I suffer the dreams of a world gone mad.
I have seen things that you will never see, and the film
is on a maddening loop. The heavens are falling down
and I can’t even breathe.
We turn kingdoms into dust as the violins
fill with water, as the winter takes one more cherry tree.
Everything has chains. I walk the sweet rain tragicomedy and
pass by a thousand signs, looking for my own name.
Have I run too far to get home?
Some die just to live.
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Tag Archives: bop
February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #3: Delirium
This is my third piece for the February 2010 Mini-Challenge over at Read Write Poem. This month’s challenge directed us to gather a poet’s work around us, pull out or underline lines we really liked, and then construct at least two centos, or patchwork poems (one each on days one and two, of course) from those lines. On day 3, we have the option of either writing another cento or parting ways with the lines and writing our own poems based on or inspired by our chosen poet.
I chose to do another cento using Arthur Rimbaud’s lines.
And you can read all of my February Mini-Challenge Poems here.
-Nicole
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I have swallowed a fabulous dose of poison. On my
hospital bed, an overpowering smell of incense wafts over me:
guardians of the holy oil, confessors, martyrs. I have a
pillow over my mouth, they can’t hear me, they’re
phantoms. I’m no longer in the world; life’s clock
has stopped. Yes indeed, I’ve shut my eyes
against your light;
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February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #2: The Prophet
This is my second piece for the February 2010 Mini-Challenge over at Read Write Poem. This month’s challenge directed us to gather a poet’s work around us, pull out or underline lines we really liked, and then construct at least two centos, or patchwork poems (one each on days one and two, of course) from those lines. On day 3, we have the option of either writing another cento or parting ways with the lines and writing our own poems based on or inspired by our chosen poet.
I chose Arthur Rimbaud.
And you can read all of my February Mini-Challenge Poems here.
-Nicole
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I have a horror of all trades. In my vision I saw
a million charming creatures moving in time to
beautiful church-music, Power and Peace, noble ambitions, and
lord knows what. These, it was promised, would
bury the tree of good and evil in absolute darkness, would
banish despotic proprieties, freeing us to love purely
in the pure land. It’s the vision of numbers; eternity, the
shoreless ocean in the sun.
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February 2010 Read Write Poem Mini-Challenge Poem #1: The Fire This Time
This is my first piece for the February 2010 Mini-Challenge over at Read Write Poem. This month’s challenge directed us to gather a poet’s work around us, pull out or underline lines we really liked, and then construct at least two centos, or patchwork poems (one each on days one and two, of course) from those lines. On day 3, we have the option of either writing another cento or parting ways with the lines and writing our own poems based on or inspired by our chosen poet.
I chose Arthur Rimbaud.
And you can read all of my February Mini-Challenge Poems here.
-Nicole
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The epic of a madness. Ecstasy, nightmare, sleep, in a
nest of flames. I summoned pestilence so I could choke on
sand, on blood. I buried the dead in my bowels. I’ve got a
taste for almost nothing anymore but dirt and stones. Feed on
broken bricks, on bits of scree and the old stones in churchyards; I have
faith in poison.
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Love, Transformed
Love Canvas by N. Nicholson
This was written for Read Write Prompt # 76: Changes.
I decided to revisit the bop for this poem. I started out with the basic form, but found my poem a bit overflowing. Instead of trying to constrain it, I let it go. I kept the basic form (situation or problem/refrain/expanding on situation or problem/refrain/resolution/refrain) but I didn’t limit myself to three stanzas or the line count which is typical of a bop.
I borrowed my refrain from the song Crush by The Smashing Pumpkins. The original line was “Love comes in colors I can’t deny”. This was stuck in my head over the long holiday weekend, so I decided to use it.
Enjoy.
-Nicole
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first, your color was green:
trees, flags, and your heart shared the color of
the rebirth of life and atoms and
photosynthesis was your queen, resting royally
in your ribcage, exploding roses and violets –
the fodder of schoolgirl crushes and bad poetry
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Ladybug
This bop was written for Read Write Poem Prompt #67: Share the Bop. A bop is a (roughly) 26 line poem with three stanzas and a refrain that repeats three times in the poem. The bop is usually structured like this (however, you can modify or expand on the form):
- Stanza 1: six lines, introduces a problem or situation
- Refrain
- Stanza 2: eight lines, expands more on the problem or situation, or continues from stanza 1
- Refrain
- Stanza 3: six lines, with the solution or conclusion
- Refrain
I had fun with this and plan to write many more bops. For the RWP prompt for this week, we were to either a) borrow two lines posted by participants as a refrain or b) write our own bop and use one of the donated couplets as an epigraph. My refrain (I want to fix you/I want to set your wings) is courtesy of Angie from The Space Between Words blog.
Now, enjoy the poem.
-Nicole
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Caught between you two,
I was a ladybug –
spread my wings, and I flew;
spread my wings for the two of you;
spread my wings, and I knew
your love. Now, I hear your voices:
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