In September I wrote about using what you find in the news as inspiration for poetry. Whether it be a headline that jumps out at you or the story itself; perhaps a line from the story - any of these things can serve as inspiration for the beginnings of a poem. For instance, a phrase might pop out at you - you see a line like 'China slams debt crisis, calling for new world order', which sparks an idea for prose using the words 'new world' or 'new world order'.
The example that most comes to mind is John Lennon's lyric from the iconic song 'A Day In the Life', which he took parts of almost verbatim from the newspaper, adding poetic touches to it to create a more artful vision of the events.
'I read the news today oh boy...about a lucky man who made the grade...and though the new was rather sad...well i just had to laugh...I saw the photograph..."
'He blew his mind out in a car...he didn't notice that the lights had changed...a crowd of people stood and stared...they'd seen his face before, nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords..."
The Prompt: Regardless of where you get your news from, be it newspaper, online or television news, choose a headline, phrase, line or the story itself and craft it into the framework of a poem. Your poem needn't be a piece of news, the piece you choose is merely a springboard for the bigger picture. But if you choose to write about the event itself, that can make for a powerful poetic statement. See where it takes you and have fun. It can be about anything - not necessarily a serious piece of world news. Even something pulled from the funnies can make for good material.
I appreciate this prompt to get me to "play" within current events and news. I'm going to actually buy a newspaper today (gasp! the real thing!) and do some creative cutting and pasting and rearranging and see what I can see. :~)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda!
That sounds like fun! Not sure I'll actually do that, but it's certainly a tempting idea. I look forward to your poem!
DeleteLove that you did that Julie!
DeleteI don't have a newspaper plus I had a poem floating in my head before reading your prompt. I do look forward to trying this in the future though. If you saw any of my poetry last month I love playing with words in lots of different ways! Thanks for such a great prompt for people to play with!
ReplyDeleteThanks Morgan! No newspaper needed! I get all my news online these days, but I think I'll get one and try Julie's idea.
DeleteSounds like fun. Thank you, Linda.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. Where do you think I can find the linky?
xoA
So sorry that I originally didn't include the linky Annis!
Delete