Poetry Fishbowl Open!

[ysabetwordsmith]

The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED.  Thank you all for your enthusiasm.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open!  Today's theme is "rights and responsibilities."  I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm

Comments

[paka]

Rights and Responsibilites ideas?

1) The Columbine Mine Massacre. The miners protested and the establishment literally murdered them with armored cars. There were children in that camp; the capitalists and their hired muscle didn't care.

2) The Siege of Blair Mountain. More mining activity connected with some seriously nasty tactics by the Pinkertons. Includes the fairly newly minted Air Force bombing US civilians on presidential orders.

3) Occupy Oakland and the intentional, heavyhanded destruction of Occupy's camp in Ogawa Plaza (or Oscar Grant Plaza) by the OPD and allies - under the leadership of a Mayor who claimed she stood for Oakland's disenfranchised. The media tried to make it all the protesters' fault, those of us who were anywhere nearby know differently.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

From this I got the free-verse poem "Of Bones and Mountains," posted as today's freebie.

Re: Poem

[paka]

I hope to be in a better position to throw money, soon, and I'm honored that you considered these to be worthwhile ideas.

Re: Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I hope to be in a better position to throw money, soon,<<

That would be nice. I hope it works out for you.

>> and I'm honored that you considered these to be worthwhile ideas.<<

They're good ideas, and very timely. I like telling the parts of history that people forget, or try to erase.

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

thesilentpoet left some backchannel prompts. This led to "The Anarchivist," a free-verse poem about the safety valves of civilization.

29 lines, Buy It Now = $15

[lb_lee]

I feel bummed, because I love your work, but don't feel comfortable giving prompts when I know I can't pay for the result. :(

--Rogan

*hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith]

I won't pressure you. You can still sit back and watch the action.

Re: *hugs*

[lb_lee]

That'll be best. I look forward to see the magic you work!

--Rogan

[wyld_dandelyon]

I've seen poems I prompted bring Elizabeth money from other sponsors. I also advertise the fishbowl as a thank you and because I want to bring her poetry to the attention of more readers. You can prompt or not, of course, but I wanted to point out there are other ways of providing support for this project and for Elizabeth's wonderful poetry in general besides sending cash.

[janetmiles]

Two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left.

Right - wright - write - rite

With great power comes great responsibility, TM SpiderMan

Unions

Civil disobedience including but not limited to pickets, non-violent resistance, and hunger strikes

These boxes protect your rights: soap, ballot, jury, and ammunition, in that order

"What do you mean you're not a gypsy rover, you're a powerful king?"

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

From the prompt about the boxes of freedom I got the free-verse poem "Open This End First." It discusses the rights and responsibilities of citizens in troubleshooting civilization.

31 lines, Buy It Now = $15

Poem

[ysabetwordsmith]

This combined with several other prompts to inspire the free-verse poem "The Strength of Starfire" in Path of the Paladins. Shahana pushes Ari to learn how to light up a fallen star without help, which leads to a discussion about rights, responsibilities, power, and authority.

138 lines, Buy It Now = $69