Hello to another installment in the ongoing fun and drama of Poetics. Marina Sofia here behind the bar, aiming to get your creative juices flowing.

Life is what happens while you’re making other plans, goes the quote. And poetry is sometimes what happens when we’re not quite looking, or when we are busy examining other things. At the interstices of our life, our thoughts, even our words.

My favourite example of that is Brueghel’s famous painting of The Fall of Icarus. In the foreground: farmers tilling the soil, shepherds counting their flock. In the background: ships sailing across the sea to distant mountains. Somewhere in the corner of one’s eye, almost unnoticed, the v-shape flash of white legs, the silent splash of Icarus AFTER he has fallen. Not a trace of his ambitious waxen wings, not a second of his glorious flight.

 

This is such a striking image that it has given rise to at least three famous poems, by William Carlos Williams, Michael Hamburger and, most famously, W. H. Auden.

About suffering they were never wrong,

The Old Masters: how well they understood

Its human position; how it takes place

While someone else is eating or opening a window or just

Walking dully along.

So for today’s poetic prompt, I would like you to think of a minor incident which you barely notice in daily life, a small detail which you have learnt to take for granted, something that is all too easy to ignore or forget. Write a poem about the happening in the corner of your eye, while you’ve been busy focusing on the important things in life. And perhaps missed that once in a lifetime chance of watching Icarus soar towards the sun.

Here’s what you have to do to make it work:

1) Write a poem and post it to your site/blog.
2) Enter a link to your poem and your name by clicking Mr Linky below.
3) You will find links to other poets. Read, enjoy, share and comment on other poets’ work.
4) If you are promoting your work on social media, use the tag #dversepoets.