poetic journeys: a mistake

A Mistake

Here’s the poem written out:

A Mistake

A solution in search of a problem,
a draconian dragnet
exceeds moral authority.
Injury that harms oneself
should be tolerated
for human freedom.
Love and fairness –
Imagine.

(I added punctuation to the found poem).

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“POETRY” Invitation:  I invite you to write a poem of any poetic form on your own blog about a particular travel destination.  Or you can write about travel in general. Concentrate on any intention you set for your poetry.

My intentions for my trip to Cincinnati and Illinois included writing some Found Poems.  I had just finished a class on Found Poetry and wanted to try my hand at it.

• Write two poems based on books I read to prepare for my trip, and two based on something surprising I find in Illinois and Cincinnati.
  • To write a Found Poem, start by finding 50-100 words from ordinary prose somewhere. The words can be from a books, magazines, newspapers, mail, walls, malls, notices on bulletin boards, highway maps, insurance policies, letters, obituaries, old diaries, pieces of junk mail, menus, historical plaques, classified ads. Forbidden are poetry and song lyrics, as they are already poetry.
  • Copy the language in the order in which you found it. Double space between lines.
  • Cut your original words down to 25 (at least half). Change punctuation if necessary but add only TWO words of your own.
  • At the bottom of the poem, put where the words came from and the date. (from Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises)

Here are the Found Poems I wrote from Cincinnati and Illinois:

• poetic journeys: lives moving as fast as possible – Headline poem (Illinois)
• poetic journeys: let it all, all, all  –  (Illinois)
• poetic journeys: home – (Cincinnati)

You can either set your own poetic intentions, or use one of the prompts I’ve listed on this page: writing prompts: poetry.  (This page is a work in process).  You can also include photos, of course.

Include the link in the comments below by Thursday, September 3 at 1:00 p.m. EST.  When I write my post in response to this challenge on Friday, September 4, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, on the first Friday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community.  I promise, you’ll be inspired. 🙂

• Ulli, of Suburban Tracks, shared a poem about Wurlsee lake in Germany:
  • Mystery of a Lake

Thanks to all of you who wrote poetic posts following intentions you set for yourself.