word matrix, 8/17/03

[novapsyche]

Last month at the Poetry-Free-For-All, in response to a cliched post, one of the moderators advised the novice to consider never using the words "nightmare, bleeding, tears, stars, memories, moon, weeping, aloneness, dreams, soul, life, or shame all in the same poem."

So I decided to use these as the material in my most recent word matrix. I filled out the list to sixteen words and came up with the following:


The nightmare soul lies alone, moon-
faced, his memories a soup of dreams. Bread or manna, he clothes
the stars in spritely blood. The pixy martyrs weep, their paths
sparkling with shame as they remember a life before tears.

Nightmares are memories gone awry, stars shamed
into collapsing their whole souls. Dreams are the blood of life:
alone they are the bread that fills us as we weep before the dawn.
The moon still shines, clothed in fog. The air has taken the path of tears.


nightmare souls alone moon
memories dream bread clothe
stars blood/bleed weep path
shame life before tears