december featured poetry by pat berge

Blaze



Blinking awake from night

Reddish orange sky

Covers thrown back

Bare feet hit the floor

Run to the porch

Nose to the screen

Watch golden trees gulp sunrise



Once, she ran toward

The edge of the prairie

Dragging him by the hand

Hurry! Hurry!

It happens so fast!

They sat by corn stalks and

Watched bloodred leak into sky

While Blaze lowered herself

So slowly the eye could not see

Letting poetry play hide and seek

Rising and falling

Rising and falling



She called

Can you meet?

Yes, in an hour.

You bring the sandwiches.

I’ll bring the wine.

Where?

Down by the river.

On an Indian throw

Under a River Birch

Glasses of Sauvignon clinked

Hours of telling and laughing,

Devouring

Croissants and honey crisp apples

Finally quiet, they watched

As trains and cars crept along

The horizon.

Bridges turned black

Against the last

still available...

a handful of our 2010 anthology are being held for mary and for sheila.  if anyone else is interested there are a few copies left for your gift giving or treasured keeping.  let me know.

greetings from kcmetroverse.blogspot.com

bet you thought the blog was dead, long live the blog...  it's not dead,  it was just on vacation while the typist got used to her new life.  they are thriving, so now     WE'RE BACK!

tuesday, nov 9 is our next chapter meeting.  we have lots to discuss:  poetry (of course), poets (like always), and business. ( havent had a business meeting for a while).  think about renewal of your state membership, anthology #4 as a Christmas gift, submissions for #5, where and when to have our annual party (dec is right around the corner.  bring a guest.  ), and any other "business" (funny, monkey,  or sincere) that needs to be brought to the table.

July poets meeting

Half a dozen of us gathered.  The discussions ranged from the new US Poet Laureate, WS Merwin, then to our read around of published work, our own work...  then to the fun part of the evening when we all put pen (pencil) to paper.  Below is a sample.  Guess the poet?

Dousing fork


divining rod

They roamed the lawn

of forgotten souls

He declared the point

would measure

the length

the width

the mound to the stone

two by eight

one by three

the mound to the stone

measured the years

warning...warning...

if you hang out with poets long enough, you may become one... lastnight's meeting was filled with surprises. first, don made it!  and frank, and pat, and rebecca-the-poet, bren, and our newest convert, ralph. lively reading and sharing, then with pencil and paper in hand we set out to beat the clock!  with a "think of an object" prompt and fifteen minutes left on the schedule to write and read, ralph penciled the following:

A room full of clocks


With their ticks and their tocks

A measure of time

Life is long, but deadlines are short

If time stretches to infinity

Why does there never seem to be enough of it

Once time was absolute,    given,    then

Became part of space-time

Now the very existence of time is questioned

Is it only a non-thing that we name

Like darkness,    cold,    death

Once universal, now personal, maybe an illusion

Is it only a cultural artifact,    cyclical    or linear

Or is it a reality, a foundation

Or an artifact of some deeper interaction?
 
 
way to go ralph!  a handfull more of those and you're in next year's anthology...  speaking of anthology, we still have plenty.  let me know if you need a copy (or just want a copy) $10.. 

May meeting has come and gone...

after much a do (sp?) about location, we met at the lake last night.  a hearty discussion about the form sestina!  only one stab at writing one ended after the first stanza...but it was a try.  one of the all time greatest was read by Mary, the beautiful words of Elizabeth Bishop...title, Sestina (?).  the subject near and dear to those in attendance, this poem remains a favorite. we read sharon olds, ted kooser, and many others. 

tonight is poetry at the writers place sponsored by park university, this seasons final from the ethnic voices series. see you there.

Up Jump the Boogie!

Way to go Park University and the Ethnic Voices Poetry Series! Intimate venue, excellent opportunity to stand and visit, get to know, John Murillo.  This voice of the city (LA, DC, NY, Chicago) brought us stories in form, from cuplet to sestina to sonnet.  As this messenger read from his first published book of poetry all ears and eyes were standing on The Corner, listening to hip hop, knowing in all of us...when we were twelve, we taught ourselves to fly.

let it rain!

Finally the snow is behind us... hopefully.  We can take a little rain when it's 50 degrees!  Pat, Bren, Ralph and Frank traveled to TWP to meet with Amy and Kay (our newest member).  We caught up on what we hadn't discussed during the meetings we missed because of one snow storm after another in January and February. With the "business" part of the meeting behind us we went straight to poetry! 

Our first reader, Kay, delighted us with a poem about music, a poem about hurt, and finally a poem describing the sunset like none we have heard before. You'll be able to read them in the 2010 anthology as she will be submitting for inclusion in our book. Bren read about her favorite subject, motherhood  and shared Beth Ann Fennelly's work.  Pat compared the waving grass to the ballet and shared Carter Revard with the group. Frank read a poet from the Bowery scene in NYC, each short and to the point! Amy read a sonnet she had written as well as read from a book of poetic forms. Ralph, our supporter of poetry, was a great listener and gave great feedback. Overall, it was a good evening. 

We are looking forward to April and National Poetry Month.  Amy will be looking into a few of the points discussed in tonight's meeting and will share findings with the group at a later posting.

Beth Ann Fennelly

Wine and cheese and poets happy to be together, Pat, Mary, Ralph and Bren crossed town to Rockhurst to the third of the MidWest Poets Series. We gathered Michael into our circle and listened as Beth Ann Fennelly told stories and recited from her collection.  Stories about love and children and mothers (and childbirth) and relationships spiced with memories of romance real and imagined. I checked my timepiece to confirm, wondering how the hour could possibly have gone by so quickly. You'll want to add this poet to your must read list.

February Meeting

The next KC Metro Verse meeting is Tuesday, February 9th at 6:00pm. We will be meeting at The Writers Place and will continue to meet there for our meetings. The Writers Place is not charging us to use the facility; however, there will be a donations basket passed around. Please consider giving a buck or two each time we meet. It is expensive to run their facility, and they are going to be promoting our group on their calendar, website, etc. Donations will be a nice gesture on our part.

the meeting is really the 19th

at Missi's house.