Just a quick note for my readers: going forward, early access for the Casual Poetry and Casual Poetry posts is being extended to a month. I came to this decision after this last round of poetry because the exclusivity felt cheap when there was only a week of early access. The blog is still going to receive regular updates and rambles, but early access content is going to be treated with a little more preference.
Howdy, Casual Ramblers!
Forgive me if I sound like I’m repeating myself along all of these poems, but I think they represent a progression of releasing some emotions that have been hanging around me since autumn. It’s been a while since then, and I am happy to say that the future looks brighter, but I’m not going declare any age of Aquarius. The work continues…
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Here’s a quick recap of each poem:
- “Letting Go” was written in November/December, it’s been a while since I read it but I really enjoyed the simplicity of how we sometimes hold on to things too long. The poem itself was not inspired by John Mayer, but after a couple of drafts I could help but connect the sentiment to the song “Still Feel Like Your Man” wherein he sings “I still keep your shampoo in my shower/ In case you still want to wash your hair… Cause as long as it is there/ I still feel like your man.” Only in this case, I really didn’t want to keep holding on to this thing in my apartment.
- “The Cut” was written this past Wednesday. It’s one of one. No other copy. The conceit is pretty simple, but intricate. I combine the idea of “the cut” with a song that recalls a specific feeling and the action of cutting off that connection in the form of a thread caught in a tangle. I tried to represent that with the triple dashes that connect each line. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, but for now it will do.
- “Montgomery Park” was inspired by a building in Northwest Stumptown. If you ever drive across the top deck of the Fremont Bridge, you will see it. The poem itself is another one of one. Only this time it’s actually two poems that I wrote about a week ago and then smashed together because both of them were too weak to go on their own. If you can’t tell, I’m a bloody romantic and if there was ever a spot I’d love to have an outrageous snogging session, it’s the Montgomery Park sign.
- The fourth poem’s actual title is “On the Migration Patterns of Small Crabs,” but the prompt was “The Year Without a Winter” and was inspired by the fact that Oregon had an unseasonably dry, sunny and warm January. So of course I fled to Australia when I could have just stayed home and received an adequate amount of sun, right? Right?!?
- The last poem is one that has seen more edits than I count, still doesn’t have a final form, and yet still exists within a state that doesn’t make me beurk (French for “yuck”). I began writing “Fire Song” some time ago in Brisbane, and while the first version definitely has some themes I liked, I kept writing on the idea and it kept increasing in length. It might go even longer as I keep working on it, but I plan on shortening it for a “final” draft. Regardless, it was inspired by from ideas in Aboriginal Australian spirituality. Dreamtime, songlines, communal fires, all of these things came to feature heavily in the poem. If you want to learn more about Aboriginal Australian spirituality, I highly recommend the webinar “Journey into the Dreamtime with Aunty Munya Andrews” on YouTube. She’s wonderful and of course Patreon won’t just let me insert a link into the text so that you can go listen to her speak on the subject in-depth.
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