45 Days of Poetry
“On the other hand, it is clear that a poem may be improperly brief. Undue brevity degenerates into mere epigrammatism. A very short poem, while now and then producing a brilliant or vivid, never produces a profound or enduring effect. There must be the steady pressing down of the stamp upon the wax.
- Edgar Allan Poe (The Poetic Principle)
Willing to explore this idea of brief poems presented by Edgar Allan Poe, I put myself to a challenge of producing these little works of art for forty-five days (Feb 17, 2022- April 02, 2022). The rules of the game were:
- Write one poem every day.
- The poem could be an octave (an eight line rhyme) or a quatrain (a four line rhyme)
- Each poem should be produced around a word that shall be chosen randomly. (Sourcing to randomwordgenerator, friend suggestions, and/or dictionary)
While having a word to stick to was a good insurance exercise to make sure some content is produced every day, it was also a huge and risky restriction for creativity.
When I usually wrote a poem, it seemed to source out of some unknown space. Therefore, I initially thought that having a word with me, already having a purpose defined, was going to be toxic to this pure art of expression. Turns out, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, the difficulty to be able to adapt ideas to the spectrum of vocabulary available was not only fun, but a good practice to foster creative challenges.
Although, eventually, it became harder to stick to the 8-line rhymes or 4-line rhymes, and I let ideas run through, breaking the rule of the game.
Nevertheless, here I share the reaping results of the 45 days poetry challenge. 25 of the best pieces I created are available as NFTs on OpenSea.
Day 1: Word — ‘Ticket’
Day 2: Word — ‘Give’
Day 3: Word — ‘Colour’
Day 4: Word — ‘Impermanence’
Find the NFT here.
Day 5: Word — ‘Museum’
Day 6: Word — ‘Electron’
Day 7: Word — ‘Finished’
Find the NFT here
Day 8: Word — ‘Sunday’
Day 9: Word — ‘Judge’
Find the NFT here.
Day 10: Word — ‘Cowl’
Find the NFT here.
Day 11: Word — ‘Propriety’
Find the NFT Here.
Day 12: Word — ‘Love’
Find the NFT here
Day 13: Word — ‘Censure’
Find the NFT here.
Day 14: Word — ‘Bibliopole’
Day 15: Word — ‘Arbitration’
Find the NFT here.
Day 16: Word — ‘Well’
Day 17: Word — ‘Diabolical’
Find the NFT here.
Day 18: Word — ‘Offset’
Day 19: Word — ‘Rendezvous’
Day 20: Word — ‘Verdure’
Find the NFT here.
Day 21: Word — ‘Desert’
Day 22: Word — ‘Champion’
Find the NFT here.
Day 22: Word — ‘Fleet’
Find the NFT here.
Day 24: Word — ‘Mirabilia’
Find the NFT here.
Day 25: Word — ‘Penalty’
Find the NFT here.
Day 26: Word — ‘Electricity’
Find the NFT here.
Day 27: Word — ‘Date’
Find the NFT here.
Day 28: Word — ‘Confusion’
Day 29: Word — ‘Theme’
Find the NFT here.
Day 30: Word — ‘Stay’
Find the NFT here.
Day 31: Word — ‘Rider’
Day 32: Word — ‘Stain’
Day 33: Word — ‘Memory’
Find the NFT here.
Day 34: Word — ‘Flu’
Day 35: Word — ‘Sentiment’
Find the NFT here.
Day 36: Word — ‘Diagram’
Find the NFT here.
Day 37: Word — ‘Answer’
Day 38: Word — ‘Curl’
Day 39: Word — ‘Breeze’
Day 40: Word — ‘Office’
Find the NFT here.
Day 41: Word — ‘Curve’
Day 42: Word — ‘Middle’
Day 43: Word — ‘Collapse’
Find the NFT here.
Day 44: Word — ‘Soup’
Find the NFT here.
Day 45: Word — ‘Seasonal’
Find the NFT here.
At the end of this experiment, I did find myself agreeing with Edgar Allan Poe on how small poetry hardly ever creates a profound effect on the reader. It is the whole immersive experience from long-form poetry, that allows the reader enough time, as well as nuance and variation, to imbibe the essence of the art.
Although, what makes me curious is how other aspects of art: videos, narrations, music, paintings, photographs, now readily available to access and produce, contribute to this experience. Poetry doesn’t have to be restricted to words on a page, it can be so much more. I shall find myself exploring this aspect of creative art now, like most contemporary artists. Hope to share some here with you.
If you liked a poem, or have suggestions to offer to a piece, or have also taken up such creative challenges, I would love to hear from you.
Until the next time!
Originally published at http://sapiensverse.wordpress.com on April 2, 2022.
