[stylist] Twitter poetry for Jim

Sun Oct 16 22:57:35 UTC 2011

Jim,

If you get this, will you send it to the crowd in my behalf. Somehow I am
having trouble getting it out there. Thanks, Jackie 

Subject: RE: Some examples of Twitter Poetry

Jim,

This is more about beginning poetry, short and sweet, or in some cases, not
sweet. These are examples of Twitter poetry that I submitted to the Arizona
State Poetry Annual Contest. I have written the poem, in many cases, a
cinquain which this purpose can be called a Twinquain, followed directly by
the character count and the font I used For the character count, go to the
tools menu, go down to word count and listen carefully.

The font should be given if you press "insert F. Since published poetry
cannot be submitted in a poetry contest, please consider that these are sent
to you for critiquing as in a round robin group, and not truly finished. I
will find out in a month or so if any are winners, and would hate to be
disqualified.

And now to see if they come out in the correct format.

I suggest that you read line-by-line so you can identify if it is     a

Cinquain (2,4,6,8,2) syllables.

All of you, think back on your 40 word poems. This is shorter, but what I
remember is good thoughts, metaphors, etc., so have fun. 

8. Twitter Poetry                   Jacqueline Williams

                                    1431 West 7th Place

                                    Mesa, AZ 85201

                                    480-834-1782

Molded

Poured hot

into man's mold,

plastic woman fulfills

her Stepford role-caregiver, and

abused.

94 characters with spaces

Tahoma

Coming Full Circle

They think

a life is round

but errant lines jag out. 

A fool expects a final

closure.

101 characters with spaces

Magneto

Lobsterfest With Dick

      A voice from a watery grave

He asked

for a lobster-

boiling water-boarded .

He ate me-red-my secrets still

withheld.

132 characters with Title and spaces. 

Mixed font, ?

E-Mail

Alone

at ninety-one

he pecked out messages.

Death came, from Cyberspace, sat in

his place.

92 characters with spaces

Impact

For Those Who Would Go Back

My friend,

your mind-

a passenger

on a train

bound for the past.

It must be derailed

for the rest of us

to survive.

136 characters with title and spaces Times New Roman

No Support Left

You burned

your bridges. Fires

so hot they charred the one

you built to bring you safely back.

Don't cross.

119 characters with spaces

Gerimond

Practicing How to Reject, Diplomatically

"My love,

come cruise with me.

Roses, jewels, my heart."

"No, thanks, but I'd love a jelly

doughnut."

137 characters with spaces

Rockwell

-----Original Message-----

From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Home, James

Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 10:52 AM

To: Writer's Division Mailing List

Subject: Re: [stylist] Writing from a blind perspective

Hi Jacqueline,

Thank you. Please send whatever you wish. I'm beginning to think that some
of the journaling I have begun may take the form of poetry. I got a Bard
book about writing poetry last weekend. I wonder if at my writing level I
should get a kids poetry writing book.

Jim

-----Original Message-----

From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jacqueline Williams

Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 1:23 PM

To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'

Subject: Re: [stylist] Writing from a blind perspective

Bridget,

Right on. Several years I taught a poetry workshop about writing and finding
poetry using all of the senses. When I get through these too many e-mails, I
will try to find some examples of other than visual and forward them. I
still hesitate to copy and paste from word because it so often changes the
format. That is not so important in prose, but it can be deadly in poetry if
it is a form instead of a prose poem.

I wonder who did the screenplay for that movie, "Wait Until Dark" starring
Audrey Hepburn. I am waiting for a novel featuring a blind sleuth using all
the senses we use to solve a crime. Let me know if any of you already know
of one.

Jackie

-----Original Message-----

From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Bridget Pollpeter

Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 2:15 PM

To: stylist at nfbnet.org

Subject: [stylist] Writing from a blind perspective

Chris and others,

That's bullshit- pardon the French. Smile. That others would tell you your
story has holes because of a lack of visual descriptions is just stupid, and
much like in our real lives, people are only focusing on the blindness and
nothing else about a person, or in this case a character.

Sensory descriptions are not just visual. As we know in real life, nonvisual
means exist to do many, many things, yet so many question how anything can
be done without sight. It's the same when providing sensory descriptions in
a story. It can be done, and done quite well, without actually giving visual
details.

In my classes, we were expected to provide details beyond visual ones so
readers had a full sensory experience. As a sighted writer, it will usually
be natural to write more visual descriptions, but at least we were
encouraged to seek new perspectives. In a poetry workshop, we had to write a
poem about a piece of art but not to give any visual details.

At first, most of the class found it difficult, but the poems turned out
really good. It was quite the learning experience, even for me.

To be honest, I rarely write blind characters- oddly enough, I find it
difficult. Even though I'm totally blind, I was sighted before, which I know
many of us were, but I still am extremely visual. I have visual memories now
of things I can't "see," and though I can't say how accurate my memories
are, nonetheless, the memories are there. So when I write, it's natural to
include visual details. However, I've been working on writing other sensory
descriptions because I don't want to end up in a rut unable to rely on other
descriptions beyond the visual.

One way, Chris, you can try to provide more detail about how your character
goes about something is to use descriptive language when they do something.
For example, not that this will be a good one, but you could try something
like, "The electronic voice droned from the speakers as he paid bills
online." Or, "The mailbox clanged as he tapped his cane against it. Sliding
the back of his hand along the top, he found the handle, opened the door and
dropped his letter into the depths of the mailbox." Or, "Her sultry voice
suggested a matching body. I moved closer picking up a hint of jasmine.
Grabbing her hand, I weaved my fingers through her slender ones. She leaned
against my chest, and I felt the weight of her breast as images scorched my
mind."

You don't necessarily have to describe exactly how things are done, or
provide the inner workings of things, but add a few verbs and details that
signify what the character is doing. And I don't think it has to be written
in first person to accomplish this. That's obviously a choice you make, but
don't let others dictate that choice. I know we have to be mindful of how
readers perceive our plots and characters, but at some point we also have to
stay true to what we believe are the right choices. To me, this sounds like
a case of people focusing on one aspect of a character, refusing to look
deeper.

Also, a story is about perspective. If a character is blind it stands to
reason that we will "see" the story from the perspective of a blind person.
Actually, in an open, or omniscient perspective, you can pan out providing
descriptions even if characters can't see since it doesn't have to be the
blind characters narrating, but if you limit the POV to that blind
character, regardless of first or third person, you'd still want to remain
in that nonvisual world. It's insane that anyone would suggest a story told
from the POV of a blind character should have visual descriptions. Unless
you have a omniscient POV, it makes sense the story would lack visuals,
though have other sensory details to make up for it. A limited POV doesn't
divulge certain information like what other characters think or do unless in
the presence of the POV character, so if they're blind, the story would be
in this perspective if told in a limited POV.

During my first convention, while attending a Writers' Division event, a
young girl asked how to write visual descriptions. She was blind from birth,
but was always told her stories were lacking because no visual details were
present. This was just ludicrous to me. Her perspective was different, and
she should celebrate it. Certainly one can learn to write visually, but as a
writer, you also want to find a unique voice. If you can't describe
something visually, why do it? Use what senses you have to paint a picture,
or maybe, rather, record a song. Smile. Perspective is what creates a story
full of depth. If your perspective is a nonvisual one, there is nothing
wrong with that. We're always told how we're "lacking experiences," or
slightly inferior because we can't see.

I get sick of this. I certainly don't feel lacking in experiences or
anything else. The same goes for our writing if we write from a nonvisual
perspective. And just a side note, if you aren't providing enough, or good
enough, sensory descriptions, you probably wouldn't give great visual
descriptions either. I just realized how this sounds- I'm not meaning you,
Chris. Smile.

You have to make any description germane to the story, which includes visual
descriptions along with other sensory details. Just as it doesn't make sense
to constantly drop in how-to descriptions for every action a blind character
takes, it also doesn't make sense to give visual details that the character
wouldn't see. It would go against the perspective of the story.

Sincerely,

Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter

Read my blog at:

http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."

The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 3

Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2011 20:55:21 -0400

From: "Chris Kuell" <ckuell at comcast.net>

To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>

Subject: Re: [stylist] Hemingway quote

Message-ID: <5A8AA93EAB9A441695CDB7DCBC00FC4F at ChrisPC>

Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";

        reply-type=response

Hey Brad,

I've heard the gist of that quote before, and now it's got me thinking.

I'm

currently winding up a novel about a blind massage therapist caught up in a
sticky love triangle, and after writing the first 5 chapters in third person
POV, I started over again and have been writing it in first person. The
reason for the change was that 1. people generally prefer the stories I've
written in the first person , and 2. I wanted potential readers to be inside
the head of a blind guy. It's been interesting, but very challenging to pull
off an entire novel. I belong to a critique group, and 2 'complaints'

I've

received are that I never describe my main character, or my other characters
visually, with the exception of one luscious female, but even then it's a
description of her fabulous body, and the reader, like the character, knows
nothing about her face, eyes, smile, hair, etc... I know all the books about
craft tell you that you need to get in a description of your main characters
early, and I've noticed that most novels do. But, in Hemingway's novel 'For
Whom the Bell Tolls, the main character has a fling with a former female

prisoner, I forget her name but it begins with a P (Pia?), and Hemingway

describes only her short hair and the hat she wore. I've tried the
remembering-a-photograph technique, but it strikes me as awkward and I cut
it out.

The second criticism is that people are interested in technology, or how my
character 'does things. This is where your Hemingway quote came to mind.

I

know how Dan, my character does things, and I've mentioned a few, but I
haven't gone into detail, which I feel is appropriate. He's got a computer
with a screen reading program, which I mention in chapter 1 with about that
much detail, and from then on he just uses his computer. I don't mention how
he tells time, or pays his bills, although at one point I say a friend
helped him go through his mail. I say he takes the bus, but I don't say how
he finds the bus or puts his money in the little thingee. He cooks, but I
don't describe how he cooks, etc... In part, I think it's more natural--I
mean, if he wasn't blind and you said he cooked a lasagna, you wouldn't want
to know how. And in part, I just think it's awkward. Several years ago I

read a novel with a blind character. The character lived in Baltimore, and
to the author's credit (it was a sighted writer), she'd obviously done her
research, and showed it off--too much, in my opinion. She stopped the flow
of the story every time she had to take half-a-page to describe how the
blind lady did the mundane things we all do in life.

Anyway, your post made me think of it.

chris

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