Linda Kulp Trout

Monday, August 1, 2011

Ring/Drum/Blanket Poem

Over at Wild Rose Reader, Elaine interviewed one of my favorite poets, Janet Wong. I have several of Janet's books and use them frequently with my students. One of her books, Behind the Wheel, was the inspiration for my teacher presentation for the Maryland Writing Project. The poems were a big hit with the teachers and with teenaged boys. (I'm always looking for ways to get boys to read more poetry, but that's a blog for another day.)
Elaine and Janet issued an invitation to write a poem using the following three words: ring, drum, blanket. I usually don't feel confident enough about my poems to share them with the poets I admire like Janet and Elaine, but Laura Salas wrote a blog the other day that encouraged me to share my "poem-sketches." It takes the pressure off when I think of my poems as works-in-progess. I've always believed in the adage, "A poem is never really finished, just abandoned." I'm not sure I've totally abandoned this little poem yet, but here's what I have so far. It's another tanka. I've been writing tanka for a few years now, and have even had a few published. I like the brevity of the form and trying to paint an image/emotion with just a few words. So here goes.


ring of white-tailed deer
circle our crabapple tree
hooves drum frozen ground
pulling back blankets of snow
in search of a midnight snack





I don't belong to a writer's group so suggestions are always appreciated. Now, I'm wondering if I'm up for Elaine's next challenge, an apology poem. : )

8 comments:

  1. Nice tanka! I can just see this ring of deer. I like the repeating white flashes: tails, apple blossoms, snow.

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  2. I, too, love the way you created a very strong visual...and I also love how each line relates in some way to the previous line. Ring/circle, tree/ground, frozen/snow, blankets/midnight...whether you intended it or not, those links were quite masterful!

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  3. Thank you for your kind words. I REALLY needed some encouragement to keep me afloat in the sea of rejections. I love feedback because that's the only way I can improve. : )
    Linda

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  4. Linda,

    I wanted to let you know that I added Write Time to my blogroll at Wild Rose Reader.

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  5. Thanks, Elaine. I want to add Wild Rose Reader and a few others to mine if it's okay.
    Linda

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  6. Linda,

    I'd be most happy to have Wild Rose Reader on your blogroll!

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  7. Linda, This is lovely! What I like best about it is that it feels natural (I would never know it was inspired by a word list) and yet it uses lots of strong words--nothing boring or cliche. Lines 3 and 4 are my favorite. I love that they're pulling back the blankets of snow. You hear snow compared to blankets often, but I've never seen them get pulled back! Yay! Very nice work:>)

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  8. Laura, thank you. You've always been supportive and encouraging! It means a lot to me. I can't wait to see Bookspeak!

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