And while I sleep like a log if I wake early I sometimes enter a trance like state and create poems or bits of poem in my head. If they have worth they linger long enough to be written down.
My sleep cycles got very short during the early weeks of the pandemic in 2020 and they've never really lengthened again. It's easy for me to wake up, so when I do, I try to use the time for meditation (hoping to fall back asleep). But yes, sometimes interesting fragments will come to mind and it's nice to collect them.
Wonderful post and poems, Ann and Brian. I really enjoyed "Fiddlehead." I have not tried an abecedarian form of poetry. I may incorporate this style into some of my writing. Thank you both for sharing.
Jos, my response was from Brian's imaginative verse about the dream world. I expanded it into a dream-forest. I usually add photos at the end of my writing process by browsing through my hiking photos and seeing what might work.
Ah, wow! You must have quite a collection of nature photos. That pairing of words and image is powerful. I love that I hear your responses in your voice.
Continual awareness and reverence for nature is a door to finding our humanity again. So many are lost in this consumerism fever and the dream of wealth.
I appreciated the poem all on its own, and appreciated it anew when I realized what abecedarian poetry is.
When sleep won't come, my philosophy is typically the same as what you describe: the next best thing to sleep is rest. Sometimes even resting is so hopeless that I've gotten up and started writing something -- interestingly, at times, that has been just what I needed, and it has allowed me to become sort of energized and clear-minded in the morning, despite the loss of sleep. Sometimes the "rest" we need is deeper than just sleep, I suppose.
True Hasse. Sometimes an idea won't let you rest. It can be a relief to write it down! I enjoy your poems so much. Especially the spirit in which you offer them :-)
Nice! I will have to try this form sometime, when I can figure out a category that has all the letters. Wonderful pictures, too! The title brought to mind how I used to be able to import McCain’s frozen fiddlehead greens from Canada. They were delicious 😋. I wonder if they still sell them?
Well, it’s been a few years, and I haven’t been to a Canadian grocery store lately, but they used to have fiddleheads. Not sure they’d let me in now 😬. Those green curlies are tasty, sort of like spinach? Just fry lightly in a pan with a bit of butter and fresh garlic. Yum.
Once again, it was a joy to listen to both poems. I love the form Fiddlehead was written in. I actually have never encountered it. Must try it sometime!
Manuela, you're so kind. My recording studio is just me talking into my phone in my parked car through a cloud of allergy-inducing pollen. In contrast, Brian's are just wonderful.
I would LOVE to read your abecedarian whenever you write it!
I love this. My "studio" is sitting on my floor in my living room with my laptop on the couch to dampen the sound, pocket doors shut to minimize sounds of others in the house, phone by the laptop with a light blanket thrown over it, all in the name of improving the audio quality from recording on my phone. I think it helps...just a little!
Thank you for introducing me to abecedarian poetry! “meeting at a vanishing place” accompanied by those beautiful ghost pipes is sublime. Thank you for taking me on this unfurling journey.
If we ever figure out how to enter this dream forest for real, we’re gonna have a writers room called the Substack Vanishing Place—I’ll see you there! 😊
I am obsessed with this new form of poetry that I didn’t know before. I love reading all your links and I can’t wait to try one of my own. You nailed the X line. Bravo the golden line that stood out to me is the one with prayer rhythm and bone. Thank you.
Lorrie, that’s wonderful! I hope you have a great fun experimenting with this form. Embrace the X!
Rhythm prayer refers to my contemplative walking practice. The movement is so calming and sometimes I like to walk with a prayer word or a small piece of a poem.
Lovely! “The green tip of time unfurling.” — perfect line for a fiddlehead poem, and brings to mind ideas of inevitability and the unknown and an unspooling of time.
Ann, apologies for my late reply, I read this and slept, beautifully. Thank you, especially for this line which is so precisely the whole of my sleeplessness it feels uncanny.
"In these suspended moments, between consciousness and sleep, my deeper mind begins to stir. It’s in the language of almost-dreaming, that the subconscious can finally emerge—unfiltered—speaking in its own native tongue of symbol and emotion."
The sensation of being conscious but also in a semi dream state, these moments when the mind refuses to halt activities are so often some of the most creative, I hesitate to move, rest is better than no rest after all, but then there are epiphanies, multi textured, kaleidoscopes of words that have to be written or else forgotten...
I see now why you said this was for me... thank you 💛✨
And I love abecedarian - perhaps I will try this in the next hours of wakefulness.
Susie, what a relief that you've been able to get some good, nourishing sleep . . . ahhhh! There's no substitute for its healing work on a busy mind. I think we both understand how brief this one life is--how much there is to make, and to experience, and to love--even on an ordinary Thursday. The good ideas come when we relax enough to allow them to break through. And I agree, if we don't have some way of saving them, they will move on . . . So we have to lure ourselves into a good deep sleep, don't we?
Here's a song for you by the wonderful Lisa Hannigan:
Unfortunately when sleep won’t come I free associate words and ideas with the hope that their monotony will tire me out. It, however, does just the opposite in that my mind begins to connect words through rhyme, alliteration or metaphor with the result in almost all instances I keep myself awake in hopes of finding just that one combination which will open the safe to my inspiration.
Honestly, Thomas, I see that as a bonus, as long as you're able to catch a nap elsewhere in the day. The Best Ideas seem to float around in darkened rooms where weary writers are trying to rest :-)
Ann what a poem with that form. As I was reading my mind wondered on "X" and then when I got there it was an "of course, how perfect!" moment with xylum.
I love this notion of pretend sleeping. That's me often in the morning around 5 a.m. when I know I should linger a bit longer and I try to do what you describe. I will now go forward feeling comforted that my suspended state is allowing my deeper mind to stir.
"Morphling", and "mossy scriptorium" also have me grinning.
Nathan, the X is probably the most fun to play with! I've read some who use "ex" words or made up words beginning with X- Scientists are the lucky ones with Xenon, x-rays and such!
For me, pretend sleeping takes away all the pressure to actually sleep. It stops that terrible internal monologue: "I *have* to get some sleep or how will I function tomorrow?" So unhelpful! If I tell myself I'm only pretending to sleep, I figure it's at least as refreshing to the brain and body as a good session of meditation.
Glad you enjoyed the playful words--I think they embody the spirit of this exchange!
Sometimes, usually on a Saturday morning when my body hasn't yet switched off from work, I'll put in an earbud and listen to a podcast. Or, what really happens is i’ll tell myself I'm going to listen to a podcast whilst maintaining horizontal and resting, and then suddenly it's an hour later and I have no knowledge of the podcast but I'm fully aware that I had been deeply asleep! 😆
Fiddlehead is a beautiful poem and what a lovely form to write it in.
And while I sleep like a log if I wake early I sometimes enter a trance like state and create poems or bits of poem in my head. If they have worth they linger long enough to be written down.
Alright then, we are peas in a pod :-)
My sleep cycles got very short during the early weeks of the pandemic in 2020 and they've never really lengthened again. It's easy for me to wake up, so when I do, I try to use the time for meditation (hoping to fall back asleep). But yes, sometimes interesting fragments will come to mind and it's nice to collect them.
Thank you, Steve! The abecedarian form is interesting to use. It helps me to have constraints of some kind--like a focusing tool.
Wonderful post and poems, Ann and Brian. I really enjoyed "Fiddlehead." I have not tried an abecedarian form of poetry. I may incorporate this style into some of my writing. Thank you both for sharing.
I haven't tried it either. Perhaps a progression of wildlife you photograph on your hikes, from a to z...I feel like that may take some travel!
I was wondering, Brian and Ann, were you using the photographs as inspiration?
My responses to Ann were from her words…
Jos, my response was from Brian's imaginative verse about the dream world. I expanded it into a dream-forest. I usually add photos at the end of my writing process by browsing through my hiking photos and seeing what might work.
Ah, wow! You must have quite a collection of nature photos. That pairing of words and image is powerful. I love that I hear your responses in your voice.
Aw thanks, Jos, so glad you liked this one.
Continual awareness and reverence for nature is a door to finding our humanity again. So many are lost in this consumerism fever and the dream of wealth.
Those things couldn’t matter less.
I agree Tim. My hikes feel priceless to me.
So beautiful. I love your naming of silver letters on rain-damp stone. Mossy scriptorium. Yes!
Aww thanks, MK! I have a thing for snails. The whole forest feels like a blessing.
I appreciated the poem all on its own, and appreciated it anew when I realized what abecedarian poetry is.
When sleep won't come, my philosophy is typically the same as what you describe: the next best thing to sleep is rest. Sometimes even resting is so hopeless that I've gotten up and started writing something -- interestingly, at times, that has been just what I needed, and it has allowed me to become sort of energized and clear-minded in the morning, despite the loss of sleep. Sometimes the "rest" we need is deeper than just sleep, I suppose.
True Hasse. Sometimes an idea won't let you rest. It can be a relief to write it down! I enjoy your poems so much. Especially the spirit in which you offer them :-)
I'm very happy to have readers like you, Ann. And I could definitely say the same about your writings. :) They've often left me feeling reassured.
That’s more than I could ever hope to do, Hasse. It’s an honor when someone receives words as a source of comfort.
Nice! I will have to try this form sometime, when I can figure out a category that has all the letters. Wonderful pictures, too! The title brought to mind how I used to be able to import McCain’s frozen fiddlehead greens from Canada. They were delicious 😋. I wonder if they still sell them?
Oh the "X" is always the hard part. Right there at the end when you're trying to wrap things up! I hope you'll publish your poem when it's done.
I have a friend who loves to eat fresh fiddleheads. I had no idea you could buy them at the grocery store.
Well, it’s been a few years, and I haven’t been to a Canadian grocery store lately, but they used to have fiddleheads. Not sure they’d let me in now 😬. Those green curlies are tasty, sort of like spinach? Just fry lightly in a pan with a bit of butter and fresh garlic. Yum.
mmmmmm!
Once again, it was a joy to listen to both poems. I love the form Fiddlehead was written in. I actually have never encountered it. Must try it sometime!
Manuela, you're so kind. My recording studio is just me talking into my phone in my parked car through a cloud of allergy-inducing pollen. In contrast, Brian's are just wonderful.
I would LOVE to read your abecedarian whenever you write it!
I love this. My "studio" is sitting on my floor in my living room with my laptop on the couch to dampen the sound, pocket doors shut to minimize sounds of others in the house, phone by the laptop with a light blanket thrown over it, all in the name of improving the audio quality from recording on my phone. I think it helps...just a little!
Pro tips! Thank you 🙏
So beautifully lyrical and evocative, Ann!
Thanks so much Glyn!
Agreed!
The snail!! I remember seeing it as a fragment. Lovely to see it in full context.
I love fiddleheads, their beautiful spirals.
Aw you remember!😊thank you dear Melanie!
Thank you for introducing me to abecedarian poetry! “meeting at a vanishing place” accompanied by those beautiful ghost pipes is sublime. Thank you for taking me on this unfurling journey.
If we ever figure out how to enter this dream forest for real, we’re gonna have a writers room called the Substack Vanishing Place—I’ll see you there! 😊
Oh yes you will!
I am obsessed with this new form of poetry that I didn’t know before. I love reading all your links and I can’t wait to try one of my own. You nailed the X line. Bravo the golden line that stood out to me is the one with prayer rhythm and bone. Thank you.
Lorrie, that’s wonderful! I hope you have a great fun experimenting with this form. Embrace the X!
Rhythm prayer refers to my contemplative walking practice. The movement is so calming and sometimes I like to walk with a prayer word or a small piece of a poem.
Lovely! “The green tip of time unfurling.” — perfect line for a fiddlehead poem, and brings to mind ideas of inevitability and the unknown and an unspooling of time.
Stephanie, thank you! Unspooooling . . . yes!
Ann, apologies for my late reply, I read this and slept, beautifully. Thank you, especially for this line which is so precisely the whole of my sleeplessness it feels uncanny.
"In these suspended moments, between consciousness and sleep, my deeper mind begins to stir. It’s in the language of almost-dreaming, that the subconscious can finally emerge—unfiltered—speaking in its own native tongue of symbol and emotion."
The sensation of being conscious but also in a semi dream state, these moments when the mind refuses to halt activities are so often some of the most creative, I hesitate to move, rest is better than no rest after all, but then there are epiphanies, multi textured, kaleidoscopes of words that have to be written or else forgotten...
I see now why you said this was for me... thank you 💛✨
And I love abecedarian - perhaps I will try this in the next hours of wakefulness.
Susie, what a relief that you've been able to get some good, nourishing sleep . . . ahhhh! There's no substitute for its healing work on a busy mind. I think we both understand how brief this one life is--how much there is to make, and to experience, and to love--even on an ordinary Thursday. The good ideas come when we relax enough to allow them to break through. And I agree, if we don't have some way of saving them, they will move on . . . So we have to lure ourselves into a good deep sleep, don't we?
Here's a song for you by the wonderful Lisa Hannigan:
O Sleep, come for me
I will go willingly . . .
https://youtu.be/Xt1ts7hW5Ec?si=YpjYIs6H219pJ7VS
Unfortunately when sleep won’t come I free associate words and ideas with the hope that their monotony will tire me out. It, however, does just the opposite in that my mind begins to connect words through rhyme, alliteration or metaphor with the result in almost all instances I keep myself awake in hopes of finding just that one combination which will open the safe to my inspiration.
Honestly, Thomas, I see that as a bonus, as long as you're able to catch a nap elsewhere in the day. The Best Ideas seem to float around in darkened rooms where weary writers are trying to rest :-)
They seem to know our times of least resistance or when we finally give up trying to force creativity. Then they attack. Sneaky little inspirations.
Ann what a poem with that form. As I was reading my mind wondered on "X" and then when I got there it was an "of course, how perfect!" moment with xylum.
I love this notion of pretend sleeping. That's me often in the morning around 5 a.m. when I know I should linger a bit longer and I try to do what you describe. I will now go forward feeling comforted that my suspended state is allowing my deeper mind to stir.
"Morphling", and "mossy scriptorium" also have me grinning.
Nathan, the X is probably the most fun to play with! I've read some who use "ex" words or made up words beginning with X- Scientists are the lucky ones with Xenon, x-rays and such!
For me, pretend sleeping takes away all the pressure to actually sleep. It stops that terrible internal monologue: "I *have* to get some sleep or how will I function tomorrow?" So unhelpful! If I tell myself I'm only pretending to sleep, I figure it's at least as refreshing to the brain and body as a good session of meditation.
Glad you enjoyed the playful words--I think they embody the spirit of this exchange!
Thanks so much for reading, Nathan!
It's a wonderful strategy.
Sometimes, usually on a Saturday morning when my body hasn't yet switched off from work, I'll put in an earbud and listen to a podcast. Or, what really happens is i’ll tell myself I'm going to listen to a podcast whilst maintaining horizontal and resting, and then suddenly it's an hour later and I have no knowledge of the podcast but I'm fully aware that I had been deeply asleep! 😆