creativeStarting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "The 50 Poetic States." 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 "The 50 Poetic States." 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! -- A feature in conjunction with fishbowl sponsorship is this progress meter showing the amount donated.
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.
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 "The 50 Poetic States." I have a chapbook in progress, The 50 Poetic States, so I'm seeking prompts for states that I haven't written yet.
I already have poems for these states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington
I need prompts for these states:
I'll be soliciting ideas for landmarks, historic events, politics, nature, cultural tidbits, other things that make you think of the state, and poetic forms in particular. Ideally, I'd like to get input from people who have lived in or visited the remaining states. If you can include a reference link, that's very helpful. These are intended to be stand-alone poems, NOT series installments, so I expect them to be sub-epics.
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.
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Poem
October 18 2016, 18:55:33 UTC 4 years ago
37 lines, Buy It Now = $15
October 18 2016, 19:14:00 UTC 4 years ago
Anything for New York and it's active soup community.
Poem
October 18 2016, 20:27:20 UTC 4 years ago
34 lines, Buy It Now = $15
Poem
4 years ago
October 18 2016, 19:16:12 UTC 4 years ago
Is 'Why?' a useful prompt?
Poem
October 18 2016, 23:04:21 UTC 4 years ago
43 lines, Buy It Now = $20
Poem
October 18 2016, 19:23:07 UTC 4 years ago
24 lines, Buy It Now = $10
Born and grew up in Wisconsin
October 18 2016, 19:25:53 UTC 4 years ago Edited: October 18 2016, 20:10:43 UTC
The first kindergarten was established in Wisconsin. So was the Republican Party, some of whose founding principles are at significant variance with its current platform. Wisconsin is politically diverse; notable political figures born there range from Robert LaFollette to Joe McCarthy.
"Billy" Mitchell is another polarizing Wisconsinite. He was the outspoken advocate for air power in the period between WWI and WWII. This got him into a good deal of trouble, but he was largely vindicated by the events of WWII.
Wisconsin was an early leader in the turn-of-the-century (20th) movement, led by the League of American Wheelmen, to establish and pave a network of roads linking its cities.
ETA: Oh yeah, this excellent highway network contributed to why the most notorious gangsters of the Prohibition era in Chicago maintained hideouts or took over resorts in northern Wisconsin to which they could retreat when things got too hot at home. A number of fierce gun battles between federal law enforcement (the locals were significantly outmanned and outgunned) and the various gangs occurred there.
Re: Born and grew up in Wisconsin
October 18 2016, 22:21:21 UTC 4 years ago
36 lines, Buy It Now = $15
Poem
October 18 2016, 19:49:59 UTC 4 years ago
24 lines, Buy It Now = $10
October 18 2016, 20:56:07 UTC 4 years ago
Is 'Why?' a useful prompt?
October 18 2016, 21:05:27 UTC 4 years ago
I haven't lived in any of your remaining states, so I fear I won't be of much use. I've been to GA a few times, but only in a very limited way, and I remember being very disappointed that I couldn't find any farm fresh peaches, any of the times I visited.
My parents do live in OR, and my defining memory of that state is the beaches. They are cold beaches, usually foggy and wet, but utterly lovely.
Wisconsin I've been to twice, once during baking hot summer - it was too hot even to draw and I kept sticking to my skethbook. The other time was over Easter, which was chilly but strangely free of snow (for me, being from Alaska).
My impressions of places seem to hinge on weather. :)
Poem
October 18 2016, 23:21:01 UTC 4 years ago
17 lines, Buy It Now = $10
from your partner Doug, on a browser without a saved LJ login
Anonymous
October 18 2016, 21:22:57 UTC 4 years ago
This is yet another means by which the Yoopers (nickname for residents of Michigan's upper peninsula) are left out of most things Michigan -- although I do recall seeing one such UP native extending his left hand *palm up* (and horizontal, rather than vertical) in pale imitation of the common practice.
Given that either hand-map was rendered with the left hand, I was inclined to suggest "Michigan is Sinister" for the name of the piece, but in discussion with you came to agree that such title had connotations not appropriate to the theme of the collection.
Re: from your partner Doug, on a browser without a saved LJ login
October 18 2016, 21:33:22 UTC 4 years ago
But feel free to keep "Michigan Is Sinister" on hold for a Yooper supervillain annoying people in Motor City. ;) I do like that title.
October 19 2016, 01:38:56 UTC 4 years ago
North Carolina - has the Biltmore Estate, which is very pretty.
Poem
October 19 2016, 03:11:30 UTC 4 years ago
21 lines, Buy It Now = $10
Poem
October 19 2016, 01:46:42 UTC 4 years ago
66 lines, Buy It Now = $33
Poem
October 19 2016, 02:17:00 UTC 4 years ago
30 lines, Buy It Now= $15
Filling in the gaps
October 19 2016, 04:21:37 UTC 4 years ago Edited: October 19 2016, 04:28:19 UTC
http://www.purewow.com/travel/most-beautiful-place-in-every-state?utm_source=zergnet&utm_medium=syndication
Re: Filling in the gaps
October 19 2016, 06:29:47 UTC 4 years ago
22 lines, Buy It Now = $10
Re: Filling in the gaps
4 years ago
Re: Filling in the gaps
4 years ago
Poem
October 19 2016, 04:30:34 UTC 4 years ago
75 lines, Buy It Now = $37.50
Poem
October 19 2016, 05:27:39 UTC 4 years ago
Conveniently, there are different names for summer and winter fogs in California. So I hunted up a two-stanza form and wrote an octameter about them.
16 lines, Buy It Now = $10
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