Poetry Friday--Sound Poem Project

If you haven't yet read about Laura Shovan's "Sound Poem Project," stop reading this and head over to Author Amok to learn what it's all about.

I didn't think sound would stimulate me to write as much as the colors of last year's "Pantone Poem Project" did, but I was clearly wrong! I've written poems for all this week's posted sounds and I'm ready to get started on more!

The first sound that we were asked to write about is that of a waterwheel. I live near Lowell, MA and I've walked its streets absorbing the mill history. Access to water-power was the reason Lowell was developed into a mill city. I've also written a series of poems about child labor. This sound poem, or, one long run-on sentence, depending on your point of view, is a result of these connections:

Click on the image to enlarge for easier reading. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Cartoon by Winsor McCay [ca. 1913], courtesy Library of Congress. Teacup courtesy The Graphics Fairy.

I went to the Library of Congress National Child Labor Committee Collection, put in "waterwheel" as a search term and the cartoon popped up. From there it was easy to think how to illustrate the poem!

You may notice that the poem above differs slightly from the one I sent to Laura to post. I've been thinking that I may use the poem in my Sketchbook Project, but if so, I knew I needed to rewrite it slightly so that it is told in present tense. It will fit in better with the other poems.

The poem below is for the second day's sound, angel chimes, in Swedish, Änglaspel. The tinkling of bells and the heat from the candles, put me in mind of a major ice storm we had in December 2008. Once the sun came out, the ice started to fall off and everything literally glowed. The photo is from one of the pictures I took after the storm.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

It's ironic that a winter storm, the second in a week, kept me out of work on Monday and allowed me to illustrate both of today's poems.

Last year, in the Pantone Poem Project, I submitted enough poems to be the winner of a Pantone Colors journal! At the risk of sounding inordinately self-assured, I wanted to let you know that I have taken my name out of the running for this year's project prize. Everyone get writing and send those poems to Laura--you might win a spoken word CD from Gargoyle literary magazine!

I'm heading over to visit Elizabeth Steinglass for the Poetry Friday Round-Up where there's bound to be a blizzard of poetry!