On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Douglas Barbour
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> These do catch a dream scape, Sharon. I wonder if that sense of 'be-ing'
> caught in a now of 'is' needs all the 'to be' verbs or if some could be
> dropped...?
> I know I tend to be against their use generally, but can see why they
> usefully capture that sense of it all continhing to happen, now, no
> escape....
>
Wow, this really *is* a dream snap, written in the middle of the night and
forgotten until I checked the list.
Verbs are my weakness as a poet. I suspect I'm capable of writing an entire
poem without one active verb.
I'll work on this one.
>
> Doug
>
> On 2011-08-10, at 10:40 PM, sharon brogan wrote:
>
> > 1.
> >
> > I am driving. It is not going well.
> > The streets are dark and thickly
> > treed. Sleet shines the asphalt.
> > The windshield is clouded and
> > cracked. Things go wrong.
> >
> > The car has a mind of its own.
> > It will not go where I steer.
> > The tires go flat. I cannot see
> > where I ‘m going. It’s dangerous
> > to drive, but there is nowhere
> > to park.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2.
> >
> > I’ve returned to work after a long
> > illness. Everything is changed.
> > Rooms are not where they were.
> > Desks: antique oak, grey industrial
> > metal, are piled in the corridors.
> > I want to speak with my boss,
> > but he has no time for me. I ask
> > and ask, but no one will answer:
> > What is my job?
> >
> >
> > 3.
> >
> > I’ve come back to a house where
> > I used to live. Though all is different,
> > it’s nonetheless familiar. The walls
> > are made of many windows. Furniture
> > and unpacked boxes crowd the rooms.
> > I have a housemate. I know her well,
> > but she does not know me. Where are
> > my cats, my dogs?
> >
> >
> > 4.
> >
> > The car finally stops. I think we are close,
> > but it’s a long walk. Many city blocks.
> > Though it’s night, the streets are brightly
> > lit, and dense with pedestrians. Our
> > destination is close, I am sure. But what
> > is it? How will we know when we’re there?
> >
> >
> > --
> > sharon brogan
> > http://www.sbpoet.com
> > http://www.sbpoet.net
> > http://smallpoems.sbpoet.net
> > 406.578.1788
> >
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Latest books:
> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> Wednesdays'
>
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
>
> It is natural to speak of your own weaknesses so winsomely they will seem
> strengths, as if everyone else is inadequate if they do not have your
> inadequacies.
>
> William H. Gass
>
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