LEADERS - not followers

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Q & A

For Big Tent Poetry


This week’s prompt
Recently, at the wonderful, amazing, inspiring IRL feedback group that Carolee and I belong to, one of the poets shared with us her desire to turn a current poem into a “conversation poem.”
She sent us some samples, including Mark Strand’s “
Answer” and the haunting “Conversation” by the late poet Ai, in which the speaker both asks the question and supplies the answer (though the departed does indeed respond, as you will see).
Is there a question you are burning to ask someone? Is there a person (living or dead) you would love to have a conversation with? Maybe, as our IRL poet friend shared, you have had a conversation with someone that bears repeating (and examining through poetry’s sharp lens). Perhaps someone has posed a question to you that you simply, at the time, could not answer. Take some time this week and compose your answer in the form of a poem.
Whether or not you write your poem in Strand’s question and answer format, or ask and imagine the answers as Ai did, this week, be sure to ask the really hard questions! Work hard to find the answers! Then, come back and share the whole conversation!


ASK

Click to hear ASK


Q I

One team’s fruit menu
Reorganised as a rule
Imperial base
When expressed digitally
The top of the world revealed


A I

Rearrange? Reorganise?
A RULE…?
ONE TEAM’S FRUIT MENU…? Mixed up?
Say what…?
UNIT OF MEASUREMENT…!
Woo hoo…!
Digitally expressed…reveals…?
Numbers…?

You want the numbers…?
Easy!

Twenty nine thousand and twenty eight
I mean
2-9-0-2-8: Digits
Means what?
That’s the height of Mount Everest…
Dummy!
In feet – Imperial base…
You know…?


Q II

Used for the first time
On watch right around the clock
For an entire week

A II

First things first; the first time
Do you remember yours?
First time is the Second
Time unit wise, that is

Used as in ‘utilised’?
Or as in ‘second-hand’?
Watch as in ‘guard-duty’?
Or watch as in ‘wristwatch’?

A watch’s second hand
Goes right around the clock
One time every minute
And sixty times an hour

One thousand, four hundred
And forty times a day
By the end of the week
The answer that you seek
Works out at ten thousand
And eighty (minutes long)


Q III

QUIET PLEASE! The stage is set
The entire cast is assembled
Pre-determined
Regulation
Is the order of the day
Numerically
Consecutively
Starting from number one

Without a sound, they form five groups
The thing we must determine
The average
Numerical
Value of each of these groups
Individually
Categorically
Logical progression

A III

Alphabetical order
Is the way it’s usually done
So, if A equals one
Z equals twenty six

There are just FIVE VOWEL SOUNDS
In the English alphabet
If we leave these sounds ‘without’
We can add up all the rest

B to D; they equal nine
The average then, is three
F to H; make twenty one
With seven the average

J to N; talking sixty
With an average of twelve
P to T; they score ninety
The average is eighteen

That leaves; W to Z
For one hundred and twenty
Giving them an average
Of exactly twenty four


Q IV

Our last song is called
‘The Unlucky Number Song’
Count on the intro
To explain the reason why
It’s called ‘unlucky number’


A IV

So, you want an intro, eh?
I’ll give you one… two, three, four!
What’s unlucky about that?

Absolutely nothing, mate

OK… all over again
A-one, two… one, two, three, four!
THAT’S an unlucky number!
Thirteen…add ‘em up… agreed?

24 comments:

  1. Corblimey Stan, you had me puzzled there. The only one I could work out for myself was the last one. Are you a maths teacher?

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  2. Thanks ViV; I was terrible at maths in school. When I left (and started my real education), I realsied the significance of numbers in almost everthing, and became much more comfortable with them.

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  3. I have a block when it comes to math and numbers, but I can hear your laughter and delight throughout the poem. That makes it delightful and fun, even if it ties my mind up in knots of frustration, lol. And although I can't even begin to do the math, I recognize the sheer joy here, because I feel the same way about words. Thank you, Stan.

    Elizabeth

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  4. Thanks Elizabeth; It's not really math - Start with the answer and work back to the question.
    The numbers are really coincidental.

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  5. The two voices are so distinct, Stan. Well done. Like Viv, I was puzzled some, but also did some chuckling. Thanks!

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  6. Thanks Brenda; I tried to put the questions as cryptically as I could, to make the answers harder to work out... That's how I interpreted the prompt...

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  7. I'm glad we got the answers too, Stan! You have far too much time on your hands!

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  8. I thought I was fairly good at math, but since being out of school I am just happy for the answers. I must admit to looking for meaning and scratching my head. I guess I wasn't as good at math as I thought I was.

    http://inthecornerofmyeye.blogspot.com/2010/07/true-tale.html

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  9. Thanks to:
    Derrick; The product of a wasted education.
    Mary; Nothing profound; just questions and answers.

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  10. Now look here Stan somebody in the land of Smiles should be rejoicing in the colour. Toss the numbers and get out the paintbrush.

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  11. Thanks Rall; It would have to be a non-figurative piece for me - so the numbers wouldn't help...

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  12. To me, this is like listening to a conversation in a foreign language...I can pick out a few words here and there, and with them I can construct my very own conversation! (Which most likely has nothing to do with what they are saying...)

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  13. Thanks Cynthia; I often hold conversations with people who don't speak my language.

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  14. I think I saw this on the same bill with Godot. Or, more likely, Six Characters

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  15. Like so many conversations, it jets about and threads around! Enjoyed this!

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  16. Thanks to:
    Barbara; Not Godot; Beckett would have left the questions unanswered...
    Tumblewords; ...but stays on track...

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  17. Stan that was like a math lesson!I never did fair well with that subject!
    Well constructed poem!
    Pamela

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  18. That's quite a pile of fruit, Stan. As high as Mt. Everest, lol. (I know how well Thai folks love their fruit!)

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  19. Sorry Stan! Obviously I was having trouble with website. Kept saying couldn't post. And then all of a sudden there are three posts! I've tried to delete 2 of them, but don't succeed. Maybe you can?

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  20. Thanks to:
    Pamela; Never my No1 subject either.
    Diane; It's just a bunch of... bananas.

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  21. I'm not good at math, but love numbers. This is an intriguing take on the prompt. Original & creative.

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  22. Thanks Deb; No real math involved in these numbers.

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  23. I love that Smiths song. There's certainly nothing shy about these responses. I like the playfulness of the poem.

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  24. This is clever, Stan.

    http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com

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