Cool Site for Lazy Poets

Got that crazy, lazy word splurging summertime feeling?

This is the site for you: Instant Poetry Forms from ETTC

Creative Writing Assignment -- May 28, 2009

(1) Please "share" your drafts with each other via google docs. You will need to share your gmail addresses with each other. I will also share my draft with you.
(2) Then read the drafts that have been shared with you.
(3) As a class discuss any revisions that may be needed to remove inconsistencies.
(4) Begin to revise your own drafts.

Prose Issues and a Prompt

Identify a question or issue related to your prose project. This is likely an issue that has come up as you have been working on the project. You may be wondering how to handle or better handle:
--dialogue
--descibing a person
--describing a place
--lead
--conflict
--rising action
--climax
--resolution (ending)
--symbolism
--character names
--narration
--character's internal thoughts
--action
--theme
--other

Prompt:
#8 Extra Credit: Write about your hair. That's it: write about your hair. You might tell a story or story about your hair and will probably relate some feelings about your hair. Write for 10 ninutes without stopping. If you get to the end of one "thread," start another. See how many pages you can fill. Go for it.

Read this from the Bottom Up

Why do we read from the top to the bottom? Do poems always need to be read that way?

See the poem at thestarlitecafe.com/poems/51/poem_8213044778.html to find out.

Plan for Wednesday

Welcome back from vacation! I hope you had a good one -- and are enjoying all the snow. Pretty crazy, huh?

(1) As a class, re-read the tips from Billy Collins (see Friday the 13th post) on reading poetry aloud.

(2) Choose a partner and spend 10 - 15 minutes reading your chosen Read Aloud poems to each other. If anyone is ready to practice with Leah, that would be great. If you don't have your poem, choose any poem by another person and practice with that.

(3) #6 Point of View / Voice Poem:

Write a poem in which you write in 1st person and take on the voice, vocabulary, and point of view of someone or something other than yourself.

A few possibilities:

• write from the point of view of your cat, dog, horse, etc.
• write from the point of view of a grandparent, or a baby, or a homeless person.
  
• write from the point of view of an inanimate object.
• find a news story in today's paper and write from the point of view of one of the people involved.
• find an animal shelter listing of a cat or dog -- and write a poem from the perspective of that animal.

When writing, you might choose to situate the person, animal, or object in a particular moment and a particular place -- and then go from there.

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Use any remaining time to touch up previous poems.

"Y'all" are producing some really good material. It's time to start thinking about moving toward a product. Where would you like to go from here in terms of producing a collection of poems? (We'll talk about this next time).

Reading Poetry Aloud

Tips on reading poetry aloud from Billy Collins.

#5 Imitation/Response Poem

Exercise #5: Imitation Response Poem

Imitate or respond to a poem by another.

• respond to the ideas of the poem, or change the topic slightly
• imitate at least some aspects of the writer's style
• your poem need not be as long as the original

Model: See The New Poem by Charles Wright

#4 Line Breaks

Exercise #4

1. Make some observations about line breaks after looking at some sample poems in class
2. Write your own short poem that incorporates use of what you have learned about line breaks
3. Write a alternate version of the poem by changing the line breaks.
4. Place a star near the version of the poem you prefer.

That's it! Pretty simple! Line breaks are a powerful and simple tool!

#3 Figurative Language

Exercise #3:
(1) Read the model poems below.
(2) Create a list of 9 original metaphors / similes.
(3) Write 1 - 3 poems (total of 15 lines or more), each using a least one example of figurative language.

Models:

Mary Oliver, Morning at Great Pond

Pablo Neruda, Ode to My Socks

Metaphors and Similes in Hip Hop

Poetry.org: On Figurative Language

#2 Repetition Poem

After reading models and dicussing what makes language memorable and powerful, brainstorm a list of words or phrases that might make good bases for repetition poems.

Then choose a word or phrase as a base and write a poem around it.

Write quick (at least partial) drafts of 3 or more repetition poems. Aim to develop at least one of these enough that it feels complete.

Tips:

• Aim to alternate repetition with variation.
  
• The poem should build up to something or go somewhere.
• Don't stop too soon. Ask yourself, "What else can I say?" "Where else can I take this?"
• Surprise and irony are always good!

Models:
Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool
Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods
W.S. Merwin, Thanks
Theodore Roethke, The Waking
Elizabeth Bishop, One Art
Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man

#1 Found Poetry

Find words or phrases in a magazine that seem powerful or memorable. Cut out those bits of found poetry and then arrange them together into a found poem. Your found poem should make some kind of statement. Minimum length -- 1 sentence.