Wrap-up of Unreason

Congratulations to all who pursued the 28 Days of Unreason 2018!

19 different poets were represented and while no official count was taken, we averaged about 9-10 poems per day at 28 days.  Let’s see…doing the math… about 250+ poems were written.  Many comments included expressions of growth as writers; that always happens 🙂  Do share your thoughts, my poetic friends.

I leave you with a complete poem from Songs of Unreason:

Horses by Jim Harrison

In truth I am puzzled most in life
by nine horses.

I’ve been watching them for eleven weeks
in a pasture near Melrose.

Two are on one side of the fence and seven
on the other side.

They stare at one another from the same places
hours and hours each day.

This is another unanswerable question
to haunt us with the ordinary.

They have to be talking to one another
in a language without a voice.

Maybe they are speaking the wordless talk of lovers,
sullen, melancholy, jubilant.

Linguists say that language comes after music
and we sang nonsense syllables

before we invented a rational speech
to order our days.

We live far out in the country where I hear
creature voices night and day.

Like us they are talking about their lives
on this brief visit to earth.

In truth each day is a universe in which
we are tangled in the light of stars.

Stop a moment. Think about these horses
in their sweet-smelling silence.

“Horses” by Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason. © Copper Canyon Press, 2011.

~ Jilly

Advertisement

Day 23 Through 28

23: “His mind’s all black thickets and blood”   from Songs of Unreason

24:  “Saw a poem float by just beneath the surface ”   from Songs of Unreason  

25:  “A violent windstorm the night before the solstice. from Solstice Litany 

26:  “There is a human wildness held beneath the skin that finds all barriers brutishly unbearable   from Songs of Unreason

27: “At four in the morning my body bumped against the ceiling” from North American Image Cycle in The Shape of the Journey

28: “It is life’s work to recognize the mystery of the obvious”  from Songs of Unreason

 

Here are the remaining six quotes.  My apologies that I am unable to continue.  ~Jilly

 

Day 22 of 28 Days of Unreason

“The world that used to nurse us

now keeps shouting insane instructions.

That’s why I ran to the woods.”

~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason

 

We are entering our final week of this astounding challenge! Great poetry has flowed from great poets.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to find inspiration in these 28 Days of Unreasonable prompts through selected lines of poet, Jim Harrison.  Please share what you write, my poet-friends!  Write, post, credit Harrison, link back here!  Y’all continue to inspire me!  ~ Jilly

The Good Wine is a Given

Now that your soul has asked all the easy questions

it will eat up your body

for sustenance

Pull up a chair

Unfold your napkin

Don’t deny the fork and knife

At last the feast begins

© Jilly’s All Rights Reserved

for Day 21 of 28 Days of Unreason
“I see today that everyone on earth
wants the answer to the same questions
but none has the language to ask it.”
~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason

Day 21 of 28 Days of Unreason

“I see today that everyone on earth

wants the answer to the same question

but none has the language to ask it.”

~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason

 

We are down to the last week of this insanity… I mean, Unreasonableness. Everyone is welcome to join us in the challenge!  Let the quote above inspire you to write, post & credit Harrison, link back here in the comments.  Then give yourself a wonderful treat and read what other unreasonable poets have written.  Enjoy!  ~ Jilly

Promises, Promises

Anger is the atonement of art
spilled from our bellies

the ugly red pills
of my shirtless obsessions

Your hair, draped across
my face while I watch
you sleep,
a promise
your mouth
your feet
are planning
not to keep

© Jilly’s  All Rights Reserved

“Love is raw as freshly cut meat,
mean as a beetle on the track of dung.”

~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason  

Day 20 of 28 Days of Unreason

Day 20 of 28 Days of Unreason

“Love is raw as freshly cut meat,

mean as a beetle on the track of dung”

~ Jim Harrison  from Songs of Unreason

 

Welcome, my Unreasonable Poetic Friends, to our twentieth Day of Unreason where we find inspiration, in whatever form it may take, from lines by poet, Jim Harrison.  Care to join in?  Would love that!  Write, post, credit Harrison, link back here in the comments, read what others have written. Y’all are beautiful!  ~ Jilly

 

and that’s another thing

i hate how that picture on the bedroom wall
the one of the flower
will forever be a poodle mug-shot
(face right)
and our wind chime on the back porch,
tuned to something like Amazing Grace,
always plays Strawberry Letter 23
because you see and hear the world
in your own way
like a child without filters

i think i’ll have peach pie
because it’s my favorite
and you indulge me

indulge me
with that spot on your face
that you haven’t shaved
because i prefer the feral
you and have to kiss
kiss, kiss it
even though i haven’t
a cat’s tongue

and that’s another thing…

© Jilly’s All Rights Reserved

for Day 19 of 28 Days of Unreason

“I’m quite tired of beating myself up to write.  I think I’ll start letting the words slip out like a tired child. “Can I have a piece of pie” he asks, and then he’s asleep back on the cusp of the moon.” ~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason

 

Day 19 of 28 Days of Unreason

“I’m quite tired of beating myself up to write.  I think I’ll start letting the words slip out like a tired child. “Can I have a piece of pie” he asks, and then he’s asleep back on the cusp of the moon.”                                                             ~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason

 

Welcome my poetic friends to our 19th day in our Unreasonable challenge.  Looking forward to the wonderful things you will write today.  As always, everyone is welcome to join in.  Write a poem inspired by this quote, post it, credit Harrison, link back in the comments, stop back by and read other poets.  Love Y’all!  ~Jilly

All that we are destined to know

Only the wild children

know what parting

means.

The tame ones

think it is merely

good-bye.

© Jilly’s All Rights Reserved

‘for Day 18 of 28 Days of Unreason

“We’ll know as children again all that we are
destined to know, that the water is cold
and deep, and the sun penetrates only so far”
~ Jim Harrison from Death Again