More Poetry Writing Workshop Verse

More Poetry Writing Workshop Verse: Note: I recently completed a month-long poetry writing workshop. During the last class I wrote a poem based on the novel "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Anderson, about terraforming Mars (changing the planet so humans can survive there)

First draft: "Terraforming Mars"

Looking for a new place to live?

Transforming a planet from red to green to blue

Hydroponic gardens for sustenance

Help wanted, Horticulture Expert

Must be Diligent, Handy and

Have a High Tolerance for Boredom

If we get to Mars can we avoid crime, wars and social unrest?

Will we make the same mistakes which have plagued mankind

From time immemorial? Or,

Will we ruin the planet and just move on to another one?

Revision of "Terraforming Mars" poem, retitled "Help Wanted"

Help Wanted

Experienced Hydroponic Gardener

To Transform Mars From Red to Green

Must be able to work independently

High Tolerance for Boredom preferred

Are you tired of living with war, crime and Social Unrest?

Are you tired of the old mistakes?

Help us make new ones.

Contact www.thereforthetaking.com.

Poetry Writing Workshop Verse

Poetry Writing Workshop Verse: Note: My professor in the Poetry Writing Workshop is trying to dissuade the class from composing rhyming poetry. More that 99% of my poetry rhymes, and I have some trouble composing quality 'free verse' (non-rhyming poetry)

Revision(s) of "Dystopia"

Hope is the only thing left incarcerated in Pandora's Box

Perhaps God is Dead

Naivete and cynicism both reign supreme

Hope is a dual-edged sword

Without hope you sometimes cannot go on,

But with Blind Faith you can take very reckless chances.

Another version: "Dystopia"

Hope is the only thing left incarcerated in Pandora's Box

All the plagues of mankind have been released

Hope gives you the will to go on when times are bleak,

But Blind Faith can make you reckless.

Surveillance cameras are ubiquitous, even on portable Smart phones

The earth is being scorched by 'denied' Global Warming.

The air is tainted by primary, secondary and tertiary smoke.

Our land is covered with trash in many places.

Our waters are polluted by chemicals, trash and plastic.

The preservatives and pesticides in food can literally make you

Sick or even kill you over time.

Government cannot or will not help you when you really need it,

And when they do help things usually end up worse.

People, it seems, will put up with almost anything.

"Dial one for English."

"To reach a real person, please hang up and try again."

Grab yourself another beer, there ain't no heaven and Hell is here!

Poetry Writing Workshop Verse

Poetry Writing Workshop Verse:

"Dystopia" A work in progress

Dystopia

Hell on Earth

A world in decline

Nothing is pristine

The air, water, land, food, governments, people and religions

Are all tainted.

Hope is the only thing left incarcerated in Pandora's Box.

"Vampires" A work in progress

Vampires sometimes fight the impulse to indulge in their bloodlust

Like soldiers who stifle the urge to desecrate the corpses of their enemies.

Living forever

Lusting for blood

Greedy like the bankers who nearly drained the Life Force out of our economy.

Seldom worrying about a stake that could impale their heart

And stop them dead in their tracks.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: The Best of 2011

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: The Best of 2011

Note: Due to work, time and monetary considerations I haven't seen as many movies as I usually do. I haven't seen such critically acclaimed movies as "The Help" and probably several others that have been nominated for acting or film awards.

In my opinion, the Best Picture ought to be: "The Artist". "The Artist" is a 99% Silent Film with mostly unknown performers as stars. It is about an acclaimed silent movie star whose fortunes start to decline when Talkies start to become popular. Meanwhile, a beautiful young actress's popularity quickly soars as she becomes the star of a string of movies with talk instead of silence. Somehow their lives become intertwined. I didn't have high expectations when I saw this film, but I was quickly wowed.

If "The Artist" fails to win Best Picture, another contender is "The Descendants" starring George Clooney as a lawyer with both Hawaiian and European lineage who is in charge of the fate of a valuable swath of real estate in Hawaii. As he is about ready to decide whether part of Hawaii will remain unspoiled or be subject to development, he finds out that his comatose wife was having an affair behind his back. Also, he must cope with a troubled teenage daughter and a foul-mouthed younger child. Clooney's character decides to track down his wife's paramour, who has some connection to the real estate that he must decide the fate of. The actresses who played his daughters also gave excellent performances, particularly the television star who plays his older daughter.

Best Action Film: While this won't likely win or be nominated for an acting of major film award, "Mission Impossible 4" is the best action film I have seen in 2011. In case you haven't seen it, in this movie Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his cohorts (including Simon Pegg from "Sean of the Dead" ) break into the Kremlin and mayhem ensues. Their mission is to stop a madman from deliberately starting World Was 3.

The worst movie I saw was "The Devil Inside". In this ripoff of "The Exorcist" a middle-aged woman murders several people while supposedly possessed by demons. After her daughter and a couple priests take part in an unauthorized exorcism, the daughter also ends up being possessed. This could have been a good movie. Instead, at the end the screen flashed a website purporting to be a true story about an actual exorcism. I fell asleep part way through this, and when I woke up the movie was over.

Another A to Z Attempt

Another A to Z Attempt

In my Writing Poetry class I was asked to write a story or poem going from A to Z. I cheated a bit, since it was only supposed to go from A to Z, with no words that weren't in that order:

A bird can dine on the eggs of flying grubs. He or she also ingests jelly-like krill, luminescent and meandering nearby. Populations of these birds quest for round shreds of tufted underbrush to feed variegated worms found in the xylem of certain trees to its young, even when confined to zoos.