Poetics Serendipity

9:18 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to If You Got It sung by Gordon Lightfoot

Hi, everyone. My brain has been stalling all morning. Not on other things, just this post. I have hauled it squealing and whining and we are here.

1] The first link is to a wonderful interview with poet Dana Gioia, in The Writer. Titled ‘Collaborating With Language’, Gioia talks about his process for writing. Reading his responses to the questions put to him is like having a mini-workshop.

2] The second link, I found from poet James Brush. I was going to link to his page, when I realised that was just so you can link to where we want to end up. It seemed silly. So credit to James and here’s a direct link to The Poetry Storehouse. I’m going to use the same paragraph he chose, because it’s pretty explanatory:

The Poetry Storehouse is an effort to promote new forms and delivery methods for page-poetry by creating a repository of freely-available high-quality contemporary page-poetry for those multimedia collaborative artists who may sometimes be stymied in their work by copyright and other restrictions. Our main mission is to collect and showcase poem texts and, in some instances, audio recordings of those texts. It is our hope that those texts will serve as inspiration or raw material for other artistic creations in different media.

Go on over. You might recognise a couple of the poets who have sent in their poems. Yes, James is the grackle man, for those who were around when he published the chapbook. Here’s a link to his blog, should you want to wander around: Coyote Mercury.

3] Author Orna Ross has a post on freewriting that is worth a read: F-R-E-E Writing: Using Images to Release Your Creativity. She talks about the importance of detail through sensory imagery.

Okay, everyone, I hear the engines revving. Robert Lee Brewer’s PAD Chapbook Challenge [see guidelines] and NaNoWriMo [see my post: All Things NaNoWriMo for links] begin tomorrow. Good luck to all and I shall cheer you on from the sidelines.

I shall see you tomorrow [if you lift your pen from paper long enough] at the week’s roundup of prompts; next Tuesday for the first of our narrative prompts; and next Thursday for links.

Happy writing, all.

 

Tympani, Tambourines, and Toots: Tuesday Tryouts

8:53 a.m. — Atlanta

Whew! That was close. I had started in on genealogy and once that happens I don’t lift my head for several hours. Hello all! In a continuation of stress-free prompts, let’s try a musical prompt.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be musical, and, if you like this exercise, you can use it anytime you are feeling sluggish with your writing. This accesses a different part of our brains, or our brains think it does, and happily respond. I first tried this a year ago, when going through the different senses, on Tuesday Tryouts.

The only rule: no words [in the music]. You don’t want someone else’s words suggesting a story to you. I recommend pieces roughly four minutes long;  if you have a longer piece, set a timer, or if you have been grabbed by inspiration, write on. This is a slightly different take on a freewrite. Like freewriting, you are not worrying about form, or grammar, or sense. You may find a story as you write. I often write scenes my mind sees when listening to a piece, but if what you get is a collection of lines, or images, that’s wonderful. More resources for your pool.

Ideally, don’t mention the music. That’s your spark. But, if you read ViV’s and go to Yousei’s link and read hers you will see a second option.

Below, I have included links to a couple of pieces, to get you started. Get your pen and paper ready. Start the music and start writing. Do not stop. What do you hear, see, smell, taste, feel in the music? If you need to keep writing after the music stops, do so. In your music choices, try for different tempos and types.

And, no looking at the accompanying videos. You don’t want someone else’s images, before you have a chance to form your own. Click on link, write.

Vienna Horns

Fur Elise — Beethoven

Vivaldi Four Seasons — Winter

Brandenburg Concertos — Bach 

Remember to post a link to your poem, or to leave the poem itself in comments, if you have no place to publish the poem. Revisit and read other poems. The greatest fun I have is reading the diversity of responses to the same prompt.

I shall see you Friday for the prompt roundup, and Tuesday for another visual prompt. Yep! I am keeping things easy-going for now.

Happy writing, all.

 

Thursday Thoughts: Freeverse + Freewriting

9:57 a.m. — Walnut Creek

Hello, gang. We have a reader suggestion today, from Viv: a discussion of freewriting, to which I added free verse, as there are people who confuse the two.

First, let’s deal with free verse. It’s not free. What the people who coined the term meant was free of metre and end rhyme. Everything else that goes into writing a strong poem still comes into play and, because we have taken metre and end rhymes out, we have to be more conscious of where we break the lines and of internal rhyme. And, the poem still needs a rhythm that works. Hmmm. I’m beginning to think we should rename it. If you missed the post on free verse over at One Stop Poetry it’s well-worth visiting and reading. An excellent essay on free verse.

Freewriting is free of all constraints. It is a strategy that works for many people [not me…sigh] either as a kickstart or a restart. When I began my blog last year, I wrote about it. Here, updated, is what I said:

Almost any writer on writing will tell you: write write write do not stop write do not edit write do not stop write write write. The problem most of us have is that we have a self-censor sitting on one of our shoulders. This censor says That sounds silly. That’s not grammatical. What kind of syntax is that? Did you put a comma in there? Did you spell that long word correctly? What kind of image is that? It doesn’t make sense. Enough of that and you will talk yourself into not writing.

If your mind goes blank because you are trying so hard not to self-censor, or your mind just goes blank, don’t stop. Keep writing the last word you wrote over and over again. Your brain won’t like that and will kick back in. The surrealist writers believed that they had to reach a state beyond reality in order to find and write that which is true. What we call freewriting developed from them.

Ideally you want to write several pages without stopping. If you can do that you will find when you go back through that your mind and hand have taken you down many paths. You can choose one of the paths to follow knowingly, or choose words and phrases that speak to you and pull them out as a seed to a possible poem.

Rather than setting a time, I have found it easier to set yourself a number of pages. If you have never done this before, start with two pages and write. If it will help, pick a topic, but then don’t worry or panic if you notice that instead of writing about whales, you are writing about hot air balloons. Your brain made some kind of connection. Go with it. It may take you wondrous places.

Things not to worry about: grammar, spelling, sense, punctuation. That can all come later. Use what you are most comfortable with: computer, pen, pencil. Above all: if handwriting, do not stop the movement of your hand. Studies have found a direct correlation with the movement of the hand and creativity. Computer people, don’t panic. While the creative process works differently, these studies do not mean you have to change your modus operandi. When freewriting if you hit a stop point hit any key and keep it up until your brain starts again.

The object of freewriting is not to come up with a poem but to loosen the creative juices; if you get a poem from the process = bonus.

Remember: You need to write before you can write well. You need to have written something before you can worry about revision. You have to write before you can craft.

Let’s start with that and if you want me to address a specific aspect, ask. I can already see a couple of areas we can delve into further, but this post is long enough.

I will see you tomorrow for the week’s roundup of prompts; Tuesday for the next form; and next Thursday is open so far. If anyone has a suggestion, an idea they want me to discourse on, please let me know. Writing on reader generated topics has quickly become something I look forward to working on. Thank you, Viv, for this one.

Happy writing all.

 

Tuesday Tryouts: Something Old, Something New

9:50 a.m. — Walnut Creek

Hello, dear readers. I am a trifle late, but was hoping the fuzziness enveloping my brain would disappear. Woke up with a migraine and am now feeling quite lightheaded. As a result you get another week’s grace before I toss you in the deepend with the next form, because I need a fully working brain to explain it.

Short and sweet:

Jot down four lists: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Try for at least six items per category. Remember that you can be metaphorical as well as literal. You can be as creative and imaginative and as out of the box as you would like.

Take one item from each list and use the four in a poem. Allow the four to suggest your focus. Write in free verse or start shifting back into form mode by using one of the ones we have gone over in the past few weeks, or another form that you know.

If you wonder ‘Can I?’ The answer is ‘Yes’.

Remember to post a link so I, and others, can enjoy your poem. I shall see you Thursday for thoughts on freewriting and free verse; Friday, for the roundup; and next Tuesday, when, hopefully, I shall present you another form.

Happy writing, all.

 

Poem in Response to Wordle #12

This was even more fun than it already is, as I rarely have a poem until I have thrashed around a day or two. And I used the words as is, if you count the a- added to buzz!

Wordle 12

A poem fluttered
when I saw the words,
a whim of thought,
logic twisted, instinct
a-buzz.  I don’t resist
the river galloping
through my world.

The Sunday Whirl‘s wordle — even if you don’t write, stop by and read some of the results. I’m off to read the early entries.

See you tomorrow for the next form; Thursday for a discussion of freewriting; and Friday for the week’s roundup of prompts.

 

Friday Freeforall: Prompts, Poem a Days, and Giveaways

10:19 am — Atlanta

Hello all! I’m running late today. Had a dentist appointment this morning and am now sitting here with numb gums and 800 mg of ibuprofen. I will keep this short, as many people do not need or want to be flooded with exercises this month. I have picked the prompts that are the most interesting, or fun, or have the most possibilities. I will run through the prompts first and then give you links to the happenings around the poetry month sites.

First up is Carry On Tuesday which gives us two clichéd phrases, but I included it because often if we kick off with the cliché and freewrite for a while, we come up with something. Then, you can remove the clichéd phrase unless deliberately including it because it is a cliché. Go on over and take a look and see if something sparks. The blog, as always, includes links to hear or see the phrase in context.

Next, Big Tent Poetry, which, if you were here last week, you will remember is participating in the poem a day by giving us seven prompts each week. Here are the first three for this week: 1. Write about a broken window. 2. Write about something that no longer exists. 3. Write a poem with lungs in it. For the rest, visit the circus.

I don’t always include Poets & Writers, but their post this week is intriguing and fun. They ask us to, Take a cue from Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style, which tells a single narrative in ninety-nine ways, and write a poem based on what happened just after you got up this morning. Then use one or more of these filters to revise the poem: I do not include the filters they suggest. To see what they are [you know you are curious, even if you aren’t going to write a poem] visit the site.

How complete do you often feel about the poems you write? We know that’s not likely all black or white, each poem stands on its’ own. And maybe a poem can just be as it is – without a judge or jury speaking up. But how is it for you as a writer? That’s the question here. How do poems “arrive” for you? That’s how We Write Poems starts its prompt. Head over to read the rest. The topic of the how of writing poetry fascinates most poets. Here’s a chance to write about it. I already know I’ll post on this one.

For the month, I have an exciting site for you to visit: Inkseeds. Jennie Paige is posting detailed exercises that explore our personal mythologies. Here is a sample from today’s prompt: Sometimes we are so immersed in the details our personal mythology that our own worldview and story structures become invisible to us, much as a flighted bird doesn’t for a moment consider the air that it moves through. But our personal stories do not evolve in isolation – we are always in the context of the grander scheme, the larger lives of the groups we belong to. Today’s prompt asks us to step back out of ourselves for a while, to notice and to honor the things that we have inherited from those who have gone before us. I encourage you to visit and explore her site. So far we have dealt with water, earth, personae, and dreams.

This is already longer than I had planned, so I shall give you the link to my last Friday’s blog, which contains links for a couple of Poem a Day sites and the links for the Great Poetry Giveaway.

If you know anyone who would be interested in any of this, take a second to click any of the buttons below. I shall see you again Tuesday, for Acrostics Part 2, and next Thursday for the rest of the story on the no no words for writers. Have a wonderful weekend. Happy Writing.

 

Friday Freeforall

8:28 am, Friday – Atlanta

Here we go with this week’s roundup of prompts and exercises for your delectation.

We start with The Poetry Tow Truck. Donna asks us to try channel surfing again but with a different perspective: Choose a program and watch for at least five minutes. (Or go nuts. Watch the whole thing. ) Try to take your focus away from the people, and therefore away from their clothing, accessories, etc. that dominate a scene. Look into the background and write down what you see there, as many details as you can. Go to the site for an example of what she collected and what she did with her results.

At Writer’s Island the word of the week is foretell. We are asked to look into the future and…well, you will have to stop by the island for the rest of the prompt.

We may lose Carry on Tuesday, which would be a shame. No other site has a prompt like theirs. However, dwindling numbers of responses is giving the creator pause. Drop by and read what Keith has to say. His possibly last prompt is a line from Romeo and Juliet, apt for the site, if indeed it is the last time: “Parting is such sweet sorrow”. To read the line in context and hear it read visit the site.

Our single word sites give us food on Sunday Scribblings, top at One Single Impression [plus illustration], and at Three Word Wednesday: figure, juicy, and stress. Stop by for the definitions as they have a particularly good source.

For those of you who like photo prompts, you will find them each Sunday at Scribble & Scatter. Susan May James also accepts submissions of poems, or stories, that go with the photographs, for a book she plans to publish once she has collected one for each week of the year.

In the Big Tent they tell us: This week is your chance to create your own festival, holiday or annual celebration, or to write the anti- of any of them — real or imagined — as a poem. Visit them for their suggested possibilities and maybe some virtual popcorn.

At Jingle Poetry’s Poetry Potluck the words they give us are: our home, temple, and sanctum. Remember that the creators include an inspirational video to accompany their word choices. Next week’s choices sound like fun : Cartoons, Sci-fi, and Super Powers.

I love the illustration at Magpie Tales, this week. My mind started running in several directions as soon as it saw the picture, so check it out.

The letter of the week at ABC Wednesday is: Today is the F Day! I’m here to help Facilitate your Fantastic entry! Now go over and read the rest of the alliterated paragraph.

Do you have a guardian angel? Go to We Write Poems to read their prompt, which always gives possible paths we might travel down.

Visit Poets United just for the gorgeous photographs of lemons, then stay to read the prompt. There are a lot of possibilities with lemons…

The prompt at Free Write Friday has not been changed, but if you haven’t had a chance to visit, head over that way. It’s useful, if you feel like writing but aren’t quite there with a poem. If they haven’t changed by next week, we’ll give them a rest for a while.

That’s it for this week. I hope you have a restful , or playful, weekend, and certainly a writing one. See you Tuesday for Dialogue Poems, and Thursday for more on nouns.

 

Tuesday Tryouts: Try This

8:01 am, Tuesday, 15 February, 2011 – Atlanta

I did not plan this. It is a coincidence that we end up with an exercise to do with love, this week of all weeks. I have my exercises in an order, and so it goes. I considered shifting it to next week, but it’s not quite so tidy, so I will give you an option.

1] LOVE. Think of someone/something you love. It can be a person, someone you know, or don’t – think movie star, or singer, world leader…remember that love has many definitions and they aren’t all the hearts and flowers kind. Think friendships, family, platonic…It can be about your favourite food, place, song, pet. Anything, but read the rules below.

Take six minutes. Freewrite about your love for it WITHOUT using terms of endearment, or the word love/like/adore/or any other abstract synonym. This is trickier than it sounds, but can result in a strong poem.

Stroke/Rewrite as poem.

Option:

2] List as many sport’s terms as you can. Use as many sports metaphors [run with, strike out, hit the mark, team player, foul] as you can to describe an experience such as shopping, or an evening out.

Then describe the same experience, replacing the sports metaphors with another category such as dance [side-stepping, waltzing, leading, following, leaping] or food [digest, half-baked, gel, stew, meaty, fishy], after first listing as many terms as you associate with your chosen category.

Or, describe yourself as a writer in terms of a particular sport [or metaphor of your choice].

I know: these are both difficult. I figure you have reached the point, those who are new writers, to take on something more challenging. Those who are more seasoned writers can play. Do both. Metaphor is fun.

Bonus: A poem by Sylvia Plath, titled “Metaphors”. Those who don’t know this poem, every line is a metaphor, as is the whole poem. Everything adds up.

Metaphors

I’m a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.
Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

Sylvia Plath

Please do post a link in the comments if you write a poem from these exercises. I love to see the results that grow out of the exercises I set.

See you Thursday, with a poem in hand, preferably one of the metaphor poems, to start a series of posts on revision.

All images from OCAL

 

Tuesday Tryouts: More Than a Comparison

8:20 am, Tuesday, 8 February, 2011 – Atlanta

Today, I would like you to do two final metaphors and, for the purpose of Thursday’s discussion of parts of speech, turn one of these pieces into a poem [unless you wrote right into one].

Building:

Describe a building as seen by a man whose son has just died in a war.
Do not mention the son, war, death, or the old man doing the seeing.

Freewrite in prose (or poetry if you have been inspired in that direction).

In order to accomplish the prompt, what did you have to do? Articulate it to yourself.

Creating a metaphor …
simile: indirect comparison? metaphor: direct comparison?
NO! A metaphor provides the identification of two unlike things.
x=y.
where a simile compares two things which are similar in nature.

Metaphor: from the Greek metafora: to transfer to. When using a metaphor, you are transferring the properties of one thing to another:  “Juliet is the sun”. Not Juliet is like the sun, hot, bright, yellow…but Juliet IS the sun, the centre of Romeo’s universe, the giver of life and nurture.

Lake:

Describe a lake, or other natural scene, as seen by a teenager who has just killed someone.
Do not mention the person killed, death, or the teenager doing the seeing.

Freewrite in prose (or poetry if you have been inspired in that direction).

No pretty images for the post, to not interfere with your own images. I shall see you Thursday, poem in hand, ready to begin a revision process.

 

Tuesday Tryouts: Metaphor This

8:12 am, Tuesday 1 February, 2011 – Atlanta

Hello! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I am recovering from visitors. They were less exhausting in my youth.

Today’s exercise is a lot of fun and I suggest you try several. You may or may not end up with a poem, but if you have trouble with metaphor, this will take you a long way to overcoming it. I have no images to decorate this post because I don’t want to suggest anything [even a clipart version] to your brain. The imagery needs to be all yours.

This week we will take comparison further.

Pick one of the below and freewrite. Do another…and one more?

Describe the night as seen by a young (wo)man whose first child has just been born. Do not mention birth, children, or the parent doing the seeing.

Describe a body of water as seen by a teenager contemplating suicide. Do not mention death, suicide, or the teenager doing the seeing.

Describe a bridge as seen by a middle-aged adult who just can’t seem to do well in her job. Do not mention school or the adult doing the seeing.

Describe a dog or a cat as seen by a child whose parent has just done something awful. Do not mention the parent, what the parent did, or the child doing the seeing.

Describe a forest, or some other natural scene, as seen by a woman whose detested husband has just died [yes, you can switch genders]. Do not mention the husband, the death, or the woman doing the seeing.

The trick is to accomplish the exercise without resorting to cliche and being obvious. Again, this is setting up for the next step. Next week we will discuss metaphors a little and I will give you two final prompts to work with, similar to these, but working towards a poem with one of them, so we can move into the revision process.

See you Thursday, when I do have a few loose ends to tie up.