Too late for New Years' resolutions, too early for April Fools' Day.

Feb 9 19:11 UTC 2001

Seeing as

  - I've heard from a few people lately (and I agree) about how hard it is
    to write when everything has to be _good,_
  - All the books on writing I've read lately say the same thing: write a 
    whole shitload of stuff, and if it sucks, just call it 'practice,' and
  - it's more fun in here when people post then when they don't,

I think it's time for another game.

I'd like to get at least two more people to join me on this, and ideally
more.  Here are the (proposed) rules.

  - Anyone can challenge anyone else who's playing to write a certain sort 
    of poem. (i.e. "one about fish," "one that's only 10 words long,"
    "one... with...no...funny...punctuation," "a cheerful one.")  If 
    you've been challenged, you've got a week to deliver.
  - You are allowed to post poems that suck to meet that quota.  You are
    _encouraged_ to write poems that suck.  In fact, feel free to put
    "this poem bites ass" as the title of every single thing you write,
    and if another player says their poem sucks, feel free not to
    disagree.
  - No criticism.  If you're just writing a poem to meet your
    quota, just stick it in this item.  If you want criticism on
    something, go ahead and post a new item for it like usual.

What say you?  Any joiners?

response 2 of 42:

Feb 9 21:51 UTC 2001

I'm in too. Do we have to take turns, or can there be multiple challenges on
the table?

response 4 of 42:

Feb 9 23:53 UTC 2001

I'm in.  <G>  And thank you for the "it may suck" rule.

response 6 of 42:

Feb 10 00:41 UTC 2001

start your own item for crap poetry, then. d=

response 8 of 42:

Feb 10 23:57 UTC 2001

Arianna: Write a sonnet (14 lines iamb-5, your choice of rhyming scheme) on
the subject of dairy products. (Teach you to get snarky with me, missy...)

response 10 of 42:

Feb 12 04:55 UTC 2001

For the record, since I had to go look it up myself:
A sestina consists of 39 lines, six stanzas of six lines plus a concluding
triplet. There is no rhyme, and apparently no strict meter; rather, the rule
is that each stanza must end with the same six words, all of which appear in
the triplet (three as terminals). There seems to be disagreement on the
pattern of the six words in each stanza, but the logician in me likes this
pattern:
1-2-3-4-5-6
6-1-5-2-4-3
3-6-4-1-2-5
5-3-2-6-1-4
4-5-1-3-6-2
2-4-6-5-3-1
(1)2(3)4(5)6
... so that's the one I shall strive towards.

response 12 of 42:

Feb 13 05:52 UTC 2001

I wrote a sestina in a poetry class once but I doubt I have it anywhere. They
are not easy to do and have them make sense I tell ya. But when it works out
it is really quite neat.

response 14 of 42:

Feb 14 02:49 UTC 2001

Cool-- I'm in.  But many of my poems will probably blow chunks instead.

One thing that I do ask: since I haven't studied poetry formally, if 
you ask me to do something in a weird form or meter I haven't heard of--
 please explain-- I will not always be able to look it up.

response 16 of 42:

Feb 14 06:10 UTC 2001

Okay.  How about next Wednesday?

response 18 of 42:

Feb 16 03:09 UTC 2001

and I've got a day to do my poem about dairy (?)...

response 20 of 42:

Feb 16 21:07 UTC 2001

Excuses, excuses.  I get those from my students all the time.
Either you get your work in when it's due or you flunk!


(Oh wait, this doesn't have anything to do with me, does it...)

response 22 of 42:

Feb 17 19:31 UTC 2001

My printer ate my homework.

My dog ate my printer.

My printer ate my dog.

Uhm,...


Right.  I'm a day overdue on this mom poem, aren't I?  This evening, I
promise.

response 24 of 42:

Feb 19 19:24 UTC 2001

<stands and applauds>  Bravo!  

I like this game.  :) I could even be talked into participating, I
imagine.