CHRIS RICE COOPER BLOG is ART and HUMANITY Framed In The PhotoFeature Story

CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper/fiction writer, poet, photographer, painter. CRC Blog is an INCLUSIVE & NON-PROFIT BLOG acknowledging ALL voices, ALL individuals, ALL political views, ALL philosophies, ALL religions including Islamism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Agnosticism, Atheism. She has a B.S. in Criminal Justice & completed her workshops required for her Master’s in Creative Writing. She lives in St. Louis. CRC website http://chrisricecooper.com/

Friday, March 30, 2018

#14 Backstory of the Poem - Ibrahim Honjo's "Colors"

Chris Rice Cooper

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/christalann.ricecooper

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***This is the fourteenth in a never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific poem. All of the BACKSTORY OF THE POEM series links are posted at the end of this piece.

Backstory of the Poem

“Colors”

by Ibrahim Honjo

ibrahimhonjo@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/ibrahim.honjo

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I developed the first draft while driving to work one morning. Every time I stopped at a red light I quickly scribbled down what was in my head until the next red light. Sometimes ideas for poems come like this to me and this is the only way to keep the idea alive. Sometimes I’ll be thinking of different things and an idea sparks in my head for a poem; this is what happened with this poem. I finished this poem in my car at the office parking lot before work that day.

When I came home I typed up this poem into the computer. I corrected it along the way while putting it into the computer. I re-read it when I finished typing it so I could fix the mistakes, and try to replace some words for better ones. A week later I went back to the poem and tried to improve it as much as I could again. Before I decided to publish it I read it again several times and make sure everything sounds right.

Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail? When the idea came to me I was sitting in my red car about one kilometre away from my house. I was about nine kilometres away from my office in the city. Driving there I passed so many different buildings, cars, and people. Being on the move it’s difficult to describe something in great detail. Everything goes in fast motion like the way my poem came to my head. I didn’t have time to look at my surroundings I wanted to keep the idea alive. (Right Ibrahim Honjo in his red car in March of 2018)

What month and year did you start writing this poem? It was February of 2007 when I wrote this poem. (Left Ibrahim Honjo at a poetry event in 2007)

How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) My first draft was done on paper with pen. My second one was done on a computer that went through many phases of revising. I edited this poem from February of 2007 and I was satisfied with the poem in March of 2011. Since I wrote all my poems first draft on a tiny piece of pocket sized paper, it is difficult to track where I filed them. My handwriting is extremely illegible for other people. I alone have a difficult time reading what I wrote which frustrates me and tends to lead to me throwing the papers away once they’re on the computer. I keep everything in my computer so it is easy to read for everyone and easy to edit. In my lifetime of writing I have learned that a poem is never finished. Sometimes, after I publish a book I go back and find words that I would’ve liked to change and I do so in my manuscript.

Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us?  I feel that this question was also answered in question four.

What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I want readers to carefully read the entire poem and to take these verses as a message:

let love break from its own shell  and flow from your poem  flow from your picture  let the Earth and space hug each other firmly like the two of us

let the universe love the Earth  so that love can break down all barriers

I would like to break circles and to destroy boundaries we are all winners  a test of love and geometry and the test of tolerance (Above Right - artwork attributed to Ibrahim Honjo)

Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? This entire poem is kind of emotional, but the emotions cannot kill our heart. The best part of the entire poem I presented under question number six. I wrote this poem because I want to tell people what we all almost forget in our lives, and we don’t care about it enough or many people don’t care at all. (Left artwork attributed to Ibrahim Honjo)

Has this poem been published before? And if so where? Yes. This poem was published online in several poetry groups and on my Facebook timeline. It was also published in my book “Poems didn’t want to write, some other dreams” 2011.

Anything you would like to add? Your blog is really excellent and very interesting. I love it. I’m very happy to be part of your project. Thank you for this opportunity. Congratulations dear Cristy and good luck on your way. (Left Photo attributed to Ibrahim Honjo)

COLOURS

I am a black cloud

You are an angel 

You are a black cloud

I am an angel

We are from the universe 

We are hugging each other without end

Somewhere between the beginning

and the end 

Some other eyes are around us 

And between us 

For some reason

Look at me my angel

I am red 

You are green 

I am yellow

You are blue 

Do we have enough magic arrows

To protect this world from itself

This is new geometry 

Everything belongs to circles 

Even you and me 

I have encompassed you

with the circle of my hands  

the measurement is two feet   

imagine red-black  

black and green

black and blue

blue-yellow  

dancing tango  

let’s dance too  

here in the moonlight to make millions of circles

in the centre of the globe

let’s dance

so that we scatter love 

and its benefits 

and the Earth 

and the universe

with the speed of light

let love break from its own shell  

and flow from your poem  

flow from your picture

let the Earth and space hug each other

firmly like the two of us  

let the universe love the Earth  

so that love can break down all barriers  

I would like to break circles

and to destroy boundaries

we are all winners

a test of love and geometry 

and the test of tolerance

Ibrahim Honjo was born in 1948 in the former Yugoslavia. Since January 1995 he has lived in Canada.  Honjo is a poet-writer, sculptor, painter, photographer, and property manager who writes in his native language and in English. His work has appeared in many magazines, newspapers, and on radio stations in Yugoslavia where he worked as an economist and journalist. He was also a book editor; newspapers editor; marketing director; and organizer of many poetry events and festivals. His poems have also been published in several magazines and radio stations in Canada and USA.

He is the author of 25 published books and one book with another author. His work is represented in more than 20 anthologies. Some of his poems have been translated into: Italian, Spanish, Korean, Slovenian, Bahsa and German. 

Honjo received several prizes for his poetry: - Award for book “Stone to stone” 1976. Yugoslavia - Word poetry life time Achievement Award 2010, Canada - Several editors’ awards and awards for excellence in Canada and US - Pentasi B Award 2016, Ghana - Several awards in India 2016 - Award R.M.P 2017. Morocco

He attended to: - Reckoning 2007, an appraisal of BC writing & publishing, Vancouver, Canada. - Word on the Street (National Book and magazine festival) 2009 Vancouver. - Africa Day Festival 2007 and 2008 - Pandora’s Summer Dream Festival Vancouver- Denman Car free festival Vancouver - At least 20 poetry festivals in former Yugoslavia.(1971 – 1991.) - Poetry Festival Pentasi B, Accra, Ghana.2016 - Poetry festival in Jaipur India 2016 - Writers conference in Udaipur India 2016 - Poetry festival Rabat Morocco 2017.

001 December 29, 2017

Margo Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem.html

002 January 08, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake Café”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem.html

003 January 12, 2018

Barbara Crooker’s “Orange”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem_12.html

004 January 22, 2018

Sonia Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-fourth-installment-of-new-crc-blog.html