About workshops

Workshops on Neopoet are groups that meet for a certain period of time to focus on a certain aspect of poetry. Each workshop participant is asked to critique all the other poems submitted into a workshop. A workshop leader helps coordinate -- they set the agenda, give participants feedback on whether their submissions and critique are at they level expected of them, and after the workshop is over, give feedback to participants. 

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Neopoet Collaborative Workshop Poem #8

Status: 
Program description/goal: 

Description: Members of this workshop take a turn at adding a few stanzas to the end of the previous members stanzas relative to the previous stanzas.
Alan Abrams begins with his title and his few stanzas.
Members follow the participant list to know who goes next.
Leader: Geezer
Moderator(s): mark, RoseBlack and Rosewood Apothecary

Objectives: Each member contributes to making a complete poem by adding their few stanzas in their turn.

Level of expertise: Open to all members listed.

Subject matter: TBA

Length: 
30 days
Number of participants (limit): 
9 people
Skill level: 
Date: 
Sunday, October 2, 2022 to Sunday, October 30, 2022
Short description: 
Write a collaborative poem

Comments

This workshop begins Monday October 3rd. This is the last workshop in this series. All that have contributed to this workshop will receive a certificate. Alan Abrams will start this final poem off with his title and his first few stanzas. We welcome Furzeke to this last collaboration.

Let's get this party started.

author comment

Wonderful!

Yes, of course I heard the message,
blasting from the bullhorn–
Evacuate, evacuate!
I bought this house during Watergate;
here I’ve made my life;
here my babes were born–
so if If you think some blustering storm
will make me run away–
you don’t know me very well.
Let those winds blow my roof
into the swelling bay,
let the tides knock down my walls,
and swallow all I own–even if I’m all alone–
this is where I’ll stay!
Come high water, come hot hell,
this is where I’ll stay!

end Alan
begin Geezer

And the wind has started blowing
I see the storm clouds black
The alligators are swimming downtown
they don't obey the traffic-signals
I think they don't give a jack
Where do the pelicans go
when the waters all turn brown?
I'll bet they all are hungry
they can't see to eat the little fish
I'm listening for the sound of
golfers at Key Margo, trumping
each other, lying about strokes
of lightning, here it comes!

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

I don’t ever consume any news so I have no feel for this and both my folks and their spouses live down there and deal with this thing often. So far they’ve been lucky.

Sputtering and splashing
Fighting to keep myself afloat
Violent shards of blue and green
Driving me under, losing sight of the boat

Sinking downward
Oxygen escapes my lungs
This can't be how it ends
My head hits something hard

~RoseBlack~

I was then fished out of the water
Grasping in my hand this tome that hit my head
These words were written inside
“I felt the loud silence, the stillness in the air
In the streets, the little boy ran to his mother
And yelled, “ Look Mama the water is rising, shouldn’t we tell Papa.”
“Aye son, run quickly inside and fetch Papa, the sea is upon us it’s a tsunami”
The wind refused to blow, long before the water covered everything including the secrets of the house
In that minute I know our sorrows were upon us, if only we had known
Yet we are a family of strength, this house holds years of memories,
And will withstand another century of darkness
Come high water no ifs and or buts, this house is my strong tower our family will survive”

Candice Vitalien
"Keep glowing even if no one can see your light.
For among the hidden stars on the darkest night
Someone will look up and behold
The flickering hope; words untold;
Strength and Honour my Warriors! "

Our strength prevails against the turning tides,
Screams, gasps and fear,
A giant wave crashes on the roof,
I brace myself for impact,
It never comes,
Silence as I fear this is not the end,
Hours and the water returns from where it came,
I embrace my family who were the strength,
That helped me get through the fear,
Destruction all around outside,
People injured, scared and homeless,
Now we must come together,
So we don’t again drown,
To show that the the biggest wave cannot take us down.

Yes, of course I heard the message,
blasting from the bullhorn–
Evacuate, evacuate!
I bought this house during Watergate,
here I’ve made my life.
Here my babes were born–
so, if you think some blustering storm
will make me run away–
you don’t know me very well.
Let those winds blow my roof
into the swelling bay,
let the tides knock down my walls,
and swallow all I own–even if I’m all alone–
this is where I’ll stay!
Come high water, come hot hell,
this is where I’ll stay!

end Alan
begin Geezer

And the wind has started blowing
I see the storm clouds black
The alligators are swimming downtown
they don't obey the traffic-signals
I think they don't give a jack
Where do the pelicans go
when the waters all turn brown?
I'll bet they all are hungry
they can't see to eat the little fish
I'm listening for the sound of
golfers at Key Margo, trumping
each other, lying about strokes
of lightning, here it comes!

End Geezer
Start Mark

And it arrived in waves as I thought
How peaceful the yellow, red and purple sunsets are
How still the sea is normally at these times
And at the same time, I became fearsome as
Water is merciless and deadly
To die by water is no poetic ending to life
I can’t allow my life to end washed up on shore
With the dead debris from the coastline
Horrified I became frantic, just as the weather
Hit me in the face

End Mark
Begin RoseBlack

Sputtering and splashing
Fighting to keep myself afloat
Violent shards of blue and green
Driving me under, losing sight of the boat

Sinking downward
Oxygen escapes my lungs
This can't be how it ends
My head hits something hard

End RoseBlack
Begin Warrior Princess

I was then fished out of the water
Grasping in my hand this tome that hit my head
These words were written inside
“I felt the loud silence, the stillness in the air
In the streets, the little boy ran to his mother
And yelled. “Look Mama the water is rising, shouldn’t we tell Papa.”
“Aye son, run quickly inside and fetch Papa, the sea is upon us it’s a tsunami”
The wind refused to blow, long before the water covered everything including the secrets of the house
In that minute I know our sorrows were upon us, if only we had known
Yet we are a family of strength, this house holds years of memories,
And will withstand another century of darkness
Come high water no ifs and or buts, this house is my strong tower our family will survive”

End Warrior Princess
Begin Dystopia

Our strength prevails against the turning tides,
Screams, gasps and fear,
A giant wave crashes on the roof,
I brace myself for impact,
It never comes,
Silence as I fear this is not the end,
Hours, and the water returns from where it came,
I embrace my family who were the strength,
That helped me get through the fear,
Destruction all around outside,
People injured, scared and homeless,
Now we must come together,
So, we don’t again drown,
To show that the biggest wave cannot take us down.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

the participants that made this such an enjoyable project! We are not sure where this leaves us. It seems like we should do another project/workshop, but don't have any ideas right now. I would like to do a proper workshop and take on a subject that
will broaden our abilities as writers; this one has proved that we can think outside the box and cooperate. Anyway, thank you one and all. ~ Geezer [and Mark, whom I could not have done without].

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

an enjoyable project. I think it showed our own unique styles and how we can work that into each other's writings. What are some topics/ideas Neo hasn't broached or maybe could revisit? Meter, rhyme, specific types of poetry...just throwing some ideas out there.

~RoseBlack~

I think that we should revisit these themes. We are still in the discussion stage, nothing decided yet. ~ Geez.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

Canterbury tales? I’m getting pretty nerdy.

I like the idea; I will bring it up to Mark, we might be able to get nerdy too! [I'm not too sure about an epic], but it's possible that we might do some classical stuff. ~ Geez.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

Chaucer is a bitch to get through without 50 pages of footnotes. Funny guy though. Beowulf needed a walk through too.

We could do a “neopoet tales” where we write poems about each other’s attributes.

“Upon the road
Our good apothecary
Did falter and whine
Though, good company
Did see purpose
To trifle on with him
Floundering in tow”

Self satire.
Tim

P.S. I love all of you and I’m very comfortable saying it publicly.

Is one of my favorites! I would enjoy a project like that and think it would challenge all of us.

~RoseBlack~

Could possibly be a project in some manner. As I have said to Rosewood, we can take a little bit of time, to develop something. Let's give it a little time to stew and see what emerges. ~ Geez.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

has trouble with contemporary English, I hate to see the mess that Old English would create! Lol.
I am so glad that you have fallen in love with us, [collectively speaking]. Our family is growing slowly and little by little.
The ones who do not fit in, are weeding themselves out, by virtue of their impatience and ego. We are building a great fanbase. We can take a bit of time to let these ideas stew and maybe implement something, within the next week or so. ~ Geez.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

it would be a heavy-duty workshop! I think there may come a time, when we might accomplish such a workshop, but for now, I think that we should endeavor to keep them light and fun in order to encourage participation. ~ Geez.
.

There is value to commenting and critique, tell us how you feel about our work.
This must be the place, 'cause there ain't no place like this place anywhere near this place.

And so is Latin. Might be some interesting advanced workshops in the future. I am excited to see what's next.

~RoseBlack~

This has been a great experience! Thanks all!

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