Featured WRITER
Featured by AzizrianDaoXrak
I tend to associate isthisthingstillon's work with the deliciously bawdy. However, his work also has a deeply confessional quality to it, a very grounded style that is direct as a heart-to-heart chat with a best buddy, possibly in the backyard, after just enough beers to take you from slightly buzzed to meditative. I find that to be something that attracts me in poems: profound earthiness and emotion, and isthisthingstillon's poems have both. His writing is direct without outright saying what is meant, and while some of his pieces make me giggle, and others make me want to cry, I find I finish each one with a new sense of things. He's an epiphany-giver, for sure! Sadly, he keeps the number of lit pieces in his gallery pretty small - so quick, go and read them all while you can!
Covetousness (Two Tanka)
"that beat poet will say
when and where and why she pissed"
glossolalias called this piece, "confessional poetry at its finest." I couldn't have summed it up better myself. Genitalia, innuendos, and a beat poet. How could it get better?
Maybe Anne Sexton Was On To Something
"consider the first time you'll look in a mirror
and see old eyes - the world's babyfingered grip
around them pinching crows'-feet when you smile
your forced smile - through your exhaled smoke."
It's hard to describe how this poem makes me feel. Dark and smoky, this piece is death and glamor. This piece beautifully conveys a sense of exhausted desperation, a kind of determined sadness.
Manifesto (Villanelle)
"they will be envoys of a new evolution
initiating the uninitiated at afternoon teas
in the uniforms of our revolution"
I am envious of people who can write villanelles, and isthisthingstillon can write some DARN GOOD villanelles. There is something truly raw about this piece, penetrating and sad in all its rigidity. I could not have picked a more perfect poem form for such a topic.
The Libra Husband
"the libra husband
does not seek divorce
unless the conditions of his life are not
adjustable"
This piece makes me think of The Great Gatsby - perhaps I would have liked the book more if it had been written more like THIS. This is a found poem written from the documentary Grey Gardens, and it so beautifully captures a sense of isolation and claustrophobia.
We
isthisthingstillonFeatured CRITIQUES
on fireweed by 520romeo
I like the simplicity of that stanza. The fact that you used small things to define something so big fascinates me a lot, hence this became my favorite part. I do think you could use an enjambment between the word 'passion' and 'i' in the last stanza because that line seems to describe two different ideas and separate at that point.
[Read more here]
Starry-Whisperings
on Trust me. by talkin-silence
It's a bit straightforward and overused but the way you worded your vocabulary, particularly when describing the scars, was fascinating.
[Read more here]
Featured RESOURCES
Pointers For New Haijin...More good news: I just had another haiku accepted by a journal. This time it's Frogpond, the journal of the HSA (haiku society of America). I was delighted to receive this newsThe haiku which has been accepted is in my most recent submission, and it's one I wrote only a couple of weeks ago. What pleases me most is knowing that the first acceptance wasn't a fluke, and also knowing that at least some of my current work is of a good standard. I feel like I am growing and improving as a haiku poet, something which is important to me.
Thanks again to the community here who have been instrumental in bringing about these two successes. I owe you all a great deal.
Update & good news: I am moving house today and won't have a proper internet connection until Tuesday at the earliest so sorry if I don't reply to any messages you send in the coming days. I will be back as soon as possible.
On to the good news: one of my haiku has been accepted by The Heron's Nest haiku journal and
This is a wonderful resource for anyone who is interested in haiku. These pointers go beyond the basic form of haiku to talk about the things that really make a haiku a haiku: juxtaposition, the use of two separate images that play off each other; brevity, which in this case means finding exactly the words necessary for a piece; and tontoism, a term related to brevity, which is the unnecessary and ungrammatical removal of articles from your piece. This is a great resource for anyone hoping to take their haiku-writing to the next level!
