Week Three: human worm hunter deceit + next week's words

We know it's been a busy week for everyone, so thank you to those who did submit. We got some really good ones...


Slivers of light in the center of tornadoes.            (human)


bone bag
mouth trap
heavy mother
knife bearing friend             (human)


I can't be unhappy:
on a ferry
on a beach
at the all-you-can-drink milk stand                (human)


a jagged road like the torn edge of a page
leads to the golden massacre tree,
a gesticulation toward heaven          (human)


pull you apart
ten hearts
ten impossible deaths         (worm)


dancer in detritus              (worm)


elephant enraged at the ivory cargo           (hunter)


a lone woman
martinis klinking all around her
pile of arrows at her feet                 (huntress)


underbelly of a scarecrow
after a black-feathered feast                (deceit)


taste of theft, milk separated
from the breast                          (deceit)


when one season blows into the next
and a smile can be taken both ways
boxed up
or swept under              (deceit)


lunar burn to the softest part of the thigh.            (deceit)



And on to expanding our lexicon.....this week's words are:

silence        shell         lily        road

 

We hope everyone has a wonderful and productive week! Don't forget to send your submissions, up to 7 lines each, to inkandfamine@gmail.com.  See everyone in a few days!

Week Two: curtain, accent, mushroom, tea + next week's words

Thanks, everybody, for sending us your poems! We love playing with you, and getting such a great response right away.


One poet added this to our notion of ink:


Dark pools spill through the city
with letters and letters and words and words


Check out these offerings from our very first collaborative round:


death dirge that blurs distinction
between propaganda and boots
filling with blood                                (curtain)


putting a dress on a disaster site
lost oars washing up                                    (curtain)


a thin knitted dress
to wear round your tongue         (accent)


the wide brimmed hat
that forgot its other leg                      (mushroom)


porcelain dust from broken plates
eye lashes
dots fallen from over the 'i'
all soaking together in the sun.                   (tea)


straw and feet
making a sieve of your sweetest parts                (tea)



This is exciting stuff. Please keep sending your poems (of seven lines or less), even if we didn't post them this week, to your poet comrades at inkandfamine@gmail.com! And tell all your friends. This week's words (with thanks to one of our poets for inspiration) are:

human        worm        hunter        deceit

Tune in next Monday to see what we've posted, and thanks for helping us build the poets' lexicon.

Love and hairy bacon,

Ink and Famine

Week One Primer: What We've Been Up To + First Four Words

This project was a total accident, but now we're in love with it. It started when one of us asked, "Who knows what a howl is made of?" and got some surprising responses.

Ink and famine were two words we especially enjoyed riffing on, since not only in the world, but in our creative lives as well, we experience an ebb and flow that can either come as a downpour or sit as still as a desert on a summer night.

Several examples of short poems/definitions we created for those words:


we draw pictures of extinction
on the cold cheek of Venus                (ink)



rain found hiding in the knot of a tree                (ink)




when only bones are left
to outline the front yard
a dry constellation                                    (famine)




pale scar of the mined field                (famine)




stillness of the unsigned pietà                                   (famine)




Some other recent favorites:



this is how I say I want to live without meaning to
cover the worm back up with dirt
carry a banner proclaiming
we are deities

this is how I protest all torture                        (swallow)




Narcissus wetting his hand
pulling his heart through the water's throat                           (mirror)




cool and crafty animal
neatly straddling the line between predator and prey                      (apology)



You see what we're getting at.  Do whatever you like, but recast a word. Or multiple words. This week's words are:

curtain            accent            mushroom            tea

Send us the frisson-inducing results at inkandfamine@gmail.com, and come on back next week to see if we posted your poem!

Yours for now,

 Us