Brief, brutal act
reenacted
ransacked pages
wrote love’s stages
their rages inked
taut cages wrought
here she first taught
what he sought out
she caught his core
James Joyce’s score
‘strange-eyed whore’, Nora –
jibdoor obscene
Letters unclean
to be seen, shown,
his keen mind blown
gifts to atone
she alone knew
his moan’s timbre
Written for Form for All at dVerse Poets Pub on Than Bauk http://dversepoets.com/2012/11/08/formforall-than-bauk/. James Joyce and Nora Barnacle’s erotic letters were the inspiration for this piece. A jibdoor is a door made flush with a wall without dressings or moldings and often disguised by continuing the finishings or decorations of the wall across its surface.
Chromapoetica 
Wow! Didn’t get a notification from dVerse 2day 😦
O the horror!
Love your piece by the way! 😀
Oh, I do hope you’ll join us. Thanks so much!
Love the Joyce references, and the slick real staircase form. Mine was more simplistic, just repeated the climbing form 7 times. It is fun to stretch our poetics to embrace yesterday.
I thought this might work for this form and I am pressed for time today so I ran with it. I look forward to reading yours. I agree it can be fun (and frustrating) to stretch.
wow, Anna. once again i am left staring at the screen in wonder. this a marvelous piece.
That’s a relief as I only had about an hour to stare down this new form and challenge. There was a lot of cursing and pencil chewing involved :).
haha… the abused pencil definitely did a good job…
It seemed appropriate for the subject matter, it was nibbled into submission, haha!
oh snap, well played…that had to take forever to fit together as well…ha….the jib door….very cool reference anna….ransacked pages, his moans timbre…wicked cool piece ma’am
Well, that hour for 58 words certainly felt like forever :)! Also, not being a rhyming poet I made rooky mistakes like ending a line with ‘of’, and then realized I’d painted myself into a corner and had to start one verse over. Thanks so much for the encouragement, it keeps me learning, which is a wonderful thing.
You managed this beautifully Anna – notwithstanding your love of polysyllabic words – always a challenge to take on brevity (soul of wit? – Wilde??) – I haven’t read Ulysses in quite a while. Just loaded to my Kendle app. Love the weaving in of Joyce. I haven’t read those letters yet. Must be something – you’ve piqued my interest now! Lovely use of the form here, Anna!
Yes, the four syllable line was the tightest corset of all the forms so far. I am now a bit wound up and will have to find free expression later in the day to recover :). Thanks Gay!
Just to interject, the brevity quote is Shakespeare, Gay 😉
Hamlet :).
Anna–Wow, wow, wow. I am floored with how you wrote this whole thing–incredible. Love it, tucking rhymes inside words, etc. Brilliant.
Susan, you’ve really brightened my day, thank you! It drove me a bit batty but I don’t like to lose :).
Excellent work–you made it look easy! That last stanza, Anna, is so good, so good–ending on the unstressed syllable, like the moment after lovemaking.
It’s so exciting you caught that – thank you for the close reading and kind words.
magnificently executed., thanks!
Thank you, always a joy to see you here!
Expertly done, Anna…love the subject you chose..so entertaining.
I just saw the movie Nora again yesterday so it was fresh in my mind. Thanks, great to see you.
I can see the passionate subtext from the erotic source. A good attempt at this demanding form, Anna 🙂
Yes, I’ll have to spend more time taming it :).
You took the form and ran with it, Anna. I loved that you called the form a ‘corset’ in one of the comments. So very true. I was curious what you would do with this form. No room for multi-syllabic words. I enjoyed what you came up with.
Yes, I often think of form that way. Interesting to play in the period but I wouldn’t want the whalebone to permanently disfigure me :). Definitely no room for my favorite words here.
Have enjoyed your informative posts and related poetry. Thanks for the enlightenment.
Thank you, I’m always glad to be helpful.
Marvelous, indeed. So talented.
I had to wrestle this one to the ground, probably appropriate considering the subject. Thank you, that’s a lovely compliment.
This had a def beat to it, it almost became a song as i read along. Cool
Yes, I think this form lends itself to an almost rap beat. Once I accepted its rhythm things improved in the writing process.
There’s a tight fierceness to this that is perfect for the passion alluded to the letters of Joyce and Nora. You have a fifth syllable in the “strange-eyed whore’, Nora” line, but it’s such a line creative leeway given. WOW, I would love to hear this Than Bauk spoken aloud.
Thank you, I really wanted to use a subject that would fit the form. Haha, I always fight the form a bit and the extra syllable was one way. I think this would lend itself to being read aloud. Great prompt, thanks for your excellent introduction to the form!
oh wow anna, this is totally awesome…can’t believe what you managed to pack into these few lines…wow…
Thanks Claudia, I am so happy you enjoyed it. Big smiles!
most excellent. you polished this nicely, Anna, and took it for a six stanza ride. so much enjoyed your rhythm and edge.
I thought this subject might work in a form where so much is left unsaid. Thanks so much Jane :).
Oh, yes, Anna ~ this fills the bill 🙂
Thanks Polly :)!
awesome piece Anna. I really am enjoying these poems tonight, with all my reference books, this form isn’t in any of the three big form books I have, and it’s so fun. What you did here though was remarkable in that you kept yourself in the poem, you brought along allusions, analytical material to ponder through and kept the fun nature of the form itself still, yet, in the manner you worked with it, you’ve truly made it your own. Outstanding in every sense. Thanks
I’d never come across the form either and I had to fight my novelistic tendencies with this one :). It is more or less difficult to keep my voice in form and this one certainly presented unique challenges. As a long time and loyal reader your impressions involve context and are therefore most valuable to me, thank you, Fred.
You mastered the form. Creative subject as well. I think this corset suits you. May be uncomfortable but you look good in it:)
Haha, that’s fantastic, I really appreciate your wit.
Getting James Joyce into a Than Bauk must qualify you for a reward of some sort! Very impressive.
I do love a challenge, haha! I look forward to seeing what you did with the form.
Amazing. You are a poetic genius. Those erotic letters must be a fabulous read. 🙂
You, dear, are a treasure :). Her letters (as far as I know) have never turned up. His are not to my personal taste but I do believe in these situations context is everything :O!
Annnnnnnnna! This is fantastic…now I want to try again! You inspire us all
Tash, yours had the same effect on me :D!
quite an impressive piece; it flowed beautifully from one stanza to the next. I particularly liked the last and the second and ….
Haha, thanks :). Very nice to see you here.
Great sound to this! Perfect form — and I appreciate the notes — made it a little more accessible.
Thank you, I’ll be by to read yours soon.
After reading your latest post, I was surprised to see this form. I think you did a wonderful job! I’m quite jealous of the amazing talent that you and many others have.
Yes, it was for the Form for All prompt at dVerse. I host Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft once a month (right now I’m in the midst of a post-modern series) and try to participate in many of the other prompts when I can. I find trying different forms and styles expands the tools available to me. Whether I end up using the form again or not I enjoy the challenge and approaching the work from a different angle. However, my love lies in the more experimental poems. No need for jealousy as your work is quite accomplished. I think you’ll enjoy dVerse, we learn a lot from one another in a mutually supportive environment.
I think it will be a great tool for personal growth in my writing, and seeing the brilliant writings of so many people is inspirational and a joy to read. I am enjoying dVerse a lot so far. I look forward to growing in my art in the fellowship of brilliant and diverse minds. I wish I had joined a community like this years ago.
That’s wonderful to hear, welcome, it’s a community that has a lot to offer if you are willing to engage. I have been a part of many artistic communities over the years and dVerse is the most rewarding and exciting group I’ve been involved with outside my work in the nonprofit sector. Until I decided to blog and linked up to dVerse I could count the readers of my poetry on one hand. Now I get tens of thousands of visits to this blog each year and thousands of comments. I’ve also read more poetry in the past year than the last thirty combined. Other poets often recommend books and poets I’m unfamiliar with, and offer valuable insights into issues of craft. It’s expanded my horizons and unlike other groups I’ve been in they’ve never trampled my artistic voice or tried to restrain my expression to a ‘norm’. I get to experiment, succeed, fail, learn, and explore all while being accepted. It’s a rare and beautiful thing.