3:15 experiment: furniture for-nature poem
Mad Kane prompts us to write about furniture and furnishings which reminded me of this 3:15 experiment poem from 2004 (the 3:15 experiment, in case you are new to this blog, is where participating poets awake every night at 3:15am during August to write verse which they then post unedited at the 3:15 experiment wesbite. I’ve been doing the experiment since 2001–maybe you’ll join us in 2008!)
8/1/04 3:15am Ventucky CA
it’s not quite 315 and the
blue moon draws me across the empty living room
and waltzes me back
it’s not quite 315 and time to
write again
it’s not quite 315 and time to
bed again to lie sweet and warm
between my husband and my baby
<><><><>
it’s not quite 315am
blue moon fills up the empty living room
bounces off the shiny floor
trees pattern the walls
my furniture dances in the front yard
having escaped domesticity
couch pillows nestle against each other in the corner
hats off the hall tree
snuggle together in another
dining room table legs reach skyward
its table top kissing the ground
rolled Persian sprawls across it drunkenly
chairs do a two step
armoirs doors spill open
moon shows off
brown leather fringed jacket
dull against the bright white button down shirt
old family washstand liberated leans back against the armoir
big brown leather chair swathed in plastic against errant seagulls
it’s an inside out house waiting to be rightside in
it’s an upside down world waiting to be turned right side up
Tags: 315 Experiment, conceptual poetry, experimental poetry
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June 17, 2008 at 11:32 am
Cool, that’s a great poem from an interesting exercise. Talk about discipline and commitment to your writing. I like the way the roomdreamroom confusion is so well reflected in the poem. Surrealism, yayaya,
June 17, 2008 at 11:39 am
I like your poem….so much fun.
It reminds me of a song that was in the 80’s by a group named Australian Crawl and it was called Beautiful People. It goes like this… [i]Beau-tiful People, you know the gardens full of furniture, the house is full of plants[/i]
My Furniture related haiku is at my place: http://bevies-place.livejournal.com/
June 17, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Paul, I hope you will join us at 315 this year! Your imagination is already so wild I wonder what owuld be unleashed at 315 when you’re half awake and half asleep!
Bevie, I think I might know that song but I’ll have to look into it more! Is the band Australian? DO you know the Austraiian group (maybe djs?) Avalanche? they’re a kick. maybe i’ll post one of their songs!
June 17, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Reply to your reply: Australian Crawl is from Australia, and the song was made in 1979 (when I was just a teenager) and so I remember it clearly. The lead singer had just been in a car accident when the song hit the charts and as a consequence, in all the clips for the song he has both arms in plaster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WumIIHx6voI&feature=related
I don’t remember Avalanche. I did find a clip of them singing in a Just Jeans advert and, while I am sure they were proud of it back then, if they saw it today, they would probably cringe. Hehehe.
June 17, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I love the moonlit tree shadow imagery, and especially:
‘blue moon draws me across the empty living room
and waltzes me back’
I spent many a childhood night staring at night shadows, fascinated by them.
June 19, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Enjoyed this very much and the 315 exercise sounds like fun. I like the way you use movement here, of light, of objects, the poem glides and dances.
June 23, 2008 at 9:49 pm
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