OctPoWriMo 2022: Day 28 - Courageous and Daring

I'm an Aries, and as such 'courageous' and 'daring' should at least theoretically be my middle names. But it took me a long while to grow into either of those notions and even as an adult I still often feel that I have a long way to go in these respects.

Those born under the sign of Aries are also reputed to be impatient, impulsive, argumentative, self-involved, intolerant, and insensitive (thanks, www.horoscopes.lovetoknow.com !) - and I have always thought of these traits as being more true of myself. But allow me to think on the positive side for a second: if the list I found has any grain of truth to it, it also says that we Rams are independent, dynamic, charismatic, enthusiastic, warmhearted, and quick-witted - which are traits I have also been told by others are true about myself. Maybe now even 'confident' would apply too.

So what is your star sign? What are people born under that sign 'supposed' to be like? (I know it's hardly an exact science.) Do 'courageous' and 'daring' figure within that framework? Do you consider yourself to be that way? Do you think any of us is especially 'fated' to be these things, or can we make ourselves so?

Famed Instapoet Atticus has already written poems for each sign of the zodiac; now, perhaps, it's our turn. Shape poems might work well here - why not fashion a poem about courage and daring into the shape of a ram, or the outline of water (those born under Aquarius are also known for being pretty brave)? Or, if you feel your zodiac sign does not describe you, or says you 'shouldn't' be courageous and daring when you are, perhaps flip the shape.

Word prompts:

Fire

Speak

Strength

Brave

Pause

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca

OctPoWriMo 2022: Day 22 - Surrender Self Limitations

What limitations do you impose upon yourself? How do you break free of these? And how do you know if you have?

Self-confidence is a huge factor in enabling anyone to break free of the chains that bind them. I think I felt far more limited in my early teens, when I was still trying to figure out who I was, and as a result, probably fulfilled far less of my potential than I should have. Probably by the age of 15 or so, though, I realised that people will leave. And yes, it is sad. But that you cannot let these moments in life break you for months or even years. And that people will always find a way to criticise you no matter what you do - so you may as well do what you want, or what you think is right. And both of these epiphanies were highly liberating. I did more. I laughed more. I loved more. And I lived more as a result. 

Even as an adult, setting long-term goals - and writing them down - is enormously liberating in terms of surrendering any limitations you might be imposing on yourself. Accept that life will get in the way sometimes - and that short-term projects like OctPoWriMo aside (!), setting goals over six months or a year allows more wiggle rooms for goals to be achieved and limitations to be smashed through.

So you might want to format your poem accordingly, to look like a list of resolutions or goals - or you may want to try the catena rondo form, courtesy of Robin Skelton (The Shapes of Our Singing, 2002), who is credited with inventing the form. Catena means 'chain', and rondo means 'circle' - which might appear to run counter to the notion of breaking free from those metaphorical chains of self-limitation. But hear me out.

The form itself symbolises the chains that bind us thanks to its repetitive rhyme scheme of AbbA per quatrain. The first line of each quatrain is also the final line of the quatrain. The second line of each quatrain is the first line of the next quatrain. And the final quatrain should repeat the first, word for word.

However, there are also aspects of the form that symbolise breaking free of these recurring vicious circles which trap our thinking. You can have however many quatrains you want. And there are no rules for metre, line length, or subject matter. So exercise your freedom here - or just do a free write if you prefer the whole poem, structurally speaking, to be a metaphor for surrendering these self-limitations. Maybe you want to invert an existing form or just try something completely different. The rondeau is a similar form - a famous example being Dunbar's "We Wear The Mask", reproduced below:

Word prompts:

Free

Live

Untangle

Cast off

Breathe

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca

OctPoWriMo 2022: Day 21 - Sanctuary Within

 

I read a lot of Jostein Gaarder and Paulo Coelho as a teen, and was also introduced to the works of major philosophers via the highly accessible 'The Consolations of Philosophy' by Alain de Botton. The bitesized maxims of Khalil Gibran and Marcus Aurelius also deeply appealed and my religious studies lessons were a further source of sanctuary, wherein we learned about the six major world religions (Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism). Buddhism's focus on meditation was particularly attractive as it took me away from the tumultuous hormonal changes of adolescence. I would spend hours practising what we might today call 'mindfulness' and reaching 'flow state', not just through writing poetry but also through the sensory enhancements of music and incense. I also spent many an hour in private prayer and contemplation.

I would also find physical places of sanctuary, whether in church, in a trusted teacher's office, in a letter to a friend, or within nature. These experiences are so valuable to teens and I urge parents and teachers today not to question this, dismiss it, or shut teens out: they are sorely needed. We might call them 'safe spaces' today.

Though no longer religious myself, I still greatly value the practices of yoga, meditation, mindfulness and hypnotherapy - all of which constitute a form of sanctuary, along with writing. Silence itself is a type of sanctuary too.

So my question to you is - what is your sanctuary (mental or physical)? What does it look like? What does it feel like when you are there?

The notion of sanctuary, and its associated 'flow state', lends today's poem well to a free write scenario. Just sit down somewhere and let the words flow - you can always reshape them later.

Word prompts

Heartbeat

Time

Peace

Breath

Resurface

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca

OctPoWriMo 2022: Day 14 - Hearing And Listening

In relation to today's prompt, if you listen to others but also take time to hear yourself and your own inner voice, you can use this to help grow your creative self.

How can you 'hear yourself' and also listen to others? Journaling and meditation can be helpful in this regard, along with mindfulness exercises - though I seem to be recommending that combination a lot lately. Yoga also emphasises aspects of meditation which can help you to get closer to your true inner self.

In similar terms, the book 'Hear Yourself' (Prem Rawat; published by HarperCollins) suggests walks in nature and taking a few moments each day to be aware of what you are grateful for - among other methods.

So what forms of writing might allow you to express this process of hearing yourself or listening to others?

Perhaps an epistolary poem (laid out like a letter), or something more dialogic (a poem laid out like a conversation or question and answer session)?

Presumably, though, if you have taken time to listen to yourself, the 'right' form will come to you.

Joining poetry circles is also a great way to listen to others via their constructive feedback on your work; in one study (Vetter & Meacham, 2018), the authors found that reflective conversations are also powerful in helping writers "to construct...knowledge and identities" and that this is "critical practice for...motivation and success". 

So listen and hear more...and grow your creative self.

Word prompts:

Audio

White noise

Chaos

Silence

Paradox

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca

OctPoWriMo 2022 - Day 11: Love, Great And Small

 

'

In further considering the idea of 'growing the creative self', we can think about how our loves, great and small, can unlock our creativity and inspire us to write.

Over the years I have written about various crushes and other more meaningful relationships, some of which have been brief but left footprints on my heart, and others which are still in my life today. 

A sonnet might be one way of expressing these feelings - it is, after all, a classic love poem format, espoused by Shakespeare, Petrarch, Keats, and others. (See October 2nd's prompt for a guide to the sonnet structure.)

However, in the words of the recently departed Her Majesty the Queen of England (and, doubtless, others), grief is the price we pay for love. Having also recently lost my grandmother, who lived a very full life but whom nonetheless we are of course also sad to lose, I may choose to expand my creativity with an elegy.

The poet Thomas Gray was one famous exponent of this particular form, along with, Whitman and Rilke. Elegies express three stages of loss: grief and sorrow, followed by praise for the dead person, and concluded with consolation and solace. Traditional elegies are composed in stanzas of two quatrains, using iambic pentameter and an ABAB rhyme scheme. However, for a modern elegy, you can of course deviate from this if you wish.

Word prompts:

Bright

Warmth

Lightness

Everlasting

Boundless

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca

OctPoWriMo 2022 - Day 10: Feeling Is The Way

In line with the theme of 'growing your creative self', maybe recognising our feelings is also a way of doing this.

Being British, it's common to grow up in a culture where feelings are not expressed; the ideas of the 'stiff upper lip' and 'keep calm and carry on' are not just amusing stereotypes but actual ways of life. Luckily, though, this is changing to an extent, thanks in part to the pandemic but also due to paradigm shifts that were under way before this. People are encouraged more now to seek counselling/therapy if they need it and to put their mental health priorities on a par with their physical health. And for us creative types, prioritising our feelings can help us to know ourselves better and so unlock our creative selves. 

A longitudinal study carried out by the University of New South Wales - explored accessibly here - found that it doesn't matter so much which emotions we unlock but the intensity at which we manage to do so - and that your openness to the full breadth and depth of your emotions is a greater predictor of creativity than IQ. So whether it's watching your favourite food shows on YouTube or getting your old family home movies out, find a way to unlock your emotions at a high degree of intensity - and then write those feelings down. According to the research, it's also good if you can show sensitivity to unusual combinations of emotions. So perhaps try to recall a time where you felt both happy and sad simultaneously, or both excited and afraid, and convey that in your poem.

For this poem, you might want to create a poem that resembles a monologue or a diary entry. 

Or you might want to try a Korean poetic form called a sijo, which contains a 'volta' or 'turn' in the third and final line of the poem. The whole poem is very concise, consisting of only 42-48 syllables. The theme is introduced in the first line (aim for a total of 15 syllables), followed by the elaboration on this theme in line 2 (try another 15 syllables). The final line introduces the turn (aim for 8 syllables), ending with a conclusion (maybe another 7 syllables). A famous sijo is referenced in the Korean period drama Love, Lies:

사랑 거즛말이 님 날사랑 거즛말이

꿈에 뵌닷 말이 긔 더욱 거즛말이

날가치 잠 아니 오면 어늬 꿈에 뵈리오

"Love." It is a lying word.

That you love me, another lie.

"The loved one is seen in dreams."

That is still a greater lie,

How can I, who can never sleep,

hope to see you in my dreams?

Perhaps the act of trying the sijo will help you to better express your feelings and in doing so, grow your creative self.

Word prompts:

Sadness

Hope

Changing

Turning

But

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

OctPoWriMo 2022 - Day 9: Magic In The Now

The theme for this year's OctPoWriMo is 'Growing The Creative Soul', and one way to grow one's creative soul is to find and feel the magic in the now...hence today's prompt.

When I first started writing poetry, 'mindfulness' was not really a 'thing' in the way we recognise it today. But various mindfulness processes are a good way of recognising that 'magic in the now'.

So perhaps sit down and colour for a while, either in silence or with music on in the background (I had a wonderfully detailed colouring book of mandalas years back). Or maybe just kick back and close your eyes and feel the music. You could even engage in some meditation or hypnotherapy at home, using an app to help. Afterwards, note your feelings. What did it feel like to be immersed in the 'now' and to be so much more aware of yourself? Then make them into a poem.

While a free write would work well for this (for reasons which are, I hope, apparent), but if you want to follow a stronger tradition of mystic poetry, these guidelines on Medium.com are useful: what myths, symbols, and/or natural imagery might enhance your poem? To further encapsulate the notion of 'now', try using only the present tense in your poem, as per the prompts below.

Word prompts:

Breathes

Expands

Becoming

Silencing

Grow

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca

OctoPoWriMo 2022: Day 2 - Thunderstorm

 

I remember being trapped in a pub in Kent, UK, years ago as a thunderstorm raged over the sea. The atmosphere was jovial, the views spectacular (though the photo above is sadly not mine!)...and let's face it, there were worse places to be stuck!

Perhaps, therefore, in your poem today, try to create contrasting atmospheres (of both cosiness and fear, for instance). A structure that has two clear parts, like a sonnet, might lend itself well to this. (I have posted a visual structure of a sonnet above in case you are unfamiliar with it.) Romantic poets like John Keats also frequently used sonnets and wrote often about nature. An ode (also beloved of the Romantics) would work well here too (again, some guidance is posted below). Failing this, a shape poem shaped like a lightning bolt and/or cloud would be equally evocative! 

Of course, the thunderstorm could be metaphorical or literal - regardless of the poetic structure you choose to follow.

Word prompt:

Flash

Illuminated

Hold

Fade

Momentary

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca