WHICH 3 BOOKS CHANGED YOUR LIFE? HOW DID THEY FIND YOU?

What are 3 books that changed your life? Why? How did these books "find" you?

Some books are highly entertaining and memorable. This question, however, asks you to dig deeper into the epiphanies and revelations of particular stories that have inspired you.

My three books are:
1. "Mans Search for Meaning" by Dr. Victor Frankl
2. "Wizard of Oz" by Frank L. Baum
3. "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

"Mans Search for Meaning" was given to me by my boss at a time when I was extremely disheartened and ill. Dr. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, explores which mental fortitudes enabled prisoners to survive. This book reminds me of my favorite quote, which is taped to my fridge. "In the absence of certainty, there is always hope."

"Wizard of Oz" is my favorite fairy tale because it reminds us that there's no place like home, that we already possess all the gifts we need to craft an amazing life, and that women will do anything for ruby slippers!

"Flowers for Algernon" was required reading in 7th grade. The writer uses a masterful style of compiling a diary that shows the progression of a scientific experiment conducted on a man of very limited intellectual capacity. The experiment is a success, raising his I.Q. from drastic lows to astronomical heights. The subject grows his mind all the way to a state of nirvana. This book gives me hope that God reaches from His omnipotent realm down to our low state of being. The story begs us to question how much knowledge is truly necessary in order to reach Him.

There are many other books that have inspired our writing style, entertained us, and helped inspire us to remove our writer's blocks. On your list of top three books, do you notice that not only have they influenced the direction of your core values, they have also given you direction in your writing style?

As writers, we must remember to treasure those unique tomes that moved our spirits. If you need motivation to get past a writer's block, re-read your top three books.

Keep writing and keep sharing! - Cronin Detzz

FIBONACCI POETRY

FIBONACCI – not your father’s haiku

General Motors tried to inspire a younger demographic with the catchy tagline of “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.”  I’d like to think that a Fibonacci poem is not your father’s haiku!  A Haiku has a mathematically metered number of syllables in three lines, using a count of 5, 7, 5.  Similarly, a Tanka uses the measure of 5-7-5-7-7.  Below is an example, written when I was about sixteen years old:

LONELY TANKA

the wound is so Deep

it will scar your Memory

alone and Empty.

even after she leaves You

her unwanted stench Lingers

The Fibonacci sequence adds each subsequent number as the sum of the previous two numbers: 0 + 1 =1, 1 + 1=2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, and so on.  This mathematical sequence occurs in nature, music, science, geometry, and art, and has also been applied to poetry.  The Fibonacci poem uses the following number of syllables per line:  1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.

Below is a great example, used with permission by poet Narendra Rai:

Morn

As

It’s born

Brings with

Itself your aroma

That gives me hope

To hold you in my arms one day

Another mathematical approach to poetry can be found in an etheree, which contains lines of syllables in numerical sequence from 1 to 10.  I tried my hand at a reverse etheree:

BLACK DREAMS

1  In

2  my dream,

3  I reach out

4  Wailing, weeping,

5  the darkness creeping

6  heart beating and bleeding

7  growing numb as senses pale

8  Blackened by burning betrayal,

9  You enjoy my screaming as I drown

10 You even help the demons hold me down

9   But wait, here is the craziest twist

8   you let me live to make it last

7   pulling me into your past

6   you laugh as my blood drips

5   licking fingertips

4   luminous scream

3  ruinous,

2  haunting

1  dream

Writing in this style is more difficult than it looks!  Many poems typically have four to eight syllables per line, and in poetry, each line stands alone to allow the reader to pause.  Challenge yourself and try this art form.  You can share your poetry on this blog or you can share on my Facebook wall, just search “Cronin Detzz.”

Keep writing and keep sharing!  - Cronin Detzz