craft seminar: constraint poem
i decided to work with japanese forms: dokugin/renku renga, haiku mondo, sedoka, katuata, Traditionally a renga (and its organs: hokku, waki, daisan) is a collaborative effort, each stanza coming from a new, different voice. The multiple voices of my solo renga come from: Steamboy (anime film, unrestrained), Dylan Thomas (drunk laureate) and "The Communist Manifesto" (landscape of "Old Europe")
the constraints i took on then, were primarily the decided syllable counts for each line, stanza. follows traditional 5-7-5, 7-7 (with plenty of slippage)
from risk comes progress
my cogs, my human engines,
just a little more?
one valve! now two! three! now four!
a bit scalded, but that’s all
bones ground into bread
a brass valve to open skin
soon a Great Exhibition!
enemy to ash
what I seek is up, up, up
will you come with me?
thus is written in the book
the stubborn man, his dunce cap
the book of rays and angles
pistons in his blood (I swear)
is that the postman back again?
the parcel: the ball, the plans,
the news of your dead father
smoke signals steam chase
pregnant with mineral pressure
from atmosphere, jaws
even if hammocked in air,
the man with the handlebar
is nothing to hold onto
O’Haras deal arms
convinced that machines fight wars
they live by their guns
Scarlett makes trembling dogs of men
you’ll call her Miss O’Hara
father steel from steam
this ain’t Niagara Falls
where did father go?
under the thumb of money
extreme densities, extreme pressures
alchemy, a cult
the world waits for steam castle
not faith, not sorcery
shimmering gift of the gods
mankind released from toil
costly inventions
from inside the royal coach
am I to tremble?
fish men fear a submarine
internal contradictions
Columbus was not for this world
escape steam castle
and explore our english parts
which me do you like best?
the heir of a balloon race
a little demonstration
a ticking steam bomb
diplomats, great gobs of em!
bow down before science
bring up the pressure
find those elder ribs
the world is waiting for this?
the thing that smashed our house
we must kill the steam castle
by air land and sea
buy all three, get a discount
what is science for?
to make people happy here
the nation must be preserved
you must turn the wheel
ride the wire, flood with the window
to unmourning waters
a fleet of tempers
new cathedral battleground
where is Her Majesty?
she’ll see nothing at all of
steam troopers, aerocorpses
cross imagery
a spectre haunting Europe
you’re sure it's not birds?
battle wagons can’t climb hills
god help us all, it’s starting
quintessence, progress
Scarlett umbrella, a target
there’s a man in this machine!
fire in the belly
a kind-of commodity
are you forgetting?
threats to the next century
from risk comes progress, father
a low-sitting star
born from air: steam and new clouds
what we seek is up up up
maniacal, monacled
a world wide feeding frenzy
for the steam head
i decided to work with japanese forms: dokugin/renku renga, haiku mondo, sedoka, katuata, Traditionally a renga (and its organs: hokku, waki, daisan) is a collaborative effort, each stanza coming from a new, different voice. The multiple voices of my solo renga come from: Steamboy (anime film, unrestrained), Dylan Thomas (drunk laureate) and "The Communist Manifesto" (landscape of "Old Europe")
the constraints i took on then, were primarily the decided syllable counts for each line, stanza. follows traditional 5-7-5, 7-7 (with plenty of slippage)
from risk comes progress
my cogs, my human engines,
just a little more?
one valve! now two! three! now four!
a bit scalded, but that’s all
bones ground into bread
a brass valve to open skin
soon a Great Exhibition!
enemy to ash
what I seek is up, up, up
will you come with me?
thus is written in the book
the stubborn man, his dunce cap
the book of rays and angles
pistons in his blood (I swear)
is that the postman back again?
the parcel: the ball, the plans,
the news of your dead father
smoke signals steam chase
pregnant with mineral pressure
from atmosphere, jaws
even if hammocked in air,
the man with the handlebar
is nothing to hold onto
O’Haras deal arms
convinced that machines fight wars
they live by their guns
Scarlett makes trembling dogs of men
you’ll call her Miss O’Hara
father steel from steam
this ain’t Niagara Falls
where did father go?
under the thumb of money
extreme densities, extreme pressures
alchemy, a cult
the world waits for steam castle
not faith, not sorcery
shimmering gift of the gods
mankind released from toil
costly inventions
from inside the royal coach
am I to tremble?
fish men fear a submarine
internal contradictions
Columbus was not for this world
escape steam castle
and explore our english parts
which me do you like best?
the heir of a balloon race
a little demonstration
a ticking steam bomb
diplomats, great gobs of em!
bow down before science
bring up the pressure
find those elder ribs
the world is waiting for this?
the thing that smashed our house
we must kill the steam castle
by air land and sea
buy all three, get a discount
what is science for?
to make people happy here
the nation must be preserved
you must turn the wheel
ride the wire, flood with the window
to unmourning waters
a fleet of tempers
new cathedral battleground
where is Her Majesty?
she’ll see nothing at all of
steam troopers, aerocorpses
cross imagery
a spectre haunting Europe
you’re sure it's not birds?
battle wagons can’t climb hills
god help us all, it’s starting
quintessence, progress
Scarlett umbrella, a target
there’s a man in this machine!
fire in the belly
a kind-of commodity
are you forgetting?
threats to the next century
from risk comes progress, father
a low-sitting star
born from air: steam and new clouds
what we seek is up up up
maniacal, monacled
a world wide feeding frenzy
for the steam head
never mind the bridge
the city in its shadow
how did you get here?
hell boiled, a stolen gun
a son set free. go steam boy!
a hand trying to crush me
we stand in my delusion
could it be, a carousel?
something nice for the children
the crucial moment, a lift
Scarlett, the damsel
in the control seat
could they have seen it?
steam shatters, steam soars
steam clouds freeze into steam faces
the city in its shadow
how did you get here?
hell boiled, a stolen gun
a son set free. go steam boy!
a hand trying to crush me
we stand in my delusion
could it be, a carousel?
something nice for the children
the crucial moment, a lift
Scarlett, the damsel
in the control seat
could they have seen it?
steam shatters, steam soars
steam clouds freeze into steam faces
No comments:
Post a Comment