Mia Copa Mia Copa Mia Maxima Copa

Note to the people coming here from a search engine:  The phrase you are looking for is spelled Mea Culpa.  This title is a play on your common misspelling.  Since I get a ton of traffic on that search term, I figured I would provide the information you are most likely looking for.  Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa

My fault, My fault, My most grievous fault.
I cannot even spell my failure.  Culpa cramps and must be a captain.

I have failed, I have sinned, I have not written in such a time that I think I might die. My apologies. This weekend has been a hectic one, and I have not been as diligent as one might hope. Here, though, is the very thing to get started again, some poems.

1. Write a letter to a famous or non-famous personage (historical or living) in cinematic montage.

2. Write a poem that defamiliarizes a common experience (skiing for example, as in Tranströmer's poem) (Feel free to expand on what you wrote for the in-class exercise).

3. Take a common experience (riding the subway for example, as in Notley) and make it allegorical/symbolic.

4. Create a metaphorical portrait (such as Plath's portrait of "Death &Co").

5. Pick two very different objects. Write a portrait (or a self-portrait) of someone using descriptions of the objects.

The above five prompts are the options from which my poetry class must choose. The poem is due this tuesday. In the spirit of my resolution to write regularly I think I'm going to try to knock off all those prompts before the end of the week. I will try for 5 today.

Pick two very different objects. Write a portrait (or a self-portrait) of someone using descriptions of the object.

Harsh lines this elegant machine spins
hard sparks and with brute mechanic
marks a path through future flurries and
on -- a snow machine

Smooth swan shapes, the curvature of
clouded desire and drake dreams slip
soft structures shifting smoothly
snow brushed -- a feather


I'm not really sure how I'm going to combine the two, but I like the starting place