“We all have reasons for moving. I move to keep things whole.” Mark Strand
Fragment poetry comes to us in several different forms. There are the literal pieces of torn papyrus, church mouse eaten pages so that what was once complete comes to us readers as disjointed words, lines, pages. Translators of Sappho for example fill the gaps where possible with bracketed guesswork in order to find the sense/meanings that are lost.
19th century poets like Byron, Keats, Coleridge evolved the Romantic Fragment of deliberate unfinished texts, seeing them as allegory of sudden death, departures, hints of something greater. Coleridge’s “Kubla Kahn” was one such after an interruption literally broke his dream recall and thread of thought.
Later the modernist and postmodernists wrote Fragment poetry as a mirror to time and space in contemporary urban life, with its linkage of non-sequiturs leaving gaps as tears, lacunae, like a mouth of broken teeth. Ted Berrigan’s “The Sonnets: 1” are an example as is this extract:
…Is there room in the room that you room in?
Upon his structured tomb:
Still they mean something. For the dance
And the architecture.
Weave among incidents
May be portentous to him
We are the sleeping fragments of his sky,
Wind giving presence to fragments.
And turning full circle, one translator of Sappho emulates the modernist approach by keeping the gaps, the illegible, as pauses, and even reordering the fragments as Lombardo, fragment #60
Abanthis, take your lyre and sing
of Gongyla, while desire once again
flutters around
the beautiful girl: her dress
excited when you saw it,
and I am glad,
for the holy Cyprian herself
blamed me when I prayedthis word
I want…
Back in December 2021, my MTB prompt “Picking up some pieces” was to write a Fragment Poem but for today’s MTB prompt we are doing the opposite i.e. taking a fragment of poetry and making a whole. In short, copy, paste and then elaborate.
Poetry Prompt: Pick a Fragment by selecting up to 13 consecutive lines
- from a published poet (can even be a fragment poem)
- OR from an unpublished draft of yours
- OR from one of your own poems
Poetry Style: Integrate this fragment into a new poem but keep the line order
- scatter throughout your poem as broken lines, disjointed words etc, with gaps, pauses etc
- OR Write your poem alongside the fragmentary parts, as though they are dialoguing
Guidelines: italicise the fragment lines, words (and reference the author/poem in your post)
There are no rules regarding rhyme or syllable but you might want to emulate the tone/meter of the fragment extract
Fragment poem examples:
Poetry Soup Listing
Further Reading:
Fragment -glossary
The Tradition of the Fragment
Sappho: Complete Poems and Fragments Tr by Stanley Lombardo
So once you have posted your poem according to the guidelines above, do add it to Mr Linky below then go visiting and reading other contributors as that is half the fun of our dVerse gatherings.
[N.B. Mr Linky closes Saturday 3 p.m. EST]
Hello, I had forgotten that fragment poetry, and I was actually quite happy with those fragments to use as input today.
I do not want any pizza tonight…
No pizza huh? How can you turn down pizza?!
My poem answers the question.
Yes, and how! 🙂
great poem – putrid Pizza
Thank you for hosting Laura. This prompt has got my head spinning, so we’ll see where it goes. Interesting challenge. 🙂✌🏼🫶🏼
spin a good one!
Not sure if I did this correctly, but as noodled through it, a inner conversation over a jazz poem is what I came up with. 🤷🏻🙂✌🏼🫶🏼
Good evening and sorry for the late visit to the pub but have had internet problems – a very fragmented connection.
I look forward to reading your poems, bit by bit!
Greetings All! I love pizza, I’ll take my slice and Bjorn’s too!! Pineapple, Canadian Bacon, Green Onions, Extra Cheese???
My poem may not pass the litmus test, Laura. Please let me know if I need to go in a different direction. I used three lines from Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Take This Waltz’ which was based on Federico Garcia Lorca’s ‘Little Viennese Waltz’ Poem.
PS, I haven’t posted it yet …..
its your interpretation Helen and your poem that counts as long as it does not stray too far from the prompt
Thankfully I reread your directions and noticed the “up to” in front of 13 consecutive lines.😅
Ha… I might have misunderstood that… at least 13 lines would bring very long poems.
yes a fragment has to have a boundary!
Loved working with this fragment form, Laura! Thank you for hosting.
thank you for that Dora – it shows in your poetry
Please note: Those blogs with a mandatory Google sign in I’m unable to do so apologies for not leaving a comment though I have visited read and enjoyed
I have been busy all day Laura and thought I wouldn’t have time to give your challenge it’s due, but I couldn’t resist – and the reason is in the post…
-and it’s far to late at night for anybody to be eating pizza or there will be molto indigestion…
so glad you caved in to temptation with the prompt – no indigestion possible from your marvellous Marvell!
This was an intriguing challenge! Thanks for the prompt, Laura 🙂
thank you joining in with such a brilliant response
It was fun to try this form, thanks for hosting, Laura. 🙂
and more in your case Kitty – bravo!
Hello Laura and All. Way WAY late to the party but here. Laura, thank you so much for the prompt. You unerringly come up with some creative inspiration for writing. If you have Magners behind the bar, one pint please.