#OctPoWriMo Day 7: the road less traveled

Apparently, we're very reflective here at OctPoWriMo. Thinking about the poem, "The Road Not Taken" and yesterday's prompt, let's try something out. Instead of writing about something that is different, a time when you wish you were brave, let's talk about something you wouldn't change. You did it and you're happy that you did. It could be a success or a failure. Perhaps a choice that others may perceive as a failure, but you know it was the best choice for you. Perhaps you took the road less traveled and it was a success for you.

Word Prompts

roads

traveler

passing

day

difference

Remember the prompt is just a suggestion! 

The Poetry Writing Tip No One Gave Me (and oh, how I wish someone had!)

Here is my primary wish and most useful poetic tip I can give you for all of OctPoWriMo and beyond:

Be gentle with your poetic self and forgive yourself now for any perceived short comings lurking in the hallways of your poetry yet to be written.

Read that aloud if you must, several times, before continuing along with me.

Sometimes it happens like this:

She finds herself reading a ten-year-old bestseller, in this case from 2003, written by an eccentric artist-writer-poet-Rilke lover. She has been watching over her dear friend’s children while dear friend is having a long overdue weekend away alone with her husband.

She knows, somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she has some deadline approaching, rapidly.

She is too busy reading and making origami and worrying about her friend as well as her love to even get near that portion of recessed mind until someone outside of her mind says,

“Yo, what is it? This is due in less than an hour and I’m seeing nothing!”

Yeep!

You’ve probably figured that “yeeping” person is me.

This post is really not about me, though, it is about “her” and “you” and “him”  and “them” or perhaps most importantly to “us.” Even when you do not write what you hope to write, or forget to write, or get sick and can't lift your head much less your pencil or your heart, everything is going to be fine. Forgive yourself first, collect words later.

Since last OctPoWriMo I have written less poetry than I have in any twelve month period for the last ten years.  In nearly all that time I have been fairly tough on myself for that fact.

Now, on the eve of another OctPoWriMo and with the need to write something for you to chew on as we embark together on this adventure in words, a warmth is spreading in me for me.

There is nothing wrong with the lack of finished poems in the last twelve months just like there is nothing wrong with any of your present or future writing escapades.

I have continued to take notes.

I have continued to be alive and alert to what has unfolded and is unfolding right now around me. This portion of the tip? Very important. Being alive and alert to what is around you each and every moment will fill you with poetry all day, every day for the rest of your life. You can choose whether or not to scribe it. If your choice is not right now, that's perfect. It is all still there, ready and waiting, whenever you choose to go back and scoop it up.

I will no longer critique my lack of completed poems (or completed anything!) as some form of character flaw that either needs fixing or is beyond fixing.

I WILL, however, insist you be gentle with yourself  through both the OctPoWriMo period and the time before and after. There are no OctPoWriMo police, even with the additional folks helping out, no one will look down on you or cluck a tongue at you or anything like that.

I even decided on those days I can’t seem to craft even a haiku or micropoem, I can still write : a poem – and qualify as having written: a poem – each day. In fact if: a poem – is the only poetry I write from now until the end of time, it is enough.

No need to yeep. No need to worry that without a really cute image inserted here I might be hated for life!

Word-love and: a poem is all you and I need.

Poetry Writing Prompt: Seize the Day! Carpe Diem! Si, Se Puede!

Made Available by Doug due to Creative Commons Licensing & Flickr

“Carpe Diem!” is the call in Latin. “Seize the day!” is the translation into English. As a Californian I like adding “Si, se puede!” 

Let’s take a moment to think, together, of moments when we did exactly that – we seized the day. We lived that moment so intensely our present time and our sense of connectedness with everyone  and everything was paramount.

There was only that which was in front of us, like this post and the possibility of writing a poem on this theme is the only thing that exists for you. Right Now. 

I think about when I am teaching or facilitating and the whole world disappears as the students and I collectively bungee jump into creativity.

I consider moments on stage where I completely disappear into the void, like allowing myself to be taken over by another spirit – exhilarating, scary… life changing.

I hold my hand open and think about poetry performance. Next to flood my mind is the poetry fire we created at one event I hosted.

I smile remembering times laughing with my children or sitting under the stars or making love or crying harder than I ever knew I could.

Poetry Writing Prompt: What is it for you?

What was that moment or moments you remember?

Two decades ago? Yesterday? Last week? Is it a dream for tomorrow? Any way – it is your perfectly right way.

Today we will write of “Seizing the Day” – saying “Carpe Diem”  or “Si, Se Puede.”

Word Prompt: YES! (and the above words).

Sentence Starters: In that moment, I….

I finally understood, personally, what Carpe Diem meant….

And for your final inspiration, one of my favorite movies and a scene where the students were first challenged to Seize the Day… and there is even some Whitman and a Byron joke thrown in for good measure. If you ever want me to laugh, put Lord Byron into a sentence and I will howl. Seriously!

Poetry Writing Challenge Tip 15: Writing the Mundane?

This is not only a great writing warm-up, it is a fantastic way to practice writing objectively in clear, concise language. When you read a poet like Mary Oliver, you will find NONE of her words are wasted. She simply consistently chooses the best words and has confessed sometimes she will write fifty drafts of a poem until she is satisfied.

Tip 15: Write about the most mundane “thing” you can.

In my writing classes, we do this exercise early.

First, set a timer for two minutes.

Second, choose something random that is right around your desk.

Look at it as if you have never seen it before. Pick it up, look at it from all sides, feel it with your cheek or the inside of your arm instead of just your hands. Smell it, close your eyes and feel it without seeing it.

Begin the timer and begin to describe your object.

Do it now! I'll give you space to write. It will only take two minutes! Write continually until the timer goes off. If you have "nothing left to say, look at your object again. Its shape, its size, its color, its texture, what function it is made to serve. Be creative.

One time I had a student say, “I never noticed so many things about my trash can before!” or another favorite is an ordinary bottle of water.

When you observe closely as if what you are seeing is the first time you are seeing it, your poetry will come alive. Keep these “warm-ups” as ideas and lines for your next poem. Sometimes the most effective poem may be about something completely ordinary.

One of my favorite poetry sets is about…. Coffee. Which I drink as I write, every time.

What did you write about today?

Writing Poetry Challenge Tip #14 - When You Think You Don't Have Any Words, Find Some

There is this THING that happens sometimes with writers. It happens to me and maybe it has happened to you. Especially as we go into the October Challenge, we need to prepare for those days when we just can't squeeze another word out... or it feels like we just can't squeeze another word out.

Your solution? Found poetry! 

There are two ways to write Found Poetry. 

Both are valid and I have, at times, used one or another as an exercise in creativity. Now, it is YOUR turn!

Tip #14 – If you think you’ve got absolutely nothing to say, pick up today’s newspaper (or the copy on the ketchup bottle or a page of your text book) and shuffle the words any which way. Speak them aloud and reconfigure them. Just like that, you’ve got… a new poem. If you think you MAY have something to say, pick a line or two of any poem at all, perhaps with a word or phrase you like. Go for a walk while reciting the words. Either return home or sit on a bench at wherever your destination was and write. Just like that, you’ve got… a new poem.

I like to use found poetry techniques and I find, over and over again, I am at least entertained and happy at my molding and shaping of words, even if it isn’t a poem I ever go back to for revision or publication, it has gotten me through a patch when I thought I couldn’t write at all.

Found poetry reminds me “Si, se puede.” Yes, I can. And you can, too. 

First, I am going to have an evening snack in place of dinner. Some Special K. I am going to use the box to scribe a found poem as I type. 

The Pantry (I added five extra words NOT on the cereal box)

tips and advice sprint

deliciously on the go

munch fresh berries

forget cracker cravings

face moments of feeling

temptations rise up

choices stutter before we

face full moments

remember, indulge textures

sprinkling afternoon’s clouds

Through the pantry door

Right before I sat munching and writing, I gathered Two lines from Robert Frost’s Poem, After Apple Picking.   The two lines are in bold below.

And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill (and) Upon my way to sleep before it fell. 

I chose these two lines because I liked how they sounded separately and together. I changed the perspective from first person and wrote a completely fictitious poem. There are some inspirations for my observations of life today, but other than that, I can’t tell you anything. This little girl in the navy blue sweater lives in my imagination and across school playgrounds of the 1960’s. Do you recognize yourself in her?

Upon her way to sleep before it fell

Her neck bent, her forehead hovers

Above the concrete hopscotch board boasts

Its numbers, a living dare

Children sing of dells and farmers

She waits, hunched

Breath chopped and stitched

With worry and memory and

Distaste of that boy, the one who called

Sheep in hairy, unobtrusive, costumes.

Bell rings, its sound rolls through her.

She remembers then

There’s a barrel that he didn’t fill

She straightens her navy blue sweater

And lifts her head

===

To find out more, here is a link from Poets.org about how to write Found Poetry using your words matched up with another poets words.

And then there are poems where you may use none of your own words. This is called the Cento Poem and here are some how-to's and examples, again from Poets.org.

One final thing: Be sure to register for OctPoWriMo if you haven't yet. Here's a link for you to sign up now.