diorama

Ok, here goes!

I would appreciate any thoughts/reactions/comments/suggestions regarding this poem that I've been working on for a while. I have a sense of what I'm trying to communicate in it, but I suspect that it is not coming through. It feels unwieldy, and I'm getting a little frustrated. Also I keep changing my mind as to whether or not I want it to involve any rhyming words.

Thank you!

*******************

I think I may be living out my days and dramas

in a paper world, a diorama

housed inside the three cardboard walls of an old shoebox.

I have carefully constructed the stage and scenery out of tiny strips

cut from the pages of books and poems, and tips

from fortune cookies,

phrases to live by, and stories to give my

jumbled thoughts a shape that has some meaning.

I have trimmed and clipped and glued and curled

a series of familiar objects, a familiar world,

arranged them painstakingly

as a child arranges and rearranges a dollhouse.

Don’t worry about me here,

for although I have only

some glue and scissors, I am not lonely.

I have cut out crisp silhouettes for companions,

shaped them with care,

lovingly penciled in their arms and eyes and hair

I have painted their bracelets and neckties

in rich colors with a tiny brush.

I have dyed the background of my box

a brilliant life-green like mountain trees

and a yearning blue like the open seas,

and on the floor I have placed beach-pebbles and shells,

carefully selected,

that I once collected

during a trip to the sea when I was ten.

I think the air was wilder then.

This is a world that must be kept out of the wind,

away from the fire.

(Handle with care.

Paper lovers beware.)

I know this world I have built for myself,

I have traced over every corner, every curve of it

with my fingers a thousand times.

Does it matter that I do not remember what salt water smells like?

Please don’t leave yet, I want to ask you something.

Forgive me if I do not recognize you.

We may have met, but it is likely that I

handed you a paper mask to hold over your face,

cast you as a character in one of my three-act plays.

I speak to you now through these flat paper words because

they are all I have, but I ask you,

if you are you going back outside now,

please,

take me with you,

give me your hand.

Introduction & Planning

On y va!  

Here's the idea: we each post something - a piece of a story, a poem, a brainstorm, an essay, a review, a photograph- once a month.  Then we get to read each other's writing and leave comments on each others' posts.   Not a big commitment, but hopefully a little momentum.

If you can, join us in person for writing time and discussion time.  We can meet over dinner at our house sometimes, or we can meet out and about, say at Copley.  I'm thinking the first Wednesday of each month from 7:30-9pm.  That would make the first meetup on August 1st.  Let's start posting and commenting before that!

I've been meaning to create a writing group for a while.  I like having external accountability to be productive, and I like the chance to connect with people at this level that skips the superficialities. 


Comment with any ideas for the format and writing times.  We're open!  I just wanted to get a ball rolling.