Wednesday 23 June 2010

Poetry Bus Challenge: Portentious Signs, or just Signs?

You'll have to endulge me here slightly and imagine a slightly bruised and battered Willie Nelson at the side of a british road somewhere, just strumming his guitar, wondering (in a slightly inebriated way) where the tour bus has gotten to and singing

"on the road again, just caint wait to get on the road again"

Because the Poetry Bus, as sponsored by Cooper's Creosote, Oirish Beers and Total Feckin Eejit (probably the greatest blog in the world) has reached Pixie land and got rather lost.

Easy to understand really, because exactly what do all those road signs actually do? Not just the ones that point at places, but the others as well? I mean - "Temporary Traffic Signals"?? What do they do the rest of the time? Sell home insurance??

And it is exactly in this vein of thought that this weeks Poetry Bus challenge has taken to the wrong side of the road and is currently careering out of control.

I mean, lets face it, signs have a pretty easy time of it. They just sit about pointing at places for years on end and this week it's my role to get them rehabilitated into the community and working for their living.

So - and with my usual capacity for focussing on a single task for any given period of time - here is the challenge.

Take a familiar journey somewhere.
Take a look at the signs - both directional, street, shop and whatever other words you encounter just lounging about pinned to walls
Find a sign that is looking a bit dejected and in need of attention.

From here on in you can take a couple of options:
1) Follow that sign to where it goes and write a poem about something you see there
2) Don't follow the sign - but instead write a poem about what kind of place you imagine to be at the end of that sign.
3) This option is for the sturdy of heart only. Often signs on posts fall out of colloquial use, and yet there are experiences we all share that have no word for them - like the feeling you get when someone persistantly shouts at the person next to them on the bus when talking in a normal tone of voice would suffice. Find one of these experience that seems to fit the word on the sign in some Zen-like-way (and please note the actual sound and composition of the word needn't have any actual relevance) and write a poem about that feeling

I will be posting my own effort sometime on sunday. If you are playing please tell me here on this post when yours is up - I will post the links on my Sunday post throughout Sunday and Monday.

Happy poeming

8 comments:

Argent said...

Holy Zen Masters, Batman! I have my eye on the very thing! See ya Monday - or before if I get premature ejaculation (the other/older meaning of that word! Or maybe not, seeing as how I am a bloke now) :-)

Titus said...

Ooh, I'm just like Argent. I've driven past a sign for 13 years now and always thought - "Must go and take a look" - but never have. I am going to try and make the time!

Totalfeckineejit said...

Fantastic idea.I loves it!This could reeeeaaapp rewards methinks!Ishka maninga!!!!

Dr. Jeanne Iris said...

Great prompt, DFTP! See you in a few...

wv: oikee: oikee doikee! ; )

Dr. Jeanne Iris said...

Okay DFTP... My sign and poem have been posted:

http://www.revolutionaryrevelry.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

thanks for the poem prompt :) Great idea!

I got off the bus to pee or something and couldn't find my way back. I'll pay attentions to signs tonight and then hopefully have a poem up later tonight.

Marion said...

Happy Poeming, indeed! Sheesh, I fed the farkin' Pixies inside a mushroom circle in my backyard 20 years ago. Didn't know no better now I catch 'em rodeo riding on the backs of dragonflies as I water my tomatoes and herbs. Summer Solstice was a super bitch here in the swamps of Louisiana. How was I to know you weren't supposed to feed 'em? I even shared my beer. I'm doomed. TFE is a genius, indeed. Glad to know ya.

Unknown said...

Hey DFTP :) Here's my go at your prompt. It's not very good :/

http://jmaybury.blogspot.com/2010/06/dont-feed-pixies.html