Hello friend, I am Timothy Kimo Brien, head instigator at Create Art Podcast where we help you to tame the inner critic and create more than we consume. Every year in April National Poetry Writing Month occurs, this is a challenge to write 30 poems in 30 days and comes from the NaPoWriMo site. When you participate you are given a prompt every day for 30 days and you can choose to follow the prompt or not. Each prompt has a commentary with it and a style of poetry that you may not be familiar with. I enjoy it because it stretches my creative muscles and helps me organize my thoughts. I also really enjoy a good challenge. There is also an opportunity to read other people's work as they post on their websites and for you to comment on their work, giving them encouragement or offering a suggestion. Care to join me on this journey?
Day 3 Prompt
And now for our prompt. This one is a bit involved, which is why I’m giving it to you on a Saturday. Today, I’d like to challenge you to make a “Personal Universal Deck,” and then to write a poem using it. The idea of the “Personal Universal Deck” originated with the poet and playwright Michael McClure, who gave the project of creating such decks to his students in a 1976 lecture at Naropa University. Basically, you will need 50 index cards or small pieces of paper, and on them, you will write 100 words (one on the front and one on the back of each card/paper) using the rules found here.
Don’t agonize over your word choices. Making the deck should be fun and revealing, as you generate words that sound “good” to you. The fact that the words are mainly divided among the five senses should be helpful in selecting words that you like the sound of, and that have some meaning personal to you. For example, my deck contains “harbor,” “wool,” “murmur,” “obsidian,” and “needle.”
Once you have your deck put together, shuffle it a few times. Now select a card or two, and use them as the basis for a new poem.
I chose to use my tarot deck for todays prompt and got a very accurate reading for myself vs using the deck that the prompt suggested. Try it for yourself if you have a tarot deck, if not you can go online and get your own reading done if you choose, I would recommend however, getting it done by someone who knows how to use a deck.
Day 3 Poem
The Reading
An upside-down tower tells of the crumbling I allowed to happen
The knight charging forth knows my mind is as sharp as his sword
A young man on his head reminds me to be still, be calm, be alone in my thoughts
Clouds open up, and a hand descends with a staff, beating my self-indulgent thoughts of laziness
Sipping my coffee, I see what I used to be, a student, and I realize that is what I enjoy being
Another cloud opens, another hand descends, this time with a sword cutting my conflicts in twain
The death that everyone fears seeing, is how I see myself as I clutch to decayed memories holding them close to my heart
But you may see me as the sunshine, the one who knows the answers, the one who has it together
My dreams dare me to become greater than I care to be
And it all ends with the strength to become the quiet master that others seek
That is the reading before me
Reaching Out
To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and lets start that conversation.
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