Circadian Poems

I’ve reposted the first two poems and essays for the year below. Tomorrow’s poem and the subsequent poems will be posted on this URL.

I will investigate moving the archives; until then, they will remain at Blogger.

Next week, I will repost Guidelines, the address for submission, etc., in Thursday’s Poetry News.

Please, if you have poems appearing on other sites or publications, send me a press release here so that I can include it in the weekly poetry news.

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Image
By Violetta Ashe

Wisp
Fragment
Scrap
Gossamer

A movement
In the
Peripheral
Vision

Ethereal?
Corporeal?
Illusion?
Reality?

Passing the
Mirror
In the darkened
Hallway

Catching
A flash of
Movement
Within

A friend
I hope
No foe
To fear

Who is in
The mirror
And why reveal
To me?

(Note:  this was originally posted on the Circadian Site on Blogger on January 10, 2007)

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What It Feels Like to Write a Poem
By Brenda Braene

When I’m asked what it feels like to write a poem, I always pause and think. Not because I don’t know the answer, but because I’m not quite sure how to articulate it to someone who hasn’t experienced it.

For writing a poem is more experiential for me than it is intellectual. Anything can spark it – an image, a word, a sensation, an emotion, a scrap of conversation. The spark turns into a series of images, tied to feelings. Then words start to form, like clouds before a rain storm. And I have to pick out the words to best express the images and the emotions.

I want my reader to see and feel what I see and feel. A poem, to me, is a moment of intimacy in experience. It’s frightening to be so open, and, at the same time, it’s wonderful.

But finding the right words with the right shade of meaning is a challenge. It takes draft after draft, talking the poem as well as writing it. It means putting it away and trying to approach it days later, with fresh eyes.

A good poem will make me see the world differently, somehow, to present a new experience to me. Hopefully it’s an experience with which I can either connect or understand. And it’s something I can revisit, year after year, both to re-experience the familiar and to learn something new.

Brenda Braene is a frequent contributor to Circadian Poems. Her blog is Poet Meets Muse, and she shares a website with her sisters, The Three Braenes.

(Note: This essay was originally posted on the Blogger version of Circadian Poems on January 9, 2007)

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New Year
By Bliss Monaghan

A new year
A clean slate
An unsullied cloth
A fresh page
On which to write
The latest installment
Of the novel of my life.

Bliss Monaghan lives each day as it comes. And the days are better when they are filled with poetry.

(Note: This poem was originally posted to the Blogger version of Circadian Poems on January 8, 2007)

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As you can see, we’re in the process of moving this blog here toWord Press.  I’m not sure how or when I can move the archives.  But I think, ultimately, we will be happier here.

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Not much to report just yet in the New Year.

If you’ve submitted and not heard back — my apologies. I’m getting 1200 pieces of Spam per day into the account — and that’s what’s getting through the Spam filter, which is set as high as it can go. I’m not even looking at what’s in the Spam folder.

I’m working my way through everything else as best I can.

Please make sure you put “submission” into your poems or essays.

Please make sure you include a bio with every submission — and contact information, so I can email you back.

I’m thinking of moving this site over to Word Press — I’ve moved several other sites over in the past few weeks. I have to investigate a bit more and see if we can move the arachives as well.

Thanks for your patience, and may you have a poetic New Year!