)
In the time of Fiorenza, though (early 17th century) the real Fermo and its countryside were part of the Papal States and were governed by a Papal Legate. According to the site of the city of Fermo: 'it was a time of relative peace and prosperity', even more so because it came after a time of turmoil, with a few different noble families fighting for dominance in the city.
Thank you!
January 18 2012, 08:17:02 UTC 9 years ago
Re: Thank you!
January 18 2012, 19:11:04 UTC 9 years ago
Just be sure to tell me if I start making a nuisance of myself. :)
Re: Thank you!
January 19 2012, 07:07:16 UTC 9 years ago
January 18 2012, 18:01:56 UTC 9 years ago
:|
January 18 2012, 19:09:48 UTC 9 years ago
Elizabeth has set the time of Fiorenza's 'cronicle' around the year 1600, given that she grows tomatoes and is familiar with pizza...
Thoughts
January 18 2012, 19:49:47 UTC 9 years ago
Hm, it's cool that the trend started near there! I had an impression of Fiorenza's people as being able to move around if they chose, but rarely choosing to do so. I may have picked that up simply from past explorations into Italian history; I wasn't thinking of it consciously but it's liable to be in there somewhere.
A few people from each village might travel if their work involves it, like Fiorenza or Otoniel, but most prefer to stay close to home -- they rely on their community for support, and almost everyone has livestock that must be tended once or twice daily. So it's very different from the modern mobile lifestyle, and that'as actually discussed in some of the poems this session.
Another piece of background material I may do for this series is a setting description and list of places. I kept having to open individual poems to look for bits of information. I don't know how interested other folks are in this kind of detail though; the cast list post didn't get any comments. (But that was very useful when writing poems yesterday, and now needs an update.)
>>Elizabeth has set the time of Fiorenza's 'cronicle' around the year 1600, given that she grows tomatoes and is familiar with pizza...<<
Yes, we had fun gradually pinning down the timeframe over several months as more poems were written (must be earlier than YYYY because of this, must be later than YYYY because of that) and finally pegged it with a historic figure appearing in "A Small Separation."
I often do this kind of thing with my poetry, looking at the little details to see what implications they have. If X is present, it must mean Y. I also do it when reading other people's writing, and it plays into my feedback process.
Re: Thoughts
January 18 2012, 20:44:54 UTC 9 years ago
Elizabeth, I *had* written a comment about the cast of characters and how much I liked it (including the fact that I hadn't realized there were quite that many characters already), but either LJ or my connection were acting up, the comment wasn't posted and later I forgot to type it in again. Sorry :-(
Re: Thoughts
January 19 2012, 02:35:59 UTC 9 years ago
That's good to hear.
>>Elizabeth, I *had* written a comment about the cast of characters and how much I liked it (including the fact that I hadn't realized there were quite that many characters already),<<
I didn't realize that either, until I made the list. I knew it was getting significant enough that I needed to track names, but I was surprised by how long the list got!
>> but either LJ or my connection were acting up, the comment wasn't posted and later I forgot to type it in again. Sorry :-( <<
Bummer. Yes, I do need to know what people like, so I'll know what to post more of. If all I hear is crickets chirping, I'm less likely to post more.
Oh, and LJ ate the reference in the comment I made:
January 19 2012, 07:48:56 UTC 9 years ago
Hmmm. If she's growing tomatoes, I wonder if she'd also be growing corn?
I vaguely remember hearing of an Italian who grew corn from the time it was first brought back to Italy...I wish I could remember what TV documentry it was in.
:|
Well...
January 19 2012, 08:11:24 UTC 9 years ago
Possibly. I had no trouble turning up a reference to corn spreading across Europe within a century, so it would have reached Italy by 1600:
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/courses/agron212/readings/corn_history.htm
The catch is, Mediterranean climate isn't ideal for growing corn. You can do it, but that's not really what the plants are adapted for. I couldn't find a crop map for Italy, but did find mentions of farming challenges with regard to corn -- short growing season in the north, inconvenient rainfall, etc. Wheat has usually been the main staple crop. Corn is listed but mostly depends on very modern advances in hybrids and fertilizers to produce large crops. So if people in Fiorenza's area are growing corn, I suspect it's more likely a minor vegetable or extra field crop than a major field crop. There was also a reference to planting corn as a second crop after wheat.
If I need it, I've got grounds for including it -- for instance, if I'm looking up a traditional Italian recipe and it includes corn, that's okay. I've done that before, and several of the poems from this session refer to specific Italian foods.