I like lists and ticking off items when complete,
the regularity of paving stones beneath my feet,
avoiding cracks and walking firmly in the squares,
so as not to be eaten by predatory bears.
I like to peg laundry neatly on a washing line,
different coloured pegs for your clothes and mine.
I like arranging poems into different forms,
to prevent words from squirming off like worms.
The disarray of nature also pleases me,
but I must organise its wild abandon into poetry.
Kim M. Russell, 14th April 2020
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Order, Order!
Laura, our host this Tuesday, introduces us to poetry by Elizabeth Jennings, a twentieth century poet associated with the post-war anti heroic movement. Laura says that it was her style of writing that made an impression on her: the clarity and directness of her voice, lack of ambiguity, use of formal rhyme patterns, and orderly framework. She says that the word ‘order’ appears many times in reference to Jennings’ work, personal and religious life, as well as in her poetry.
Laura would like us to write poems in which we express, directly or indirectly, our relationship with order: do we like, want, need or resist it? She wants us to think about the way order turns up in our lives: the order of seasons and ceremony, for example, We can use the word in our titles or the bodies of our poems and, for an extra challenge, we can put our poems into the order of forma poetic patterning.
Mine turned out a little autobiographical and very whimsical.
writing in north norfolk 
I like your likes! – well written Kim and the orderly way you wove in the rhymes
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But you need to face those predatory bears… they are probably just pretending… Love the playfulness in this poem
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Love this! The rhyming and cadence is so fun…I read it a second time, aloud. LOVE those words squirming off like worms. Now….rest, my friend. Take care of yourself and here’s hoping you are feeling more comfortable very very soon!
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Thank you so much, Lill. I’m shutting down my laptop shortly – didn’t get much sleep last night.
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I like those last two lines and the thought of using different colored clothespins for different members of one’s family.
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Thank you, Frank.
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The different-colored clothespins gave me pause! There is a disarray of nature … but then there’s the fibonacci, so Mother Nature had her foibles as well! Great write, Kim.
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Thank you, Bev. Order in chaos, like my brain!
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You make this look so easy, Kim! I love the whimsicality, especially the bears. I wonder if that’s a peculiarly English thing? Sleep well xxx
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Thank you, Sarah. xxx
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My favorite line: to prevent words from squirming off like worms. They do like to have their wiggling way don’t they!
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They do, Lisa. I sometimes have a job catching them.
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I, too, am fond o shaping my words, lines and stanzas so that a reader’s eyes must chase the poem all lover the page. I do like your list. when I was a bachelor, order was never a factor in my life
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Oh, but I have a messy mind, Glenn, all over the place!
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My disorder could use a bit of your regimen.
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You haven’t seen my study, Ken!
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😀
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I love the organizing of nature’s wild abandon!
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Thank you, Mary!
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I enjoyed your self portrait. I have often aspired to order, and admire it in others. (K)
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Ah, but you should see the are I work in! It’s as untidy as my mind.
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It doesn’t show in your writing!
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What a great introspective poem. I love the ending…
The disarray of nature also pleases me,
but I must organize its wild abandon into poetry.
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Thank you, Dwight.
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I like that simile: “words…squirming off like worms.”
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“‘Bears! See how I’m walking in all the squares!'”
Imagine the big smile on my face.
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😀
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