Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

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)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#1 Post by Michael (MV) » 31 Aug 2021, 13:58

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 for 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 the month, 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4/and unpublished work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 don't have a poem committed to represent another board in the current IBPC. One poet one poem one board
for each monthly,

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

Michael (MV)

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#2 Post by BobBradshaw » 31 Aug 2021, 20:17

I nominate Frank's poem "Aberfan".

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#3 Post by FranktheFrank » 01 Sep 2021, 01:29

Thanks Bob.

If you don't mind I am going to leave the choice
of your two poems to Michael.
I really enjoyed them both.

Perhaps Michael could include one of his byte poems.

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#4 Post by Michael (MV) » 02 Sep 2021, 01:09

Hi Bob,

Do you have a poem of yours from this month's workshop that you would like to have represent the block?

Poet's Choice

Thanks, Bob

Michael (MV)

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#5 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 Sep 2021, 02:00

Thanks, Michael
I am not represented by any forum this month. This is my original and unpublished work.
email: bobbybradshw@yahoo.com

The Final Words of Gerard Manley Hopkins


Who understood his poetry?
Not his Jesuit brothers.
Not his students who slumped
deeper into their seats.

Years before
he had taken comfort in the countryside,
purling water and blond sunlight,

the fields charged with God’s beauty
the way amber is suffused
with its own gold.

Dispatched to Dublin
he was a poet in a city of prose,
exhausted from the Jesuit workload.

By middle age,
he had failed as priest,
his words thick wax
in the ears of his listeners

As a teacher,
he had merely achieved
the teaching of Greek and Latin,
the grading of student papers.

He was never able to ignite passion
in his students. He was like a rainmaker
who coaxes only
dry lightning from the sky.

Depression and loneliness
weighed on him
like an adult’s winter coat
on a small child.

And was this how his life
was to end, fever
crossing his brow
his vision blurred--

to lie in bed
from typhus, his energy
emptying into the air
like a spent prayer?

Was this God's plan--
to teach him humility
once more? Through a flea?

Yet what are we to make
of Father Hopkins' dying words,
"I am so happy. I am so happy.
I loved my life."

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#6 Post by Michael (MV) » 02 Sep 2021, 03:17

Thanks, Bob,

Good luck in the finals.

😎

Michael (MV)

BobBradshaw wrote:
02 Sep 2021, 02:00
Thanks, Michael
I am not represented by any forum this month. This is my original and unpublished work.
email: bobbybradshw@yahoo.com

The Final Words of Gerard Manley Hopkins


Who understood his poetry?
Not his Jesuit brothers.
Not his students who slumped
deeper into their seats.

Years before
he had taken comfort in the countryside,
purling water and blond sunlight,

the fields charged with God’s beauty
the way amber is suffused
with its own gold.

Dispatched to Dublin
he was a poet in a city of prose,
exhausted from the Jesuit workload.

By middle age,
he had failed as priest,
his words thick wax
in the ears of his listeners

As a teacher,
he had merely achieved
the teaching of Greek and Latin,
the grading of student papers.

He was never able to ignite passion
in his students. He was like a rainmaker
who coaxes only
dry lightning from the sky.

Depression and loneliness
weighed on him
like an adult’s winter coat
on a small child.

And was this how his life
was to end, fever
crossing his brow
his vision blurred--

to lie in bed
from typhus, his energy
emptying into the air
like a spent prayer?

Was this God's plan--
to teach him humility
once more? Through a flea?

Yet what are we to make
of Father Hopkins' dying words,
"I am so happy. I am so happy.
I loved my life."

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#7 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 Sep 2021, 05:20

I nominate phantom-writers by Michael.

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

Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#8 Post by FranktheFrank » 02 Sep 2021, 12:06

This poem is my original work
It has not been published before
and is not representing any other board.
Ieuanaphywel@aol.com
Ieuan ap Hywel


ABERFAN

If there are no ghosts

Whose voices howl - black-dusted

on the mountain breeze

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

Labor Day Update Re: Upcoming September IBPC 2021:

#9 Post by Michael (MV) » 07 Sep 2021, 02:41

By this time, I believe it is agreeable to conclude that Bob's, Frank's and my poem will be the 3 I am forwarding to represent in the September IBPC 2021.

I hope it has been a safe and wonderful extended weekend for every one

😎

Michael (MV)

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