POETRY PAGE 2000
Feb 27 2000
Greeting Poets!
Welcome to this weeks Newsletter.
This Weeks Viewers Choice Award Goes to:
Fast Resize & Zoom
A man walks down the street. He finds something, then loses it. Another man drives by in a car watching him.
In an apartment block, a dog sits near an open window, barking. The window is only just open, not enough for him to jump out, just enough to allow him air.
The sun beats down.
A woman walking by rests for a moment against a tree. She removes one of her shoes and shakes a stone from it. Replacing the shoe, she continues on her way.
On the top floor of the apartment block, a child sits, resting his arms on the windowsill. There is a dreamy look on his face. In thirty years time when his wife leaves him, he will look back on this moment and smile.
A fragile, newborn breeze gently tugs at a stray piece of paper, idly kicking it down the street. Growing bored, it looses interest in the wayward bit of trash and drifts away.
There is a corner store. A curtain of white and red plastic strips hangs in the doorway. Inside, a pretty, young, sixteen year old girl, sits behind the counter enticing near incestuous thoughts from the middle aged fathers that come in. Too young to fully understand and too covetous of the attention, she unconsciously flirts.
Flicking her hair.
Her too Greek father understands too well and stands a constant watch over her, ignoring the older men, who lack the ability and putting the fear of god into the younger ones.
Some streets over, a game of backyard cricket is in progress. The small voices, raised in urgent debate, as each player dreams of hero-dom. Next door, a mother hangs the days washing on the Hills Hoist, pegs clustering her mouth as she reaches for the next sock.
Nearby, a man is dying. He clutches his heart as it attempts to jump from his chest. His tie astray, his business suit in disarray, his life ends. Still clutching his car keys in his fat fingers, he falls lifeless to the ground.
An old wino dances a weary circle around him and continues on his way, singing raucously.
A young mother sits on her back porch, breast-feeding her baby. She calls inside to her partner, who emerges from the cool darkness within, her long blonde hair still wet from the shower.
A young boy, huddled in his room, eyes closed in determination, fantasizes furiously, industriously in motion.
A cash register rings out its merry song. It’s owner wishes the happy customer a good day and watches them exit the store. The shelves are lined with a rainbow of balls of wool, lace and ribbon.
Some young hoons thunder past, music blaring from the speakers as they cruise the street, fending off boredom. A father is restoring an old Holden in his garage. He scrapes his knuckles and curses his son’s interest in girls. He sighs, picks up his tools and turns back to his work.
Remembering his own father.
A cyclist rides down the street, arm folded, pedaling reflectively. He carries with him the dreams of the children who watch from the footpath.
An old man rises unsteadily from his armchair, resting heavily on his cane, tottering across the floor to change the channel on the television. His house smells of mothballs and detergent. His bathroom reeks of antiseptic, but the young woman who cleans for him swears by it, so he doesn’t say anything. He flicks through the channels with contempt and turns it off with a flurry of disgust. He heads to the bedroom to lie down, suddenly tired.
An adulteress walks down the street, lost in guilty secrets. It reminds her of stealing the chocolate biscuits her mother used to hide so well. Across town, her partner in crime waits for his next customer, idly flicking on some cologne.
In the apartment block, a young whore lies underneath a sweaty business man, mentally reviewing her shopping list. She reminds herself to get snowpeas for dinner that evening, her boyfriend likes them.
A man walks idly by on the street below, bopping to the music entering his brain via the small walkman. His step is light and he clicks his fingers in time with the beat, mouthing the words. A pseudo Rastafarian hat is perched on his head.
His face is white.
An ambulance has arrived to convey the fat man to hospital, later to be signed off as DOA, dead on arrival. The crowed that has formed around him disperses and drifts away, this way and that.
A woman proudly shows off her tattoo to her daughter, regaling her with the memory, still kept, of her own rebellious years. Her daughter is not impressed.
She wants her tongue pierced.
The sun begins to set.
As it passes behind the clouds and over the horizon, it paints the sky in a myriad of pastel colours that slowly deepen to gold, then blood red.
The heat slowly subsides.
Families emerge from the cocoon into the evening breeze.
The smells of a multitude of dinners being prepared fills the air.
The sound of cicadas carries the evening forward into night.
Daytime slowly subsides as nocturnal rhythms take charge.
Streets away an old wino winds his merry way toward this evening’s accommodation accompanied by a police constable. Wearied by long hours on duty, he prods the wino toward his waiting accomplice. Singing joyfully, he allows himself to be led toward the bright dreams of his youth.
by Jeremy de Vere Hunt 2000
Remember to Vote!!!!!
poetrypage@angelfire.com
READ THE ROTATING STORY:
http://web.searchalot.com/home/rotatingstry/index.html
In this weeks Newsletter you will find:
1 -The Rotating Story Has Begun
2 - Poetry for Children - By Ellis and Troi
3 - Article by Gary
4 - Lets Publish a Book! ! !
5 - A poem
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Well, we have had a wonderful response to the Rotating Story. We have enough people to START the next story on time. I have included the last article for anybody who is interested.
If you want to have some input in the next story's plot and guidelines show up at our chat room on Thursday March 2nd 8pm mountain standard time, where Ellis will take suggestions and moderate a discussion on plots, characters, ect.
IF YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THE NEXT ROTATING STORY E-MAIL US AT:
rotatingstory@searchalot.com
(The next story will begin Mar 19. If you are a part of this story and want to be a part of the next one too, you must tell us so. )
To View The Rotating Story As It Unfolds Go To: http://web.searchalot.com/home/rotatingstry/index.html
Here is the Schedule for the first story:
Feb 20 Jerry Gilliland-posted
Feb 23 Alice Monahan-posted
Feb 26 'Scott' - Larry Sutherland substituting for Scott-posted
Feb 29 Jill Domscott
Mar 03 Tee Rissss
Mar 06 Tracy Myrberg
Mar 09 Jeanne Hunter
Mar 12 Audrey Morris
Here is the Story Guidline that they will be working with:
1978, New York City.
Star Trek Convention.
There has been a Murder.
Or so the police think.
There is no body.
Several members of the cast are missing.
One witness recalls a bloody massacre.
The witness resides in a mental institute and wears Vulcan ears.
You Are Inspector Roald.
You Are investigating this case.
Have Fun!!!
~~~here is the original article in full~~~
We at the Poetry Page are always looking for fun and interesting ways to involve our readers and subscribers in the literary process. We believe that we've found one in The Rotating Story.
The Rotating Story is a story created by you the reader.
Each Story we ask for volunteers. Each volunteer is assigned a day. We at the contest will decide on a basic plot and a character or two.
THEN. . . each volunteer will be responsible for writing one page of the story. However, you must not write your page ahead of time. Wait for the person before you to write their page and for it to be posted on the site before you write and submit your page. All the pages will be posted together to form one complete story.
The first story is scheduled to begin on Feb 20 2000.
If You Are Interested
Then Send Us
Your Name and E-Mail
Address to: rotatingstory@searchalot.com
The new web page address for The Rotating Story is:
http://web.searchalot.com/home/rotatingstry/index.html
That is where we will be posting each new submission to the story and where the story in its entirety will be posted.
We know from past experience how quickly something can grow when people get interested and involved so we will leave all options open. Perhaps we will come up with such an exciting story (or novel, as the case may be) that it will turn into our next publishing project. Or we will all just have a whole lot of fun working on this together.
If interested just e-mail the above address and we will get back to you with your assigned date and a general idea of where that will fall in the story.
Even if you decide not to be a part of the story itself make sure to check out The Rotating Story Page after February 20th to see our efforts unfold.
We hope to have a link set up for The Rotating Story page on the Poetry Page by the time you receive this newsletter or shortly thereafter.
By Audrey
~~~~~~~
To view the Rotating Story go to:
http://web.searchalot.com/home/rotatingstry/index.html
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Poetry for Children
by Ellis & Troi
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of a sound in two or more neighboring words. It is the repeated use of an accented syllable that has the same beginning sound. Such as: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers....."
Examples:
Sally's soup stinks of sourkraut.
Big black bricks bake badly.
Hot house jalepeno's are hotter.
George joins Jeff Giraffe's jungle jamboree.
Alaric Alexander Watts (1797- 1864), an English journalist and poet, wrote the poem, "The Siege of Belgrade," in which every line uses alliteration. All the words in line 1 begin with the letter A, in line 2 with the letter B, and so on through the entire alphabet. (Except the letter J which Watts ommitted.)
It can be difficult to make long poems by using alliteration, especially if you make the lines rhyme in any pattern. However it is great fun to try- so have fun!
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Using the Spell Check
By Gary
Have you ever noticed that there are people that do not seem to care if spelling errors exsist in their work? They do not seem to notice that a simple misspelling can change the whole meaning of the word, or even of the whole body of work. Take the sentence:
'I do not wish to see my stock depreciate.'
Now I have seen the word 'depreciate' mispelled 'deprecate' which is a real word that means :'to wish to prevent or avert.' This makes the sentence into nonsense.
Also popular is the stranding of someone in the 'dessert'. It seems that some people do not know that desert='uninhabited dry wasteland', while dessert = 'the final course of a meal'.
Another favorite of mine is: "John sits on the town counsel." Some people are unaware that council = 'a meeting for discussion, or a permanent commitee or assembly', while counsel = 'any advice or in legal usage, a lawyer or group of lawyers'.
I have seen: "life is all an allusion". Which while I am certain that is true, I can not help but think the person who wrote it did not know that allusion = "the indirect mention of something". While the word Illusion = 'misconception, mistaken idea or that which is insubstantial and does not really exsist'.
Even accidentally hitting the same letter twice can forever change the sentence; "Arnold was afraid that someday he would loose his sister to alcoholism." Of course we all know that lose =' fail to hold, to be deprived of'. While loose = 'to release'.
We sometimes run into grammar errors. It sometimes is confusing to remember that while the past tense of 'rise' is 'rose' and the past participle is 'risen'. The past tense of 'raise' is 'raised' and the past participle is also 'raised'; not 'raisen'.
So remember; When in doubt use your dictionary. Everyone is going to make small spelling mistakes, and it is sometimes impossible to remember all of the rules of grammar. However, it is best not to let other people see work that has errors of such a magnitude as to be embarrassing.
So take a minute and read over what you have written.
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I am going to continue to run this article for a while. We are too excited by the book not to mention it over and over.The Book is beginning to come together nicely so hurry and get involved!!!
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The Book! ! ! The Book!!! The Book!!!
We are excited about our new project and wish to push it as much as possible.
By the way we are accepting the first 100 applicants only at this time,
so do not delay!
If you want to be part of the book e-mail us at: r061n@excite.com
Here at the Poetry Contest we have decided to try a new project and at the same time
test out the new electronic self publishing industry.
We are going to try to Self Publish a book of poetry from the
Poetry Contest. The focus of the book will be to explain the process of
self publishing by setting forth our experiences and showcasing the wonderful
poems of the Poetry Contest.
Anyone who wants to have one of their poems published should send an e-mail to:
r061n@excite.com
OK, I wanted to update everybody on the progress of the book. So far we have had several
people say that they wanted to be involved. We seriously believe that it will be possible to get one hundred people involved in publishing this book.
Our plan is to collect the poetry and each poets share of the overall cost until we have 100 poets involved, then we will publish the book.
If you have already expressed interest I will e-mail you with more information. If you want to be involved e-mail me your physical address and I will send you the information you need to get involved with our project. Each person will need to sign a release form (you retain full rights to your work, the publisher needs the right to publish it.) Each person needs to submit up to two pages of poetry. Each person will also need to submit $13 as their share of the publishing cost. The overall cost to publish this book will be a little over $1200. This fee covers on-line publication, publicity (on and off line), and the set up with Lightning Print to prepare our book for print.
This fee DOES NOT INCLUDE A COPY OF THE BOOK FOR EACH POET. About 4 to 6 weeks after we submit the complete manuscript to First Books our book will be available to purchase on-line. About 4 weeks after that it will be availabe to purchase as a paperback from Lightning Books (or any major book seller). The price for the paperback SHOULD be between $6 to $12 per copy.
You may have noticed that $13 x 100 = 1300. And I said the cost was a little over 1200. ($1207 to be precise). What happens to the extra money? Well, we are running a contest. (Us run a contest? No way!) To see who can come up with the best title. The winner gets their publishing cost refunded to them and two copies of the paperback for free. So Think Hard about a title and send it in with your submission.
ANYBODY WHO IS INTERESTED IN TRYING THIS EXPERIMENT WITH US MAY SEND AN E-MAIL
CONTAINING YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS TO:
r061n@excite.com
LET'S TRY IT!
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A Poem
by: Joyce Johnson
Poetry for the Ages
A poem must have words to remember,
To entice, enrapture, engage.
Not words strung along, without any song,
To vanish with the turn of a page.
There must be a hook to be clung to,
And that is the reason for rhyme.
The words may be witty, and some of them pretty,
But without rhyme, they'll be lost over time.
I recall from the days of my childhood,
And that was a long time ago,
The poems that I heard then, the teacher who read them,
And most of their verses I know.
When Wordsworth wandered over the hills,
Writing his words in song,
Elated by daffodils, his joy over spills,
And we are still singing along.
A word by itself may be lovely,
But must connect with its neighbor, you see.
So to write for the ages, just fill up your pages,
With rhythmed and rhymed poetry.
by: Joyce Johnson
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help support
the poetry contest
have
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JOIN NOW AND PLEASE USE OUR MEMBERSHIP ID (DGJ-066)
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If you have an article, essay or other work that you would like to have published in the
newsletter please send it to:
poetrypage2000@yahoo.com
If you have any comments about any of the poems in the poetry contest please send an
e-mail to:
poetrypage2000@yahoo.com
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The New Contest Can be found at:
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/ny/980/
or
Type : go.to/poetrypage2000
In Your Address Bar.
As always the old Poetry Contest can be found at:
http://westwood.fortunecity.com/stmartins/748
SUBMIT YOUR POEMS TO:
poetrypage@angelfire.com
Submit your VOTE for peoples choice award at:
ell51773@fcmail.com
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If you like the Poetry Contest and all it entails and would like to find out
how to help support it, while making a little money for yourself then go to :
http://members.theglobe.com/ell51773/support.html
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