Poetry for Everyone:
A N oncom petitive C ontest
"The trouble with poetry," an unenlightened friend of mine once
said, "is that it is only for poets." While he was wrong, he did echo
the sentiments of many who believe that only those who know the
difference between a simile and a metaphor can legally write poems.
The fact is if you want to call a set of directions for making
zucchini-bagels poetry, no one can contradict you. This is probably
the attraction of "free verse" to so many of today's poets. However,
others want structure in their poetry, and this too is perfectly
acceptable.
That is why, in an effort to promote poetry and maybe even a
little structure, the Upper Left Edge is sponsoring a poetry contest.
The contest is for a particular .form of poem called "Diamante." If
you don't know it, don't worry. This article will conclude with a
short and easy lesson on Diamante writing.
There will be two divisions, student and adult, and several
categories including best serious, best humorous, and best coast-
related. The Upper Left Edge will print the winning entries in a later
issue.
Keep copies of all poems as these will not be returned, and
notification of winners will be through the Upper Left Edge. Judging
will be done arbitrarily and capriciously by the Upper Left Edge staff.
There are no cash prizes, only the honor of being published. Even
if your work is not selected for publication, think how impressive it
will be to be able to say to your friends no matter what the topic of
conversation is, "Why that reminds me of a Diamante I wrote the
other day."
To enter, write your Diamante on a three by five card with your
name and address on the back of the card. If you are a student, please
include the name of your school and your grade level. You may enter
as many as you like but only one per card. Address cards to: Upper
Left Coast Productions/PO Box 1222/Cannon Beach, OR 97110.
Deadline for entries is October 31, 1995.
The Diamante does not worry about rhyme or rhythm. It is a
word-count poem based on grammar and has only seven lines and a
total of sixteen words. Here are the directions:
2TT
«»m s
The day the Dead died.
Mr. Garcia was 53, a few years older than your editor,
when he died on August 9th, 1995. Besides a deep sadness,
the event also brought long forgotten images from the tired
old brain.
Haight Street, 1967, filled with people,
no cars moving, the Dead playing upstairs on a balcony, the
Fire Department trying to clear a path for the engines, in
case someone dropped a joint and caught the pavement on
fire. On stage at the First Field Trip at the Country Fair
Site near Eugene; 11 in the morning, playing jug band
music for the Dead's crowd. Remembering the Dead started
as a Jug Band. Wandering around backstage later, seeing the
heroes and the hangers on. Getting dosed with some very
clean acid. We wonder whether, had Capt. Trips not tried to
"clean up his act", he would still be alive. We have lost
several former "abusers" when they tried to change lifestyles
after it was too late. We can imagine what the tired old
body said when the usual stuff stopped happening. "Living
on reds, vitamin C and Cocaine." The last chance we had to
see The Dead was a Field Trip planned for Eugene a couple
years back. We were going to play with Baby Gramps and
have backstage passes with our pictures on them- and
everything. It was cancelled due to Garcia's illness. It was
apparently about that time that the decision was made. This
is not to claim a relationship that did not exist -- our friend
Quincy Sugerman had a much more elaborate relationship,
having seen over three hundred dead shows. The point being
that all of our heroes have feet of clay. No one, be they Bill
Clinton, or Jerry Garcia, or Bob Packwood, or your beloved
editor, is without sin. The question becomes: what do we
do with what is, all things considered. As far as we know
Mr. Garcia did his best to do "the right thing." Whether it
was popular and profitable, or not. "Sometimes the lights
are shinin' on me, other times I can barely see."
We will all miss the gentle musician, who tried to help
others, and loved just "playin' in the band".
Clatsop Community College offers a survival class in
Beginning Conversational Spanish; Tuesdays September
19th through December 4, 1995 6:30-9:30 PM at
Community Presbyterian Church in Cannon Beach.
Instructor: Jeanie McLaughlin. Tuition: $60/$30 Gold
Card. Call (503) 738-3347 or (503) 325-0910, ext. 2405
First line -- a noun, the subject
Second line — two adjectives describing the subject
Third line - three participles describing the subject
(Participles are verbs used as
adjectives by adding "ing".)
Fourth line - four nouns, the first two related to the
subject and the last two related to the final noun
Fifth line - three participles describing the final noun
Sixth line — two adjectives describing the final noun
Seventh line - a final noun that is, in some way, the
opposite of the first noun
N otes from C olorado (and the Edge)
Here I am on the Edge for an all too short visit. I
gravitate to Jupiter's Books, and find our editor looking as
well as he looked when I saw him last year. It's difficult for
me to express the draw this place has — I'm torn, because I
feel as if I could be a part of a real community here, but if
there's any other place where I also feel that, it's Boulder.
It's not just the physical beauty, although growing up by an
ocean makes me miss it when I'm away from it. It's not
just a life stage, although having more to look back upon
than may lie ahead is a factor in a lot of things right now.
It's the time when just settling for life is no longer
acceptable, that it is finally time to serve with more than a
casual attitude, and the remaining years that the Great
Mystery has in store should be about things that are
meaningful, and that make a difference in the state of our
besieged and troubled big blue spaceship. Or maybe it's that
I just like the thought of living here next to the ocean, with
the cool of the breeze, the gray of the sky, the green of the
forest.
Examples:
Soccer
Rough Tough
Grunting Sweating Running
Spikes power Slacks patience
Strolling putting yawning
Dull Silly
Golf
James D. Patton
Vapor
plumed, steamy
billowing, collecting, falling
moisture, water, rain, ice
greeting, pelting, draining
slow, crystal
snow
The Thirddye
GRATEFUL DEAD
HEADQUARTERS
Mon. - Sef f I em - fl pm
Sun I I
7 pm
Mother and her sons, riding
the reclining cycles on the beach
Scuttle away, like crabs.
Into the mist.
Megan Ghormley
232-3EYE
3950 S E. Hawthorne Blvd. • Portland, OR 97214
"How much freedom can you afford?". Uncle Mike said to
us, this last beautiful Wednesday August morning on the
Edge. This stayed with me for a while. I caught a bit of
"Helter Skelter" that evening after a few beers at Bill's.
Seeing good old Charlie Manson again always brings up
some things - as a person opposed to the death penalty in
principle, this chap always makes me think about high
voltage. It'd be nice if life was simple - good vs. evil. Bill
vs. Newt (?), loggers vs. owls - but it isn't. And, to badly
paraphrase my Buddhist friends here in Boulder, we live with
the contradiction. Sexual freedom? Probably a good idea.
Gun freedom? Maybe not such a good idea. Literary and
political freedom? You bet. Smoking or drinking or drugs?
Not so easy. It's always where you leave off and I begin, it
seems.
Diamantes can be profound or profane. The important
thing is having fun. Try Diamante writing as a party game.
Write one while you attend the next town council meeting.
Encourage your friends to enter the contest. Maybe
Professor Lindsey will write one about tourists.
James D. Patton
Columbian Cafe
1114 Marin« D rtw
Astoria. OR 97103
503-325-CflFE (2233)
And how different the green is here - even though the
lawns tell me that there's not been a lot of rain. The
bumblebees work the herbs and flowers outside my Cannon
Beach lodging, and I think of the long wet and cold Colorado
spring, and now the summer heat and wind has turned the
lush grass of the spring into a major fire hazard. Back there,
a ten point buck has been strolling by our house in the
morning, and lately a young buck, antlers still covered with
velvet, has been nibbling tentatively at the greenery as well.
A family of bam swallows chose our porch to raise a small
family, and in spite of the late season, seem to have done
so, and are gone, leaving the morning strangely quiet after
the steady chorus of plaintive cheeping. Sweet corn is
arriving at the famer's market, tomatoes are close behind,
and the feast of the season begins (not to mention those
fresh Edge blueberries that I've gorged on this week on my
visit -- a few things don't taste as good in Colorado as in the
Northwest).
H om : Man • Fri «am • 2pm
Sat 10am - 2pm
Dtramn: Wwd - Sat. Opon 5pm
URIAH HULSEY*
Individual
The horizon of southwestern Nebraska stretches away
from you like the ocean - the sky opens up, and the land
appears to roll away like the waves. Some in-laws, moving
from the East Coast to Arizona on the Fourth of July, got
this far and stopped. Come visit us, they said, we just
rented an apartment. In Lodgepole, Nebraska. So there we
were, out of sight of our beloved Rocky Mountains, the
wind blowing, in a motel straight out of Alfred Hitchcock,
beginning to understand the appeal of places like these -
friendly, open people, simple, straightforward lifestyle. It'll
be a long time before the Califomicators get here - too
much winter, too much summer, and too little of the things
they think are essential to living. Just as well. It helps
once in a while to see the real High Plains - to know that
the oak and maple trees, bluegrass and other human
plantings of the Denver area are false. This sea of grass is
the real thing.
A rtis t G rants
$3000!
Application Information and form s arc available
at Jupiter Books and the CBAA Gallery
Due on or before September gg, 1996
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• Beads
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R ecords
TAPES
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1023 BkOADVAT
SEASIDE. OR T7I38
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A religion can no more afford to degrade its
D evil than to degrade its God.
H avelock E llis
The Sox seem to be for real (much to the dismay of
Oriole fans), but the Cubs? Or the Rockies?
More later —
Jeff Custer
UfTLR lXfT E.Ö&E SLPTLIUEK 1115
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