the poet robert hass (a bay area poet and professor at uc berkeley) uses the term "clippings" when referring to his shorter poems. i'm going to lift the term, and hope he finds it flattering :)
i've just started to notice a very casual creative cycle every month.
most of the month i spend my time writing writing writing. if i'm lucky, at the end of every month i find myself with lots of things to edit, polish and send away to contests and literary journals.
most pieces need more work, and aren't shown to anyone at all. i work on them when i can handle the disappointment of looking at them and working through the kinks. sometimes, the way to fix those kinks in a poem comes out of nowhere, and sometimes it feels calculated (using the thesaurus, referring to other poems).
then there are clippings like these, which i will use as jumping-off points to make a longer poem some day.
without further ado, here are three of february's clippings!
b*
[the enjoyer]
let me know something like joy,
to be anonymously joined,
to be seen by you,
my thoughts like your prize!
about this clipping: my reaction to the comment sections of many websites.
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[the town square]
seniors from school and of life may
take this town yet, the square
it's full of their blue, their neon pink hair.
about this clipping: come to castro valley, and see for yourself.
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[super natural]
ducks bobbing in the full tub of sharp glitter
connect me to the horizon of houses there.
about this clipping: written at the beach in alameda, on the same day i wrote the poem [membrane or mechanism].
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