reflex the noun

deconstruction

Donna Vorreyer — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:50:02 +0000

I have started by responding to a question posed by Rachel in her latest entry. I wrote three short stanzas. Then I mashed all three stanzas together. Then I pulled out just the adjectives, just the nouns and just the verbs. Then I pulled all of the first words, second words and so on. Then I pulled all the first lines, second lines, etc. What I have right now as a draft is two columns of deconstructed stanzas. It’s an interesting exercise, but I’m not sure where it’s going, even though I like some of the weird juxtapositions of language that are emerging.

Here is the adjective deconstruction as an example:

Dry and dank, algae-slick, gray

and splintered. Alone. Broken

and unpupiled. Solid. Petrified.

And here is a photo that is inspiring me as well:

I have given myself a mail deadline of Friday. Let’s see what happens.

trepidation

Donna Vorreyer — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:47:31 +0000

Reflex has arrived. My, oh, my, the entries are just getting better. I need to spend some time to make sure I am up to the challenge. My collaborators are pushing the boundaries, and I need to make sure I can push back.

come to your senses.

rebunting — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:47:19 +0000

Well, I’ve already broken the rules: my round of Reflex should be in the book already, should be ready for mailing tomorrow. I’m still writing, so I probably won’t wrap it up until mid-week.

One of the things I’m enjoying the most about this process so far is how encouraged I feel to write the strangest, un-Rachel-like things. Most of my writing to date has been very narrative, very story-oriented. But I’m suddenly finding my voice driven more by images, by sound, by the possibility of something new opening on the page.

And pictures, too. I am not a photographer, no, not at all. But I like to take pictures. This side of the camera feels safe, feels purposeful. I like the carefulness of taking pictures, how precise one must be in order to capture the right moment, evoke the right feelings. But also how quickly it has to happen. How a good photograph is equal parts skill, vision and luck.

Back to writing.

in the mailbox

rebunting — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:42:17 +0000

A package was waiting for me when I got home yesterday.”You got something from California,” Donna said. “Oh, it must be Reflex,” I answered. “But it’s not from San Francisco,” she insisted, forgetting that California is more than our favorite city, and that more people live in it than Jon.

And indeed, it was Reflex.

Looking pretty much exactly the same as the last time I saw it – on the outside, that is. I spent about a half hour leafing through the new entries last night, and I am once again in awe of how fascinating it is to see the creative process of others.

So some ground rules for myself for this round:

1. Sit with it. I’m going to just absorb what’s there, and not write anything, until Sunday. (This is more necessity than desire, as I have more schoolwork than I care to think about all due on Saturday.)

2. Beginning Sunday, respond to what’s in the book once a day for 7 days. At the end of the 7 days, I’ll put my favorite(s) in as my entry for this round.

That’s it.

The end Of round Two

InsatiableTamar — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:23:15 +0000

Black or White. Alive or Dead.

The Fabric of Time unravels at the thought of gray.

But within the grey yards of heather,

when uncertainty takes over,

is where life is truly experienced.

Ready to Mail

Donna Vorreyer — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:37:44 +0000

My next piece for Reflex is ready to be put together in the journal itself. It will be a different approach for me this time. Instead of just staying in my comfort zone and providing a piece of writing, I will be using four to five pages to present my piece that includes writing and photography manipulation, and I hope that it will echo and do justice to the work of John and Kristin that came before it.

Get ready, Tamar! It’s coming your way for the holidays.

Sneak Preview:

Partial preview of my contribution "Winter: Hauntings"

Shadows

Donna Vorreyer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:34:41 +0000

I just received Reflex and will try to get it in the mail before the Christmas holiday. I have a draft inspired by Kristin’s concept of haunting, Rachel’s photographs, and John’s latest combination of text and spherical art. I also have an idea for how to manipulate some photography to highlight the poem, which is now in four numbered stanzas. As a teaser, here is one of the altered photos I may use:

Thanksgiving with Reflex

poemgirl72 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:21:09 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Reflex in my mailbox, so I was really excited when it came back last week. I was second in the first round, and now I’m third in this round, so there’s a lot of art, writing, and cool stuff in there! Reflex has been though a typewriter, a sewing machine, and been written on and glued in. Excuse my dangling prepositions. I know they bother some folks.

So, I was having fun looking through the art and poems, and started looking at different pages in succession, and in reverse. What I’ve done for my draft is to take words from what’s written, and images from the artwork, and start a draft of something. I’ll post it below. It’s just my handwritten scribblings right now, but it’s creepy. More like Halloween than Thanksgiving thoughts. Unless you count, “I’m thankful my body hasn’t been cut into pieces and buried in a lake,” as Thanksgiving Day thoughts. You might. If you are, please get help. No one should be having thoughts like that on a holiday of giving thanks.

I’ll add one last comment here that Donna V. and I went to the Winter Wheat Festival of Writing last weekend. One of the writing-centric conversations we had was about a session she attended which discussed the difference between a prose poem and a work of flash fiction. The consensus seemed to be that there is really little difference, and poets should try sending their prose poems to flash fiction journals at times. Whatever this draft turns into, it’s looking like it’s going to be one or other, or both. I’m only giving you one side of my notes. You’ll have to wait to see more…

closing out

rebunting — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:40:20 +0000

Tonight is my last night with Reflex. Tomorrow I’ll be putting the book back in the mail, and I have to say I’m a little sad and surprised at how quickly the week passed. When I first got the book, I had the intention to write something every night for the week. Well, that didn’t work out. But here’s what my Round 2 Reflex contribution includes:

two photographs

a found poem and a drafted poem

That found poem is something I’m still thinking about. It happened like this:
I drafted “What If the Earth Is Leaving the Sky,” my contribution for this round.
I pasted it into Google Translate & translated it to French.
Then I translated the French to Spanish.
Then the Spanish to Albanian.
Then the Albanian to Hebrew. (p.s. the Hebrew was confusing for me because even though I know you read Hebrew right to left I kept trying to highlight from the left to the right when I wanted to copy it, and that didn’t work.)
Then the Hebrew to Spanish.
Then the Spanish back to English.
Then I cut it up in small pieces and rearranged it on the page.

And there you have it.

Round 2 – just in

rebunting — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:11:50 +0000

Yesterday in the mail I received Reflex. The book has made a complete circuit through the five of us, and the work so far is exceeding my hopes. A few notes, as I sit here listening to Peter Gabriel’s astounding new album:

Kristin’s entry was wonderfully surprising and creative (not surprising that it was creative; just not what I expected to see). Very cool.

Jon used some sort of paste / Mod Podge . It smells like 4^th grade to me, like walking in to Sister DonnaMarie’s art class. And now I am thinking about Kristi Serafino, my best friend in 4^th grade, and wondering what happened to her.

Tamar’s entry – lovely, lovely. The texture – I just want to keep touching all of it.

Donna’s poem is the latest entry, the one that will now come immediately before my Round 2 entry. It is definitely going to serve as a great source of inspiration.

It’s interesting to see the connections we made. No one piece is a literal interpretation of another, but the threads are there. I can even see the remnants from the original prompt in the newer entries.

This was a good idea.

Some pictures:

Click to view slideshow.