Open-Source Poetry #1

Dear Readers,

As those of you who have read our FAQ page will already know, we no longer collaborate with other bloggers, and haven’t done so for a long time.

(You! Yeah, you! The one with a surprised look on your face! Yes, we do have an FAQ page. Go on! Go and read it now, lazybones! Also we have many other cool pages such as About Us or Hole-in-the-wall but now’s not the time for that.)

So, anyway, we have a proposition for you. We’d like to amend this case of affairs by offering a space for you all to collaborate on a poem together instead. Let’s explain how this would work…

1) We provide the first line of the poem.
2) You write the next line.
3) You submit your line via the comments section of this very post.
4) We pick the line we like most and add it to the poem.
5) We publish the first and second lines in a follow-up post.
6) Steps 2-5 are repeated until we have a masterpiece!

Please be assured that we won’t forget to mention the names of all the contributors. This way, everyone gets the acknowledgement they deserve.

So, what do you think, Dear Readers? Would you like to have a try? It could be fun! Yes? All right then, here’s the first line…

Вензель

What if I said sorry for saying sorry all the time?Вензель_нижний

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2017

Jarrytale

modern Andersens write
without mistakes and blots
instead of candle light
they waste kilowatts

a tin soldier is no more than
a shell for microchips
Lukoje is a horseman
of the apocalypse

a little match girl
burns a town to ash
Thumbelina rides a merle
guarding a Mole’s arms cache

…the only misfit
was a nightingale
she doesn’t give a shit
she left the fairytale jarrytale

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2016

Try-on

I try to pull words
over gnarled reality.
They bulge at the seams.
They rip like worn-out stockings.
Fast. Uncompromisingly.

Darn! Reality
is prickly and awkward-shaped.
I throw ripped phrases
into the rubbish-words-bin
and take the next unworn pair.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

GUEST POST // Aponi (for Tetiana “Tati” Aleksina) by Gregory Waits, Jr.

It’s so immodest, isn’t it? Sorry, guys… I couldn’t help it.
It’s too beautiful to be hidden. Thank you, Greg… Ayor anosh’ni
(Yes… Aponi… Now you know one of my nicknames.)

1.rainbow-butterfly-md

a thin branch full of leaves sanguine.
there’s a breeze. take flight
to do a fluttering
dance among the flowers
for the sun and random eyes.

2.

joy
is a hibernating bear
rising from dormancy
with a hungry smile
for a metamorphosis.

3.rainbow-butterfly-md1

imagination’s
a caterpillar
crawling
along borders,
across lakes, oceans
where we meet,
inspiring and merging
creative words,
sounds
and images.

4.rainbow-butterfly-md

have you been
to the parties
in Mexico, Zaire,
New Zealand
and Central Asia
to Native America
where the Hopi’s
and
Navajo’s
were dancing for you
as single girls
don
hairstyles
in your image
for suitors?

5.rainbow-butterfly-md1

nature
carved your wings of awe,
with your mind and heart
splashing them
with colors of delight:
lime and orange
with specks
of black and rouge,
an exquisite
sight to see.
small.
delicate.rainbow-butterfly-md
but a bit stronger
than first glances
assumed.

6.

so go on
fly on
let those wings
sing
a mid-summer song.

7.rainbow-butterfly-md1

go on fly on
i swear
there’s some drab places
in need
of your presence.

by GREGORY WAITS JR.
© All rights reserved 2015

Collaboration: A Canvas

Method two madness.

I have followed this amazing blog from the very first days of my blogging.
I’m a faithful fan of Kerfe and Nina… two wizards of artworks.

Yes, I do love handicrafts and I can do many things with my hands…
(Oops… don’t let me mention my half-finished scarves and a sweater without sleeves!)

Can you imagine my enthusiasm when I got a letter from Kerfe? No, you can’t! I was truly happy that I could become a part of this creative celebration! WOW! JUST WOW!

Please, enjoy!

It’s worth reading… and to be seen! Don’t miss this blog, guys! I would never cheat you, my dearest Readers, and I’m not going to cheat you this time. It’s really great!

P.S. My personal favorites are mandalas. Stunning, fantastic and unusual mandalas created by Kerfe… OMG! I’m in love! ❤

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

memadtwo's avatarmethod two madness

a canvas s

a Canvas

Its motions are chary and deft.
Stitch by stitch. Right to left.
I’m a warp. You’re a weft.

Time weaves a life canvas…

 by UNBOLT

© All rights reserved 2014

Tetiana Aleksina’s poem of last December proved the perfect muse for an idea I had in the back of my mind at the time.  I arranged and cross-stitched it onto one of the working graphs done during my many years as a knit designer.

I probably have several hundred of these graphs, along with knitted swatch samples, that I haven’t repurposed or discarded yet (I threw out many of the graphs and now I’m regretting it a bit…).  What to do with them?  I’ve made dolls and pillows and masks from the swatches, but haven’t done anything before with the designs on paper.

Tia (aka Unbolt) always provides vivid images in her poetry.  She also enjoys collaborations.  Her poem”A Canvas” takes…

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