Introduction.
Each month, our club creates what we refer to as an interactive (or group) poem. One member of the group proposes two or more lines as the start of a poem, and the rest of the membership is free to add lines as they are moved to do so (reposting what came before). The purpose of this exercise is two-fold.

First, it helps keep the poetic juices flowing. Often times, the hardest thing in the world to get are those first two lines or so and when you run up against the dreaded "writer's block" it is frequently a matter of being overwhelmed by the desire to express, i.e.: we need to talk; we just are not sure what we want to talk about. In logic, this is referred to as "global thinking," or to put that into more understandable terms: "not being able to see the tree for the forest." The exercise helps us to keep perspective, the focus necessary to find our words and continue in the creative process.

Second, and perhaps, more importantly, it helps us read poetry in a critical manner. Writing is a recursive process, i.e.: you write, read and re-write continuously. To write well, one must also be a critical reader. The logic and flow of a piece will not come together if you are not paying attention to what you are saying yourself--true in prose or poetry. Additionally, reading one's self only tends toward a stilted or skewed sort of writing--at best flat and of one piece, at worst stale and trite. Reading other writers, however, opens us to fresh prespectives and patterns of logic that keep lively our own endeavors.

And lastly...well, we've all been caught in those circumstances where life intrudes, causing us to lose our train of thought. "Where was I going with this idea," we ask ourselves. Perhaps, at moments such as this one, it is impossible to recover the exact sense of what we were saying, but we can, if we read critically, recover a good portion of the thought process.

So, the Interactive or Group Poem isn't merely an exercise in comradry. It genuinely has a purpose, but let's not dismiss this notion of developing understanding of each other altogether. Following the input on this exercise also gives insight into the character and nature of our fellow poets which helps us understand their solo endeavors more clearly as well as the nature of the criticism they offer us when reading our own works.

On this page and the following pages are some of the Interactive (or Group) Poems which have been executed thus far.

Interactive Poem One (August, 1998):

The poem began abortively (no one picked it up) with the lines:

Down the long, winding road of life,
The soul travels on his never ending journey.... (mgonzalez01)

It concluded as follows:

Down the long, winding road of life,
The soul travels on his never ending journey....(mgonzalez01)

Life is a never-ending journey
In which the spirit travels
Through thickets, rivers, and many a wild adventure! (mgonzalez01)

Interactive Poem Two (September, 1998):

The poem began with the lines:

In the Garden of my Soul,
There is music playing in the afternoon, (Mary Gonzalez)

It concluded on September 27, 1998 as the following:

In the Garden of my Soul,
There is music playing in the afternoon,(Mary Gonzalez)

in the deepening shadows of my life's evening song,
a merry childe peers from around
the moss draped corners of my memories,(sandcat2000)

touching with only a mere breath,
a whisper from far of morn's risen truth
to how a sung song of delight to past,
makes each verse a melody,(Enchanted Words)

Which enlighten my soul
With such joy and pleasure
That my life becomes as a light which shines in the darkness
In the garden of my soul
flowers bloom all seasons long
And in the air there's a song
Which sings of God's creation
Love is the fertilizer of my soul..
Which enriches my life with much happiness and joy! (Mary Gonzalez)

The autumn garden lays quiescent,
and the heartblossom, one day past fairest,
shatters under the weight of crystaline dew.(sandcat2000)

The sun touches the dew
With a gentle rod of gold
And colors my days and nights a sweet array
Of soft browns, yellows, amber and other Autumn hues
And all the while my heart gleams with passion
Till it bursts in one gigantic explosion of pleasure
That lifts up my spirits and ends all my blues
Like big giant fireworks display!(Mgonzalez01)

Further exploration of this exercise was suspended for the holidays.