Series: Watch a Poem Grow: Make a Noise

UPDATED: APRIL 30, 2017

A family of trees fall. Slugs
We leave. Snails, we keep. Watch
How shells repel the black stream.
See how feelers smell and retract,
Snap and grow. Regrow. Snap.

The PROCESS:

This poem was based on lyrics from MGMT's Kids. [See: Who is MGMT -- Watch Video ]

For days, the lyric segment, "take only what you need" kept haunting me. Seriously, it would repeat for hours, finally be sent packing by a major distraction, and return during any boring/routine activity. I did not like the message, therefore, Kill the messenger.

At a previously-scheduled retreat, during the inevitable collage-making activity, I cut thru a Forbes magazine & tried to pin down lyrical meaning.

When I returned, my son told me what he remembered of lyrics's chorus: Enjoy yourself// Take only what you need from him// A family of trees fallin// To be haunted.

OK, well that changes things. To be one of the title's "kids" is to enjoy yourself, and take only what you need might apply to a journey, as in when packing take only what you need -- a liberating message, no?

But... the mood of video -- where rotting monsters follow a crying toddler who walks away from an inattentive mother & heads to the forest -- that didn't connect.

So, I printed out true lyrics. It's really. CONTROL YOURSELF // Take only what you need from IT. // A family of trees wantin' // To be haunted.

Yeah. It was Poetry Time.

I did word analysis, breaking down lyrics (both real and misheard) into word groups: verbs, pronouns, nouns. Separately, I matched/generated sound alike words & pulled together full rhymes and slant rhymes, which are internal rhymes, which I use extensively.

Then, time to write. I started a haiku, which is three lines: 5, then 7, then 5 words each. This helped me simmer poem down to core. Haiku has two ideas or images; includes seasonal reference; and uses the "knife" -- a word that slices parts of poem into two images or ideas, with the "knife" word as bridge uniting the two components.

I like to brainstorm a Haiku, because, ha ha, it cuts poem to its core. Forces a setting or mood because of the need for seasonal reference. Forces turning points. Encourages concrete word usage and economic use of symbols.

From my haiku skeleton, I played around with words & symbols & double entendre, added what felt left out and voila, my draft of Make a noise.

So, I'll put it away for a months or so, and then start the long, long editing process.

Art Collecting (Updated)

I've always wanted to collect art, but my budget was limited (which is to say non-existent). BUT, now I have a Higher Purpose (read: rationalization) & can justify art purchases as investments. The theory is that I can always sell some & make enough money to finance a few pieces for myself.

"Investment" is the password that unlocks my SuperEgo Cash Register & "Bargain Whoring" is what misdirects/corrupts the Virtuous Cashier. Generally, I'm neurotic re: living w/in my means.** But after quitting paid work to pursue motherhood, art, & community service, and enduring upteen years of grad-school poverty, well... The ID is in ascendance, and the EGO staged a coup, in the interest of peace & functional sanity. In other words, it's finally my turn to get some.***

My focus: Art by Jewish Artists, Religious artifacts, and/or Judaica/Catholicaica.

What I have: limited edition prints (lithographs & seriographs); original watercolors; ceremonial objects/clothes; art by local/self-taught/traditional artisans.

As for High Art: When I first discovered that my grandfather was Sephardic, I bought a Chagall print--something I've long wanted. It was a giclee of floating lovers w/ Eiffel Tower in background. (Future: Print-Collecting 101/Terminology Post).

Then, @ auction, I bought limited edition Chagall lithographs (thumbnails).
Plus, mixed media watercolor original by Israeli, Patricia Govezensky. And Steynovitz's Sukkot ii serigraph. And "Symbols of Jerusalem" watercolor by Baghdad artist, Sami Zilkha.

Next up: Artisanal objects: Catholic & Sephardic/Jewish ceremonial

**Near the top of my List of GAME-CHANGING books: Your Money or Your Life, which explains the principle of Voluntary Simplicity & gives practical steps to achieve life-long financial balance, and consequently, life balance & vitality.

***Yes. I have a thing for Jungian Psychology. But you'll have to wait to learn more re: how Freud was wrong about almost everything, and Jung was more or less right.