We are bending,
rehearsing,
reciting,
and encoding.
We tell our tales
of Blackberrying and Cartoon Physics,
readily sharing
because any practice is worth
that shaking, churning feeling of presenting yourself,
bare, beneath spotlights.

While looking through performed poetry

and I found this one
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I liked it watch the entire video please

Spread the cheese, but don't cut it, please!

If I had a Literary Club leaf for my tree, I would write that I am grateful to be working with such interesting and independent people.  You, Literary Clubbers, remind me each week why I am a teacher.  Muah.

Her

She waltzes on a tight rope

a tiny wire doll

She walks with winter,

sings of snow

and prays the birds will fall.

She counts the stars

three

two

one

as she swallows earthly light,

she spends ages running

sweet soliloquies in the night.

She listens to her inner Lady

spilling lies of perfect flight

and she sheds the layers day by day,

counting bones to make things right.

Just a thought . . .

What do you think about compiling all of the work we created and found for each theme?  It would be nice to be able to look back and peruse through it.  Maybe we could make a sort of scrapbook of everything.    

Hooray for Ambiguity

At last night's meeting we agreed to write under the theme, Contents Unknown. We also decided to read the book, Stuck in Neutral. Alayna shared a very thought-provoking poem, Emily shared an insightful and sensitive poem, and Liz shared one that had some excellent lines she would not explain. I shared a poem that a poetry student wrote a few years ago that coincides with our new theme. I think that everyone is starting to open up a bit more, and would like to see our discussions grow. Next week, bring anything you find that is related to our theme and post any poetry that you write related to our theme.  Some poetry is better when it is read silently, especially if your line placement bolsters meaning, while other poetry is best when presented out loud.  If yours is good for reading, but not reciting, please post it here, and then we can read it on the screen at our next meeting. 

A Few New Poems

It was all my fault,

Doubtless that I was such a horrible and
Ominous little figure for everyone.
No one suspected different, as you were
The lovely item, chased

By adoring fans, while I walked on
Empty with nothing but
Love, waiting for
Its release. They didn't know your
Evil intentions, or that you were
Villainous, secretly set out to
Exploit me in all my

Youthful bliss. But because I bore the mark
Of despair, you were able to hold me down
Under, so no one would hear me scream.





...

If every

Word
Released could
Ignite
The next
Embers to light

A contagious fire,

Lyrics that
Overrun my pages would
Take lives at their desire.




...


Yet no
One comes to her
Under her bed, telling her to have

Courage
And faith.
No one will

Be there to stop him from his own
End,

And take the pills from

His hand.
Everyone is aware, but it takes a
Real hero to help us who have strayed to
Overcome.

Have a democratic day. Vote!

Vote for whichever topic you want to write about, and whichever book you want to read as a group by clicking the bubble in the polls to the right. If you want to sway our votes, give some links to the books, or tell us why a certain one is awesome.

How do you spell writer's block?

Because the way I'm spelling it right now starts with a A and ends with an AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! :'(

Rainer Maria Rilke

He was a German poet in the 1900's and a portion of his elegies seemed perfect for our club. Hope you like it! :)

"In the darkest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. Then look deep into your heart, where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?"

How to Be Alone

Here is the video Sara recommended.  It's beautiful.  I love how the pace at the end of the poem picks up with internal rhyme.  The music and the graphics add a lot, and for me, add quite a bit of meaning and sentiment I might otherwise not have experienced.  There were moments during this I felt sad for lacking time to be alone, remembering my collegiate days when I did things by myself all of the time.  Great addition to the blog, Sara.  Word.

Things from others.

http://writingsfromwonderland.blogspot.com/p/author.html

"Thoughts flitted about in Anthony’s head like sparrows, their wing-beats mimicking his pulse. A window in his eyes swung open, closed, open, closed, each tenebrous creak wracking his form. His face had crinkled into a blank white sheet. So Peter was not expecting an answer, but it came, whipping out through the rain when nobody was looking.

“I never knew my mother,” Anthony said. “But in many ways, my sister was a mother to me.”
“What was she like?”

“She had lovely hair. It was the colour of canaries, and it spun round her head whenever she laughed.”

“Your sister had birds for hair?” Peter asked, his mouth wide open.

A sad smile glinted at a corner of Anthony’s lip. “She would have loved wings.”

^^This girl is amazing.

Plus a poem/video about how to be alone and handle the silence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs

Silence

We chose to write about the theme of silence this month, and will sift through some literature to find connections to this theme.  Share your work here, and anything else that's related.  Also, we'll be discussing the novel, Speak, later this month.  Word.