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Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Word Garden Word List--Dave Kelly

 


A long time ago--longer than I like to think it was--I bought a copy of "Poems In Season" by a poet named Dave Kelly. It was Volume Five of the Texas Portfolio Chapbook Series. Inside, I found a collection of blunt, truthful, unsparing, and unforgettable poems about every day life. I have moved many times since then, gone through myriad changes, but this book--along with others by undeservedly obscure poets like Michael Curley, Ric Masten, and others, as well as famous volumes like 'Howl"--have made the journey with me all the way to this very moment. They are part of who I am and who I've been, and it is from these poets that I learned to write fearlessly.

Dave Kelly is a difficult man to find, but in researching this list, I did finally manage to find out some biographical information which can be found HERE and HERE. I have taken the opportunity to order a couple of his other books, as well. This is the kind of thing that blows my skirt up, if I wore skirts anymore. To say that I am eager to read these new (to me) books is an understatement. 

And now, time for your weekly word list. What we do here is to take at least 3 of the 20 words provided--all taken from the poems in "Poems In Season"--and create a new poem of your own. Our aim is to use the list to spur new writing of our own, not ape the source poet, though a nod of homage is always a fine thing. So, compose, link up, visit others, and I hope that you will look into Dave Kelly's work as well. Enjoy!

Your list:

afraid
baseballs
betrayals
bus
camera
cat
coffee
foreigner
grooves
houses
insane
kill
newspaper
rain
rosary
shifting
skull
stinging
voices
workmen

14 comments:

  1. I ordered a copy of one of his books! Looking forward to it, and writing to the list.

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    1. I wish I knew who you are, Anonymous!

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    2. I wish I did too! Anonymity is a two-way street you know. Don’t we know ourselves through others? I think I read that somewhere…

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    3. Hahahaha! Hi. I have no idea why this is happening all of a sudden…

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    4. I got my Dave Kelly book today!

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  2. An interesting list, and a poet I've never heard of to explore. Thanks for the challenge, Shay. I will see what the old brain cells can do.

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    1. I look forward to it! One reason i resumed the list is because you told me it helps you write. ;-)

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    2. Indeed it does, and did--though I have to say I know nothing about and couldn't find anything of Frank Kelly's, so I went with the words, which led to somewhere completely and totally different. Thanks for the nudge to write, Shay.

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    3. DAVE Kelly, but yes, he is very hard to find anything on. I know, I have tried periodically for years, though I did find a little bit as I prepared this prompt. It seems that, after several publications in Prairie Schooner and the like, he stopped bothering with the publication chase. Anyway, I love what you wrote and admire the tremendous amount of effort it surely must have taken to put yours together. Thanks so much for linking it here, my friend.

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  3. Dear Shay, I'm not sure how many of the words I used, but more than three, and what fun! Somehow the collection struck a Gothic nerve in me. 🙂 Thanks for the introduction to Dave Kelly. It's amazing how many good poets deserving of notice slip under the radar.

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    1. I just wish i could have found more about him, but he is a ghost on line. I don't like to include actual poems by the poets I feature because then i think people feel like they have to write in that style, and that's not so. Thanks so much for being here, Dora. :-)

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  4. Your opening is poetic in itself Shay! As always there is so much to learn in these prompts and I love that about them. I guess you know I may not follow through this time, but if I do anything these days it will be your word list my friend.

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  5. I've never heard of this poet, but I need to check him out. Love the word list, and I let October play with dark ink. :)

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