Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

Our discussion forum for topics related to writer's block, poetry, the literary arts in general, and anything else of cosmic import.
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Michael (MV)
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Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#1 Post by Michael (MV) » 22 Dec 2017, 03:35

 
Voice your recommendation(s) here, and

Please let us know ASAP if you are not going to be available to represent the Writer's Block -

then we will know not to consider your poems further this month's IBPC.

I/we will be looking for consensus - in keeping with a communal workshop environment

Which 1-3 would we like to see represent the Writer's Block in the finals?

After the 3 are selected, then will each author post - in this thread - the poem as the poet would like it forwarded,

and ALL the needed info/statements

Ideally, the only poems that really need to appear here are the final 3, when announced, hopefully by the 1st of January, if not sooner

^^ the intent is organizational - if poems appear here before the selection of the final 3, then there is a congestion -

Until the final 3 are announced, please maintain poems & workshopping to the Workshop Forum.  Thanks.



************

any newcomers or returnees this month, Welcome!

and here is a home link to the IBPC rules: http://ibpc.webdelsol.com/rules


In this thread, from the poems posted in the workshop forum during the course of the month, recommend/nominate by title & author.

Nominated poets, please acknowledge the nomination here in this thread.
Please reply by accepting or declining the nomination - in this thread.

Please note & observe: This is not a workshopping thread.

In this thread, poems that are ultimately selected to represent the Block are then posted here
as the author would like for the poem to be forwarded
along with all IBPC required info.

When the 1-3 poems are decided upon, and permission granted by each author of the selected poems,

along with all the info needed by each author:



1/Your name

2/e-mail address

3/statement that the poem is your original

4/and unpublished work

5/and that you are not representing in the current IBPC

6/and the poem as you would like it forwarded to the finals.

^^ All of the above is the usual needed info as part of the process.


I will then forward the 1-3 to the IBPC finals.


Thanks   :)


A safe & wonderful holiday to every one

and HNY 2018

8)

Michael (MV)

 

  

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#2 Post by FranktheFrank » 22 Dec 2017, 21:49

My nominations are:

1 Summer Cruises by Bernie - 19th December

2 You Arrive Like Fall by Bob - 22 December

3 Relapse by Ken - 5th December

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#3 Post by BobBradshaw » 24 Dec 2017, 22:12

I nominate Bernie’s ‘Death of a Light Heavyweight’ , Kenneth’s ‘Mater Familias’

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#4 Post by BobBradshaw » 24 Dec 2017, 22:14

I also nominate Frank’s ‘Fenchurch Street Station’

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#5 Post by FranktheFrank » 25 Dec 2017, 00:33

Accept gratefully Bob's nomination for my poem:

Fenchurch St. Station

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#6 Post by BobBradshaw » 25 Dec 2017, 23:08

I accept Frank’s nomination...thank you

Kenneth2816
Posts: 1619
Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#7 Post by Kenneth2816 » 26 Dec 2017, 23:45

I accept for Mater Familias

Bernie01
Posts: 777
Joined: 30 Jul 2015, 11:14

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#8 Post by Bernie01 » 30 Dec 2017, 23:24

My original work, unpublished and not in consideration elsewhere.

Bernard Henrie



‘Death of a Light Heavyweight’

A bird or two wobble overhead,
sing and look off into the distance.

The mahogany coffin of my father,
silver rails white like his dress shirt.

His face closely shaven, unmarked.
No sign of 175 fights in half-filled gyms.

No evidence of his crouch, no evidence
of his right that could break a man's jaw.

I speak to his surviving friends,
his first wife, and to a reporter.

Words pour from my mouth, worthless.
The breath grows scarce.

I enter the house of my mother and father.
Nothing has changed or been put away.

His brass palomino clock,
the oiled shotgun and decoy ducks,

but its long since we hunted
the Susquehanna flats,

long since we floated the sea kayaks
into choppy Chesapeake Bay.

A lifetime since he drove my friends
and I to high school dances

or visited my dorm, or came to see
his granddaughter in Richmond.

The garden is unkempt, raspberry
bushes flailing in the wind.

Blue hydrangea dark as funeral drapes,
rhododendron crossing in uneven rows.

Unremarkable afternoon,
children eat, play and soon fall asleep;

A daze falls over the house and grounds,
the poplars continue what they were doing.

The dry birdbath, a layer of dust
in the cracked bowl.

The gym fills with the faithful,
lazy cigarette smoke rises in the klieg lights.

I imagine my father crouched at ringside
impatient to answer the timekeeper's silver bell.

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Update New Year's Evev   (Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018):

#9 Post by Michael (MV) » 31 Dec 2017, 21:07

 
1/ Thanks Bernie; good luck in the finals.


2/ How about Bob's  You Arrive Like Fall, Suddenly  as a 2nd - if his poem is still available to represent the WB?


3/ Now to narrow to a 3rd -

Is there, perhaps, a poem that has been nominated but has since become no longer available?

Perhaps a nominated poem might be deferred by its author to another poem?


Happy New Year

8)

Michael (MV)
 

 
Bernie01 wrote:My original work, unpublished and not in consideration elsewhere.
 
 
Bernard Henrie
 


‘Death of a Light Heavyweight’

A bird or two wobble overhead,
sing and look off into the distance.

The mahogany coffin of my father,
silver rails white like his dress shirt.

His face closely shaven, unmarked.
No sign of 175 fights in half-filled gyms.

No evidence of his crouch, no evidence
of his right that could break a man's jaw.

I speak to his surviving friends,
his first wife, and to a reporter.

Words pour from my mouth, worthless.
The breath grows scarce.

I enter the house of my mother and father.
Nothing has changed or been put away.

His brass palomino clock,
the oiled shotgun and decoy ducks,

but its long since we hunted
the Susquehanna flats,

long since we floated the sea kayaks
into choppy Chesapeake Bay.

A lifetime since he drove my friends
and I to high school dances

or visited my dorm, or came to see
his granddaughter in Richmond.

The garden is unkempt, raspberry
bushes flailing in the wind.

Blue hydrangea dark as funeral drapes,
rhododendron crossing in uneven rows.

Unremarkable afternoon,
children eat, play and soon fall asleep;

A daze falls over the house and grounds,
the poplars continue what they were doing.

The dry birdbath, a layer of dust
in the cracked bowl.

The gym fills with the faithful,
lazy cigarette smoke rises in the klieg lights.

I imagine my father crouched at ringside
impatient to answer the timekeeper's silver bell.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#10 Post by Michael (MV) » 31 Dec 2017, 21:11

 
Hi Bob,

How about You Arrive Like Fall, Suddenly - if your poem is still available to represent the WB.


Thanks, Bob


Michael (MV)

BobBradshaw wrote:I accept Frank’s nomination...thank you

 
 
 
 
 

Kenneth2816
Posts: 1619
Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#11 Post by Kenneth2816 » 31 Dec 2017, 21:37

Im unsure how you do this with 4 poems at one vote each? But if I understand, i will pull Relapse in favor of Mater Familias. Or not. Im a bit confused.

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Update New Year's Eve   (Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018):

#12 Post by Michael (MV) » 31 Dec 2017, 22:03

 
Hi Kenneth,

as I read the thread, I'm noticing each poem with one vote each.

Bernie has stepped forward; and for Bob's, I considered that poem's thread.


I hope there will be more group voicing for the third.


Happy New Year, Kenneth

8)

Michael (MV), who is in favor of Mater Familias


Kenneth2816 wrote:Im unsure how you do this with 4 poems at one vote each? But if I understand, i will pull Relapse in favor of Mater Familias. Or not. Im a bit confused.

 
 
 
 

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Update New Year's Eve   (Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018):

#13 Post by Michael (MV) » 31 Dec 2017, 22:24

 
I 2nd Bob's nomination of Kenneth's "Mater Familias".


But before selecting & finalizing a 3rd, let us please wait a day to see if there will be more voicing on a 3rd.

This time, until I voiced a 2nd of Kenneth's "Mater Familias," each poem had only received its initial nomination.


Hopefully, maybe a little more of the voicing procedure for the 3rd to represent WB: Maybe one of the other poems not already selected will be also 2nd or 3rd, etc..


I hope to have a decision of the 3rd on the evening of the New Year 2018

8)

Michael (MV)


BobBradshaw wrote:I nominate Bernie’s ‘Death of a Light Heavyweight’ , Kenneth’s ‘Mater Familias’

 
 
 
 
 

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#14 Post by BobBradshaw » 01 Jan 2018, 11:17

Thanks, Michael... I will provide the information tomorrow...I am on an iPhone now...the poem is available, and isn’t posted anywhere else...best, Bob

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#15 Post by FranktheFrank » 02 Jan 2018, 04:15

I'll defer any of my poems instead of my nominated one if it helps.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#16 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 Jan 2018, 07:49

I don't know what happened...I posted this information about 10 am this morning Pacific time, and it has vanished. So I'm posting it again....best, Bob


1/Bob Bradshaw

2/bobbybradshw@yahoo.com

3/the poem is my original

4/and unpublished work

5/and that I am not representing in the current IBPC

6/and the poem as you would like it forwarded to the finals.


You Arrive Like Fall, Suddenly

leaving my heart thumping
like a banging shutter. You missed

the bigleaf maples that hung
like mid air vineyards in spring,

their long racemes
of yellowish green flowers

heavy as grapes. Now
they have the anemic yellows

of leaves folded
like handkerchiefs waiting

to be pocketed away. That alone
should have alerted me to loss.

Haven't the blow-wives long lost
their beautiful heads of white hair

to shearing winds?
Still, there's hope you'll stay, right?

Like the woolly mule’s ears
with her long blonde hair

you too feel at home
in the cool air,

one moment clinging to me
like a monkey flower to a fence,

as if intent on staying.
And yet the next moment

I sense you don't need roots
--that like a moon jelly,

there isn’t a rock
or a patch of soil or a man

that could ever
anchor you.

Kenneth2816
Posts: 1619
Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#17 Post by Kenneth2816 » 02 Jan 2018, 12:38

She slit my nostril
for smiling at a girl.

Next time, she says she will give me
to Kahzir who runs the baths
and he'll use me like a woman.

Since the fall of the last Raj
to the time of the missionary


and The Night Of The Long Knives,
when they cut the tongues
of all males over fifteen,
set them to work the fields,
this is the way of it:


Boys as young as six or eight
sold into marriage.
When I was twelve, Nega paid
two goats and a donkey;
highest offer in my village.

She put a ring through my foreskin,
braided my hair, dressed
me in white muslin.

My mother and grandmother
train me for a year
before I leave home for good.

They tell me promises were made,
They tell me goods exchanged,
They tell me do not bring dishonor on the family.

I've seen what happens to boys
who run or lie about their chastity.

On the last night of purity
Nega bathes me in milk
and lotus petals.
She licks from my skin.

"You are eager to fly
little bird, yes?"
She says I am to call her Mistress.
Sometimes, I service her sisters.

Her breath is like the dung pit.
I want to retch at her touch,
She wipes her mouth
with the back of one hand
and laughs.


original unpublished, my own poem, no competing nominations. Ashworthken@yahoo.com

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#18 Post by Michael (MV) » 03 Jan 2018, 03:56

Thanks Bernie

Thanks Bob

Thanks Kenneth


Good Luck in the finals of the January IBPC 2018


8)

Michael (MV)

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#19 Post by FranktheFrank » 05 Jan 2018, 14:39

Best wishes to the three selected poets/poems in this marvelous competition.

john8899999
Posts: 3
Joined: 17 Jan 2018, 12:57

Re: Upcoming January IBPC 2018:

#20 Post by john8899999 » 17 Jan 2018, 12:59


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