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catalysts for writing
catalysts for writing
Twenty-Two Poem Hacks : Carmen Giménez Smith : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2013/11/twenty-two-poem-hacks/ Thanks for the tip, Sherman Alexie!
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Write a poem or short piece of prose in which the speaker apologizes for an imagined naughty deed, perhaps something have done wrong (or wish you could, if you only had the courage!) Think in terms of describing an irresistible temptation. :) Show how you are NOT sorry because you thoroughly enjoyed the experience by moving through your writing from image to image.
Here is a famous one you could imitate: This is Just to Say William Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox. And which you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me They were delicious So sweet and so cold. Here's one I wrote: Rude Awakening Jennifer Cameron Paulsen I'm so sorry I awoke you when I slammed the door, but your pool of drool was spreading all over the classroom floor. I guess I didn't thrill you with my talk of metaphor. I didn't mean to drop the dictionary one inch from your head, but I was growing fearful that perhaps you were dead. You were supposed to write a sonnet but snoozed away instead. Please forgive me for disturbing your precious stolen nap but your tongue was lolling from your mouth into your lap It must exhaust you to read with your face jammed in your cap. Please accept my apologies for shocking you awake but your jackhammer snoring made the windows quake. Maybe five minutes of Macbeth was more than you could take. I'm really doing you a favor though I won't write you a pass. Now that you're finally alert You're going to miss your next class! (Not that it really matters, if it's anything like your last!) Start with a simple comparison. Then flesh out all the comparison for several more lines.
Here's my example: Metaphor: Falling in love = flying Freef a l l from the nest your heart flutters a flurry of feathers discovering wings a rush of air exploding into sudden flight "Dribble the page with the brilliance of your ballpoint pen." ~ Daniel Beatty in "Knock, Knock"
It was my 7th grade teacher who first told me I was a poet, though my mom had been calling me a writer for years. I spend a lot of time writing in a green spiral notebook. Like my son, my favorite color as a child was green. I copied down my favorite quotes and poems in careful handwriting, savoring their images and words and wisdom, just as I'd seen my mother and grandmother do, before you could get anything you wanted on the interwebs. Though the notebook is long gone, I still have the poems my 7th grade teacher wrote on, validating my mother's prediction that I was, indeed, a writer. I have poured out my heart in poetry since I was a child, dribbling the pages with the all the brilliance I can muster from my Pilot G-2 pen. The brilliance is not always evident in the content, but the act of writing daily polishes the gems embedded in the writing to a brilliant sheen. |
AuthorMrs. Paulsen writes, reads, knits and shoots arrows. Archives
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