Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Half Year and also World UFO Day


After I give lectures--on almost any subject--I am often asked, "Do you believe in UFOs?" I'm always struck by how the question is phrased, the suggestion that this is 
a matter of belief and not evidence.  I'm almost never asked, "How good is 
the evidence that UFOs are alien spaceships?"
--CARL SAGAN, The Demon Haunted World, 1995




 Midweek Motif ~


Half Year and World UFO DAY 


According to Wikipedia, July 2nd:  
. . . is the midpoint of a common year because there are 182 days before and 182 days after it in common years, and 183 before and 182 after in leap years. The exact time of the middle of the year is at noon.   

Your Challenge:  Pick #1 or #2 or both:
 #1. Time to check in on those New Year Resolutions.  How are you/we doing? What do New Year Resolutions look like at Midyear?

Early 20th-century New Year's resolution postcards


#2. If you've got #1 covered, consider addressing World UFO Day!


World UFO Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WorldUfoDay



Three Poetic Inspirations:
Letters swallow themselves in seconds.   
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,   
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.

So much of any year is flammable . . . .
(Read the rest HERE at the Poetry Foundation)



BY WALT WHITMAN


15
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

     (Read the first 14 parts HERE at the Poetry Foundation.)



BY susan Chast  © 2014


UFOs exist
only if we see them
which makes them quite
different from God and leaves
and friends and hearts
which cannot be
locked up.

Even worlds
of fiction have properties
of reality no matter how far-fetched
but UFOs from afar and their
uninvited guests—
(we are told) do
                      not exist. 







Please: 
 1. Post your new poem on either (a) a resolution motif or (b) a UFO motif  (or both) on your site, and then link it here. 
 2. Share only original and new work written for this challenge.
 3. Leave a comment here. 
 4. Honor our community by visiting and commenting on others' poems. 


 (Next week's Midweek Motif is Keys.)

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30 comments:

  1. Good morning, Poets United! I put my poem in the prompt. Can you believe that I couldn't find any UFO poems? If you know any, please leave a link. My New Year's Resolution was "only" to publish a book, finish a book, refinish a draft of a book. Well, the year isn't over yet! But it's good to remind myself ... and I may come up with a poem about that later today. Meanwhile, I'm grateful that Mr. LInky looks right two weeks in a row. Bring them on, poets! I want some good reading with my coffee today. I'm going to brew some now ...

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  2. There must be a UFO poem...now to search the skies! Enjoy your coffee and thanks for the prompt

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jae Rose. You are very welcome and your poem has left me sighing.

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    2. excellent piece of writing today jae...

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  3. ha. i will be back around lunch susan...i am delivering test retakes this morning so will be working on one...i have been trying to find an angle on UFO poems since you put it up last week...lol...will see what i can do by lunch...smiles.

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    Replies
    1. Have a great day, Brian. I know we'll be seeing you later.

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    2. heh. alright....i wrote you an alien poem...lol...

      i did find this example as well,
      http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/abduction

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    3. Love yours and the Stanley Kunitz you found. How did I miss that beauty?

      Everyone! Go and see "Abduction" by Stanley Kunitz at http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/abduction.

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    4. if you really want an intriguing story...check out Jack Spicer too...
      who claimed his poems came directly from martians...
      no joke...here is his bio...

      http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/jack-spicer

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    5. Wow! I can see I used the wrong search terms for my research. This is marvelous stuff. Ancient Greeks believed that Poets channeled the Gods and therefore the drama became central to worship. That belief returned in a Kantian way to under-gird Romanticism--and here again, whether drug induced or straight to the source, we have poet as receiver. I feel sometimes that God speaks through us and leads people to speak and still speaks--that's in my Quaker faith. But who discerns goodness or evil? Who considers the Still Small Voice and Wee Presence which can now be equally implanted with technology. One of my favorite films (and remakes) is "The Manchurian Candidate." Do you know it?

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    6. oh i do...its scary in its possibility you know....read the book as well when i was younger...i found it at a yard sale when i was like 12....

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  4. I may be late to the party today, friends. I am babysitting a five year old autistic boy for the day. My kids and I did see a UFO in the late 70's. I am trying to turn that fact into a poem. I'll be back to read and comment.

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    Replies
    1. Looking forward, Sherry. You know I keep this prompt open until the weekend, so take your time.

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    2. ...or not. I LOVE this prose poem, more poem than prose.

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    3. Sherry, you are never late to the party!!

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  5. a lovely prompt Susan....linked a teeny tiny one :)

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  6. Well I went ahead and wrote the New year's resolution poem, but I am further along, I think, than it implies. And it wasn't as much fun to think about as the speculative one. I'm taking a nap break, but I'll be back.

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  7. Hi Susan, I have looked back at my 'half year' and also looked ahead. Your prompt caused me to reflect.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mary. It's good to see you just as I wake from a nap. The heat today is dragging me down, but I'd rather the heat than the cold, so I am not complaining.

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  8. I wrote to the mid year theme ~ I don't have any UFO experience like Sherry so no UFO stories from me, smiles ~

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  9. sorry for the late submittal but i was reading Grace's piece and it inspired me. hope my reference to being 'alien' was sufficient to be accepted in this coterie of 'aliens' :-)

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    Replies
    1. Not late! I stay open til Saturday and then Mary takes over with Sunday's PU pantry. As for aliens, it truly was either-or, so you are safe with us.

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  10. NIce prompt.
    Mine is up at: http://purplepeninportland.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/the-length-of-months/

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  11. Hope, mine will fit to the theme...xx

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