It’s Tuesday, the dVerse Poets Pub is open with a choice of popular drinks and snacks, and I’m Kim from writinginnorthnorfolk.com.
I’m more than halfway through a BBC Maestro poetry course, written by Carol Ann Duffy, and I’m using her expertise to create new and rework old poems, some of which I hope to include in a collection for next year.
Duffy says that “dead poets speak to us across time through their poems, and they particularly speak to other poets”, who often choose to respond across time.
Your challenge today is to read three poems by dead poets and respond to ONE of them in your own way.
I chose poets from different times and places: Siegfried Sassoon, one of the war poets, Dylan Thomas, one of my favourite British poets, and Maya Angelou, one of my favourite American poets. All have different styles and write about different topics.
The first poem is:
When I’m among a Blaze of Lights by Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield, Kent) – 1967 (Heytesbury, Wiltshire)
Sassoon photographed in 1915 by George Charles Beresford found on Wikipedia
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC was an eminent English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon’s view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war.
The second poem is:
Once It Was the Colour of Saying by Dylan Thomas 1914 (Swansea) – 1953 (New York)
Thomas at the Gotham Book Mart in New York City, 1952 found on Wikipedia
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “And death shall have no dominion”, as well as the “play for voices” Under Milk Wood.
The third poem is:
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou 1928 (St. Louis, Missouri) – 2014 (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
Portrait of Maya Angelou from the first edition of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) found on Wikipedia
An acclaimed American poet, storyteller, activist, and autobiographer, Maya Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood’s first female black director.
When you have read and chosen ONE of the poems above, respond to it in any form of your choice. You may mirror the original poem, uses words and phrases from it, but it must be an original, personal response.
If you are new to dVerse and/or Poetics, here’s how to join in:
- Write a poem in response to the challenge;
- Enter a link directly to your poem and your name by clicking Mr Linky below;
- There you will find links to other poets, and more will join so check back to see more poems;
- Read and comment on other poets’ work – we all come here to have our poems read;
- Please link back to dVerse from your site/blog;
- Comment and participate in our discussion below, if you like. We are a friendly bunch of poets.
- Have fun.
kim881 said:
Welcome to the bar, which is now open. Due to Covid I have no sense of smell or taste, but I can offer tasty snacks and delicious drinks to accompany a wide range of poems! Let the reading and commenting commence!
Melissa Lemay said:
😫praying for a speedy recovery for you and that you get your smell and taste back asap! That would be a nightmare.
kim881 said:
Thank you, Melissa!
Grace said:
Hope you get better soon Kim. Planning to have another round of flu and covid shots soon as the numbers are picking up here. Take care.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
They say here that there will be a modified Covid shot coming… more effective to the latest strains.
kim881 said:
I was due to get my Covid booster and flu jab ton 19th October but now it has to be delayed! I can’t believe how ill I’ve been – today is my first day out of bed.
kim881 said:
Thanks so much, Grace!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Hello Kim, I thought this would be a very hard challenge, but when I read the poems I found one way to write a response for one of them. I like this type of challenge, maybe we can do it more than once…
Grace said:
Agree. A series perhaps would be nice.
Melissa Lemay said:
👋🏻hello, all. Hi, Kim. Got any soup back there? I wrote a poem about it so I might as well have some.🍲 Surprise me! Perhaps nothing hot, as it’s in the 80s here today.🥵 I can sip my soup as I write a poem for the correct prompt.😅
kim881 said:
You certainly did get your wires crossed, Melissa! Sorry, no soup on today’s menu. You can ink up the correct poem and save the soup for Merril!
Melissa Lemay said:
😂I think my wires are always crossed.
kim881 said:
Covid has tied mine in a knot!
Melissa Lemay said:
I do think when I had COVID, mine was a little worse. Hey, maybe I never recovered.😂 I was coughing for two months and I ended up with pneumonia.
kim881 said:
Yikes! I had to shield for most of the pandemic, due to asthma and diabetes I’m considered vulnerable, and continued to do so even when other people were out and about. Even when my husband had Covid twice, I didn’t. I think it’s the luck of the draw.
Grace said:
Love the poetics prompt Kim. Agree with Bjorn, that we need a series on this type of prompt. I enjoyed reading all 3 but the first one spoke to me. A cup of chocolate with blueberry pie will be lovely. Thanks Kim.
kim881 said:
A series is a good idea! Hot chocolate and blueberry pie – very autumnal!
Rob Kistner said:
Thanks for hosting Kim, and this is a fascinating prompt. I will be commenting on Gary Snyder, when I get back home from taking Kathy to a follow up appointment regarding her throat cancer — do I will be late. It will be interesting to read who other dVerse poets choose. 🙂✌🏼🫶🏼
kim881 said:
Gary Snyder?
I hope Kathy’s appointment goes well.
Rob Kistner said:
Thank you Kim, she is doing much better. I had time here to pug together a response to your prompt, by edited, expanding, snd republishing an earlier piece of mine. I am off now. 🙂 ✌🏼🫶🏼
Rob Kistner said:
While distracted and unfocused, I drifted off on my own tangent, missing the point of this prompt. Sorry Kim. Now I have tried again, hopefully with a better result. You know, when I was in grade school, I used to always get an “unsatisfactory” with regard to my “focusing on the task at hand”. Consistently got a negative checkmark in that area. I guess I’m glad to see I’m still consistent. 😏😉✌🏼
kim881 said:
No problem, Rob. When I was teaching, I always had a soft spot for the less focused students.
sanaarizvi said:
Loved the prompt, Kim! I resonated with Sassoon and chose to respond to his poem, thank you so much for the lovely comment on my blog 😍
Orange juice for me please! Happy Tuesday ❤️❤️
kim881 said:
Orange juice with ice and an orange slice on its way!
sanaarizvi said:
Thank you! Yayyy 🥰🥰
marialberg said:
Hi Kim,
Great prompt! What a fabulous selection of poems. Thank you for bringing Sassoon’s work to my attention. That poem has so much to respond to.
kim881 said:
I’m delighted you like the prompt, Maria, and look forward to reading your response.
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rog said:
hi Kim
hi all
what a great but challenging prompt.
I am presently reading Ken Follet’s fall of giants.
it matches with Siegfried Sassoon’s work and after reading Bjorn’s response I had little choice.
time for a Camille tea before bed
catch up soon
rog
kim881 said:
That was a happy coincidence Rog! Camomile tea – great idea.
rog said:
cheers for the tea goodnight
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Miriam E. said:
Wow, Kim… what an exquisite challenge! I just thought I’d take a quick peek at today’s prompt since I felt too tired to write anything (almost 10:25pm now over here) & then I saw your amazing prompt and a poem by Dylan Thomas. I could not resist.
It was not an easy task, but I accepted the challenge… hope, it worked out. 🙂
Best wishes for you – get well, soon!
kim881 said:
I’m so glad you joined us Miriam! And thank you for your kind wishes.
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RedCat said:
Good evening! I should really, really be in bed so I can keep up at tomorrows seminar. But I just had to write something after I read the prompt. Oh well, a few yawns will have to do. 🙂
kim881 said:
I’m so glad you stayed up and look forward to reading your poem!
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Frewin55 said:
Like you Kim, I also have Covid and my head has been full of cotton wool but this morning I feel a little better and so suitably masked I am hoping there might be some chicken soup somewhere in the kitchen and I am dropping off a poem to Mr Linky – great challenge, thank you!
kim881 said:
I’m so sorry you’re going through it too. Is it your first Covid or have you had it before? I didn’t know what had hit me as I thought I’d escaped it for the past three years.
Frewin55 said:
This is my second bout – neither have been worse than a really severe cold or flu – hope you feel better soon…
The Cheesesellers Wife said:
It’s so good to be back at the Pub! I’m really enjoying reading all the great poems this excellent prompt has given birth to.
kim881 said:
I’m so glad you’re back and enjoying the prompt, Kim!
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pvcann said:
Many thanks Kim, a wonderful prompt, I love the three poets/poems, I chose Thomas’ such wonderful use of language. I’m in much need of a whiskey. 🙂
kim881 said:
I’m so pleased you enjoyed the prompt, Paul. A double whiskey coming up!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
This reading of Maya’s poem is one I have listened to over and over.
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Kim of Glover Gardens said:
I’m really enjoying the poems inspired by the prompt, Kim! The diversity of approaches is awesome, and I’ve learned quite a bit from the experience. I’ve just added my poem to the generous Mr. Linky and am about to enjoy a chardonnay and a turkey panini while I read some more of these poems.
kim881 said:
I’m so pleased you’ve joined us and are enjoying the poems, Kim. That’s three Kims at the bar this week! I’ll be over to read yours shortly. In the meantime, enjoy your chardonnay – the turkey panini is coming up!
Frank J. Tassone said:
Good Evening, poets! Better late than never, amiright? 🤣
Thanks, Kim, for this insightful prompt! I’ll take a bottle of burgundy to go, please! 😉
kim881 said:
A whole bottle? You must need it!
Frank J. Tassone said:
Always! 😆
But never in one sitting! 😉😆🤣
kim881 said:
😄
kittysverses said:
Thank you for hosting, Kim. 🙂
kim881 said:
😎
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kenhume31 said:
Hi Kim, thanks for the brilliant prompt! 🙏😁👏 Just posted the link to my contribution over at Mr. Linky there. Hope ye all enjoy the read! 🤞📖 I’ll have a mocha please! 😋😛😁
kim881 said:
A mocha and a thumbs up to you, Ken!
kenhume31 said:
Much obliged! 🙏😁
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splitspeak said:
Thank you for this prompt, I was struggling to fond something to write about when I came across your site. I selected the Blaze of Lights poem and happy that I made my first attempt.
Love, Mehak
kim881 said:
Thank you for joining us, Mehak, and taking up the prompt. I noticed that your poem is linked to my blog but not to the dVerse one via Mr Linky, where other poets can read your work. If you scroll down to the bottom of the prompt and click on Mr Linky, you can add the url to your post and you will see poems by other poets, some of whom have also joined us for the first time. 🙂
splitspeak said:
Thanks Kim, I’ve clicked on Mr. Linky but seems the link expired. I’ll bear this in mind next time 🙂
Kenneth Daniels said:
Skip to content
THE LOTUS
174 tumbling
tumbling wordness
voice of the poet
in autumn
( A REVISION )
Photo by Ingo Joseph on Pexels.com
response to Dylan Thomas “once it was the colour of saying” 1953 (New York
https://www.blenza.com/linkies/links.php?owner=dversepoets&postid=20Sep2023a&meme=12476
October 10, 2023
Kenneth Daniels
Autumn haiku
brotherhood
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kim881 said:
Thanks for joining us, Kenneth, and be sure to come back again.
Kenneth Daniels said:
Happy New Year
kim881 said:
Happy New Year, Kenneth!