[Matt Q]

Just to muddy the waters further, you could go completely non-linear and allow anyone to post a poem in repsonse to any image that appears in the thread, or to post an image in response to any poem that appears thread. It would be easy enough to show what you were responding to (as Walter has done). Then you just seed the thread with a single poem (or image) and stand back. And the ensuing anarchy would (hopefully) be joyous!

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

Okay, so how about this.

The rules are:

There are no rules. If you feel like posting a poem in response to an image, post one. If you feel like posting an image in response to a poem, go for it!

If you feel like starting a dialogue by posting a poem which is looking for an image, or vice-versa, go for it, too.

The only thing I think might be helpful is if we say whose work we are responding to or whether we're starting a new conversation.

I'm nearly there with my response to Jayne. So then we'll have two images to respond to and also space for more poems.

Twisting sideways nicely.

Sarah-Jane

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

...and here's my visual response to Jayne's poem

[Joe Crocker]

Well here's Bob Dylan's response

He moved across the mirrored room, "Set it up for everyone, " he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin' before he turned their heads.
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
"Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts.

Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown.
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
"Sorry, darlin', that I'm late, " but he didn't seem to hear.
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts.

Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein' her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife.
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide
Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died.
She was gazin' to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts.

[RCL]

During the power blackout in LA, I finicked with the response to Jayne and Jane:

A Queen of Darts

Desire exists to be denied.
rcl

This lonely Queen of Darts
juggles darts for hearts
that puncture hers, cause pain,
her monologue makes plain.

Perhaps Jacks are not civil
because voiced by the devil
back below god’s image,
pain blowing from his visage?

No wonder she’s a wreck.
No heart Jack’s in her deck!



Original

Afterr Jayne and Jane

The Lonely Queen of Darts
Juggles darts for hearts,
Each punctured and in pain
Unmated may remain—
Perhaps males aren’t civil
Because voiced by the devil
Back beneath god’s image
Pain blowing from his visage?
So one sees she’s a wreck:
No love card in her deck.

PS the devil cracked me up!

[RCL]

sorry, double post, unreliable connection

[RCL]

After Walter’s No-Man by Jack

Such a no-man all strung out
Too dull and numb to feel a clout
At least is on a certain route
US Route 666 no doubt


My little dogs should encourage the Sphere’s more subtle versifiers to indulge. (By the way, has anyone else noticed that the disgraced god, mien Trump, is selling Indulgences as did the pre-reformed Roman church? Two million each!).

[Ann Drysdale]

I dealt myself a hand, so as to see
what future fate might have in store for me.
Now I’m perpetually juggling these
unappetising possibilities:
leaving my heart alone, albeit rent
by bastards with impermanent intent,
getting my tits out on the Internet -
putting it out there, seeing what I get
or opting for a cop-out, on the shelf,
doing my best to satisfy myself;
a solitary jack – to half-employ
a disappointing double-ended toy.
I float alone, searching for metaphors
in endless Marienbadic corridors…