Postcardia-cum-Poetica #92

Image is Philippe Halsman’s Dali Atomicus (1948) paired with words from If On A Winter’s Night a Traveler.

Day 7 #pinp18

The Crucible of Man III

Day 4 #pinp18

Half-Moon Dreams

Lose My Mind

Post-It Note Poetry 2018

It’s almost that time of year again*.

This February sees the return of Post-It Note Poetry (PINP) for the 6th year. Yes, this will be the sixth time I will have dedicated myself to writing very small pieces of poetry (of dubious quality) on post-it notes, or created poems of an equivalent size in honour of the original dare I had with Adam Byatt – to commit to writing a month of bad poetry on post-it notes. From little things big things grow.

I am co-hosting this year with the poetry powerhouse that is Sean Wright (who, if you read the press release, credits the very first year of PINP with inspiring him to get serious about writing poetry and serious he’s been since then as he’s just released his first chapbook of poetry Magpie Tales.)

Across the years I’ve done a bunch of different things, but for the last two years I’ve dedicated PINP to cut-up poetry. This year I am building on that – combining the analogue cut0up process with digital poetry using fractal images as the backdrop. We’ll see how well the idea transposes into the reality of executing and producing it for an entire month. Assuming I do have a second spare cut-up copy, I’m planning to use Calvino’s Invisible Cities as my base text.

PLAYING ALONG AT HOME

For those of you who’d like to play along at home (at work, on the bus or in any of those in between places perfect for scribbling poetic words on small squares of sticky paper) the ‘rules’ are simple:

• Write/build/create a poem every day of February.
• The poem must fit on a post-it note (or be an equivalent sized poem — ie. no more than 8 lines – on a larger backing).
• Poem must adhere to the original light-hearted spirit of permission to write badly – in which poems can tackle serious content, but internal editors/critic all get a break over February.
• Post poems to social media with the hashtag #pinp18.
• Follow the hashtag and enjoy what others are creating.

You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram – or Sean on Twitter and newly on Instagram. Follow the poetic shenanigans across social media on #pinp18. For the full run down see the press release below.

I can’t wait to see what everyone creates over February.

pinp18 PRESS RELEASE final

* Actually cutting it fine this year after a tech mishap ‘lost’ the draft of the press release.

Postcardia-cum-Poetica #35

Recycled from my 2015 calendar, the image is paired with words from my Calvino bag of fragments. 

Postcardia-cum-Poetica #19

This week I’ve used one of the postcards from Emily Craven’s 2014 photographic exhibition. I love how things come together. For me moreso than the postcard this week.

I wasn’t searching, while making this, but I happened upon Calvino’s life philosophy in the fragment I pulled from the baggie. And yeah, I’ll be adopting it: festina lente

Hurry slowly.

Surely the essence of wild patience?

Postcardia-cum-Poetica #1

I’ve been writing postcards to my friend Kim since 2014. Changes to Australia Post operations this year (combined with life) have seen the number of postcards slowly dwindle. 

With a renewed focus on combining self care, art and woo, I decided to buy a pack of colouring-in postcards today and take out one of the off-cut baggies of Calvino to see what might happen when they were shaken together. 

Flowers and a gorgon happened. A typical sort of Friday!!

When Dave asks about my day, I look forward to saying just that!

I am happy to call it not just a successful merging of the different areas of life I am focusing on and a beautiful postcard to send, but a productive day of rest day.