a Night of Pomp & Poesy

So... I just hosted the Northfield Branch Relief Society's Enrichment activity entitled : a Night of Pomp & Poesy..... yeah, that's right, we had a poetry night as a Relief Society, because when I am in charge, we don't do lame things. After studying some Angelou, Ginsberg, Auden, Simic, and some of my other favorites (Jamie Kay was also so kind as to share some fabulous German poetry with us), we embarked on the task of creating our own poems through a series of games. The first was a take-off of magnetic poetry, where we were given sheets full of words and asked to cut and paste a poem out of it. Here is what I came up with:

Hollow Blood
by Hannah Hinckley

yellow ache
doesn't shout,
climb, steal, show or drift.
it is a rough, essential blow;
as spare as dust.
dig, cut
bone. rise small instead--
defying hurt through hollow blood.
oh devour chaos, taste rampant
longing, chilly and definite.

Next, we all drew slips of paper with topics written on each one. We were not to share our topics, but begin a poem by writing one line related to that topic. We then passed our papers around and each member of the group wrote one line of each poem, based on what other people had written. Here are some we came up with, remember each line has a different author.

Topic: Swimming in a lake

Barely visible beneath opaque waters,

my feet are treading.

with lightning steps,

men sing songs of glory.

No progress is truly made,

but my feet continue on

wading, wading, the occasional

splish, splash through the milky lake.

A pounce and snatch

wings of freedom give me life.

I fight away dark night,

and let the warm waters

consume and cajole my tingling

skin.

Topic: A first kiss


I don't remember his name
but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
At least not to me.
For prey has no name.
Whispering tales of love,
He is remembered for walking uncharted paths
ones we soon mapped out together,
with looks, touches, mouths, our
longitudinal guide.
With speeds unmet
Breathing new life into me
And then we move on, two separate lights
to find another with which to burn.


Topic: My favorite animal


The tiger's eye sees
dreamy eyes weeping
their bright light draining into the dark night
a rush- a rumble- quick start, his eyes
notice all from within the forest.
Slow breath before the race.
Fire burning cain of water
The fury flows into the night
because he knows, down to his spine
and vertebrae, that he is not alone.
Flash. He has won.

Topic: What I dreamed last night


Blackness surrounds body's
Lifeless slack form
an eerie presence lingers before
the supine figure, not willing to leave him be.
But an untamed hunger calls.
Falling star give light to paths
the eternal way must be entered.
The gated junction between worlds
can shiver-- indistinct.
With claws that tear
Darkness gives me a peaceful sleep.

Well, those were some of the very silly fruits of our evening of pompous poetizing.... we really did feel very accomplished and literate.