Twice as Nice

Today two poems for the price of one.  I wrote two entirely different poems from the same news story.  Today is the first time I have done that.  Here's the second poem.

Read the other poem at http://newsprintpoetry2012.blogspot.com

Orlando Connects

FemCityOrlando—

A space where women come together.

Not so much networking,

but connecting,
and getting to know each other.

Women are natural multi-taskers.

They have to be. Running
homes, families, and businesses.

Women tend to share. Women want

to be connected to the community.
Women have the capability.

In Orlando, things are happening.

Women have the power
to take that leap.

It’s exciting,

An exciting time to be in Orlando.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

A Big Spike in Hits

I had a big spike in hits yesterday--I got 206 hits.  Now that is not a big deal for blogs that get thosands of hits, but it was a big deal for me.  Previously, my record high was 41 hits. I've only been doing this a few months.

TodayI got got 70 hits so far.  Perhaps its a trend.

I think I got the hits because of my poem about Trayvon Martin which was about the news story reporting that it was definitely NOT Zimmerman's voice on the 911 call yelling for help.  There is so much interst in this incident.

Everyday, I tweet about my latest post.  I'm guessing that it got retweeted.

The increse in the number of hits is exciting because  "News Print Poetry 2012 Volume 1 January to March" will be published at the end of this month. There are 101 poems, including some never posted to the web, because some days I writye more than one.

I Got a Comment

I really would like to get comments.  The stats tell me that I have readers, but no one ever leaves a comment.  Until yesterday. 

I was so excited to have a comment until I read the comment.  It was for "Obama on Travon".  The commenter said Travon was a thug.  Travon was the aggressor.  And Obama should keep his mouth shut about this.  If Obama had a son, he'd be a thug.

Not exactly the response I was looking for.  And, of course, it was sent anonymously.

A Happy Side Effect

Writing news print poems has a side-effect.  It makes me pay more attention to the news.  I have to read the paper thoughly to find the best story to transform into a poem.  And then I get interested in following the story.

So News Print Poetry blogging has made me a more well-informed person.

Outrage

The sensless killing of a teenaged boy, guilty only of "walking while black", has me so outraged that I broke two of my rules for news print poetry today.

First, in the last stanza of the poem, I used the words in the story, but took the liberty of adding a few words so that the lines would make sense and have impact.

Second, I usually only write one or two sentences to comment on the poem.  Today a wrote two paragraphs.  I had to express my outrage, the outrage that I couldn't fit into the poem.  I understand that a newspaper reported has to be restrained, but a poet doesn't.

I broke my arbitrary rules so that I could add my voice to the calls for justice.

Read the poem by clicking the link below.

http://newsprintpoetry2012.blogspot.com/2012/03/call-for-justice.html

News Print Poetry Readings Scheduled

I'll be doing a reading of news print poems tomorrow at 7pm at "Coctails and Culture" at the Maitland Art Center. 

In April, for National Poetry month, I'll be doing an hour long presentation about News Print Poetry at the Maitland Library.  It is being held on Suanday April 29th at 2:30 pm.  It's free.

The more I do these poems, the more I understand the power and beauty they have.  I wish I knew how to get more people to my blog because these poems really should be read.  I've been invited to do these readings, and maybe they will help attract followers. 

See the poems at http://newsprintpoetry2012.blogspot.com  let me know how you like them.

Suddenly, It All Falls Into Place

Todays, poem was about the school prayer bill that passed in the Florida legislature last Thursday.  A minister wrote a column opposing the bill, giving many reasons to show that it was a bad idea.

I was beginning to think that it was a bad idea for me to have slected that story for my poem today.  I was struggling  to turn it into a poem.  The words I needed just weren't there, and when they were there, they were in the wrong place. And then suddenly it all fell into place.  I found the poem that was hidden in the story.

It hapens that way quite often.  It is such a thrill when it does.  It's better than completing the New York Times crossword puzzle.