Friday, October 7, 2011

From a bowl of fortunes

I’m not one to pay much attention to the message in a fortune cookie, unless, of course, it says something flattering about me. Still, even the unflattering ones might have uses.

Like poetry prompts.

At TweetSpeak Poetry, L.L. Barkat posted a poetry prompt this week – write poems from a bowl of fortunes. I didn’t have fortune cookies lying around, so instead I created a bowl of fortunes – with one or two words, and then pulled one, and then two, and then three.

So, here’s what came from “my new coffee cup:”

Baptism

Unwrapped from its swaddling
of brown paper, it sits rather
knowingly, a smile on its surface
shining blue and brown and green
and sand, the colors of its origin,
the colors of its impetus,
an impetus born of absence
that propelled it northward
from the hills. I baptized it today
with coffee.

The next fortune was “a noise:”

Loud noise

A noise outside, at night,
below the window, and
lights flash. I try to open
the blinds but the cord
comes apart in my hands.
The noise stops; the lights
still flash, their patterns
creating their own sound.

Then it got literary; the prompt was “Dickens:”

Dickens Reading

His voice rising and
falling, all eyes riveted
on the stage transformed
in imagination
to the death of Little Nell
or Nancy’s murder, reality
conjured by speech and
artistry into a vortex
of emotion, an offering
on the altar of words,
concluding with
physical collapse.

If you’d like to see more poems taken from a bowl of fortunes, or try some yourself, check out the original prompt at TweetSpeak Poetry and where links are being posted at the T.S. Poetry Press Facebook wall.

9 comments:

Jerry said...

Now that sounds like fun and they came out so sensible...nice.

S. Etole said...

You always manage to do this so well.

Sandra Heska King said...

Love these--especially the first one. :How I wish you could have been there.

And that's not my mug. Mine is not as shiny, and it sits at a bit of a tilt. Like me.

Unknown said...

What a fun exercise. Now I have to go get Chinese food so I can try this myself!

Maureen said...

Fun prompt, wasn't it? So glad you participated.

Are the mugs hand-made?

Anonymous said...

a vessel of
earth and sky
holding the hills
in memory
a river flowing
to the heart

Sheila said...

Glynn,
These are wonderful. You are clearly most promptable. :)

Ah, and I came via your Blogger profile. Another Faulkner fan!

Linda said...

I'm with Susan - You do this so very well Glynn.

L.L. Barkat said...

Really love the baptism by coffee :)