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New Content

In order to mark our relaunch, we will be posting new poetry and fiction every day for the first week.  So far, we’ve had stories from Rita Crossley and Samuel Wood, plus poetry from Denny E. Marshall and Robert William Shmigelsky with more coming.

Launch Announcement

It’s official! We have launched the brand new Abandoned Towers website.  If this is your first time here, welcome!  If you’re a returning visitor, welcome and we hope that your experience is even better. Here are some things that I would like to point your attention toward: Our new submission process The inaugural contest announcement [...]

The Bard

Every January, a strange, ritualistic phenomenon occurs.  It consists of a shrieking, wailing soundtrack, eerie chanting in a language which is barely recognizable as English, the consumption of organ meats ground into a mealy dish and the sudden assumption of ritual garments of eye-searing patterns and men in skirts. I refer of course, to Robbie [...]

Just About There…

All of the content which was previously hosted in a Blogger blog at Blogspot has now been incorporated into this location.  Here’s a summary of some of the changes which have taken place over the last few weeks: consolidation of blog content going from 58 to 227 posts here change in the look of the [...]

The Doorway

A wasteland of drifting sand, Choking weeds and tripping vines Encompassed by a featureless wall. Overhead a dust-dimmed sun Marks the shadows of stragglers below. Stumbling people with unseeing eyes Struggle through a dying waste, Their bleeding hands groping along the cold wall, Blinded by ignorance, Unable to verbalize what they search for. A fellow [...]

Prompts: Love and Madness, Great Fodder for a Good Story or Two!

With Valentine’s Day just passed, hopefully you have shown enough forethought to have given your loved one some heartfelt token of your esteem such that you are not now dwelling in the proverbial (and let us hope it is no more than that) doghouse. But if you happen to find yourself in that most sorrowful [...]

Words

Words Spin and tumble in my head, Churning, spinning, Building pressure like steam in a kettle, Seeking escape. Words Buzzing in my brain Like a wasp on a window, Watching with alien malevolence Waiting for me to approach, To smother or smash into complacency, Only to be stung as the words demand release. Words Burning [...]

Writing Poetry: Revision

If you pick up nothing else in this blog, remember this, “Poetry is the art of revision.” Yes, sometimes, very rarely, a poem will come whole. But that only will happen if your mind is open to the muse, the moment. I also believe that you must get the words on the paper when they [...]

Writing Poetry: Using the Five Senses

In my last posting on showing not telling, I mentioned that it is easier to show if you use more than one sense. This blog post is on using the senses, all five: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. We all experience the world through our senses. Use that to your advantage when writing poetry. Sight [...]

Writing Poetry: Show Don’t Tell

Howdy gang, in my last blog I talked about ‘abstracts’ being ‘tell’ not ‘show’, let me talk about showing not telling. It’s likely a cliché to say show don’t tell, but maybe we all need to be reminded of it. If someone came into the room and said, “There’s a dinosaur outside,” maybe we’d believe [...]

Writing Poetry: Abstracts

Hi gang, today’s poetry blog is on ‘abstracts.’ What is an abstract: dictionary – a word denoting a quality or intangible rather than a concrete object. To do with existing in thought rather than matter. Ezra Pound once said, “Go in fear of abstracts.” As a poet and poetry teacher, he disliked the use of [...]

Writing Poetry: Endings and Closings

My last blog was openings, so let me discuss: Closings and endings – in poetry ‘closures’ and ‘endings’ are not quite the same thing. Most poems have closure; the poem wraps up the problem discussed, resolves the conflicts, it closes the rhythm, the sound, the diction. Some poems end; the poem seems to just stop, [...]

Writing Poetry: Openings

Hi folks, here’s another blog on my poetry theories.   Enjoy. Openings – The beginnings of poems, the first lines, are called openings. Carl Sandburg once wrote, “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door…” Probably even more than in a novel or news article, the beginning of a poem, the opening, must make [...]

Writing Poetry: Linebreaks

Linebreaks Poetry lines do not end by accident. The poet determines the length of each line. With what ever else I say, you can break your lines where ever you wish, but line breaks are a poetic device why not use them for your advantage. Before I get to deep into line breaks, I’ll mention [...]

Writing Poetry: Use of Details

Howdy folks, Jim Fowler again with another blog on writing poetry. Have fun with it. Details in poetry – Many people think poetry is too hard. It takes too much effort to understand. It’s mysterious. There are many reasons for that, but I’ll discuss two for a moment. They were taught in school that poems [...]

Writing Poetry: The Importance of Sounds

Here I am again folks, another blog post on the art of writing poetry. This week – Sounds in Poetry Poetry is an aural art form. (In both the definitions). Poetry is made for the ear. Here’s the first three and a half lines of Denise Levertov’s “Night on Hatchet Cove,” (fm; Poems 1960-1967 New [...]

Writing Poetry: Introduction

Hi folks, I’m going to be throwing out blogs on what I think of poetry and how to write poetry. I’ve been having poems published for over fifteen years and been teaching poetry for nearly ten. I edited an anthology of poetry “Heartbeat of New England” (Tiger Moon Productions, 2000). Yes, much of this you can [...]

Poem: Windshield

Hi folks, Jim Fowler back again with another poem. This one was originally published in Pine Island Journal. This one was written while i was attending the Poetry Festival at The Frost Place, Franconia, NH. Enjoy. Windshield Two moths spiral upward in my headlights. I stop to keep from hitting them. I’ve launched jets off [...]

Prose Poem: They Want Them Back

Hi gang, Jim Fowler here again with a new poem, a prose poem. This poem originally appeared in Diner. My prose poems are very surreal but I am also literal, so I try to keep the world of the poem as straightforward as possible, but it is a different world. Enjoy. They Want Them Back In [...]

Here Again with Another Poem

Hi gang, Jim Fowler here again with another poem. This one first appears in Animus #19. I am a Vietnam and Desert Storm vet. The second Iraq war brought back many memories. Here’s a poem. Years Later, Thinking of the Invasion of Iraq I sip my Earl Grey, set the cup on the table, lean back in [...]

Prose Poem: Renowned

Hi folks, here’s a prose poem that first appeared in Space and Time magazine. Have fun reading it, I did writing it.     Renowned The atom, that received the first blue ribbon for existing, still exists. After the awards banquet, the atom caught the red-eye on Big Bang Air, its ribbon around what it calls a [...]

Prose Poem: Silver Coin

Hi folks, here’s a new prose poem. This originally was published in The Cold River Review. This is very surreal. The rest you can figure out. Jim Silver Coin In our cave, I dance around the dying fire, chant your name backwards and wave a mammoth’s tibia. I need you to create a cloud shaped like [...]

Poem: Hike 10/6/09

Howdy gang, here’s a new poem. I hike in the woods alone a lot and having been educated as an environmentalist, I touch, tear into, study or talk to everything. My wife hates to go with me because of that tendency. Enjoy the poem Hike 10/6/09 Mile one The wind, the western sun, arrange the [...]

Announcing the Release of Poet Burgess Needle’s New Collection

Diminuendo Press is proud to announce the release of a wonderful new book of poetry by Burgess Needle. Burgess Needle is inspired by the natural wonders of our planet, the virtuosity of contemporary poetry, love, friendship and the two-edged sword of 21st century technology. After earning a degree at the University of Massachusetts, Burgess joined [...]

Poem: Corridors

Howdy folks, Jim Fowler back again with a new poem. It’s a night poem, and very surreal. Hope you enjoy. One thought of explanation, though I dislike doing that, i lived in Japan for twenty years, so some of their myths make their way into my poems. Werefoxes are a very popular myth. Vixens who [...]

Poem: Villanelle for My Lady

Hi gang, sorry, I’ve been a little out of touch lately, but I’m back. This poem originally appeared in New England Writer’s Network Magazine. Most readers think it’s about my wife, but I had thought it was about nature, but whatever… It makes no difference who it ended up for, I think it works. NEWR, when they [...]

Response to Robert Frost’s “Mowing”

Hi gang, JimF here again. This month i’m posting a poem that was published in NEWN. I’ve read a lot of Robert Frost and one of his poems, “Mowing” has always bothered me, in that he refers to the tool as a ‘scythe’ When I was growing up, my father called it a ‘scythe-and-snath’ as [...]

Prose Poem: Snagged

Hi gang, Jim Fowler here again. This month, I’m going to my surreal side. Here’s a prose poem which first appeared in Diner. I tend to rewrite many, many times, until the poem tells me what it wants to say. As other poets have called it, I write the poem from my unconscious side and edit [...]

A Haibun: New Places

Hi folks, Jim Fowler here again. This month I have a different form. A haibun. A mix of prose poem and haiku. I’ve had good luck with these. This particular one was published in Frogpond the Haiku Society of America’s journal, issue Winter 07. The trick is to have as big a leap from the prose to [...]

Poetry and Manic-Depression

At my personal blog I just posted a piece on manic-depression and poetry. Poets suffer from manic-depression more than other artists, some reasons for which I offer. My new book, “Unexpected Light,” explores manic-depression among other subjects. In fact, portions of the book were reconstituted from a previous ms. called “Sine Wave,” which was devoted to the experience [...]

A Prose Poem: Storm

Hi folks, I, James Fowler, have been seriously writing poetry for fifteen or so years and being published for twelve. I write in many genres and forms becuase I believe the poem itself dictates what form it wants, though in my rewrites (many) I try the poem in prose poem, iambics, etc. Here is a [...]

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