Cleave of the Month

Cleave of the Month:

Whilst I am focused elsewhere (for the next 2 weeks or so) I will introduce ‘Cleave of the Month’.

Please vote for your favourite cleave poem (excluding the Editor’s),

published in September,

by posting a ‘comment’ in this format

(or any other format if you strongly disagree)

attaching it to this post:

• Poet’s name:
• Cleave poem title (or first line):
• Date published:
• What can be learnt from this cleave?

The Editor

Submissions: Dennis Kelly

Cleave ‘Translations’ from Pound’s Personae (1925)

______cleavages

__is it poetry—or just a game

____creating—beautiful cleavages

these elegant—crossword puzzles

___three-way—entertaining

___labyrinths—mazes?

_______de jour

__scattered—fragments

not knowing—day to day

_tomorrow’s—menu

______split—pea soup

____cleave—de jour

____________mac low

_________—for laurie elaine

_________i studied—aleatoric poetry

___botticellian splits—mac low’s diastic

______doubling back—seed to source

carefully capitalizing—the key letters

___to form the name—diagonally down

_____a pretty effect—but I got bored

____not enough tho—give me estrangement

___cleaving is more—narratological

_not just two texts—seed & source

but three new texts—folding into one

_________origami—surprise kit

____official poetry

__light-hearted—i woke up

___in the wold—nonchalantly

_the magnolias—blooming

____stifled me—faint of breath

smothered me—the stench

______rotting—official poetry

___________anthology

_____________go—cleave-born book

________tell them—diamonds flake

______down there—where sapphires

____________burn—liquid emeralds fume

rubies red as blood—flow like lava

___________deep—down inside me

Submission: Diana Manister

A Bawdy Poet Laureate Enjoying Naughty Nights

our dreams – disguises
_____relieve – our
_______days – null
_____nought – fraughts

Submission: selection of cleave poems from greatwriting.co.uk

A selection of cleave poems from greatwriting.co.uk.

De-stressed-Distressed by John Bevan (aka Katanga)

__I’m certain that-I’m overtaxed
__stone-deaf, I’ll-need my ears waxed
________not hear-sometime soon
annoying noises-What a buffoon!

Feeling dies by Rachel Prudden (aka Rioka)

______this beautiful-feeling dies in me
________ally of mine-you can’t hurt me
_______reaching out-for your desire
__and freezing time-does not inspire
an aching heart but-tears in my eyes
_____for you I smile-though I should cry

The Circus by Brett Evans (aka Brett)

____The circus rolls-with joy and glee
__________into town-a novelty
___an ageing clown-shows its face
__proving youthful-without disgrace
__to such old jokes-we all connect
though his respect-through our neglect
_no longer chimes-of ancient rhymes.

Two visions: Ezekiel and Aphrodite by Brian Fone (aka patterjack)

_________Ezekiel saw a vision,-a gleaming godly vision,
____saw wheels within wheels-making the mind spin
_____spreading across the sky-as it slowly revealed itself
dazzling the enlightened man-with all its terrible beauty
__________sweeping him away-and took watcher, mind and body,
__from the reality around him-with its naked,  shining splendour.

Media: Poets Who Blog

Thank you to writerwoman for mentioning us on her blog:

Poets Who Blog: Ever try the poetry form Cleave?

To those coming here for the first time:

– browse and explore and enjoy a new perspective

– may be even try writing a Cleave poem

– we are currently in “Proof of Principle” mode but at a later date we will enter “Full Editorial” mode.

The Editor

Submission: Andrea Barton

___________________Point of view

_________________I see – the same thing:
__________________you – through a different lens
_____________your eyes – blue, oceanic
______the way they look – a sea to one
they take in the distance – to another, sky
__________the center of – the you place
________________maybe – eyes wide
_______there aren’t any – hollower places;
____________starpoints – or pinpricks of light
_____________only you – through a different lens
_________________your – eyes, the way they look
_____________blue gaze – and the way you see.

…PAUSE…FOR…BREATH…

I have to take 3 weeks break from the fun and excitement of poetry; returning in mid-October.  Meanwhile I will publish a cluster of cleaves, from submissions so far, on Sunday (28.09.08).

• Please feel free to submit during this time.
• I can NOT promise acknowledgement of receipt of submissions during this time.
• Keep writing those cleave poems.
• On my return I will publish more groundbreaking cleaves.

Phuoc-Tan

Submission: Dennis Kelly

A cleave ‘Translation’ from Pound’s Personae (1925)

___black panther

_the black—panther

_____sleeps—beneath

_the black—jungle sky

blackness—everywhere

except for—his dark green

________eyes—eyes

____closing—opening

Submission: Sue Millard

_______________Escapism

_____high in the thin blue – the moon hangs static

a vapour trail slides south – brilliant in the dawn

________shunning winter – cold and enigmatic

____for summer freedom – she yearns

______yet earth’s gravity – escaping each year

her beginning and ending – a little further into space

Sue Millard: I have had three books published so far, One Fell Swoop, Against the Odds and Hoofprints in Eden (a 2-year project published by Hayloft). Pearl Wedding is self published, as is the second edition of One Fell Swoop. Others are in the pipeline or with publishers.

Recently I’ve also been doing a good deal of editing and proofing work for other writers, running various web forums on equestrian and literary subjects, and helping to start up a local rural writers’ group.

I’ve done quite a bit of writing for equestrian magazines over the years. However, I earn my living as a university lecturer and not as a writer; go figure.

I write to clarify thought and make it accessible, using poetic forms or prose as I think fit. I refuse to confuse, and I enjoy metrical and rhyming forms, all of which which probably excludes me from the modern poetic mainstream.

http://www.suemillard.f9.co.uk/

Cleave poem by Phuoc-Tan Diep

_________________________Steak and red wine

_______________The sirens whine-flames flash
_____and lights slice through smoke-heavy with the smell of steak
shrouding bodies littering the ground-charred at the edges.
__The policeman stalks a straight line-I swallow, I gulp
_____________________I wobble,-expensive
______________booze on my breath-red wine
______________and guilt in my guts-trying to conceal burnt meat.