stuff-about-poetry

Food, sex, and poetry (below)

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:23:58 +0100

The blog below, "Food, Sex, and Poetry" was submitted by Linda Steele, a reprint from an article she had written and published in High Country Writer's Journal some years ago.

FOOD, SEX, AND POETRY

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:15:13 +0100

Food, sex and poetry. Individually they inspire pleasure. When blended with creativity and attention to detail, each becomes all three.

A poem (story, novel) describing a spectacular feast, a particularly disastrous attempt at a new recipe for the boss, or Mama’s Frickadelli soup can evoke emotions equally as pleasant, sad or embarrassing as can one calling up the memory of one’s first, last, best or worst meal or sexual experience.

We all remember poems, in whole or part, that in some way affected us.

"Listen, my children, and you shall hear..."

"There was a young man from Nantucket..."

"Once upon a midnight dreary..."

"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

Lofty and inspiring or ribald and rude, they stick with us. Why? Because carefully chosen words and crafted phrases conjure up feelings well beyond their specific definitions. These vivid mental pictures remain in the reader’s memory and, at their very best, become part of what the reader believes about the world and herself.

One of the joys of writing poetry is in the exercise of choosing those words. I find perusing a dictionary as mouthwatering as reading any cookbook. The historical derivations, pronunciations and nuances found there are as important to a poem’s imagery as any subtle spice in a recipe lovingly passed from mother to daughter.

Reading and hearing good poetry is nourishing to any writer. Attention to the way poets craft images with internal rhyme, rhythm, line/stanza endings (or not) will enrich her desire, and ability, to move her reader. Writing poetry, practicing the reduction of a complex thought to a few carefully chosen words, will often clarify an image. Fleshing out this essence, one finds the result allows the reader to draw his or her own mental pictures and emotional conclusions; as we are admonished by writers, to be shown, not told.

Experiencing "el sabor", the flavor, of a poet’s word choices and phrasing will enhance our enjoyment of the process and encourage us to become more discerning readers and writers.

12 Ways to Write a Poem (Submitted by Karen Gross)

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:54:44 +0100

Did you know that poems take root in the found objects and slammed doors of everyday life? You can write one. Really! Honor Moore leads the way.

Let's say I'm sitting in that room with you now. Take out a pad and pen, your favorite pen—the one that just slides across the paper. Be sure you have an hour or so, so you can take your time with each prompt.

12 Ways to Write a Poem
1. Make a list of five things you did today, in the order you did them.
2. Quickly write down three colors.
3. Write down a dream. If you can't remember one, make it up.
4. Take 15 minutes to write an early childhood memory, using language a child would use.
5. Write a forbidden thought, to someone who would understand.
6. Write a forbidden thought, to someone who would not.
7. Make a list of five of your favorite "transitional objects." Choose one and describe it in detail.
8. Write down three questions you'd ask as if they were the last questions you could ever ask.
9. Write down an aphorism (e.g. "A stitch in time saves nine").
10. Write down three slant rhymes, pairs of words that share one or two consonants rather than vowels (moon/mine and long/thing are slant rhymes).
11. Write three things people have said to you in the past 48 hours. Quote them as closely as you can.
12. Write the last extreme pain you had, emotional or physical. If the pain were an animal, what animal would it be? Describe the animal.

Tips
• Use one of the questions as the first line, each of the colors more than once, the slant rhymes, and the aphorism with a word or two changed.
• Try using any part of, or all of, the material in any way you want—a line from your dream might work well on its own or your description of the animal might better describe your great uncle.
• Let the poem be between 20 and 30 lines; let each line be 10 or more syllables long. Think of the poem as a dream or a psalm you are inventing, and don't force it. Write in your own speech, allowing its music and sense to speak through you.
No human experience is unique, but each of us has a way of putting language together that is ours alone.

From:
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/12-Ways-to-Write-a-Poem

SEVEN QUALITIES OF A GOOD POEM

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:03:22 +0100

Poetry has been around since the beginning of time. I doubt that poets in primitive societies were overly concerned with whether their poems were considered academically accepted. They just versified. According to Judson Jerome in Poet’s Handbook, “Anyone can make poetry—and most people do, at least sometimes in their lives. They don’t even have to be able to read and write.”

That said there are certain trends in poetry that we tend to follow. When most Behind the Stacks participants were in elementary school, we learned poetry that rhymed and had a sing-song meter. Yet during that same time, the modern poetry being written was not like that. Modern poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1930 and reflects the literature of the times. Many of the modernist poets have written in non-traditional forms, but they use poetic diction and often with a certain rhythm and tone, but by implementing non-metrical means. Today poets more frequently write modern poetry that is filled with imagery, symbolism, and addresses issues rather than the romantic themes of the 19th century that we studied in grammar school.

As poetry catches up with post-modern thought, there appears to be a synthesis of elements in both pre-modern and modern thought. Some very interesting poetry is being written by amateur poets such as our Behind the Stacks poets. It is no longer considered right or wrong to adhere to the cut and dried rules. Whether what sets poetic juices flowing happens to be a string of phrases or formal rhyme and rhythm, it matters not. What does matter is does the poem work? Kim Addonizio in Ordinary Genius, lists seven qualities of a good poem:

Surprise
Music
Detail
Sufficient thought
Syntax
Part to whole
Mystery

Try writing your poetry with these qualities in mind.

Prose Poetry: is this a misnomer?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:10:19 +0100

Poets bat around a lot of jargon about poetry: sonnet, ballad, free verse, alliteration, slant rhyme, iambic pentameter, metaphor, simile, and many other terms, including prose poetry. Prose poetry is a somewhat illusive term, and some people with the reputation for being experts say that if you want to write prose, don’t call it poetry. Some poets, however, claim to write “prose poetry” in contrast to free verse poetry. Is there a real difference?

The term “prose” comes from the Latin, prosa (ōratiō), and meaning straightforward speech. Prose poetry, then is straightforward writing that uses heightened imagery, metaphor, and/or emotional language. That can be said of much good writing that is not dubbed as poetry. There may be a fine line between the genre of prose and prose poetry. As well, the same line may be drawn between prose poetry and free verse poetry.

Prose poetry is typically associated with narrative, but it fuses poetic and prosaic elements. On the other hand, free verse poetry is terse and economical, utilizing the elements of surprise and flights of fancy.

Try writing two poems about the same subject, but using both of these forms…free verse and prose poetry.

Who is your muse?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:00:18 +0100

Who is your muse?
We write many types of poetry and in many styles. Does our poetry brand us? Does it pigeonhole us into one particular kind of poetry? In ancient Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, the muses were believed to be goddesses who inspired the creation of literature and the arts.
According to Wikipedia, “In one myth King Pierus, once king of Macedon, had nine daughters he named after the nine muses, believing that their skills were a great match to the Muses (mousi). He thus challenged the Muses to a match, resulting in his daughters being turned into magpies and jackdaws. In Greek Mythology these nine daughters of the king usually are referred to as the Pierides.”
The muses are as follows:
Muse                     Domain                     Emblem
Calliope                 Epic poetry               Writing tablet
Clio                       History                     Scrolls
Erato                     Lyric /love poetry       Cithara (similar to a lyre, but larger)
Euterpe                  Music                       Aulos (a reed pipe similar to an oboe)
Melpomene            Tragedy                     Tragic mask
Polyhymnia            Choral/sacred poetry   Veil
Terpsichore             Dance                      Lyre
Thalia                    Comedy                    Comic mask
Urania                   Astronomy                Globe and compass

Think about which muse your poetry most frequently resembles and what emblem you might choose as your own.
Don’t challenge your muse!