Love At First Write

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Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes (AKA Fleas)

Adam
Had ’em.
— Strickland Gillilan

Well, that’s all for my first post. See you later!

…I’m just kidding! Really, I just thought we’d start short and sweet for our first poem together. Something digestible that takes little time out of your day and is INSANELY fascinating. I only learned about it recently, too, so don’t mind me as I keep doing my research!

Take one look back up at that little quote! That’s an entire poem, ya’ll. If you thought poems had to be novels, you were dead wrong. And honestly, so was I.

“Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes”, also known as just “Fleas”, is a couplet written by Strickland Gillilan, an American poet in the 20th century. This sucker is commonly cited as the shortest poem literally ever.

Naturally, there is some debate to that! There are awesomely weird examples (which we’ll get into later) of poems that just consist of one letter! This will lead us to one of my favorite topics later, what CAN be poetry?

But enough of that now. We want fleas! No… wait… we want “Fleas”! Whew, that’s better. I sure don’t want the first one.

But anyway! What gets me the most about this poem, is I have no clue how to interpret its meaning. My brain demands some sort of literary analysis, yet it’s only three (more like two and a half) words long! So what IS this poem?

Right now, I’m looking more into Strickland Gillilan himself to find out more about him, and then maybe dig up some information on that special little couplet!

Please feel free to leave comments of your own thoughts and maybe research you come across! We can absolutely discuss! Don’t be shy!

I’ll see you guys later with either a follow-up on “Fleas” or another temporary topic that catches my short my attention span! Until next time!

Couplet Contest!

Hey, guys! Thinking more about “Fleas”, I wanted to host a little contest for us! Now don’t be fooled. In lieu of my complete lack of competitive spirit as a person, this isn’t a hardcore “winner/loser” kind of contest. This is just a quick, fun way for us to get to know each other as poets!

But don’t fret yet, I haven’t forgotten about all of the cool posts and discussions I want to share with you about this incredible poem. This is the last ice-breaker I’ll force you to suffer through! (Trust me, as a college freshman, I know aaaaallll about ice-breakers.) Before we get back to “Fleas”, though, I wanted to go off tangent and encourage a sense of community for us since we’re all still new to each other.

So here we go! The rules are super simple for this contest.

Write the best couplet poem you can.

Wow, hey, I guess it’s not going to be very complicated, is it? Seriously, though! With “Fleas” in our thoughts, let’s write the best couplets we can! They don’t have to be a certain length, on any specific topic, or anything! It’s all up to us. We’re the poets and we get to make our own rules!

Click here for a simple, helpful resource on writing a couplet and here for any rhyming guidance!

Here’s mine to start us off, inspired by my current longing for warm weather and deep appreciation of informality (surprising, huh?).

Jack Frost nips at my toes
Man, winter really blows

Let’s get these creative juices flowing, ya’ll!

Introduction

Hey, fellow poetry lovers! Welcome to my new blog, Love At First Write!

Let’s just do a super fast ice-breaker so you guys know who I am but don’t die of boredom! My name is Brianna, I’m a college freshman at Webster University, and, if you couldn’t guess it, I like poetry! …hey, that wasn’t so bad. Short and sweet, ya’ll!

But I do want to give a full disclaimer here, before you continue to read further. This is THE first blog I’ve ever made. I am not an experienced poetry writer or even reader. I’m still learning a lot! But I’m here because I want to share my love of poetry with you. And hopefully, you’ll want to share it back! We can all learn together, no matter our level of expertise.

Back to the point, there’s a few things I want to be able to do with this blog! So you guys know what you’re getting yourselves into… I’ll make a (very short, like, shorter than me) list! Because I love nothing more than lists (even poetry???). Here we go!

I want to…

Share poems I think are freakin’ awesome with my own personal analysis and opinions, which are always open to discussion!
Maybe even write a few of my own poems and post them? I know, I know, so bold and brave! But also a lot of work? So… I’ll let you know when that happens.
Create a platform where anyone can comment and have discussions about their favorite poets, poems, or their own wonderful pieces! Best for last, am I right?

I know this is a super short introduction, but I really don’t have a lot else to say. I’ll figure this out as I go! I hope you don’t mind. As neither an experienced blogger or poet, you’ll just have to bear with me while we explore the world of poetry (and evidently blogging) together!

I’m excited to share this with you all, so I guess I’ll see you in my next post!

Until then!