by the Read Write Poem Staff
Nicole Nicholson has a big challenge for us on Day 14: Write a cleave poem. What’s a cleave poem, you ask? It’s three poems in one.
The whole idea works something like this (quoting the creator of the form, Dr. Phuoc-Tan Diep): “In its most basic form it is three poems: two parallel ‘vertical’ poems (left and right)…[with] a third ‘horizontal’ poem being the fusion of the vertical poems read together.” He goes on to say, “One of my aims was to examine how something can be more than the sum of its parts and can be 3 in 1: synergy, fusion, co-operation, dialectics, marriage, interdependence, teamwork and The Trinity.”
More info can be found at The Cleave (including samples) and at the “cleave” entry at Writing.com.
Happy writing! (Editor’s note: A good idea, for those who fear the cleave is too challenging: Try a short one or simply try a form you have never tried before.) 
Reminders for everyone
Read the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Kickoff post for details on how the challenge works — and how you can engage with Read Write Poem this month, no matter what your personal writing challenge is for the month of April.
Please read this page to find out how Read Write Poem’s prompt posts work. Remember that work linked from any post this month is shared in precisely that spirit: sharing, as opposed to critiquing. If you haven’t done so already, please read all the pages under About in the navigation bar.
I keep saying I need to try new things…
wow … this is what you call a challenge !!!
Nicole, like your sense of adventure and willingness to make us work hard! Please note the Day 14 title is totally tongue-in-cheek:
http://jdmackenzie.blogspot.com/2010/04/graveyard-of-pitiful-prompts.html
vivienne blake replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 3:20 am
Very clever. Are you sure your tongue was in your cheek?
I really want to do this one, but not having a blog or anything, there’s no way of posting it on this site and keeping typeface/layout/colour intact.
Shannon Rayne replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
sure there is……….one sure thing
you could also try the space bar
but inserting ____ or …. will work
haikujunky replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
nice one! i like it with italics, as long as people know to read it several ways…
Not Challenge – Mission… THREEINONE
OK – guess I’m up all night on this one… (a look of horror, as tears begin to fall)
Mark Lysgaard replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 3:03 am
If you are looking for horror, i merged “Leave it to Beaver” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” for this exercise. I think it might’ve worked. Let me know.
http://babblingoninbabylon.com/blog
rob kistner replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 3:45 am
Oh my gawd, it’s done, my NaPoWriMo #14 — got a little sorrow, murder, and nudity… what more could you ask for?
…rob
Marie replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 10:11 am
I couldn’t find where to post on your website, sorry. You really have 3 good poems here, nice work!
rob kistner replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Thank you Marie for the kind words. You post on my website down in the comment section below the poems. Not to worry, I moved you gracious comment to the proper area on my blog…
Scared is not the word I would use: terrified, dismayed, overwhelmed might begin to cover it.
That’s a big challenge – not only to write one in the limited time I have on weekdays, but also to then figure out how to post it, and get blogger to do the layout properly!
I will see if I’m up to it, in the meantime here is my Day 13 poem from a line from Norman Dubie
vivienne blake replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 3:23 am
Lovely, Catherine. And your last line is wonderful – a ‘reflection’ of our society.
Good-bye hello – one plus two make three.
I think I did this write…Check out my “Cleaver Class” and let me know.
http://babblingoninbabylon.com/blog
Too many classes and meetings tomorrow, so I had to attempt this tonight. I actually think I’d like to play with this form later, but for now, this will have to do. You can find “Home” at http://bridgeanna.blogspot.com
Happy writing!
Pleasant dreams!
I will be anxious to read everyone’s poems tomorrow night!
Blessings always!
P.S. I think it would be fun to collaborate on a cleave at some point. Anyone interested?
I may try again when I’ve had a little sleep, but this form is a bit like a shaped poem, and those are not in my alley.
Cleaving Bread
vivienne blake replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 3:26 am
I think you’ve confounded your own statement: this poem works on all three levels.
haikujunky replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
This worked really well Barbara!
Cleave poem Part II. If you are a fan of 1950’s TV pop culture and horror movies, then you may enjoy this. “Leave it to Cleaver.”
http://babblingoninbabylon.com/blog
april 14th
a cleave! that’s far too difficut for this time of the morning!
swiss replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 2:57 am
and here’s a working link
http://travelsinthefloatingelvis.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-14th.html
I wrote an experimental two-in-one poem for my final assignment on a poetry cours earlier this year, never having heard of cleave poetry. I shall look at it again with a view to adapting it. That poem took me three months to write, so what hope have I of writing a new one today?
Viv, I have every confidence in you.
My poem for today based on yesterday’s prompt is on my blog http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com
vivienne blake replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 3:34 am
I love your sense of humour, Linda!
Your second poem is wonderful.
Thankyou for introducing me to the ‘cleave’
form Nicole. I’m going to give this another
shot when I have more time because I like the concept. Meanwhile here is another ‘churn out’
‘Byron, Blake and a Drunken Sailor’
http://rallentanda.blogspot.com
I’ve struggled mightily, without success (so far) In the interim of my creative quagmire, I will post a rude one just to amuse:
Vile villanelle
Sometimes poems are mental farts.
They clear the air within the brain
for poesy, most whimsical of arts.
When dealing with a poem that starts
“O Gentle Muse, you give me pain…”
avoid it as a mental fart,
that should be torn to component parts
never to be whole again:
poesy, whimsy, passing for art.
Poems sometimes break our hearts
by planting in our febrile brains
one of Cupid’s darts. A mental fart
is needed to dispel it. Love departs
without a backward look – that bane
called love, that whimsical art.
Bring back true poetry as it starts
to soothe our hearts, relieve our pain.
At their best, they are true art,
but sometimes poems are mental farts
Marie replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Rich and gassy. True and sassy.
Um, no. Took the foreign prompt instead. Second Thoughts at Scrambled, Not Fried
I hadn’t checked the prompt before I wrote today, or I would have tried it… maybe I’ll use it for tomorrow’s poem. For today, here is Candles having sex As usual, email me if you need the password.
These prompts are SO HARD! But I think I like them that way
Longing Prehistoric
Blimey, that was a tough one.
http://just-somestuff.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-14-holiday.html
Hard prompt! I’ve managed one, but because it’s wide it won’t appear in this small box to post as it should look at all
Sounds fun… I will have to tackle this before bed time which is while you’re all doing your day thing…strange isn’t it? Maybe not!
I couldn’t sleep so I started writing. What about doing this "Cleave Poem" down the center
. I think it works just fine. – A Declaration
The Convalescent’s Wife
Waiting for her visit,
hair fine as crysalis
broken soldiers with embroidery needles
trying to transform day into stage
red threads slipped through burnt hands
her lips a glossed fly paper
cross stitches, taut as enemy lines
traps to catch an eye.
Peer up, their bandaged heads
hatching eggs, the tap of her heels
Sun breaking into the ward
her skin a light left on in a room
they’d forgot, couldn’t march back to
her kiss on his forehead hit home
hard as bombs- her breasts, rapid fire
her causal laugh silver shrapnel.
They said he was a lucky man,
She knew it, visiting him
Loving a beautiful woman was
a service, entertaining the troops
like sleeping with a loaded gun
Her body was a landmine,
only a matter of time till it went off
her most throw away line- grenades.
He slept with one eye open, hips cocked
In the shower even, she wore lipstick
Under the dressing it opened
liquid drops, water off a duck
a blood flower of skin, tendon
One part of her only
raw and exposed. His wife’s mouth
a pornographic flower, a quiver
never closed, red to him
a wound she won’t let heal.
I tried getting the format right by re writing in the box, but it still posted in one long thread and won’t let me have italics either! (every other line in the proper version is on a diff side of the page,
a his and hers, then together sort of thing. )
hardest prompt yet i think- I’ve only ever done one once before and it took weeks!!
Three poems ought to equal three days! But here’s my humble offering.
http://melrosemusings.blogspot.com/2010/04/poetic-pursuit-napowrimo-day-14.html
Jaelle replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Oh, beautiful! And quite contradicting the content
Uma Gowrishankar replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Derrick that was neat, so good.
Marie replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 10:24 am
I couldn’t post on your site but I would say you nailed this beast. BTW, thanks for your comments on my blog. I’m open to suggestions about tense.
I will have to wait until this afternoon for this one. Wow!! I like challenges, but this is going to stretch my brain cells today.
Good morning! Today’s poem is visually inspired by the work of Joanne Johns (though not as snazzy as hers) and comes from a combination of a quote from Melissa Harris-Lacewell and the words Facebook makes you type in when you post multiple links. Read or listen to “This pervasive inequality that we call choice” at my blog:
http://jasoncrane.org/2010/04/14/poem-this-pervasive-inequality-that-we-call-choice/
Enjoy!
Jason
oh, fun! I’ll have to think about this one.
(& I just got brenda hillman’s “december moon” in my e-mail — how coincidental!)
thanks, nicole!
http://mothersparrow.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/convalesce/
Tin Man/Lion. Forgive the formatting.
Hey, THAT was fun! I had no idea what that kind of poetry was, and I had to start with a really small one. I hope I caught the idea. I’ll try for longer one of those days.
Under the lake ________ A mermaid cries
a fish swarm swims ____ Through her tears
along a coral reef ___ her lover is drawn toward her
vivienne blake replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 7:36 am
I love the double haiku-type format. It really works in all three poems. Do you mind if I copy your underlining idea to cope with the split layout?
derrick replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 9:17 am
This definitely works!
Marie replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Yes a double haiku. Good three!
Dawn
Anse à la Mouche_____the Bay of the Fly
A layer of mist______embraces
rounded hills,_______breaths of frangipane
seaweed slime,_______water colour smears.
A floating rainforest__above shallows of shells.
I grieve,____________as the image fades. return unwillingly__________to flat dailyness.
Fingers tightly entwined that this works!
The last two lines should be:
I grieve,_____________as the image fades,
return unwillingly____to flat dailyness.
derrick replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 9:15 am
I think this works very well Vivienne and gives us a little exotica to savour too!
Cleave really scared me but in the end, I enjoyed it a lot.
http://stiletto.crisopeya.eu/2010/04/14/napowrimo-14-you-want-me-to-write-a-what/
Oh Nicole, you do throw a challenge… grrr…but guess what, I think survived it. Yay!
marsupials in a zoo
A short one all right(:
http://alienfireworks.blogspot.com/2010/04/precious.html
CLEAVE! Day 14
{like other said, it’s hard to paste into a column format on my blog! or here, so here is the first and second column seperated….I did it in Microsoft word in two columns…quite proud of myself
(First column)
It’s up and it’s down;
It’s a constant roller coaster ride;
Like speeding fast with no destination;
Like having your heart shot up with novacaine;
And it wears off to reveal mind reveling pain;
Between the pills and the booze and the sleepless nights;
You don’t know where ground zero lies;
(second column)
Around and around;
You don’t know where you begin and end;
One moment to the next until you hit the wall;
Around and around you go;
You’ve hopped on eyes closed;
High as a kite dipping low to the ground;
The needle deep into your flesh;
With no stuccor in sight you take no repose;
Where the numb and the pain take flight;
And you are only along for the ride;
Fascinating prompt today. It makes me think of a class I took on integral philosophy ala Ken Wilbur.
also see Day 14 poem at my blog
http://bygraceandfaith.tumblr.com/
off prompt today.
clock
I like a clock that ticks
properly with balance and teeth,
perhaps a chime at night
to keep the mice on track.
It feels as though it is keeping our time
physical, mechanical.
Not like these slippery pixels
passing time around a plump horizon
so that it is morning, noon and night
spread out like an orange skin
in one moment.
http://crankymango.blogspot.com/2010/04/clock.html
I quite like the cleave after all:
The Fickle Lover’s Cleave
And yesterday’s late effort:
Poem Starting With a Line from Norman Dubie: At Least Pretty For a While
http://poemsotherwise.blogspot.com/2010/04/red-face-in-blue-sky.html
Certainly a challenge NOT for the fence sitters… It was ripe to create the dichotomy to include multiple challenges…
Whew… Posted my poems on Facebook and here:
http://dash30dash.ning.com/profiles/blogs/napowrimo-day-14-including-two?xg_source=activity
My writing prompt today was a simpler one.. go to Google Images, enter either Painted Ladies or Farmer’s Market (or both) and write about an image or two…
Keep writing.
Another one using songs.
‘Cleave the light Fandango’
http:rallentanda.blogspot.com
rallentanda replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 9:57 am
oops! http://rallentanda.blogspot.com
I’ve never heard of a cleave poem, but it is natural fit for:
“Bipolar Son” at
http://1965footprints.blogspot.com
Please ignore the dotted lines, that is for formatting purposes…
Tracks
thin bird track ——– on the beach
in the desert ——— coyote track
track to ————- our cave
emails ————- text messages
train and planes ——- track days
the start ————- to now
route from ———– your bed
to my bed ———— tracks
dry wash ————- through the canyon
in the desert ———- oak trees
in the darkness——– moonlight
your movement ——- on my skin
oh pooey…that was the wrong version. SORRY
Tracks
thin bird track ———- on the beach
in the desert ———– coyote track
track to ————— our cave
emails ————— text messages
train and planes ——— track days
the start ————— to now
the route ————— your bed
to my bed ————– tracks
dry wash ————— through the canyon
in the desert ———— oak trees
in the darkness ———- moonlight
your movement ———- on my skin
Okay, here’s my shot at it. I think it works. Yippee!!! (Now back to what I’m suppose to be doing…)
http://rrosenchang.blogspot.com
I like this form. I only had time for a short one today, but I think the jigsaw-puzzle shapes of it will bring me back to it before long. http://rhiannonproblematising.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/napowrimo-14-theology-and-art/
I can’t get it to format, but the slashes give the idea. Tough prompt!
http://memali.posterous.com/1430-4
Day 14, 3rd try.
This is my original take on a dichotomy poem, which I’ve tried to adapt to a cleave poem. I do hope it works. It is supposed to be the parallel interior monologus of a dementia patient in a care home, and the carer.
Cross Purposes
This is not my life.___Silly old buffer
I’m the boss.___ Thinks he owns the place
What are you doing to me?___ He used to be someone important.
They think I’m screwy.___ Here we go again.
Where’s my wife? ___It’s all right dear.
For mercy’s sake.___ She’ll be here this afternoon.
This place stinks of piss.___She’s dead, I think.
Who is this oaf?___ She never comes, anyway.
Why is he feeding me slop___. There, there, dear.
These aren’t my teeth. ___You gotta admit, this is lovely soup.
I don’t belong here. ___Comfy chairs, telly on all day.
I want to go home.___ In the warm, safe from harm.
What can I do, ___Nothing to do but be.
I’m bored. ___I can’t say the same for me.
I am an overachiever or at least pretending to be one.
I wrote a Cleave/Cinquain.
http://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/jjspoetry/2010/04/breakfast-cinquain-cleave-poem-napowrimo-day-14-aprpad.html
It doesn’t feel paradoxical enough, but now that I know the form, I plan to use it… Perfect tool, I think, for poetically making an informed choice… like a poets pro-cons list.
brava!
I followed the prompt. Boy was that difficult!
http://poemblaze.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/napowrimo-14/
Matt Quinn replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I threw the punctuation back in. I kept fiddling with it trying to get it to sound the most natural I could.
This was my first attempt of a cleave. I would love to hear other’s opinions of my effort.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978172647
Matt Quinn replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 11:46 am
You did well with a difficult form.
hosking replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Thank you. It certainly gave me a headache. Easy prompt tomorrow?
what a fun prompt – after I got over my initial trepidation
http://lanijo.com/poetry/who-am-i
Chose to keep it simple: “Core”
http://yourinnerceo.blogspot.com
I wrote a cleave poem several years ago thinking I was making up a new form. I called it a puzzle poem. Here is the link to it:
Plain-Fits: A Conversation
My offering for 14th April, a Cleave poem:
Cleave unto me,………………………………………….Forsaking all others,
all I ask is, that once complete,……………………….choose to dance with me alone,
a mind made up,…………………………………………to live free and soar high,
being sure to know who is the one,…………………..willing and eager,
will at least find peace………………………………….ready for completeness.
http://timkeeton.wordpress.com/
Tim Keeton
Poet/Wizard/Teller-of-tales
http://bitsandpieces.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/napowrimo-14-you-want-me-to-write-a-what/
This was hard! Not sure I did it right…
“Star Gazer” is here–
http://theresebroderick.wordpress.com
http://www.robertlunday.net/2010/04/poem-14-untitled.html
Wow! That was definitely hard, but fun to try.
http://sheiladeethdrabbles.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-napowrimo-14.html
I think I got my halves to mesh for the most part:
There and Here
That was *not* easy.
‘Between You, Me and the Sheets’
http://shannons-words.livejournal.com/155562.html
Okay, here goes:
Untitled Cleave 4/14/10
What a grand prompt! Just couldn’t get my cleave poem to post the way I wanted …
http://herwordsbloomed.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-14-you-want-me-to-write-what.html
A Windy Night
Last night the wind ____________________ Howling like a pack of wolves
Blew against the house and._______________at the doors, waking everyone
Scaring the children_____________________who were afraid to sleep
We reassured them_____________________ it was a cold wind from the north
We were safe inside our house____________ it couldn’t blow us away.
You would think I gave birth to Athena this hurt my head so bad. Instead I have this poem “Blonde Murderess” She might use a cleaver. (bad joke, I know.)
First column:
I suppose my tresses
can be evidence of lack
of intelligence, the acumen.
Do not question the chemical,
the answers I give.
I know in noir fiction
the word means black.
Second:
The stones in my blood
luster through each generation
of us war women.
warfare of the kitchen
the pulp I squeeze from a lemon.
it’s always the woman,
She blanches vegetables, the man.
Together:
Blonde Murderess
I suppose my tresses the stones in my blood
can be evidence of lack luster through each generation
of intelligence, the acumen of us war women.
Do not question the chemical warfare of the kitchen
the answers I give, the pulp I squeeze from a lemon.
I know in noir fiction it’s always the woman,
the word means black. She blanches vegetables, the man.
I didn’t quite pull this one off, but I am going to keep thinking about it! http://poetry.disorderedcosmos.com/2010/04/napowrimo-14-breathing/
Attempted a combo today. Took the prompt of Poetic Asides (Write a love poem – anti love poem) to write a cleave poem. So it is the love – anti love cleave poem. Here is ‘Loves Me – Loves Me Not’ – http://umaathreya.blogsome.com/2010/04/14/loves-me-loves-me-not/
This was a hard one!
Double Standards 2
credit to Jaelle for the clever edit
finals are wearing on me and it shows in this poem, my cleave does not make much sense but i tried!
The feeling of anxiety____an ever present force
Envelopes my core_______so familiar with my being
As I trek to the front of the class____my heart, pounds, relentlessly.
What should I do________i wonder to myself
And then it dawns_______i am naked.
Sable replied:
April 14th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Good one!