Poetry Fishbowl Open!: ysabetwordsmith

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you all for your enthusiasm.

Starting 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.

rix_scaedu

January 17 2012, 18:34:38 UTC 9 years ago

New comment

Repeating my prompts in public:

Spring;

Frog/s; and

Looking for someone or something that is los or misplaced.

(And now I'm off to work. Have fun with the fishbowl!)

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

January 17 2012, 19:29:26 UTC 9 years ago

From your prompt about frogs, I got the free-verse poem "A Princely Abode." A prince transformed into a frog asks Fiorenza to kiss him, but since she isn't a princess, clearly something else will have to be done about this.

143 lines, Buy It Now = $71.50

thesilentpoet

January 17 2012, 18:41:24 UTC 9 years ago

I'd love to see Fiorenza's take/opinion on Rumplestilskin's tale.

Alternatively:
How did Father Candido rise into his current position in the town - some character background, if you will.

January 17 2012, 23:57:59 UTC 9 years ago

See below for thumbnail of "The Godfather" with an explanation of Don Candido's rise.

minor_architect

January 17 2012, 18:54:01 UTC 9 years ago

What is Fiorenza's first memory?

Does she ever wonder about the father she never knew? Or has she ever been sought out by members of his family?

January 17 2012, 19:54:36 UTC 9 years ago

Your prompt about Fiorenza's father led to the villanelle "Fiorenza and the Sea." For her, the sea symbolizes her absent father, and freedom which is both liberty and irresponsibility. The poem is a meditation on what she thinks about while gazing over the waves.

19 lines, Buy It Now = $10

ellenmillion

January 17 2012, 19:05:47 UTC 9 years ago

Fiorenza seems very down-to-earth and practical. I'd like to see her in a case where she loses her cool.

Something that is expected to be magic... but isn't.

Tarot cards.

January 18 2012, 03:09:04 UTC 9 years ago

See below, "Three Brothers and a Bull," in which Fiorenza gets fed up with some of the village louts and their fighting.

Deleted comment

January 17 2012, 21:25:34 UTC 9 years ago

I combined "immobility" with

rowyn's request for sequels. The result is "Walking with the Witch-son," which I've posted as today's first freebie poem:
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2115310.html

rowyn

January 17 2012, 19:46:14 UTC 9 years ago

Sequels! Another story of the witch-son. Or one about being married to a man you made out of bread -- I am curious who that's working out. :)

January 18 2012, 00:00:21 UTC 9 years ago

See today's first freebie poem, "Walking with the Witch-son."

9 years ago

janetmiles

January 17 2012, 20:05:12 UTC 9 years ago

Much later in the timeline -- Fiorenza as an old woman.

Many fairy tales have a pattern in which the two oldest sons (or occasionally daughters) fail by being rude to the talking animal or disguised witch, while the youngest is polite or kind or helpful and is helped in return. Does Fiorenza ever set tests like that?

January 18 2012, 03:08:03 UTC 9 years ago

From the prompt about rudeness vs. politeness I got the terza rima "Three Brothers and a Bull." Some things are more trouble than they're worth, and our favorite herbalist has little patience for fools.

24 lines, Buy It Now = $10

siliconshaman

January 17 2012, 20:20:55 UTC 9 years ago Edited: January 17 2012, 20:21:19 UTC

Fiorenza acquires [or is acquired by] a 'familiar' cat...

marina_bonomi

January 17 2012, 21:25:08 UTC 9 years ago

And it may be interesting playing a bit with the different meanings of 'familiar' ;-)

shadows_gallery

January 17 2012, 20:43:39 UTC 9 years ago Edited: January 17 2012, 20:47:38 UTC

My first introduction to Fiorenza! When I have a moment I'll have to catch up on the poems about her.

How about, "Sickle," "Puck," and "Magic beans?" Any or all, whichever you prefer. :)

aldersprig

January 17 2012, 23:20:26 UTC 9 years ago

Magic beans!! *grin* (Beans are generally magic, being such a tidy food source all in one. Healing beans?)

ankewehner

January 17 2012, 21:34:45 UTC 9 years ago

Fairy tales? My favourite fairy tale is The Devil's Sooty Brother, I think because the devil comes off as a food guy, unless you root for officers...

Another one that stuck with me was Godfather Death. This one: http://grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/godfather_death - particularly the image with the candles representing people's lives or lifetimes.

January 17 2012, 23:55:54 UTC 9 years ago

I like stories about Death but I think he gets the short end too often. So "The Godfather" takes a different direction, in which Don Candido is respectful of the gifts he is given, and Fiorenza learns some new things about the priest.

106 lines, Buy It Now = $53

January 17 2012, 21:47:59 UTC 9 years ago

'Fatamorgana' is an Italian name for a kind of mirage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_%28mirage%29, it is also the Italian name of Morgan le Fay from the belief that such mirages were magical traps.

Has Fiorenza ever happened across a Fatamorgana? and was it a trap? Or possibly just a door?

Also a few old Italian traditional superstitions, maybe you can find them of use.

one should never:
Walk under a ladder (brings ill luck)

Break a mirror (7 years of bad luck)

Put one's hat on a bed (omen of death)

Give anything sharp or some handkerchiefs as gift (omen of tears to come)

Upturn salt or oil

Some more:
A black cat brings bad luck (in specific if it crosses the street in front of you).

Dogs howling and owls skreeching are an omen of death for someone in the house.

On Tuesdays and Fridays one shoudn't either marry or leave on a trip

Which brings me to ask, is there anyone obsessively superstitious in Fiorenza's village? And what would happen if someone (Don Candido, maybe?) set out to demonstrate that superstition is false by deliberately doing those things?

January 17 2012, 22:49:15 UTC 9 years ago

See above for "Marchesa Micia," featuring a (mostly) black cat.

January 17 2012, 23:10:37 UTC 9 years ago

Something about Fiorenza in her youth, perhaps?

The first meeting of Fiorenza and the priest, unless I'm forgetting that.

January 17 2012, 23:57:05 UTC 9 years ago

See above thumbnail of "The Godfather," as the first meeting is touched upon in there. Early them are awkward and cute!

kelkyag

January 17 2012, 23:28:46 UTC 9 years ago

How is Ercole doing?

Did Fiorenza ever have another run-in with the woman who came shopping for a perfect apple and poisonous herbs?

Is Fiorenza considering having a daughter? And what she might look for in a father, whether she wants to marry, ...? Walking with the Witch-son make it sound like Giacinto is not an option, unless they want a long-distance marriage ... though with those as jobs handed down through generations, they will both need heirs in time.

How do the children of the village interact with Fiorenza, now, or when she was a child herself?

January 18 2012, 04:41:33 UTC 9 years ago

From your prompt about Fiorenza thinking of her future, I got the free-verse poem "Cups and Coins." Gypsies come to the village, and Fiorenza gets her fortune told, which leads her thoughts in a very distracting direction.

87 lines, Buy It Now = $43.50

eseme

January 18 2012, 01:52:04 UTC 9 years ago

Ah ha! I caught a fishbowl! Lucky me...

I am curious about how the griffin babies are doing, and whether they are the sort of bird-esque creature that returns to their original hatching area to have their babies...

the_vulture

January 18 2012, 04:07:06 UTC 9 years ago

I got ninja'd about t the grifflets. XP

January 18 2012, 04:05:11 UTC 9 years ago

A challenge to Don Candido's faith

The grifflets return the favor.

The supernatural seeks help.

my_partner_doug

January 18 2012, 04:22:17 UTC 9 years ago

How about using Marina's prompt about Don Candido's attempting to prove superstitions aren't real with the results becoming a challenge to his faith, as Fiorenza saves him from both physical and spiritual damage?

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