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John Chmura

@johnchmura.bsky.social

610 followers 480 following 3.4K posts

Pine Barrens Poet

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John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

Indeed! I remember when a journal specializing in traditional forms was asking for suggestions for its new name. I suggested Lattice. I don’t know what they wound up choosing. I have said elsewhere form can be a lattice orca crutch. I’m leaving in the autocorrect because WTF is my phone doing to me?

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t know how I missed this poem on Friday! I’m also glad I wasn’t a first responder because I totally missed that it was the sun’s voice. But like a good poem should, it works on different levels and really hits emotionally.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, I agree with @tracierenee.bsky.social. The stanzas balance so well.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

Great issue!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

There is gentleman in one of my writers’ groups whose technique is so organic that sometimes I don’t realize he is rhyming until the second read. There are others who sacrifice content for form. I think its best we play to our strengths and remain open-minded when reading others’ work. Cheers!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, Helen! I think familial relationships are constantly being redefined. It’s one of the ways we grow into our humanity…

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 2d

There are a number of really high value word choices here! Effigy on its own would be good, but “Majestically laced/Effigy” raises the bar.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much! I don’t know if everyone gets the economic pun in the third stanza but if I wrote it today I would probably have a sledgehammer instead of glue.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much for this astute reading!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

❤️ 💪

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

A little energy from Bob Mould to help us get the tiger by the tail. Here’s to us making sense of it all!!! youtu.be/J1sYN0PuRs4?...

Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All

YouTube video by Victor Peres

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

1) They say great minds think alike!
2) It’s a testament to craft when people gravitate to the same areas a poem, especially on a seemingly esoteric point, like this. Anyway, we are both right that this particular word choice was critical!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, Alan. It was a true image from the height of the pandemic. The old man and the dog looked they were all each other had in the world.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, Alan!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

You wouldn’t believe some of the autocorrects my phone has been doing to me. The worst was when I told someone they had spoken a great truth and my phone said truth social. I was flabbergasted when I saw it later!!! 😱

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, Gary!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

#PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
Having just encouraged another poet to double dip and being triggered in a good way by a line in another poem, I’d like to double dip with this short piece I wrote in 2021 after seeing a man with a cane walking a dog with three legs.

OMNE TRIUM PERFECTUM

Three-legged man walks
three-legged dog;
a cane, an absence, and a shared heart.

Third wheel in three-legged races,
odd in games of evens; spacewalker
pounding Cupola windows.

Grabbing Gorilla Glue
to fix a three-legged stool,
putting small stock in the bond.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

I really love the perfect line break on, “ink ghosts on the flyleaves of books/I haven’t thought about in ages.” It’s also an apt and deep image. BTW, I say this often on PoemsAbout, but never apologize for sharing a poem!!!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

I know the word is used a lot, but that is such a poignant metaphor. The use of space on the page makes me feel the image even more, with the long lines focusing on the narrator and the short lines focusing on the action nearer to the ground.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 3d

I think our highest goal as poets is to make emotional connections. Thanks for your response, Paul.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you so much, Dean! That’s an awesome assessment.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you!

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 4d

Good night, Paul. Now that I have given myself s brief entomology course, I can see how poignant these allusions are, a troublesome relationship tacked under a magnifying glass, so to speak.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 4d

I have to spend some time with this. Paul. I hope there are some comments soon so I can better parse it.

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 4d

There you go!!!