Cloudburst: In This World

If you've been a subscriber of the email list for long, you know I'm not a melancholy writer. Usually. Today's offering, then, strikes a more wistful tone than normal. Chalk it up to being home alone, with The Missus off with family.

So today you get imperfect rhyme in places. The second stanza could well serve as a refrain if somebody were minded to write music for it.

So here's the question for the list subscribers: Did the poem leave you feeling a bit sad? What note most caught your attention?

Cloudburst: On These We Think

The deluge of news in the world, via our constant connectedness to the Internet, depresses the soul with the perverseness and maliciousness of man. The disciple of Christ protects his mind. He guards his soul from corrupting influences. He keeps away from the negativity. While he engages the people of the world, he raises high barriers against its perspective.

So today's poem focuses on the things — shall we be more precise? — on the One from whom all good and righteousness flow.

The meter is unusual for me, seven feet, which connotes the crowded negative and twisted media that presses in upon us.

Three stanzas were written some days ago. The third, below, was added this morning.

Read more »

Cloudburst: You Can Lose a Game and Still Be Proud

The background behind the three-stanza poem going to the email list today is, of course, the drubbing that the Brazil soccer team suffered on Tuesday at the hands of Germany in the World-Cup semi-finals.

Costa Rica lost a few days earlier, too, but I'm sure they went home with heads held high. Our team couldn't do that.

The poem is a simple one, an AABB rhyme scheme with four-foot meter. Doesn't get much simpler than that, nor does the truth it contains.

For more information on Cloudburst, see here: http://cloudburstpoetry.com/

Cloudburst: Virtual relations

The big ones get mentioned in this seven-line poem: blogs, Pinterest, Kindle/Nook, Twitter, and Facebook. The ABABCBC rhyme scheme holds it together.

Scrolling down goes late at night,

So says the third line, four meters like the rest. We are too busy online, are we not? That's the point of this poem. I should know.

I was able to get this poem out tonight, thanks to my new writing plan.

The background to this Cloudburst poem got placed here rather than on the website because Tumblr has a lousy interface and Cloudburst is going to move away from there before long.

Cloudburst background: 'O Gracious Light'

I still can't access my personal site, so here on the Posterous blog goes the background post to today's Cloudburst Poetry offering, "O Gracious Light."

Lately, I've been doing a number of lyrics for songs. So today's poem may wind up on some sheet music before long as well. But first the Cloudburst subscribers get it.

As I mentioned in the email, the list server is down, too (the sky is falling!), so I sent it straight to the addresses on the list. I get a weekly email report of those, so I have them tucked away for days such as these.

The first stanza, of four, is below, and was suggested to me by text somewhere in some Daily Office or Common Prayer, which I can't find right at the moment. I reproduced "everliving" as it was in the text, so don't bicker with me on that.

O gracious light, so pure and bright,
The Father everliving;
O Lord so blessed, the Christ of rest,
The Son of God is giving.

Not a syllable too many, and none missing.

The poem was written on Leap Day. Appropriate, no?

Before long, I may be moving the Cloudburst site, so take a gander at the old one before it goes into virtual oblivion. Check out the FAQ and why I don't publish the Cloudburst list on the Internet.