[Newspoetry] today's NYC news

[Danielle Chynoweth]

from Bernadett Mayer's experiments in writing: (thanks William)
http://www.poetryproject.com/mayer.html

Structure a poem or prose writing according to city streets, miles, walks,
drives. For example: Take a fourteen-block walk, writing one line per
block to create a sonnet; choose a city street familiar to you, walk it,
make notes and use them to create a work;

The uses of journals. Keep a journal that is restricted to one set
of ideas, for instance, a food or dream journal, a journal that is only
written in when it is raining, a journal of ideas about writing, a weather
journal. Remember that journals do not have to involve "good" writing-they
are to be made use of.  Simple one-line entries like "No snow today" can
be inspiring later. 

 
Response:

there is a man
silver lock protecting the mouth of his pack
the kind to lock a chain link fence to keep the car theives out
laces on his boots are untied, their yellowed tips frayed and muddied
calf of his leg twists around the other calf, foot hanging loose
a booted protrusion

elbow propped on wooden arm rest
round body slumped into the square of his bench seat
built for discomfort

he sleeps in his leather earmuffs

eleven a.m. and eveyone is looking somewhere else
we're all waiting for the screetch of the train 
  to extract us and drop us some place else

his whole body encircles a small object
i shift position to view the prized thing in his embrace

a teddy bear squeezed so tight its eyes are pinched shut


--danielle