I watched an interesting program the other night. It featured comic forefather Stan Lee and the story of the comic book wave of popularity. One person they featured was a rough-around-the-edges wiseguy New Yorker-to-the-core type guy named Jim Steranko who told a story of a storyline he drew out, with the first 3 pages told in pictures alone. The man holding the purse strings didn't want to pay up, but with some gentle persuasion, the artist encouraged him otherwise. His defense? The audience knew exactly what was being said. So much so that the pictures (for example, of a phone off the hook, deemed "too suggestive" by the Comic Code Authority) had to be edited or replaced. Oh, the power of suggestion, and so much more so with the power of visual aids.
You can't have a poem without words - that's the best part! But, the point of it is to be succinct with your word. Consolidation, and be quick about it now!
Today falls on a very subtle holiday, hidden in the calendar, a day just for sweethearts. A Hallmark holiday created, in my opinion, as a freebie opportunity to earn brownie points for remembering. Just a moment taken between more mainstream holidays, all the hum and buzz of every other day. Sweetest Day, the quickie of holidays designed to celebrate love.
But like the fast and to-the-point business meeting between two bodies, it often doesn't happen, isn't remembered or thought of, and sometimes is ignored completely because it doesn't make sense, it isn't special enough, or is only for those who are still so in love with each other it's nauseating. You know, For Other People.
But sometimes, it's just about letting it out, satisfying a basic need. For me, this happens with poems sometimes. I'll have the words, I'll know what I want from them, and they don't comply. It is the second most frustrating thing in the Universe, I'm convinced; the first being that sensation I get when people break the "There, Their, They're" rule.
So what happens then? I become desperate for a moment to myself, a moment to get this poem out and feel better, feel a sense of relief and satisfaction. You can imagine what that might feel like. There might be a buildup, but there's no time for slowing down now. Put the words on the page as quick as you can, knowing that each word is a moment gone. In as few words as possible, build the tension, grasp the plot and let the best words go.
Well, what did you say?
But like the fast and to-the-point business meeting between two bodies, it often doesn't happen, isn't remembered or thought of, and sometimes is ignored completely because it doesn't make sense, it isn't special enough, or is only for those who are still so in love with each other it's nauseating. You know, For Other People.
But sometimes, it's just about letting it out, satisfying a basic need. For me, this happens with poems sometimes. I'll have the words, I'll know what I want from them, and they don't comply. It is the second most frustrating thing in the Universe, I'm convinced; the first being that sensation I get when people break the "There, Their, They're" rule.
So what happens then? I become desperate for a moment to myself, a moment to get this poem out and feel better, feel a sense of relief and satisfaction. You can imagine what that might feel like. There might be a buildup, but there's no time for slowing down now. Put the words on the page as quick as you can, knowing that each word is a moment gone. In as few words as possible, build the tension, grasp the plot and let the best words go.
Well, what did you say?
I wrote this, thinking about Sweetest Day, and my sweetheart, and close encounters of the quickest kind...
THE FALL
Quick glance
Cheeks blush
Hearts dance
Hands brush
Small smile
Bright eyes
Sweet guile
Sparks fly
Warm breath
Soft cheek
Hard kiss
Sneak peek
Pale skin
Black lace
Silk sheets
End chase.
Two words per line, four lines per stanza, four stanzas in all. Sweet and simple, a means to an end. My goal was to tell the story from first sight to seduction in the time it takes for a good first kiss.
I know I left you hanging last week. Hope this little ditty helped satisfy the tug of curiosity. Because honestly, I don't have an ending. Looking forward to when I do, though.
Enjoy your Sweetest Day and tell someone you love how you feel. Also, I'd like to leave you with one piece of advice for my married or cohabitating readers:
Set your alarm ten minutes early, and enjoy the ten minutes before you have to get up as thoroughly as you can. Enjoy a hug, a makeout session, something more, or simply bask in the comfort of turning over and snuggling for the next nine and a half minutes before the day invades your shared space. This tip has changed my mind about mornings, about marriage, and has greatly increased my appreciation for what can happen in ten minutes. :) xoxo
Ghostlight Films. (Producer). (2013, October 15). Superheroes: a never-ending battle [Television broadcast]. Detroit, MI; PBS
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