I've just read 'Collaging Poems - by Patti Marshock' (thanks for directing
me there Tad)so, being inqisitive, I had to try some translations.
I used the poem I posted here, translating it first into French and back
again and then into Spanish and back. What I noticed was it enabled me to
view my own words as if they were new or written by someone else. As
writers we all end up getting too close to our work and this seemed to
help me veiw it in a different light. And it gave me ideas - which was the
object of the excercise!
Whether or not it has helped me write a better poem I don't know but
this is what I ended up with.
The Sticks and Stones
Her feet on the sill
she thinks of names for her knees
and mouths them onto the glass.
They block her view of the children
in the gutter
playing Jackie-Five-Stones
She smiles simply
and waves
but not at them.
She wants to know if the latch would look
like a stick upside down,
if only she could push it that far.
The metal screeches.
The wind catches
and her hair becomes feathers
her mouth, suddenly a beak,
squawks
as the children run
empty-handed down the street.
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