Finale (National Poetry Writing Month)
Well, that didn't go the way I planned ...
The normal Wednesday night reviews went until 4AM, which carpet bombed a long day in meetings on Thursday and a busy night with the family ... meaning I missed a day. Given that I started 2009 six days late, I don't feel that bad, but clearly my summary and recap was woefully premature. Like the tortoise and the hare, I lolly gagged and messed around and stumbled so close to the finish line that it's stupid.
Also funny, there are five Fridays in April, and I claimed my haiku series for my wife was four parts. Hahahahahaha! In the words of Bill Simmons, the moral, as always, is "I'm a moron." At least part time.
My misstep is even more frustrating because this blog may go on a very brief hiatus. Tonight's the last night that Blogger will allow FTP service, which means that once that goes, I'm gone. I won't be hosted by Google (I don't trust their cloud happy philosophy) and I won't give up the hard-won control my current domain and host provides. I blogged for years without a blogging service/engine and I am inches away from having FTP on my phone. I may try to do something with the Wordpress server that my friend installed since this stylish design house is freaking the theme for me, but until it's running, it's vaporware. I'm very confident the theme will be properly freaked and all the goodness of being good will, er, be all good.
If this is goodbye for a week or three, it's been a blast. Now -- two poems to close out NaPoWriMo 2010!
I cannot move any faster than this
My pace determined by some circumstance
Each step is vital and cannot be missed
Too much at stake to leave something to chance
I'm working just as hard as I can now
Focused on keeping steady as I go
A long time before I can take a bow
So many things can interrupt the flow
The truth is I have faltered in the past
but now sustained with never ending glee
good love, manifested in wife and kids,
and no one can take that away from me.
Won't complain as I nod and try to rush
If you ask me, I'm ready and I won't be crushed.
"Sonnet: How Long Is That Gonna Take?"
By Hannibal Tabu ... and, of course, the final haiku for my beloved bride ...
dance pretty sister
motion grace passion grooving
light lives in those smiles
"African Class"
By Hannibal Tabu,
with apologies to Sananda Maitreya Dude, I'm tired. Tabu out.
... I solemnly swear to always treat this roof like my daughters and raise it ...
Playing (Music): "Not Afraid" by Eminem
NOTE: Since this blog is automatically imported into my Facebook page, I apologize if you comment on it and I don't respond, as I am taking a sabbatical from social networking for 2010. So me not responding is not personal, I just won't see the comments ... until 2011. Maybe. Also including this disclaimer on blogs, but you're welcome to go to the blog itself and speak your mind, as I may look there ...Labels: blogging, creativity, daughter, family, fatherhood, haiku, napowrimo, poetry, wife, writing
Workin' For A Living (National Poetry Writing Month)
It's funny to be able to envision the finish line already.
I approached this year's NaPoWriMo with some trepidation. Thirty poems in thirty days, with a newborn in tow, a blog to migrate and a full time job to boot? Today, looking back on the discipline and focus it required, I feel better about my ability to get things done (and yes, my amazing Finnish smartphone plays a huge role in that -- next stop, FTP!) and confident that I'll have (at least) the first draft of my latest novel done by September.
But let's stay focused -- poetry time! Yes, it's a haiku, shut up, I'm sleepy!
Tick tock time passing
Workplace quiet hangs heavy
rush hour hell desired
"I don't feel like working today"
By Hannibal Tabu There have been "toss out a haiku" days, but I'm pretty proud with many of these pieces, significant first drafts that I could build on. Looking back (as I suspect I won't have time to do as the week draws to a close and I deal with the Blogger situation), I've liked ...
... and some of the shorter pieces were okay, like "Digital Diva" or "Tanka: Nokia N900" or "Cuddle Time" or even "The Seeming Flow of Thoughts Based On My Newborn's Expressions".
I notice some themes that recur -- parenting, inspiration, characters I see either in fiction or every day life, even coming to grips with one's self. I find this month's batch an interesting examination and can't wait to examine them more in workshops. I hope to compile an index of all of the pieces for the end of the month (today's a good start, heh)
Just a few more days, y'all ...
Playing (Music):
NOTE: Since this blog is automatically imported into my Facebook page, I apologize if you comment on it and I don't respond, as I am taking a sabbatical from social networking for 2010. So me not responding is not personal, I just won't see the comments ... until 2011. Maybe. Also including this disclaimer on blogs, but you're welcome to go to the blog itself and speak your mind, as I may look there ...Labels: creativity, haiku, napowrimo, poetry, work, writing
The Mentalist (National Poetry Writing Month)
Long weekend, dude, but got a gang of work done on ... well, let's put it this way: one thing happened today that is practically the test case for the sensibilities of Boobquake Day. The first episode of Ask Supasista, my wife's completely-NSFW video blog/satirical advice show. It truly speaks for itself (although I have already blogged about it).
Aw, I'm trippin' -- this is about the poetry! Let's do that ...
Reach for contemplation
finding only atmospheric void.
Considering consideration
quest for concepts, dreams,
even half-considered recipes might do.
Chasing something faster
never catching up
not writer's block, writer's slowed
falling into gasps
arresting forward motion.
Breathe.
Respiration links man to divinity
Labored intake of air
expels death with every word
everything begins with every nascent inhale.
There.
In still certainty of "stop."
Underneath eternity of second chances
embodied in rising and falling breastplate.
Ideas were waiting
for a moment to be still
a moment they could find you.
"Running Through My Mind"
By Hannibal Tabu Finally, on a wholly unrelated note, never eat a 7-11 chicken salad sandwich. Trust me on that one. Argh. Moving on ...
Playing (Music): "Think Of Me" by Lloyd
NOTE: Since this blog is automatically imported into my Facebook page, I apologize if you comment on it and I don't respond, as I am taking a sabbatical from social networking for 2010. So me not responding is not personal, I just won't see the comments ... until 2011. Maybe. Also including this disclaimer on blogs, but you're welcome to go to the blog itself and speak your mind, as I may look there ...Labels: creativity, inspiration, napowrimo, poetry, writing
This is probably a terrible idea ... (National Poetry Writing Month)
... but tomorrow is the start of National Poetry Writing Month, which I did last year (and forgot until I saw Nikki Blak's blog about it earlier today.
Last year, I started six days late, wrote thirty poems and nearly killed myself. This year, I have a newborn baby and a job that's been ramping up the stuff they need from me. Will I be taking this year off?
What do I look like, some kinda pansy? Of course not!
So, starting tomorrow, right here, THIRTY DAYS, THIRTY BLOGS, THIRTY POEMS! Believe it!
Yes, I plan to do lots of tankas and haikus. I make no apologies for this. I have a few ideas I didn't get to last year -- a poem from the perspective of Bizarro that my dawg Craig suggested, for example -- that will be longer pieces. But they all have to be newly written. No "breaking out an old poem that I wanted to work on some more" -- if anybody has ever heard it, it's not going down.
If I'm alive in thirty days, we'll all be lucky. Let's go!
Playing (Music): "Oh Really" by KRS-ONE, Buckshot, Talib Kweli and Geo of Blue Scholars
NOTE: Since this blog is automatically imported into my Facebook page, I apologize if you comment on it and I don't respond, as I am taking a sabbatical from social networking for 2010. So me not responding is not personal, I just won't see the comments ... until 2011. Maybe. Also including this disclaimer on blogs, but you're welcome to go to the blog itself and speak your mind, as I may look there ...Labels: bad ideas, creativity, masochism, napowrimo, poetry
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