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Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

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Tom
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by Tom » Mon May 06, 2019 1:34 pm

 Poeting alone is as bad as drinking alone.
Dave!  You may have just written our new site motto --  Poeting alone is as bad as drinking alone.  :D :D   What do you think, eh?  Pretty catchy, eh?  Pretty poetic, eh?

And if we can keep the IPA's flowing to  Aimé the Song-Maker maybe we get our Anthem as well.  Wahooo!

Seriously, you make good points.  

Others?

 

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Gyppo
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by Gyppo » Mon May 06, 2019 4:14 pm

Dave makes a very good point about the cross-pollination of ideas in the sprawling big thread.  Several of my offerings this year were triggered by an odd phrase or line in someone else's work.  The rest came from roaming the streets or looking out of the window, or overhearing conversations.  A few came from digging deep into my own memories, and occasionally even making sense of them after many years.  (The latter sometimes surprises me.)

But the cross-pollination is a very important thing.  When I taught creative writing classes several years back I could see ideas sparking across the room between my students.  There was something hugely beneficial about being part of a group of like-minded individuals.

We 'creatives' tend not to' bubble joyously' amongst those who we feel 'won't understand'.

Psychologically it's easier to you let your guard down a bit amongst people with a shared interest or passion.    You share things you'd normally keep to yourself.  You are also more open to ideas and inputs which you might normally reject.

The impromptu 'prompts' that naturally occur within a group like this are generally far more valuable - and usable - than anything clever a tutor or teacher may dream up to try and motivate your poetic impulses.

=====

I can think of one very good reason for not having individual threads, and that is another bit of writer's psychology I witnessed time and time again when teaching.  If a student missed just one class they'd probably carry on again afterwards.  But if they missed two consecutive classes they nearly always dropped out.  Because they felt they were being left behind and their creative side simply shut down.

Think about this for a minute.  Within Napo month you have thirty days to shine if you're the sort that responds to such an 'in your face' challenge.  But there are also thirty opportunities for that inner voice to tell you you're no good if you miss a day.  We have powerful imaginations, and deep emotions, and sometimes they will work against us.

To some people having an individual thread would be like a slap across the face every day they don't write something.  In a sprawling thread they can hide for awhile, read others' work and tell themselves that because they're reading poetry they're still poets, and maybe find a spark of inspiration there.

To be honest I've almost talked myself out of the individual thread idea ;-)  It seems more efficient, but poetry isn't about efficiency,  it's about effectiveness, which is an entirely different beast.

I am not a psychologist, but I've studied other writers, and myself, with great interest over the years.  We're a fascinating bunch, with more in common than our widely ranging interests and attitudes might suggest.

​​​​​​​Gyppo


 
I've been writing ever since I realised I could.  Storytelling since I started talking.  Poetry however comes and goes  ;-)

ajduclos
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by ajduclos » Tue May 07, 2019 6:20 am

Dave and Gyppo -

You have fleshed out that nagging doubt hiding in a corner of my brain that I could not access and examine, that doubt about individual thread for each writer or for each day.  The partnering concepts of "cross-pollination" and creative comfort within the chaos of the one thread for all pretty much wins out over the concept of individual threads. 

I can add nothing to the discussion - I'm on board with sticking to it as is.  As Dave said "if it ain't broke don't fix it." 

Ok, one more thing:  the way the NaPo threads were set up was confusing to some, including me.  Too many possible places (threads) to post, too many "sound-a-like" places... with some poets posting in as many as three different threads.

Tom -

As to an "Anthem" - not sure I'm up to that.  But I am trying to write and compose a song of thanks for all that participating in this years NaPo has meant to me, for me.  I've learned so much both as a writer wanna-be and as a person this past month.  Thanks to you all.

Aj 

P.S.  Yes !!!  Site motto:    Poeting alone is as bad as drinking alone
  

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Tracy Mitchell
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by Tracy Mitchell » Tue May 07, 2019 3:05 pm

Imagine we are in a gymnasium on hands and knees.  There is a peanut in front of each of us and our task is to push the peanut with our nose from one baseline to the other.  Our elbows, shoulders and necks tire at differing rates.  Our knees become sore.  The peanut curls off the nose occasionally.  We commiserate – we are in this together.  We make slow progress and encourage ourselves and each other in our common pursuit.  Would the camaraderie be greater if we take turns pushing one peanut rather than each of us having our own peanut? Just asking.

I read lots of poetry – currently Wendell Berry, Alfred Tennyson, and Eliza Rotterman.  Though I have no affect on the authors I read, their effect on me is unmistakable – I remain thoroughly pollinated.  

What I don’t get from reading in isolation is the energy of the imagination and creativeness which exudes from the artistic/writing process.   Writing poetry and sharing poetry takes courage.  We know courage can grow in groups (mob mentality?).  What I get from the NaPo experience is the energy, the shared exuberance, the delight of other’s efforts.  Yes, it inspires me.  Siobhan used to call this ‘bouncing off each other’ and it is a real thing, a valuable thing.  I get that with one thread or a hundred – we are still similarly situated folks on a common mission. 
 
I cherish shambolism as much as the next guy, but this year it felt way too unwieldy, especially at the beginning.  It was so chaotic with the arrival of everyone that my sense of it was “the fences are down at Yasgur’s Farm”.  And it felt that way.  

My preference is for each writer to have his or her own thread.  But my greater preference is to get as many peanut pushers in the gymnasium as possible, what ever that may take.

I will try to sound out some of the new folks who didn’t post much.  Maybe there is a better way to spread the welcome mat.  

Just my thoughts.

Cheers

T

indar
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by indar » Tue May 07, 2019 3:48 pm

After reading the peanut-pushing analogy I'm not certain I will participate in NaPo next year---that sounds dreadful---my knees are old and the cartilage is getting thin and I am suffering-----but enough of that.

I keep going back and forth between the two obvious choices: thread for all or each his or her own. Can't decide. Just now I am leaning toward the thread for all as it was done last year: no choice but to hit "reply" to post a poem. We've got time. Plus we've done that---maybe try a thread for each during midsummer celebration.

ajduclos
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by ajduclos » Tue May 07, 2019 6:37 pm

While my stuff would be more manageable in a single dedicated thread, manageable for ME, I must admit I like the chaotic chaos of the one thread for all.  I didn't early on, but I've become convinced of the collaborative wonder of it, of the thought as Dave put it "if it ain't broke don't fix it."

The ideal would be a group thread as we did this year, plus a thread for each poet - best of both worlds.  Is that doable?

Aj  

Dave
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by Dave » Wed May 08, 2019 7:21 am

What's to stop each of us having our own thread now - there is already a forum for it in fact. We can gather our own poems together and present them for 'review' as it were.
Dave
 

indar
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by indar » Wed May 08, 2019 8:18 am

::::GASP::::

You mean go through the NaPo poems now and pick out our own and post them all together?

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Colm Roe
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by Colm Roe » Wed May 08, 2019 6:51 pm

Dave wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 7:21 am
What's to stop each of us having our own thread now - there is already a forum for it in fact. We can gather our own poems together and present them for 'review' as it were.
Dave
 
Sounds like a plan Dave. I especially like the idea of the founders archiving their work...or the pieces they want to keep. 
Feels like we're a committee designing a horse but coming up with a camel...but you gotta love them camels!
Bottom line...as long as we engage it's all cool. As long as our wonderful new poets keep posting here we're growing. NaPo is/was fab for many reasons, but the newbies made it so special this time around. 

 

ajduclos
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Re: Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

Post by ajduclos » Thu May 09, 2019 9:56 am

Tom wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 1:34 pm
And if we can keep the IPA's flowing to  Aimé the Song-Maker maybe we get our Anthem as well.  Wahooo!
Tom, and every one of you NaPo mates:

While I was away from NaPo those last few days of April, music came from my guitar.  As most often is the case for me, music is the first step in the writing process.  Words started bouncing around in my empty head, teasing and tickling.  It's been a process. 

I've written a lyrical poem/song in honor of The Tangled Branch NaPo 2019 and in honor of you all.  It's not quite an "Anthem" as Tom was hoping for, but it is from the heart.

Like Elton John said:  My gift is my song, and this one's for you.

The Tangled Branch NaPo 2019  –  Towers of Dreams  

Flowers and gardens
manicure green
sun warmed hopes
Towers of Dreams 

Sun and Moon
Polar delights
bright and warm
hushed insight 

      Muse never far
      She's ever near
      like a twinkling star
      through darkness appears
         quiet She breathes
         from under the eaves
      listen      and hear 

Thoughts thimbolic
sprout shambolic
words symbolic
whirl bucolic 

Collaboration
lush inspiration
paddle in pathos
Theory of Chaos 

Fancy flights
through flights of fancy
traces smear clear
IPA's here here          

      Heart informs whole
      rides dawning tide
      Muse touches soul
      nudges and guides
         She cradles fingers
         pen in hand lingers
      poet      inscribes 

Judgments be gone
shoulds don't belong
grandkids grow
old friends go 

Inside the mind
outside the lines
flowers and green
Towers of Dreams


And if I get an opportunity to record this at my kitchen table, challenge enough, my next challenge will be to figure out how to share the "song" with you all.

Again, thanks for accepting me and my "songs."

Aj  
 

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