Poetry Prompt Day 13 - Random Words Playing onto the Page

Let's have a little fun. When I was participating in A to Z Poetry last April, I decided to go through the online dictionary and write down all the words that jumped out at me for each letter. I then would go through those words when it came time to write a poem starting with that letter. When it came time to write a T word, I had all of these words but I couldn't seem to pick one and came up with the below poem instead.

T has tangled me up.

So many words to choose from.

tantalizing toppers

transcending tears

tropical tastes on the tongue

tragic

tumbling

turning

tornadoes

transparent tomfoolery

trapped and tortured

tangible thoughts

terrific tea

time traveling to Tanzania

tantric temptations

touched and terrified

truthfully tired 

Poetry Prompt: 

Pick a letter in the alphabet and go through and choose all the words that stand out that start with that letter. Don't think about a poem when choosing them just write down all of the words that you are drawn to. Afterward decide if you want a specific form or if you want to write them in free verse form and put the words together, adding any words necessary (but as little as possible) and create a poem.

Word Prompt: 

Random

Want to add to the fun try this Poetry Form from Shadow Poetry:  Shape Poetry.

Remember all of these are suggestions and how you choose to write your poetry is up to you. Most of all I hope you have fun.

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 Day 11 - Using the Sounds Around You

This is a blast from the past, one of my favorite poetry prompts from Julie.  I love how she uses sound in this poetry prompt and I often forget about using sound in my poetry but it is something I love to do. I hope you have fun with it too!

Now here is Julie Jordan Scott talking about sound and writing poetry.


Merriam Webster defines resonance like this: the intensification and enriching of a musical tone by supplementary vibration: a quality of evoking response.

Now add cadence to your writing voice and the result will be even deeper.

What is cadence?

It is the measure or beat of a rhythmical flow.  It is the snapping of fingers in time, the metronome back and forth or backandforth or baaaaaccccckkkkkk and fooorrrrthhhhhhh.

Resonance and cadence are heard in the silence of your reader's mind. It is your words blending
with their consciousness  that will create magic.

We craft our words and we hear ourselves better, we "get" ourselves better, we allow the richness  and wonder of the process to bubble over and through us.

We may be like World Music, we may be like jazz. We may be like country or rhythm and blues. We may sound like Lindsey Lohan or Boy George or  Aretha Franklin.

Lindsey Lohan is not Lindsey Buckingham.

Boy George is not George Strait.

Aretha Franklin is not Frank Sinatra.

Listen to the rhythm and sound of the poem below. Read it aloud to "hear" it better.

Poetry prompt day 10 : A Poetry Collage ?

This is a last minute post so be prepared to get something really senseless as a prompt from me today :P

Just Kidding ! Lets get to work now.  so , Last month in one of the poetry tip posts , I wrote about collaborative poetry where 2 or more poets write a poem together.  As a further modification or a side track to this style , we have some poems that inspire other poems , often as replies to the original voice. On another group blog , we use to refer these poems as "Reply Poetry" .

We all have our favorite poems. Some from own blog , some from other's blog. I want you to pick those poems today , read and re read till you find your trigger in there. Write the poem , whatever is in your head - be it a continuation or an opposite voice to the narrator. Be it a comment on the voice of the original poem or maybe even a verse to wrap it around the original thought.

Please note , when you post your poem , please share the link of the original post too.
Or better , share the whole poem in the post .

Some of you , who are a little short on time [ like ME ;) ]  to search a favorite poem , pick one of the last 10 poems from your own blog and use it for the prompt.Or pick the poem that some participant linked to the post !!

This is one of my favorite poem from the poet I am in love -

Poetry Prompt Day 9: Lyrical Poetry

In September I shared some insights on thinking lyrically when writing poetry.  So let's take it a step further and try writing a poem with a lyrical feel in mind. 

Writing Prompt: Choose a musical style that you enjoy that fits what you'd like to write about and think in that style as you craft your poem. Think about *scansion in relation to that musical style and write your poem as a song. It can be short, long, a story song - anything you feel. Let go of any preconceptions you may have about prose and write what you feel musically. 

*scan·sion

ˈskanSHən/

noun

1. 1.

   the action of scanning a line of verse to determine its rhythm.

Take inspiration from some of your favorite artists and think about some of the lines that you find particularly poetic and pay attention to how they get the message across. Are they compact, little bites of deliciousness or are they lavish and intricate?  It can rhyme, but it doesn't have to. 

"whisper words of wisdom...let it be" - paul mccartney 

"life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - john lennon 

"What I am is what I am, are you what you are, or what?" - edie brick ell

"we're one...but we're not the same...we get to carry each other, carry each other..." - bono

"i wanna knit you a sweater, i wanna write you a love letter, i wanna make you feel better, i wanna make you feel...free..." -joni mitchell

Write a poem that could be set to music! Have fun!

Poetry Prompt Day 8 - Taylor Mali "Love is like..."

Photo courtesy photos-public-domain.com

I first heard of Taylor Mali when I attended a rally for public school educators in Washington, DC. Mali is a well-known slam poet and a very vocal advocate of teaching and teachers. His poem "What Teachers Make" has been a rally cry for myself and many others. His words inspired me and I was curious to find out more about him.






I suppose I'm a bit of a late-comer to the poetry slam movement, but as I linked from one video of his to another and then another, I began to feel the words in ways I had not before. I dug deeper and found other slam poets that moved me, challenged me, and inspired me to push my own writing in new ways. Here is one of my favorites of the performances I found:

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 6 - What Makes You Nervous

I have been thinking about this poetry prompt all week, what theme I should take, what direction to go in and here it is almost time for it to post and I'm having performance anxiety. Just thought I would share that with you. It doesn't matter who you are or what it is that you do, something in your life makes you nervous, has you sweating and with butterflies in your belly.

Poetry Prompt:

Tell me what gives you butterflies. Write for ten minutes writing down anything and everything that makes

you nervous. Choose one and write for ten more minutes describing all of the different feelings that happen in your body at the thought of doing that one thing. You can take it one step further and put it into a form of your choosing if you like.

Word Prompt: Butterflies

If you want to challenge yourself try this poetry type from Shadow Poetry: Joseph's Star. This is an invented form that I am particularly fond of. During A to Z last April I was going through the different types on Shadow Poetry doing A to Z Poetry. For J day I chose this type and wrote a poem titled Grandpa Joe. One thing I did differently than they describe in how to do this form is I chose the same word to end each stanza. You can do it either way, theirs or mine.

 Joe

My Grandpa

Surely bigot yes

But loved me truly indeed

Loved me in spite of my choices

Loved me to be me

Yes he did

Love

***

Camp

Fishing fun

Taught me to bait hook

To sit back and enjoy the peace

Reel it in, not too hard or fast

Clean and Gut a trout

Adventure

Love

***

Show

Friday Night

What movie to see

Drive-in cars and trucks

Popcorn candy child delights

Wide eyed, big screen came to life

Scents and sounds around

Sleepy time

Love

***

Couch

Lounging there

Hard days work complete

Time for attention freely shared

Let me shave his whisker scruff

Until he dozed off to dream

Patience a virtue

He showed me

Love

Remember what you decide to do with your poetry is entirely up to you. These are only suggestions to give you inspiration and a jumping off point. I look forward to reading what you come up with.

~Morgan Dragonwillow

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 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 3 : I wrote a poem one day .

In school , I used to curse the poets. All those long poems that said something else , and meant some thing else entirely .. And imagine  learning all those poems by heart so you can use the lines in references when you write your exam at the end of the year.

Considering that , I am sometimes myself amazed at  my love for poetry today. There is no day when I do not read a poem on blogs or jot down an idea for next verse for my own blog. Or maybe just randomly send few lines to my poetry buddies. In moments like these , I feel poetry has become a part of me , an identity for me.

So today , I want you to share your story of initiation into poetry ? Did you always love it ? Or like me , woke up to its charm and wonders one bright day ?  What was your first poem ? to whom was it dedicated  ? Or if you had to go back in time and write a poem for someone in your life  , who would you chose as your muse ?

Lets write a Poem about Why We wrote that very first poem. 

Before you go on wandering in your imaginary gardens of thoughts , have a look at this video full of poetry meanings :

~ Nimue

Poetry Prompt Day 2: Hiding Places

Several years ago, I had an opportunity to travel to Worcester, MA to visit the University Park Campus School and observe some of the best teachers in education. One of my favorite moments of that visit took place in a 7th grade English class. The students had been given an assignment the previous day and were reporting back their findings. Their assignment is the inspiration for our prompt today.

THE PROMPT: Where does poetry hide? Some possible answers could be "in the dark dusty corner under my bed", "in the extension of a dancer's leg", or perhaps "in the layered harmony of a Pentatonix song". Look around you. Make a list of some of the unusual places that you find poetry. Use this list as the starting place for a poem. Maybe the list is a poem in itself. Or maybe you'll find an entire poem tucked in between your sofa cushions. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

~ Amy McGrath

OctPoWriMo - Ready Set Go!

It is here! Day one of the OctPoWriMo adventure is finally here! Are your pens ready, fingers resting on your keyboards, and all of your poetry tools on hand? Awesome!

“The chief beauty about time

is that you cannot waste it in advance.

The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,

as perfect, as unspoiled,

as if you had never wasted or misapplied

a single moment in all your life.

You can turn over a new leaf every hour

if you choose.” 

― Arnold Bennett

It has been with great anticipation that we, Julie, Amy, Linda, Janet, Nimue and I, have been waiting for this day to arrive. I know I am looking forward to meeting this challenge and writing poetry every day during this journey.