OctPoWriMo Day 25: Celebrations, Good Times and Poetry

To begin: we are going to take a moment to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n.

Think for a moment about the important rituals, holidays and other significant celebrations in your life. 

How about three inhales and three exhales and just open your mind and heart to YOUR holiday or special day.

Today marks a very important day to me: in two months my daughter, Katherine, will turn twenty-two years old. 

I swear, I don’t know how my children grow up and I continue to look and feel as young as when they were little – but nonetheless, December 25, 2013 marks the start her being twenty-two. I’m sort of nervous because I got married at twenty-three. Youch.

For many people, December 25 is an important holiday.

For others, there are other significant dates and times to get through: my younger daughter abhors Thanksgiving, which for the United States is in the end of November. I’ve decided I will create a special party the Sunday before that holiday and have people bring a variety of foods and we start crafting a new sort of Thanksgiving Emma can love.

Poetry Prompt Day 4: Poet: Be Gentle with Yourself

 

First – I wanted to give you another hearty "Welcome!" to OctPoWriMo2013. It is a delight to be writing alongside you for this unique poetic event in October 2013. Remember, you and your friends may join us at any time. Just hop in and begin writing… and then link up to your daily poem.

Poetry Prompt Day One: Rhyme and Season

Here we are! Welcome to October and the OctPoWriMo Poetry writing challenge 2013.  Fall is my favorite season. The air is crisp and cool, the leaves are changing to gorgeous hues, crunching beneath our feet and there seems to be a quiet in the air.

For the first writing prompt, picture yourself on a park bench in the midst of a full blown Autumn day. Perhaps you're wrapped in a warm sweater, drinking hot cider - you have a notebook and pen and it's just you and your thoughts. Look around, what do you see, hear, smell? If you can actually go to a park, so much the better, although I realize it's still early in the season. But if you can just close your eyes and imagine...think about what you love about Fall...and see where it takes you with your poetry.  Poets such as Blake, Keats and Shakespeare have been inspired by the season; there are so many sensory and tactile elements to Autumn that inspire the romance of poetry.

Writing Prompt: Imagine yourself in the midst of an Autumnal setting. Using prose, describe what is all around you; what you see, hear, feel, smell, touch. Tell us about the glory of the season.  It need not rhyme of course, just put yourself in the setting and through your imagery, take us there too. 

The prompt is only a suggestion or stepping off point. If you wish, write about anything that inspires you and link it up below. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. We're in for an inspired and creative month! 

Poetry Ripped From the Headlines

Did you know that one of the methods John Lennon used to come up with song ideas was to peruse the newspaper and take headlines, phrases or entire sentences and work them into his material? One instance in particular is the song "A Day In the Life" wherein lies the lyric "I read the news today, oh boy...". What follows is a near verbatim recounting of the day's news, tweaked and reworked creatively to weave a musical tale that to this day conjures so much imagery for me.

Another of his songs with the Beatles, "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" was taken from a poster announcing that the circus was coming to town. Again, some of the lines were taken straight from the poster, but reworked to enhance the story.

What does all this have to do with poetry, you ask? Plenty! I use this same method in writing songs when I'm stuck and need an idea or an interesting line. It's sort of like using word magnets or words cut out of newspapers or magazines, but in a longer form. And if you go a bit further with it and mix some of this story with some of that, what you come up with is sometimes very interesting and whimsical or even poignant.

Is it plagiarism? No. Because you are taking artistic license with the medium and not using the piece in its entirety, it's a bit like found objects in visual art. You're using found word imagery and piecing it together to create something new and entirely from your own perspective in your own voice.

Sometimes with poetry, unless you have a definite inspiration, a reason to pick up the pen and begin writing prose, it can be difficult to know where to begin. When you use found word imagery from a newspaper, what you can come up with can be topical, funny, absurd, thoughtful and of the times.