0-pen
nothing to write with
nothing to write about
nothing to write home about
nothing special from the start.
But a poem's already in motion:
    emphatic, enlivened,
    with juggle-clubbed phrasing
    and some gobstopper candy
    tongue-rolled for its taste

and through such inceptions
we web spin our readers 
with gossamer floss, as does spider to fly
add some dream-catcher visons
myth, motif, and meter
plus a dum-diddly-drum in the ear

But too stringent devices are rotten as vices
old habits stick wordflow with pins
and a bodice of rhyme should be torn
(many times) in order that out breaths
come in

so let music play on, 
so reciters can tongue
the way streams trickle down
to a watery end. But all of this art
is just cognitive smart
unless words string their way
like a harp, to the heart

38 thoughts on “Ars Poetica in Freefall”

1. A wonderful mix to cook a poem about, love the way it sings with it’s rhymes free from a regular form

   1. the singing came of its own accord and as such gave the open form some structure

2. A beautiful ars poetica to show us how it’s done, Laura. I love these lines especially:

   ‘and through such inceptions
   we web spin our readers
   with gossamer floss, as does spider to fly’

   and

   ‘old habits stick wordflow with pins
   and a bodice of rhyme should be torn
   (many times) in order that out breaths
   come in’.

   1. many thanks Kim for picking up on those

      1. Always a pleasure, Laura.

3. The heart is what art is all about, after all, not just “cognitive smart” 🙂

   1. poetry is more or less heart in my book

4. “unless words string their way
   like a harp, to the heart”

   Perfect!

   1. ❤

5. Now that’s the way you do it. You’ve webbed me up and twanged my strings with your poem.

   1. so good to hear that Li 🙂

      1. ❤ I like the advice in it also. I like forms, but it is difficult to make the poems feel alive with them.

         1. I feel that way too but having to conform to forms through my MTB prompts has helped me mix enough of the closed into the open as complement rather than stricture

6. the rhyming at the end has grown out of the poem and is a wonderful finish

   1. very nice observation – thank you

7. Fabulous!! As an added bonus to me, you reminded me of gobstopper candy! I enjoyed this poem much, Laura!

   1. many thanks Jennifer for such appreciation

8. I love all the juicy words you use (gobstopper, juggle-clubbed, and more). A delightful poem!

   1. many thanks for such nice feedback – your description of juicy perfectly fits the mouthing!

9. I like especially that first verse…it’s how everything begins I think. (K)

   1. indeed most of mine begin with an o-pening!!

10. A poem already in motion, catching that stream along the way.

    1. thank you – getting the poem to roll was more than half the effort

11. Your last line says it all. Your poem describes very well, my angst for writing most form poetry.

    1. angst is the right word for me too

       1. :>)

12. Beautiful poem, Laura!

    Yvette M Calleiro 🙂

    1. thank you 🙂

13. “All of this art is just cognitive smart”

    love that. Something about that evoked Dorothy Parker for me a tad- maybe because it made me smile. That is the layer beneath the words in a poem, “tearing the bodice so it can breathe” evokes vulnerability, exposure, life- stunning!

    There is something here- tugging on the art of it vs the craft, the life instead of the form.

    1. I get the Parker connection though I hope less acerbic! I don’t quite know how this poem came about other than I was avoiding the preachy so thank you for your in depth view

       1. It was really fun

14. Love the humour , wordplay and inventiveness in this…..JIM

    1. many thanks Jim – a light hearted poke at some closed forms

15. “with juggle-clubbed phrasing
    and some gobstopper candy
    tongue-rolled for its taste”
    My heart danced as my tongue rolled around your beautifully crafted verse. You show how it begins and that ending is what we all strive for. ❤️

    1. words are fun in themselves but best when they have a ❤️ – thank you for dancing around here

16. Well I enjoyed that very much, lovely tone.

    1. thank you Ain for hearing the tone of the poem

17. (vison is a mink or weasel – vision?)

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