Weekly Wikems. Storytelling.

Hi.
Thursday. Make it wikems time.

Wikems = Wikipedia poems. 

• Each Thursday (usually around 8a.m. Eastern) I post a link to a Wikipedia article, a quote from it and my wikem inspired by that quote.
• I invite you to explore the article, searching for a quote that clicks with you. (You are free to use "my" Wiki quote if it happens to be the one.)  
• Once you've found your quote, use it as an epigraph, write your wikem and post a link to it in the comments below.  (You are welcome to post your wikem directly in the comments if you prefer.)

 Let's play!

A very talented young woman Maria Popova and her essay on the importance of storytelling in the age of information and (lack of) wisdom led me to today's wiki prompt: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling

Explore. Search. Find. Write.

Here's my wikem.

“People have used the carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record stories in pictures or with writing.”

we draw our stories

on the ephemeral sand

ebony of space

we record ourselves

on the carved trunks of birch trees

ivory of clouds

we imprint our song

on the world filled with echoes

parchment of all time 

Thank you for reading. Look forward to your wikems.

Live for the Love of it,

Sasha A. Palmer (a.k.a. "Happy")

Hospital (wordle poem)

high altitude halls

hard to breathe for the healthy

half-angels people

nothing left but eyes

graphic like the soul’s portrait

alabaster skin

they wander on air

hover above disaster

such force in weakness

above the chaos

plastic woes of everyday

half-men half-angels

rise in solitude

the bread of life on their palms

souls look into mine

Sasha A. Palmer

written for The Sunday Whirl 

today's words:

 

The Unprompted (a sestina)

I was hungry for prompts after the crazy Poem-A-Day April. 

I found quite a few over at Margo's. One of the possibilities she suggests is "a prompt that you saw and didn't get to" last month.

On April 13th Poetic Asides asked us to write a sestina for an extra credit. I was working on a string of connected haiku (a haiku for each day/prompt), but I thought I'd give sestina a try later. 

For the "fun" of it...

Here's my first (and probably last) attempt at sestina. 

The month of April on their silver wings

The birds of prompt have carried far away.

Now May’s upon us and we’re feeling lost,

Without direction wander, maps without,

The wilderness of poems unprompted.

We long for April with its set of rules.

When chaos of a sudden freedom rules,

With no plan waiting for us in the wings,

Reject our Muse that shows up unprompted

And claims she knows the secret, drive away

Insights spontaneous reserve without,

Complete the circle: lost, and found, and lost.

Whatever confidence we gained is lost

When May proclaims one rule, “There are no rules.

Roam free, my friends, constraints and forms without,

Let inspiration guide you, spread your wings,

Pack up your fears, and throw them all away,

And travel light. Be daring, unprompted.”

What is it “to be daring, unprompted?”

We’ve had a battle with ourselves and lost.

Not our worse fears, but dreams we’ve thrown away.

We worship Prompt that shapes our lines and rules

Our world, our voice, chains to the ground our wings.

We cannot fly with Prompt. Can’t fly without.

“We cannot fly with Prompt. Can’t fly without.”

Why do we bury our words? Unprompted

This gloom and rage, we to the ground our wings

Chain with our thoughts, and switch from “found” to “lost”,

And blame our goddess Prompt and April rules

For our apparent weaknesses – a way

To put up no resistance and a way

To let, responsibility without,

Our Muse be ill and die. No guilt. No rules.

Who are the culprits? Fearless, unprompted,

The month of May and its accomplice, lost

Backstage, behind the prompted, in the wings.

We are the culprits, cowards. Unprompted

Our Muse arrives, her inspiration lost

On us. The weight of boredom on our wings.

Live for the Love of it, 

The Happy Amateur

Sasha A. Palmer

2014 April PAD Challenge: Day 28

I'm continuing my haiku story based on Poetic Asides Poem-A-Day prompts.

"Settled" is today's prompt.

Twenty eight days, twenty eight haiku. 



beyond the welkin

a sleepy angel awakes

off to work wings brushed

the commute is quick
one giant leap for mankind
for angel one step 

the task is simple
persuade men to be happy
that's what angels do

since the creation
happiness has been men's foe
men prefer ruin 

men long for passion
harmony unsettles them
men would rather burn

men inhale cities
drink beneath the rural moon
on the airplane wings 

ever amateur
created in God's image
hopelessly human 

torment their lovers
dance themselves to destruction
ever lonely men 

finding no refuge
men cry when they see the Pope
vagabond pilgrims 

empires rise and fall
look back foresee the future
humans do not change 

men bend their beliefs
divide sex and sentiment
still believe in love 

strolls through central park
wild quarrels starting over 
beautiful and damned

men battle their beasts
walk along the precipice
all the sad young men

if i were God i
dancers and storytellers
always reasoning 

love is all there is
still men crave bitter in sweet
never satisfied

men beat on borne back
ceaselessly into the past
silent tombstones speak 

lost generation
paradigmatic writings
jazz age any age 

winter dreams wear off
the prickly dust of late spring
freshness of lilacs 

pink floating dresses
pink babies in pink bonnets
it all starts anew 

a tight fellowship
flappers and philosophers
a curious case 

men tamper with faith
yet at the end of the day
all want to come home 

men want to repent
quit the Godless dirty games
men want to be loved 

life crackles like ice
on this side of paradise
faith is difficult 

tell it to the One
He advocates for all men
He knows about faith 

when everything fails
when Babylon walls crumple
He will raise you up 

when your soul is dry
when you walk in wilderness
He will quench your thirst 

when the evil strikes
amidst your Armageddon
He will stand by you 

put your trust in Him
you have found peace search no more
He will not fail you



To be continued tomorrow...

Sasha A. Palmer

2014 April PAD Challenge: Day 27

I'm continuing my haiku story based on Poetic Asides Poem-A-Day prompts.

"Monster" is today's prompt.

Twenty seven days, twenty seven haiku. 



beyond the welkin

a sleepy angel awakes

off to work wings brushed

the commute is quick
one giant leap for mankind
for angel one step 

the task is simple
persuade men to be happy
that's what angels do

since the creation
happiness has been men's foe
men prefer ruin 

men long for passion
harmony unsettles them
men would rather burn

men inhale cities
drink beneath the rural moon
on the airplane wings 

ever amateur
created in God's image
hopelessly human 

torment their lovers
dance themselves to destruction
ever lonely men 

finding no refuge
men cry when they see the Pope
vagabond pilgrims 

empires rise and fall
look back foresee the future
humans do not change 

men bend their beliefs
divide sex and sentiment
still believe in love 

strolls through central park
wild quarrels starting over 
beautiful and damned

men battle their beasts
walk along the precipice
all the sad young men

if i were God i
dancers and storytellers
always reasoning 

love is all there is
still men crave bitter in sweet
never satisfied

men beat on borne back
ceaselessly into the past
silent tombstones speak 

lost generation
paradigmatic writings
jazz age any age 

winter dreams wear off
the prickly dust of late spring
freshness of lilacs 

pink floating dresses
pink babies in pink bonnets
it all starts anew 

a tight fellowship
flappers and philosophers
a curious case 

men tamper with faith
yet at the end of the day
all want to come home 

men want to repent
quit the Godless dirty games
men want to be loved 

life crackles like ice
on this side of paradise
faith is difficult 

tell it to the One
He advocates for all men
He knows about faith 

when everything fails
when Babylon walls crumple
He will raise you up 

when your soul is dry
when you walk in wilderness
He will quench your thirst 

when the evil strikes
amidst your Armageddon
He will stand by you



To be continued tomorrow...

Sasha A. Palmer

2014 April PAD Challenge: Day 26

I'm continuing my haiku story based on Poetic Asides Poem-A-Day prompts.

"Water" is today's prompt.

Twenty six days, twenty six haiku. 



beyond the welkin

a sleepy angel awakes

off to work wings brushed

the commute is quick
one giant leap for mankind
for angel one step 

the task is simple
persuade men to be happy
that's what angels do

since the creation
happiness has been men's foe
men prefer ruin 

men long for passion
harmony unsettles them
men would rather burn

men inhale cities
drink beneath the rural moon
on the airplane wings 

ever amateur
created in God's image
hopelessly human 

torment their lovers
dance themselves to destruction
ever lonely men 

finding no refuge
men cry when they see the Pope
vagabond pilgrims 

empires rise and fall
look back foresee the future
humans do not change 

men bend their beliefs
divide sex and sentiment
still believe in love 

strolls through central park
wild quarrels starting over 
beautiful and damned

men battle their beasts
walk along the precipice
all the sad young men

if i were God i
dancers and storytellers
always reasoning 

love is all there is
still men crave bitter in sweet
never satisfied

men beat on borne back
ceaselessly into the past
silent tombstones speak 

lost generation
paradigmatic writings
jazz age any age 

winter dreams wear off
the prickly dust of late spring
freshness of lilacs 

pink floating dresses
pink babies in pink bonnets
it all starts anew 

a tight fellowship
flappers and philosophers
a curious case 

men tamper with faith
yet at the end of the day
all want to come home 

men want to repent
quit the Godless dirty games
men want to be loved 

life crackles like ice
on this side of paradise
faith is difficult 

tell it to the One
He advocates for all men
He knows about faith 

when everything fails
when Babylon walls crumple
He will raise you up 

when your soul is dry
when you walk in wilderness
He will quench your thirst



To be continued tomorrow...

Sasha A. Palmer