Here is a collage poem.
“Perish the Thought” on its page in my collage poem book.
Perish the Thought
I didn’t need
anyone else, at all,
Useless people,
I know what I’m doing
at least I had learned
of the dangers of
cheap thought
confined thought
but I wonder
Am I any different from these others here?
Here is a group of haikus. We are having such a blustery cold day here. The weather is changing again and getting colder.
I wrote these one after another, as I sometimes do. The group makes a nice whole, or each one can be a little picture all on its own.
1.
Across the pale sky
the gray clouds unfold themselves
shake out their wrinkles
2.
Harsh wind goes to work
cuts the sky into pale strips
with sharp cold scissors
3.
How that hard wind blows
tosses a branch at the roof
drops it in the snow
4.
Muted by the snow
the thump of a falling branch
is no sound at all
Sometimes I work and work on a poem and it just won’t seem to come right. The process can go on for months or maybe years.
It reminds me of a question I often hear in connection with my artwork: How do I know when a piece is finished? I always say, jokingly but not joking, if you know what I mean, that it’s done when I sell it or it otherwise goes out of my hands, since at that point I can’t get to it to keep working on it.
I wrote this poem today and I decided it would be finished today. It was prompted by yesterday’s snowfall, and I wanted to record the memory and express it while the feeling I have about today is fresh in my mind. And also I wanted the memory of today to contain a poem-writing session as well as what I remember of the snow and the cold and the wind and the beautiful sunny blue sky.
Snowstorm Next Day
The two pairs of socks
extra-generous warm
The cable-knit sweater
wool just the thing
Snow all over everywhere
just got into town
Wrist-thick icicles
lengthen from the eaves
angled by the blustery wind
the one that flings away
the in-a-series glittering drips
sideways out and away
Gone! just as quick as that
Every tree in sight of here
all their branches trunk to twig
crossing and re-crossing
the icy bright blue sky
Dry snow light and sheer
impulsive gusts sweep up a cloud
shake it out like a sheet
toss it up and over the roof
The neighbor’s shovel scrapes the sidewalk
Everything and everyone
restless in the snow and the glare and the cold
And me, my toes
they’re still chilly
This haiku was written some time ago,but it fits in with our January weather. The snow melts in a warm spell, and then the cold returns, freezing the ground and any impressions left in it. Footprints remain as a record until the next thaw. I have always been fascinated with the idea that just by walking I have left a bit of myself behind for someone to notice and to wonder about.
Hard-frozen footprints
pause along the muddy track.
Travelers move on.
“Shake a leg” – Artist Trading Card
A collage poem.
If the thought process described in this poem sounds familiar, the thing to do is to step back and remember you didn’t reach your present position by magic. Have faith in yourself.
“New Standards” on its page in my collage poem book.
New Standards
with considerable struggle
luck
what had become
what had happened
unexpected prosperity
it stood upright, and solid
mysterious To me
surrounded by surprise
I’m always supposing that
believing
I’m the right person.
But it’s still true that The idea of
Remember before
I have been expecting
nothing at all,
this is too much.
can I live up to this.
Artist Trading Card, 2011
Though I wrote this haiku many years ago, it describes our weather in recent weeks. We’ve been complaining about the see-saw temperatures and the variety of weather effects we’ve had so far this winter, but it seems it has happened before…So here’s a nod to how things don’t change, and how we don’t remember very well, either!
Yesterday’s warm rain
Frozen in today’s puddles –
What will happen next?
A collage poem.
When I am working on collage poetry, I so enjoy the process of searching for words literally made tangible in front of me. The words lead my thoughts and I uncover ideas I didn’t know were there.
Why Ask?
I was thinking about
happiness
that the sky could see
watching earth,
There is much to tell
thankfulness before it’s too late
hope
but to think
I want A good explanation
and But why for what reason
Perhaps incomprehension
is a busy place
piled high with satisfaction.
The expression
of a blessing in disguise
If our recent weather were a person, we’d be shaking our heads and saying, “Out of control. Just totally out of control.” And thinking about an intervention, maybe. But the weather is not to be reasoned with, is it?
In a Bad Mood
Ice coats the front porch
It’s ankle-breaking weather
Freezing rain my eye
It’s ice. Coming right out of the sky
landing on our porch in a solid sheet
Out for vengeance
and in a hurry
to get in some good work
because
Get away from that door
because
temperatures are predicted to rise this afternoon
You could be in the hospital by then
a great big cast on your leg
if you don’t cower inside
like it wants you to do.
Because
then don’t expect me to drive you
to the emergency room
and
it’s ice
A haiku. I wrote it about ten years ago, after my broken elbow had healed, having gained a new talent in the process – predicting the weather. We are expecting some snow today, I hear on the weather report, and I do agree. I have my sources…
The weatherman says…?
Don’t bother me with details.
My elbow says snow.
Glenside train station, looking down the tracks toward Philadelphia.
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
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