OctPoWriMo Day 4

 Welcome to Day 4! It's the start of a new week in the new month. As we settle into Autumn, I find myself preparing for all the changes that brings - cooler weather, Fall activities, and the approaching holidays. It's my favorite time of year. What does the change of seasons mean to you? Depending on where you live, you might be pulling out the sweaters and the apple cider like I am or maybe you are about to move into Spring. Maybe you are somewhere that doesn't experience these differences. I find that even beyond weather patterns, my feelings and expectations adjust with every new month. What does this time of year mean to you?

Image by Prettysleepy from Pixabay 

Word prompts:

As time goes by

comfort in tradition

fresh starts

change of direction

cool nights

Poetry Form:

Pantoum

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.

Michele Vecchitto is a writer, recruiter, and  former middle school teacher.  Her poetry has been published in literary journals and anthologies as well as in four self-published volumes. Michele was invited to read her poems at the Austin International Poetry Festival and was honored to be included in When Time and Space Conspire.  In addition, she published a young adult fantasy novel, Tales from Blarnach: The Chosen One. She continues to hone her craft simply to breathe life into the stories living in the corners of her mind. Please visit her blog, Reading, Writing, and Reflections to see more of her work.

Day 2: Poems and notes to you

What jumps out at different people from this prompt may vary, but two things strike me as especially interesting:

- the plural (poems and notes, not just poem or note)
- you (who is 'you' in this situation - and what might this tell us about the speaker?)

What you produce today may therefore suggest multiple poems and/or notes to a single 'you' - which could be a parent, child, lover, friend, admired celebrity, someone who is now deceased...
Think, too, about why multiple poems and notes might be important to your poem's concept.
Plus, what form(s) might these poems and notes take? And why is the speaker of your poem writing them?

'You' could also be multiple people - so perhaps consider addressing a group if you are struggling to think of a single person to be the subject of your poem.

As the image prompt above also shows, 'notes' might also suggest musical notes as much as Post-It notes!

Suggested forms

To me, 'notes' implies something slight and fleeting, so in terms of suggested form, I'd like to propose a poetic structure that reflects this - maybe a tanka or cinquain.

Everyone knows about haikus, but a tanka is another five-line form of Japanese poetry. As you can see from www.familyfriendpoems.com, it starts off like a haiku (thanks to the 5-7-5 syllable format), before ending with two lines of 7 syllables each. Great to ease you into this month of poetry!

Cinquains are equally brief, with their five lines consisting of 1 word, then 2, then 3, then 4, before ending with a 1-word line.

Word prompts

sing
redrafts
practice
scribbles
loving

And to finish, a quotation that might inspire you, from the great Robert Frost:

Happy writing!

-- Bianca

Remember that our prompts are only suggestions - go wherever the muse takes you.

In the meantime, read other participants' poems, share the #octpowrimo hashtag on social media, and add your link to your own poem in the comments below.

Finding Inspiration in the News

Photo by Got Credit / CC BY 

You've no doubt at some point taken inspiration from the every day, the things that go on around you, whether they be in your home or during a typical errand run. But have you ever watched the news and felt there was something you wanted or needed to impart about something in a more global sense?

There is so much going on in the news, both good and bad that we feel strongly about that could be addressed perfectly through poetry. Yeats sometimes used poetry in a very political way to express his feelings about the state of politics in Ireland at the time, often inspired by his girlfriend who was a staunch activist.

You don't necessarily need to be a staunch activist in order to participate in the dialogue where it pertains to politics, world news, or even what's going on in your own community. Poetry can be a very powerful way of expressing your views. It can be a somewhat kinder, gentler approach to a heated topic that can give the reader pause and really make them think without fear of being preached to or pontificated at. Putting your words into prose gives your take on the issues a more timeless, artistic scope, something bigger than a Letter to the Editor ever could.

I'm a news junkie who ran a political satire website for a time, and so the news is an ongoing part of my life. Sometimes it's difficult to bear the enormity of the many tragic events that transpire on a regular basis, but writing about is a way of making sense of it all in my own mind, or at least coping with it. And in the case of the good news that finds its way in between the unthinkable, it's a celebration to write about.

The Pope just landed in Washington D.C.; how do you feel about it? What is your take on the madness of the circus that is the 2016 Presidential Election? Talk about it! Seriously, humorously, whatever strikes your fancy, but get your thoughts out there in prose. And who knows, it might just be a good way of dealing with Breaking News without letting the news break you.

Linda Roy is a writer, singer/songwriter/musician whose humor blog elleroy was here mixes funny with a soundtrack. She is the founder and lead singer of the Indie/Americana band Jehova Waitresses and her writing has been featured at The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop, Humor Outcasts and In the Powder Room, among others. She is a 2014 BlogHer Voice of the Year recipient and has contributed to several anthologies, including the third book of the New York Times best selling "Pee Alone" series, I Still Just Want To Pee Alone. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Don't Be Afraid to Seuss it Up!

Photo by Casey Florig / CC BY

I'm a humorist who lives a good chunk of her life finding the humor in almost any situation, often to the exaggerated eye rolls of my ever patient family. Oh, I have a serious side for sure. But I love to pepper my days and interactions with a play on words here, a double-entendré there, a snappy jingle, or a pun. And now that I have children, I have been known to have entire conversations spoken in Seuss. Why not have fun and rhyme a little in life; see how long you can keep it going?

So...my suggestion is to push your poetry boundaries out into the comical word playground. Have a serious issue you'd like to explore? So did the good Dr. He tackled subjects moral and political, wistful and wonderful, and all with his special brand of whimsy.

Why not give it a try? You might find you like it, just as much as I.
You never know where it'll take you - the limits's the sky.
You can make your readers laugh, you can still make 'em cry.
You can teach 'em a thing or two if you're especially sly.
Because the poetry bug has definitely bitten,
So put your words out there.
The world won't know what hit 'em!

See? Wasn't that fun? Now you try it!

Linda Roy is a writer, singer/songwriter/musician whose humor blog elleroy was here mixes funny with a soundtrack. She is the founder and lead singer of the Indie/Americana band Jehova Waitresses and her writing has been featured at The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop, Humor Outcasts and In the Powder Room, among others. She is a 2014 BlogHer Voice of the Year recipient and has contributed to several anthologies, including the third book of the New York Times best selling "Pee Alone" series, I Still Just Want To Pee Alone. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

The Stuff of Dreams

Photo: Dreaming by Toni Blay / CC BY

"To sleep...perchance to dream..." - William Shakespeare 

I've always been fascinated by dreams and dream analysis. I write down the detailed dreams I remember and I keep a dream book on my bedside table to research the meanings of the details 

of the stories that unfold while I've been unconscious. It's interesting to discover the ways in which my subconscious mind has woven together my thoughts, emotions, and often, my anxieties from the previous day's events. I find that this involuntary narrative makes for some of the best poetry and song lyrics. 

Once, I wrote a song based on a very bizarre, detailed dream I had involving a court jester, a bus ride to Europe, and a loaf of bread, of all things! 

But whatever makes up the tales your brain tells you during your REM time, whether they be serious, whimsical, bizarre or poignant, keeping a record of them and utilizing those details to inform your art can be a very powerful form of self-discovery as well as a fascinating form of "confessional" prose to share with one's readers. It's also a wonderful way to keep your work open to interpretation to the reader.

Linda Roy is a writer, singer/songwriter/musician whose humor blog elleroy was here mixes funny with a soundtrack. She is the founder and lead singer of the Indie/Americana band Jehova Waitresses and her writing has been featured at The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop, Humor Outcasts and In the Powder Room, among others. She is a 2014 BlogHer Voice of the Year recipient and has contributed to several anthologies, including the third book of the New York Times best selling "Pee Alone" series, I Still Just Want To Pee Alone. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

OctPoWriMo Poetry Prompt Day 28 _ Who are we?

This has been another October to remember. I have enjoyed OctPoWriMo this year, but once again I was in the midst of taking care of health issues while I was also co-creating the prompts and the community here. I wish I could’ve put time on hold while I was both preparing and

recovering.

I hope to get around to more of your poetry in the coming weeks.

With that said, here is my final prompt for you to write your way into during October, 2013

Ready?

Last week I saw a movie that has sparked a lot of thought for me. 

It is called “I Am” and is a documentary about how a serious situation turned into a quest. A lot of what he says is familiar territory for me, but it was so interesting to hear his perspective along with the science behind it. The movie's premise is based on exploring human nature. The director, Tom Shadyac, visits the most respected, influential thinkers of today to interview them ask them several basic questions.

Poetry Prompt Day 26 - Father, Mother, Sister, Brother...

This is a picture of my mum and dad; it is quite unusual because my mother would probably prefer to have her head sawn off than have her photo taken so I actually don't have many pictures of her. But my prompt for you today is about family. It can be any member of your family; could be a step-sister or even the family budgie if you prefer. We all have a huge amount of baggage, both good and bad, when it comes to our families.

The tone of your poem is completely up to you. You can explore the skeletons in your family closet or go back to a more blissful childhood memory when everything seemed safer. Only you can decide how to respond to this but try not to judge; just explore, record and move.

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 19 - Rhyming Verse

Now I know many of you have been avoiding this but sooner or later we have to look at rhyme. It doesn't have to be scary, but it is a form of discipline. It can force you to work harder but it can also make your poetry better.

The simplest form of rhyming verse is just four lines and the last word of the second line rhymes with the last word of the fourth line.

I shoot the hippopotamus 
With bullets made of platinum
Cause if I use the leaden ones
His hide is sure to flatten them.
Hilaire Belloc

The next rhyming scheme is where the rhymes go a,b,a,b.

I hate doing laundry
But there is worse;
Like the difficulty
Of rhyming verse.
~Janet Parfitt

And then there are rhyming couplets that go a,a,b,b, etc.

Redundancy pay
Is not a bad way
To learn at last
You're a thing of the past.
 ~Reay Fuller

And then there is a form called the clerihew which is a four line poem in rhyming couplets but the first line must be someone's name.

Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shook like a jelly
When in the night time
His wife read him Frankenstein.
~Janet Parfitt

And finally, for those who like a bit of fun, there's always the limerick.

They tell of a hunter named Shepherd
Who was eaten for lunch by a leopard.
Said the leopard "Egad!
You'd have been tastier lad,
If you had been salted and peppered!"

So no matter what form you decide to go for or if you want to stick with blank verse the most important thing is to have fun with it!

Poetry Prompt Day 12 - Shadows

Today, I thought it might be interesting to look at shadows.  If you want to do a poem about shadows, that's fine.  But what I am more interested in is the shadow side of ourselves; our hatred, rage, lust, greed, etc.  None of us are paragons of virtue so try writing a poem about your darkness.  It is not an easy thing to do but I think that some of the best poetry we can write comes from the darkest places.  It's hard to admit openly all the things that we do wrong but in sharing our foibles we can bring ourselves closer as human beings and I believe it enhances our compassion when we admit our mistakes, then we are better able to forgive people theirs.

Photo by Janet Parfitt

Poetry Prompt Octrober 7: There is Power in Narrative Poetry

One of the claims to fame about myself that I say with about as much humble pride as possible is my two time victory as the Bakersfield Front Porch Story Slam Champion! 

Sometimes I think my wins may not be  fair: I am a writer and an actor - two talents that lead naturally to storytelling, right? I actually think it is being a Mommy and having a Father who liked to tell us stories as children that molded me into a storyteller.

The type of poetry most related to storytelling is the Narrative Poem.

Please don't start sweating as I say that - please!

Telling stories in poetry and prose is as simple as this: give your readers a beginning (the set up - the journalistic five W's - who what when where why) followed by the conflict or the "what happened" followed by the resolution.

At story slams, you get up to the mic with nothing written. No note cards, no sharpie pen letters on the hand - and by using this simple outline formula in my head I have told winning stories. Lots of time the stories other people told were good, but they were too rambly. With only five minutes to tell the story, one needs to be ready at any time for that "one more minute" time to be called and then zoom gently into the conclusion - the end, the solution (or the option to end with a non-solution question.)

Here at OctPoWriMo you might even practice writing a three stanza poem. One stanza for the set up, one stanza for the conflict, and one stanza for the conclusion.

Narrative poems are a part of Western Heritage. Before there was widespread literacy, bards and balladeers would share news via narrative poem. It was as well known to the children of the fourteenth and fifteenth century Europe to know narrative poems as it is for the children of today to know about the latest video game or Disney movie.

By practicing and playing with this form of poetry, you are allowing yourself the honor of stepping into a time honored form of poetry.

If you are wracked for ideas, jot down a summary of your day yesterday focusing on the "what happened" or look back at one of your favorite children's stories and retell it.

One of my favorite Narrative Poems I found was Captivity by modern poet Louise Erdrich writing in the voice of Mary Rowlandson, a woman who was taken captive by the Wampanoag in the 17th Century and soon became adopted lovingly into their circle. Louise takes on the voice of Mary, as Narrator, and paints an astonishing picture for us.

As you can see, the options are nearlessly endless.

A couple examples for you to read if you feel called:
 

Robert Frost: Out, Out

Gertrude Stein: Hotel Francois 1er

Louise Erdrich: Captivity

Here are some quotes and sentence starters to get the juices flowing:

"Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here."
Sue Monk Kidd

"The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon."
Brandon Sanderson

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
Joan Didion

Wordprompt: Narrator

Sentence starters:

The story I need to narrate is....
I long to tell the story of.....
The story that urges me to tell it to the world is.....
 

Finally - Here is a complete explanation from e-how on how to write a narrative poem. I almost don't share it because it may bog you down with all of its... this and that and the other. Please DO NOT read it if you tend to get wrapped up in "doing things right"... or I suppose you could write a narrative poem about the story you tell about being a perfectionist or a "goody-two-shoes."

Most importantly, please have fun with this or if it doesn't feel like you today, feel free to write something completely different. Any poetry at all is such a gift we give to the world!

Writing poetry, any poetry, after all is the most important aspect of this experience.

-- Julie Jordan Scott

Poetry Prompt Day Five: Writing a List Poem

One of my favourite ways to write poems is to do what is called a list poem.  This is where you take a phrase and use it at the beginning of every line.  My choice of phrase is 'I am a woman who'.  Obviously, for the guys, you can use 'I am a man who'.  Don't feel you have to stick within the bonds of reality or tell the truth.  You can say 'I am a woman who rides unicorns everyday' if you want to.  And if you don't like the phrase I've chosen then feel free to pick a different one.  Here is my effort.

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. 

Poets: Prepare to Start Your Engines - Poetry Pre-Writing Tip

Note in the title I did not say START your engines. We have ten days left until the “big” day appears.

Car racing is part of the life blood of the family I was raised in and is even showing up in parts of the next generation of Jordans. When I was a young girl, I would spend hours and hours and hours in the garage, handing my brother, the race driver, tools. You know, sort of like a doctor asks for scalpels.

All that gorgeous, seemingly without effort grace on the race track doesn’t start when they raise the flag, it starts long before, when the drivers work on their cars and finally warm up their cars during the days before the big race.

I am going to share with you one of my favorite poetry writing warm ups.

Simple Or Intricate?

One of the things I love most about poetry is its versatility. There are guidelines...sure, you could even consider them to be rules. But since poetry writing is an expressive art, it is open to interpretation and personal expression. Therefore, there will be times where anything goes. 

When writing a poem, will you choose something simple? A haiku? A sparse stanza? Or something more intricate and rich with iambic pentameter? There is a simple rule to haiku writing and a more complex set of guidelines to iambic pentameter. 

Your words can take on a playful rhyme ala Dr. Seuss or an emotive and descriptive tone, lush with introspection and imagery. From the silly to the soulful, it's all poetry and yes, you can have it both ways. 

Recently, I was thumbing through my copy of Suzanne Vega's book of poetry and lyrics. It is a collection of her work from the time of her childhood up until the 1990s and it demonstrates a wonderful example of the evolutionary path one can take with poetry as well as the beauty of both simplicity and intricacy. Vega has a way of weaving words together seemingly effortlessly in such a way that the reader is taken on a whimsical, yet thought provoking journey, and that is something I think many, if not all of us strive to accomplish in our writing; to take the reader to another place, yet provoke thought and depth of feeling, whether it be of the joyful sort or to the point of tears. 

To my mind, that is truly successful poetry. Is it simple and silly enough that you've made up a word or phrase and conjured a side splitting laugh? Or is it beautiful, even tragic - leaving the reader deep in contemplation and inspiration? 

It's all powerful. And exploring the possibilities of each mode of expression is a compelling exercise. 

The title of Suzanne Vega's book is "The Passionate Eye..." and I think that encapsulates the idea of poetry. Whether you write from a simple or a more dramatic and involved perspective - your passion for the subject of your writing as well as the medium itself is what will inspire you to get your point across in whichever way the mood strikes you.

Take It As It Comes

You're walking through the grocery store, list in hand, kids in tow and you're so busy with what you need to accomplish and the various things on your mind, that the notion of taking time to write just seems unfathomable. Finding opportunities to be creative out of hectic days, let alone scheduling time to unleash your muse - it's just not happening.

And yet, when we do finally carve out that precious time, we can often become weighed down under the pressure.  "At last! I've got two hours of uninterrupted time! I'd better make the most of it." I don't know about you, but I sometimes end up thinking too hard.

That's why it's a good idea to take it as it comes. Those little bursts of inspiration can be found in the everyday; even when you're busy. That thing that just happened in Aisle 7 that you chuckled at? That's a poem or a haiku just waiting to happen. Jot it down on your grocery list or smart phone. Carry a small notebook or pocket voice recorder and capture those moments. Notice the little things. The conversations you have with strangers. Children you encounter. The scenery on your drive home.

There's something in everything we do if we pay attention and stay in tune with our surroundings. Sometimes I'll even turn the annoyances into poems. It's a great way to transform something negative into something positive and even funny.  It's one less angry anecdote to share with your spouse! I know my husband is infinitely grateful for that!

How many things happened to you today that could be potential poems? You might be surprised. It's a creative way to keep a journal of your day to day experiences, because once they're strung together, it's an interesting record of a time in your life and your take on things in those moments.

Just relax, live life and take it as it comes.