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August 21, 2014

Poetry Friday--2014 Summer Poem Swap--On the Receiving End


Last week I shared the poems I sent as part of the 2014 Summer Poem Swap. This week, I'll share the poems I received. I'll keep my comments short so you can enjoy the poems! [Note: click on the images to enlarge for easier reading.]

The first poem that arrived was from fellow haiku-ist and cat lover, Robyn Hood Black. With an almost 19 year-old cat, you can imagine how this poem spoke to me.


Robyn also included a little artsyletters something! Many thanks.

The next poem to arrive came on the back of an intriguing postcard sent from Hagerman, Idaho, by Jone MacCulloch.


Jone's cinquain:

her face
topography
lines map years of living
youth, childbearing, golden old years
story

The Doyenne of Swap, Tabatha Yeatts, introduced me to a new-to-me poetic form called a "katauta." Tabatha included an explanation about this Japanese poem, and even directed me to page 196 of Lew Turco's The Book of Forms! Here are Tabatha's interpretations of the katauta:



Donna Smith "hath done yeoman's service" in her swap poem! She pulled words from my blog and created word art to accompany the poem she wrote using those words.


Lastly, Joy Acey sent a whole book of poems she wrote titled, Dog Days of Summer, Too 2014! I'm sure she'll get her wish of a future sale of her fun and/or moving poems!

Again thanks to Tabatha, and to all the gifted poets who participated in the Swap!

Irene at Live Your Poem is playing hostess with the mostess this Friday. Stop by and say "Hi!"

Come back next week when I'll pick up again with my Sketchbook Project poems.


All poems and original art © their respective creators, all rights reserved.

30 comments:

  1. Wow, what treasures!! I loved the Poem Swap so much. I am in awe of the creativity and inspiration here. Cats and poetry are the perfect combo, aren't they? I especially love Jone's "topography" and who's ever heard of a kautata?? I totally want to read Joy's collection!! Love learning new stuff. Thank you, Diane. xo

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    1. I love learning new stuff, too! The amount of things I don't know is probably a million times more than what I do know. There's not enough time in one life to discover it all.

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  2. I loved that you shared them all at once. I need to find out about kautata. And Joy's collection is amazing.

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  3. You have been blessed with lots of beautiful words this summer, Diane, touching on the history you love, cats, a new form, and your own words. All are special!

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  4. Wow, what a rich and wonderful cache of poems. Loved learning about the kautata, reading Robyn's very touching cat poem, seeing Donna's clever word art and reading Jone's cinquain.

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    1. Thanks, Jama! It was fun not knowing who was assigned one's name, and then getting mail. Every two weeks a totally new surprise.

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  5. A trove of poetry pleasures! They are all so special, but I have to say, Robyn's truly touched my heart.

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    1. Sigh. The monthly Shiki kukai has "goodbyes" as the free format topic in August. I wrote about my 18+ year-old cat.

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  6. And this Swap has touched my heart - just the right pieces of magic appearing when needed! Thank you for sharing all your treasures, Diane - such a rich and wonderful community.

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  7. Robyn's poem gave me a pang, too. What an interesting Diane-y mix of poems! I love how they all go together in their own way.

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  8. Okay. I'm thinking I need to be part of this swap next summer. What a feast you all have had, and I'm so glad you are sharing. The katauta form is intriguing. I love the one with questions turning to statements. And the last three lines of Robyn's poem - my goodness, they're perfect. Jone's cinquain honors that horse, and Donna's poem is very creative. Did you all live and breathe poetry all summer?

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    1. It's all I can do to just slow down and breathe, never mind breathe poetry! Please join us next year. But that depends on Tabatha, I suppose. Lucky for us she has great organizational skills!

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  9. Lucky you! These poems are awesome. I want to know more about that cool form Tabatha is working with.

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    1. I haven't really found a lot about it, so if you find any links of interest, please let me know.

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  10. I have learned so much from these swaps - new forms, new ways of looking at the world around us; and I'm amazed at this talented PF group!

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  11. Lew Turco says: “There are actually two Japanese forms that are called ‘KATAUTA’; The first form of the katauta is an emotive question or its answer:

    Am I in love? Birds are flying.
    Do birds fly? I am in love.

    A pair of such katautas is a mondo. Each line of the preceding couplet is a mondo. The katauta answer is not derived logically; it is intuited, as in the Zen koan or “unanswerable question”
    [The second katauta form is] approximately equal to the utterance of an emotive question or its answer:

    Why do these birds fly?
    Where there is wind, there are wings.
    Where there are wings, there is wind.”

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    1. I have almost no idea what Turco is talking about here: "A pair of such katautas is a mondo. Each line of the preceding couplet is a mondo." So, does that mean every line is a mondo? I will continue to look for examples that make it all clear!

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  12. I am guessing that "Am I in love?" is one kautauta and "Birds are flying" is one, so together they are a pair, which means that line is a mondo. So a couplet is two mondo. You could ask him about it. He's very approachable.

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    1. Okay, now I'm beginning to understand...thanks.

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  13. Kautauta, cinquain, a cat's heart, and a discovered heart - wow, poetry to sustain you throughout your year. Thanks for sharing, Diane!

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    1. Many thanks to the swap poets who allowed me to share!

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  14. I can't believe the swap is over. Back to bills in the mail, and junk. Maybe I'll write a katauta about it.

    Is there any real mail? The summer is over.

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    1. No real mail anymore. I only check my mailbox once or twice a week, now.

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  15. Diane, thanks for sharing these generous gifts with us. Perhaps someday it will lead to a poem swap anthology, which would have to be a picture book, because the visual is such a beautiful part of so many of these.

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