Poetry Fishbowl Open!: ysabetwordsmith

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

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

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "games and toys." 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.

Watch for the linkbacks perk to go live. Click to read "Secondary Feathers" (Fledgling Grace, 18 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 "games and toys." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things relating to that theme. Prompting is free! Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems. Finished poems become available for sponsorship.

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! -- A new feature in conjunction with fishbowl sponsorship is this progress meter showing the amount donated. There are multiple perks, the top one being a half-price poetry sale on one series when donations reach $300.

3) 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.

4) 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"

5) Spread the word. Echo or link to this post on your LiveJournal, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social network.  Useful Twitter hashtags include #poetryfishbowl and #promptcall. Encourage people to come here and participate in the fishbowl. If you have room for it, including your own prompt will give your readers an idea of what the prompts should look like; ideally, update later to include the thumbnail of the poem I write, and a link to the poem if it gets published. If there is at least one new prompter or donor, I will post an extra freebie poem.

Linkback perk: I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of the poem.  One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Dreamwidth or Twitter, rather than all on LiveJournal.  "Secondary Feathers" belongs to the Fledgling Grace series and has 18 verses.

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.

5) If donations total $100 by Friday evening then you get a free $15 poem; $150 gets you a free $20 poem; and $200 gets you a free epic, posted after the Poetry Fishbowl. These will usually be series poems if I have them; otherwise I may offer non-series poems or series poems in a different size.  If donations reach $250, you get one step toward a bonus fishbowl; three of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be three months in a row. Everyone will get to vote on which series, and give prompts during the extra fishbowl, although it may be a half-day rather than a whole day. If donations reach $300, you get a piece of bonus material relating to a poetic series.

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 "games and toys."  I'll be soliciting ideas for players, toymakers, referees and other gaming judges, game pieces, toys, famous playthings, foreign playthings, playgrounds, game rooms, places where games and toys are made, the history of playthings, playing with games or toys, interference or other mishaps during play, cheating, teamwork, breaking or repairing toys, gaming strategies, special occasions associated with games or toys, funny names for playthings, and 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, and additional perks at $100-$300 in donations. Linkbacks reveal verses of "Secondary Feathers.") The rest of the poems will go into my archive for magazine submission.

peteralway

December 4 2012, 23:00:57 UTC 8 years ago

New comment

Construction toys, and entering the world you invent and build with them. Lego, Tinkertoys, Meccano, Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, American Bricks, Krazy Ikes, even simple, old-fashioned wooden building blocks, or dominoes built into towers by a kid who never learned the rules of the game.

Poem

ysabetwordsmith

December 5 2012, 03:24:33 UTC 8 years ago

Your prompt about Lincoln Logs inspired the triolet "Nanotechnologging." Imagine being able to build a house with those -- and then make it big enough to live in.

8 lines, Buy It Now = $5

aldersprig

December 5 2012, 01:40:22 UTC 8 years ago

My father gave me a wooden toy truck, and I find I love toy trains, which nobody would ever give me: gendered toys.

Teaching toys and games.

A game in lieu of war.

December 5 2012, 03:46:50 UTC 8 years ago

For teaching games, and games in lieu of war, see below "The Best Games."

8 years ago

December 5 2012, 02:20:26 UTC 8 years ago

DW user cadenza muse left a prompt ...

The queen prompt inspired the poem "Prestige and Power," about the dynamics and symbolism of chess. It's written in unrhymed couplets.

12 lines, Buy It Now = $10

zianuray

December 5 2012, 02:22:41 UTC 8 years ago

I had G I Joes, Barbies, and Tonka trucks. Joe didn't quite fit in the Tonka mail truck, but he tried!

And Barbie quite liked the machine gun.

And I think it might not have been a toy, but I had a toolbox with real tools (hammer, saw, etc) that I had a lot of fun with.

A swing in the basement for rainy days

home-made chemistry sets -- food color, vinegar, baking soda, and anything else scroungeable (bet Monster House has majorly scroungeable stuff!)

December 5 2012, 06:03:17 UTC 8 years ago

From your assortment of toys I got the free-verse poem "Quinn's Nursery." It's a story of transgender childhood, told through a series of gendered toys. This poem belongs to the Schrodinger's Heroes project.

76 lines, Buy It Now = $38

wyld_dandelyon

laffingkat

December 5 2012, 03:20:23 UTC 8 years ago

Why is it that so many of our games are competitive rather than cooperative? I find that even when I play games that could be played cooperatively, people seem to default to playing competitively.
Perhaps you know of places where games are more likely to encourage cooperation, in societies where people understand the value of working together? Hmm, maybe the Ocracies have some interesting examples.

December 5 2012, 03:46:10 UTC 8 years ago

Your request for cooperative games led to the free-verse poem "The Best Games." Amongst the nations of The Ocracies, each people does well at a different aspect of gaming. But it's the children who ultimately put the pieces together.

41 lines, Buy It Now = $20

Competitiveness isn't all bad.

Linkback Poem

December 5 2012, 04:01:02 UTC 8 years ago

The linkback poem "Secondary Feathers" is now live, in case you haven't seen it yet. Link to the fishbowl, reveal a verse.

ravan

December 5 2012, 05:15:12 UTC 8 years ago

A bit dark: Head games, people who see others as toys to "play" (non consensual) with, and what they want most for their holiday celebrations. Then give them comeuppance.

December 5 2012, 07:20:04 UTC 8 years ago

I thought about the prompt on regarding people as toys for nonconsensual amusement, and how it would gratifying to give the bad guy enough rope to hang himself creatively. That turned into the free-verse poem "Rigging the Game," a very graphic tale of murder and perversion and what happens when you piss off the wrong paladin. You said dark, so, if it's black make it black. This poem belongs to the series Path of the Paladins.

172 lines, Buy It Now = $86

rix_scaedu

December 5 2012, 06:21:55 UTC 8 years ago

Hopscotch and counting rhymes. (Hip,skip, sky blue or Eeny, meeny, miny moe)

December 5 2012, 08:58:48 UTC 8 years ago

From the prompt about hopscotch rhymes, I got the poem "Scotch Hobby." Maryam Smith goes for a walk in the park and encounters several boys playing a version of hopscotch, using two different rhymes. She decides to pose a bigger challenge for the more experienced pair of players.

64 lines, Buy It Now = $64

Re: Poem

December 5 2012, 06:46:30 UTC 8 years ago

I know it's really late, but it occurs to me that Hart's Farm would be a great setting for adult games!

December 5 2012, 08:16:15 UTC 8 years ago

Per request, the free-verse poem "Catching in the Rye" features adult games at Hart's Farm. After the harvest, the young farmers play blind man's bluff -- in the buff. Totally not safe for work.

75 lines, Buy It Now = $37.50

December 5 2012, 09:18:27 UTC 8 years ago

In a comment elsewhere,

pickledginger mentioned magic-seeking missiles, which turned into the free-verse poem "Hit or Missile." It's a game that Trobby always wanted to play, but never could. Shaeth gives him a hand. This poem belongs to the series One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis.

41 lines, Buy It Now = $20

Done for the night!

December 5 2012, 09:24:36 UTC 8 years ago

Okay, I've written at least one poem per prompter. Night, all.

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Poem: "Good Food Choices Are Good Investments"

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Competitiveness isn't all bad.

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Done for the night!

Content notes for "Good Food Choices Are Good Investments"

Character notes for "Good Food Choices Are Good Investments"

Poem: "Good Food Choices Are Good Investments"