This poem, the genesis of which I described in an earlier post, is an example of how to embellish your poetry with “junk and stuff” you can easily find on the internet. Hyperlinks are easy, and while they might take your reader away from your poem temporarily, they might also provide context or audience to a poem that might enjoy a little of both.

Ode to an Oddball Winter

A giant runaway snowball
crashed into a college dorm.
Nothing about this winter
fits the norm.

Floodwaters rise in England
taking lives and homes –
Eliot’s strong brown god
groans.

Drought in California!
Farmers and ranchers fear,
gardeners, fishermen, skiers
stow their gear.

Brutal ice in Georgia
cancels Valentine’s Day.
Power’s out, trees are lost,
skies are gray.

Winter comes to all;
none are spared its pain.
Some will find its beauty
and love again.

Darkness threatens the spirit,
but shivering warms the blood.
Daily the light shines longer on
first bud.

Let’s write a poem for pleasure,
tell a story to coax a smile,
sing a song to offer solace,
survive in style.

If you’re writing a poem to enter in the Cupertino Library’s Silicon Valley Reads Poetry Contest, this is one way to get your poem to speak both on the page and in the techno-sphere.

Another place to explore, if you want ideas for how to combine poetry and other media, I suggest you visit The Poetry Storehouse. They have a host of videos that use poetry and I encourage browsing there. A “remix” I did of Erica Goss’s poem “Afternoon in the Shape of a Pear” is another type of poem + technology fun. I am still drawn more to collage than to video, but the field is wide open. Go for it!