Ah, it is April, the month, that, according to Ms. St. Vincent Millay, “Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.” (Am I the poetry nerd who exchanged that poem with a college friend the first of April every year? Yes, yes I am. Do we still yearly exchange that poem, in full or in part? Yes. Because we’re STILL those nerds.)
In this month of rain, rain, more rain, weeds, floods and renewal, my Poetry Sisters nerds and I have set before ourselves a fairly robust challenge…anagrams. Anagram poems are varied – they can be the title of an existing poem, using the words created from the title to describe it. They can have no particular rhyme or rhythm, but each of the end words is an anagram variant. They can be a series of variations on a word or phrase, in its anagram variations. We had inspiration, word lists, and anagram creators, and a lot of blank paper. Not giving ourselves too many limitations was meant to make this challenge easier… but, anagrams, people. NOT EASY. And, I freely admit that all of these are bad – so very, very bad – but fun.
I mean, just ask Laura. Or Sara. Or Andi, or Liz, or maybe Tricia and Rebekah. Don’t ask Kelly, though, she’s just watching the carnage with genteel horror.
Because… ME, I started out with a theme. (My gosh, I needed some kind of guard rails and training wheels on this thing.) Being as last month was National Women’s History Month, I did several ‘Herstory’ poems, and managed to amuse myself. I tried ‘Spring’ as a thematic element, anagramming ‘pastel,’ then anagrammed some Rumi quotations – because he sounds both profound and wildly unfettered in his words. I anagrammed my name, which was weird (Savants Aid It? Really???), then a few random phrases. It took a long, long time to find my feet with this, which means I need to try it again and again until it becomes not such an oddly-shaped form in my brain. I’d say it was fun, but it was …more addictive? An inescapable challenge? Something. Once I got started, I couldn’t stop. So – here are a few of the myriad ways my brain jumped, vis-a-vis anagrams.
HERSTORY I.
Whilst sprawling in the spa
The Queen declared, “You’re saps.
You could jump in to save your skin
But you’re clueless. Buy a map!”
Mark Antony’s faux pas
Left Cleo in the wrong:
Held to the Romans’ iron law
Queen Cleo exited – stage asp.
BLUSH
A springtide staple
Adorning both pleats
And sweet picnic plates,
pink breathes palest
in the perfumed pastel
of cherry blossom petals
SPRING’S MADNESS
This anagram, “spring’s madness” is a phrase that I worked hard to make sensible. I wasn’t entirely successful, but it was an amusing, realistically inarticulate look at how “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” As they say, “life comes at you fast…”
I. In the mall
Mr. spending. Sass!
Spasm sends grin
Miss Rang spends.
Madness springs —
Man sends sprigs…
Grand mess spins!
(And sperms sings)
II. Disillusion
Nags Ends Prisms
Snags pends rims
Dangers spin, Ms!
Designs – Mr snaps!
Pangs rends Miss
Sadness pings Mr
Grasp mends sins
Spars mend. Sings!
Sass. Mend, Spring!
III. Cue HEA
A Sign: Mr Spends.
Sass pending… Mrs?
Mass pends: Rings!!!
Drams. Pens. Signs.
…Mass ends. SPRING!
Snaps. Signed. MRS!
Prams send signs…
WHAT IS APRIL POETRY?
Perhaps A Pier, Portly, into which our words might come.
Perhaps it’s a Reality Prop – IRL’s totes humdrum.
Possibly it adds a sparkle, like Literary Pops?
Or an Ear Pilot: Pry-ing out all the stops?
Start your own Riot! Reapply those skills,
Add a Parley Tip, Or keep writing “until”
The show goes on, times 3, like Opera — Triply
And as you Repair To Ply may your words be set free.
Poetry Friday is brought to you by the letter a, and the number 7, and is hosted this week by the über-creative Karen Edmisten @ The Blog With the Shockingly Clever Title. May you have a delightful weekend, full of wild words and soft winds.
I am standing, cheering, wildly applauding … you are brilliant, Tanita! I love every ounce, every drop, every molecule of this! Amazing.
Savants Aid It would be an excellent name for a band!
And I think you don’t get to keep saying that you’re not really a poet. Ahem.
And we will DIE being those nerds.
“Poetry Friday is brought to you by the letter a, and the number 7.”
HAHHAHAH! It did feel like that, a bit, writing these anagram poems. But you totally rocked it. You must’ve listened to your own advice “”Or an Ear Pilot: Pry-ing out all the stops? Start your own Riot!,” because you DID that and more.
I particularly adore BLUSH—-it’s as delicate as your subject, touching on Spring without being heavy-handed. So beautiful.
@Sara: Aw, thanks. It’s a form that I need to explore a bit more, as it still doesn’t sound quite right to my ears. Though the pairs felt like cheating the other day, I’m ready to try them now…
Way to make us all look like slackers, Tanita! I love the herstory one, especially that final line. Brilliant! And the April poetry one.. love it all! You are so creative. I love how you just tackle something from every possible angle!
@laura: I dunno, Missus, yours was the one which sounded like it was in a book already!
LOL. “Overachiever” was the first word that came to mind — and then I saw Tricia’s comment.
You surely gave these anagrams a vigorous workout. Love the variety — from the demure “Blush” to the frantic “Spring’s Madness.” And you were just having too much fun with “What is April Poetry?”
Appropos of something: My name anagrammed is “Again Jam Tart.” Yep.
@jama: “Oh, again, JAM TART!”
*said in bad English accent*
::snort::
HOW DID YOU DO ALL THIS? Are you made of genius? Are you superhuman? The idea that you’ve also managed to throw in humor and some good amount of fierce? I’m on my knees, Tanita….
@Liz: HAH! Not at all made of genius. Stubborn, maybe. This is a near impossible form that I just kept throwing myself against until something… tried to make sense…
Overachiever! I wrote my second poem last night at 11:45 because I hated my first poem. These are brilliant. Herstory I made me laugh out loud! And Blush is amazing! I’m in awe that you only used anagrams of the same word. Wow! That’s all I can say. Oh, and I adore the last poem on poetry.
BTW, I’m sitting in a Board of Education conference reading poetry, so thank you for giving me so much to ponder. I wish I could hug you for that.
@Tricia: Less overachiever, more “I hate them all, I must keep going until I get one “right.” I don’t think we’re achieving “right” this time!!!