Kim M. Russell, 10th April 2019
My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Poems in April Day 10: Open a Book
For the tenth challenge of this NaPoWriMo, Anmol with like us to pick up any books lying closest to us or pick them from our bookshelves: poetry collections, novels, dictionaries, telephone directories… we should just pick one up and open page at random. The first sentence of that page is our source of inspiration for a new poem, which we can write in three ways:
- Use all the words of the sentence in the poem;
- Pick a word or phrase from the sentence for the title or the poem;
- Use a part or the entire sentence as the first or last line of the poem.
The book I picked up from my shelf was Seamus Heaney’s Death of a Naturalist and I’ve tried to do all three with the first ‘sentence’ of the poem ‘Gravities’.
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I adore this! Both the words and the way they are presented. I adore concrete poetry, though that seems an odd designation for this poem! 🙂
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Thank you! And I know what you mean about concrete kites! 😊
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I, an avid (though childless) kite flyer, admire this greatly, esp since I’m fully aware that kites (like kids, I guess) can never be fully reined in.
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I can’t wait for my grandson to be old enough to fly a kite with me, Ron, but he’s only 13 months. I bought his mother a brilliant one when she was little.
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Ooh, how ingenious is this structure! This kite is definitely going to find its own way in the wind.
The imagery throughout sets the scene so well — it’s like a watercolour with the movement reflected through the swathes of colour and activity. And the ending is a gem. I loved it, Kim! 🙂
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Thank you so much, Anmol! 😊
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Love the structure. Not just the shape itself, but how it tells the poem through it (especially in the thinning of the string when it speaks of mothers tugging on their children’s frivolity). I also adore just how fun it is to read… I found myself moving my head from sight to side, following the shape of the string. 😀
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I’m so pleased you like it, Magaly. 😊 I have now come to the end of all the poems I wrote before I went to my daughter’s. At the moment, I’m on my way home on a train, speeding through the countryside. I’ll have to get back in the swing of things tomorrow morning. I’m excited to see what the next prompt is.
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One of the best concrete poems I’ve seen in a long time – I admire the time and patience it must have taken to set out so well.. Also, just noticed the ‘demon’ in ‘demonstrate’..
😉
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Thank you so much, eagle-eyed Kerry!
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Wowww!! ❤️ I love the shape and structure of this poem, Kim! Gorgeously rendered!! 😀
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Than you, Sanaa!❤🙂
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Delightful and fresh! I love it. That took a lot of planning- well done!
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Thanks Linda!
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Oh, this is wonderful in form and verse. A kite to lift my day…
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Thanks Susie.
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I love your shape poem!
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Thank you, Rosemary!
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Oh for the life of a child again. Most of them that is, some have endured very unfortunate times and places. Love the kite. Perfect shape poem, good job.
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Thanks Jim!
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So clever, Kim. The shape is wonderful.
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Thank you, Sara.
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Well… I SO wish I’d created this poem. Absolutely LOVE it.
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Thank you so much, Margaret.
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