January’s Minisons

At the end of December, I discovered a new form, the minison:

A mini sonnet. The only “rule” is that the poem is 14 letters long. Wow. Discovered The Minison Project and went down a rabbit hole. 

rabbit hole trip (14 letters):

begin here: Issue 0 of the zine
go deeper here: The Minison Zine
get your bearings here: The Minison Project
find other examples here: corkwood blossom and the fourteen ghosts
fall further here: Seymour Mayne – Hail: 14 word Sonnets

a few favorite minisons: 

fourteen ghosts
between the snow
nonstop farting
about aboutness

a favorite 14 word sonnet:

DECEMBER FLIGHT/ Seymour Maynes

These
starlings
swerve
in
flocks,
turning
their
frantic
wings
towards
the
sun’s
slanting
light.

So much fun! I could see these as being great for playing around with words, experimenting, and finding better words for describing a run or a swim. What could I say about my swim today?

  • butterfly hurts
  • winter swimming
  • flip turn fiasco
  • leaking goggles
  • staring at Rosie
  • I only see orange

When I have more time, I’d like to try these out more. Maybe suggest them in my class?! note: I am!

As I begin writing this monthly challenge entry on January 26th, I’ve decided to do this: Return to all of my entries for this month and turn them into minisons. Right after learning about this form, I tried it out for a few days, then I got busy with other things, like prepping for my class. Now, as I try to put together a brief description for my class about minisons, I thought I’d return to them and try them out more.

a minison experiment

dec 31:

more muted magic
bare leg bravery
nervous fat tire
all of it strange
emptied of geese
quiet leaf waltz
forgotten river
remembered bird
opened the doors
a kid a sled a hill
a being shadowed
the frozen falls

jan 2

drumroll please 
my doppelgänger 
eggs bacon toast 
the color orange
impending gloom

jan 3:

heavy snow today
treadmill trail
indoors outside
indecisive snow

jan 6:

a snow wall climb
acting like sand
crows > bluejays
not all, Sheldon
some car caution
clunk clang bang

jan 7 (this one was hard!)

100 percent snow
a moon marvelin’

jan 9:

leaking goggles
aqua jogger chat
running in place
here body is boat
bodies language

jan 10: a sonnet in 14 words

A
quiet
gray
day.
Dreamy
disconnected
alone
but
not
lonely
sinking
in
soft
snow.

jan 11:

ice froze the bus

“It’s so icy that the city suspended metro transit buses for a few hours.”

jan 14:

The
sound
of
a
congress
of
crows
cawing
furiously
echoes
through
the
empty
alley.

jan 15:

the skier as omen
a blue blur block
screaming sleds
scraping shovel
misplaced smoke
a roaming shadow

jan 16:

The
paved
path
was
almost
all
lake
with
a
side
strip
of
sheer
ice.

jan 17:

Two
young
boys
shirtless
shoeless
and
in
sweatpants
run
a
mile
around
the
track.

jan 19:

snow fell in pool
water became air
one swimmer flew
not quite a dream

jan 20:

a daddy long legs
a stalking cough
2 rooting robins
pair of dead moms

jan 22:

love boat’s lido

jan 23:

wrong door opens

jan 24:

sled with no snow

jan 25:

monotony —
the
same
gray
sky
same
gray
river
same
set
of
runners
seen
twice.

jan 26:

What could it be?
me and my mystery
one white wonder
no answer needed

jan 27:

my body as tether
I talk to the wind
a knee says hello

jan 28:

a bike with Emily
o to be satisfied!
I learn to listen

jan 29:

forgotten shoes
unseen swimmers
80 year-old eyes
vision failures
fan of flip turns
cold compromise

jan 30:

room with no view
the dust buddies
trip to the trash
my sad gate sings OR my sad gait sings

jan 31:

Sharp
wind
cutting
air
brittle
paths
too
many
layers —
Today
I
am
Ms.
Uncongeniality.

some thoughts

As I did more of these 14 letter or 14 word “poems” I began to see their value for enabling me to give more attention to what I noticed and how I initially wrote about it. Minisons were a great way to practice condensing ideas and observations. And, they were often a lot of fun, allowing me to play around more with words and ideas. The point was not to compose brilliant poems, but to let go and open up. As an added bonus, some of them generated useful, pithy summaries.