Today we have a timely and beautiful winter cycle seasonal poem by Claire Knight, inspired by the midwinter change, when the nights start getting lighter, and people start looking forward to spring.
Thanks to Claire for creating and sharing it, and a serene Solstice, merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody.
Thanks for visiting fmpoetry in 2010, and best wishes for 2011!
Winter Cycle
Settling us into the time of dark
Winter Solstice fades away.
A fire crackles in the hearth
reflections on things now passed
draw unbidden into the mind.
Was I all I could be…?
Did I say and give all I wanted to?
the old year closes its door
midnight: one year slips into another
a new year opens a window.
Will I find and cherish all I hope for?
Can I be all I could?…
questions drawn into the mind
reflections on things to come.
A candle flickers here on earth
Imbolc awaits her turn
shifting us into the light of Spring.
Today we’ve got a fun and clever palindrome poem from De Jackson, with the letters mirroring from side to side on each line.
Thanks to De for creating and sharing the poem, and please drop by her whimsygizmo website. Have a great weekend!
Palindrome, I
I
kayak.
I
live not on evil.
I
name now one man.
I
must sell at tallest sum.
I
a Toyota
evil olive
drab band
never odd or even
I
murder for a jar of red rum.
I
level
solos:
Are we not drawn onward to new era?
I
don’t nod.
There was a great early morning sky spectacular over Leeds this morning, featuring planets, stars, sunrise, iridescent lights and more:
Venus and other celestial objects in a clear dark sky, with the first signs of light visible in orange and blue on the eastern horizon.
a big cloud lit up like a big pink jelly just before sunrise
and iridescent lights in a thin horizon cloud after the sunrise.
Just before the sunrise, the sun was lighting up planes flying over the treetop horizon, and making them look rather good. It inspired this poem, which retreads some previous Marc Latham fm poems, but also has some originality.
Dawn Cinderellas Pink Candy Dance
heavy metal hulks
noisy and cumbersome
when grounded become
flamingo comets
sailing over sunrise
silent and sleek
fade fusing fandango
Today we have the erudite Caroline Gill on the Folding Mirror form’s place within palindrome poetry.
Thanks to Caroline for giving her time to set out a great case for the survival and continuation of the form.
The PalindromePoem and Folding Mirror Poetry ~ some introductory thoughts from Caroline Gill
Robert Lee Brewer posted a fascinating feature about Palindrome Poetry on his Poetic Asides blog (18 Nov. 2010). It seems, therefore, a good time to begin to define the difference between the Palindrome Poem (a type that has been around for a long time, although it took a while for this poetry to be labelled as palindromic, in any definitive sense of the word) and its newer cousin, Folding Mirror Poetry (FMP), devised by Dr Marc Latham. It is worth pointing out before we proceed that there have been various forms created, based around the palindromic idea. A favourite recent one is the Palindromedary Sonnet, developed by Wendy Webb, which has two halves but no central folding line.
There are essential differences between Palindrome poems and FMP, but there are also overlapping elements. I suspect that Dr Marc Latham is moving towards his own definitive explanation; but meanwhile, I offer a few thoughts of my own:
The Folding Mirror form has, as I understand, a central ‘folding’ line as its key feature. This sometimes equates with the horizon (in both an actual and metaphorical sense in some poems); and unlike the Palindrome poem as defined by Brewer, the FM poem is not restricted to a single ‘bridge’ word at the hinge point.
The words above and below the central folding line in FM poems will often mirror their counterparts to one degree or another. I find it helpful to speak in picture-language, and to consider a pool, when I think about this poetic concept. Sometimes, when the water is perfectly still, the image and its reflection are (to all intents and purposes) a perfect mirror image. Sometimes, when the water is very disturbed, the image and its reflection bear little resemblance to one another. Sometimes, when there is a slight ripple, there is a definite, though incomplete, resemblance between the image and its reflection. There are also times when the surface of a pool is so dense (perhaps due to ice, oil pollution or algae etc.) that although there is some kind of matter – or void – below the surface, it may appear to bear no resemblance to what lies above.
Therefore in FMP, the words below and above the line will not always mirror their counterparts specifically, because some reflections are more subtle than others. There are also occasions when the poem concerns a subject with two halves, but with totally different halves e.g. a horizon middle line could be used to separate a top half about an empty sky and a lower half about e.g. lions in the jungle below. A FM poem about a tooth and its root would be about the tooth that was visible and the (unidentical) root that was not, but was ever present all the same. Ditto the seen and unseen halves of an iceberg.
Sometimes a FM poem involves diagonal opposites.
Sometimes words repeat themselves exactly in FMP – like images in a clear pool. Please note that the type face in FMP is usually – but not always – the same way up on both sides of the central folding line, due to practicalities of presentation and ease of reading.
Sometimes words in one half of FMP are mirrored by their opposites, producing e.g. a Dalmatian effect on one side – black on white – and an inverted or domino effect – white on black – on the other.
Sometimes the central folding line (which may not always be horizontal) will separate (for example) the part of the FM poem about sheep from the part about goats, in a poem in which these creatures are linked through symbolic meaning. Sometimes, however, the central folding line will separate (for example) the part of the FM poem about sheep from the part about cows, for the simple reason that (in this instance) the two species graze in adjacent fields, divided by a hedge or wall.
There are many variations of FMP, as I understand, and as I hope I am beginning to demonstrate.
Palindrome poetry features ‘the same words … in each half of the poem’ (Robert Lee Brewer – link below). FMP does not necessarily do this, as has been demonstrated from the points above. FMP is based on a broader structural concept; and while a FM poem may include the same words on both sides of the line, it equally may not, relying instead (or in addition) on some of the scenarios I mention above.
Sometimes FMP is more about the mirroring of concepts or ideas or about the presentation of opposites than about the mirroring of actual words, but a strong central folding line is always essential to the structural success of FMP.
Further reading:
For more on Palindromic Poetry, please follow the link to Robert Lee Brewer’s site.
Today we have an observant mirror poem by Mike Bayles set in the wonders of the natural world. It first appeared on Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides site.
Thanks to Mike for creating and sharing it, and enjoy!
Wizardry
owl hoots
vigilance in darkness
watching landscapes
laments passing day
contours into shadows
welcomes night and transformations
shadows into contours
day passing laments
landscapes watching
darkness in vigilance
hoots owl
mistYmuse 