NaPoWriMo - Time

We are halfway through NaPoWriMo, are you reading and writing poetry everyday or periodically like I am? I get so caught up in day to day life that I let things get in the way of my poetry. I was hoping I'd be better at it this time but I never seem to be able to do it every single day. Not berating myself though, just noticing.

Be kind to yourself on this journey of life.

NaPoWriMo - Time
Photo by MDragonwillow

diving into the depths
words flow
gently and
explosively
onto the page

***

broken questions
between whispers
begin a dance
of a universal language
exploring magic
in a rainbow sky
naked desire
in a blazing heart
soul prisoner
love's searching
time



~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you write a poem on your blog for NaPoWriMo and would like to share it with us, place your link in the comments below. We look forward to reading your poems.


Peace,
Morgan Dragonwillow
Read, Dance, Write, Repeat.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a writing rebel, foodie, urban gardener, recovering perfectionist, facilitator of magical circles and poet who (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. When she isn't working with clients, writing or dancing, you can find her encouraging and supporting her writing community at @StoryDam, #OctPoWriMo, #PoetsonthePage, and  Playing with Words on her blog.

Yes she is on Google+ too!

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NaPoWriMo - Simplicity

NaPoWriMo - Simplicity
Photo by MDragonwillow

Simplicity  
Simplicity of a flower that's a weed 
Weed out the choking emotions that stop you
You stay silent when your heart is screaming
Screaming for you to pay attention to your needs
Needs of many and needs of one
One is a number that doesn't have to stand alone
Alone in a crowded room filled with those who don't understand
Understand what true love looks like
Like a person with a voice
Voice of purpose and passion
Passion sliding along your skin 
Skin set on fire by your touch
Touch as soft as your breath
Breath that brings you back to the center
Center of your being, of simplicity
Simplicity

~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you write a poem on your blog for NaPoWriMo and would like to share it with us, place your link in the comments below. We look forward to reading your poems.


Peace,
Morgan Dragonwillow
Read, Dance, Write, Repeat.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a writing rebel, foodie, urban gardener, recovering perfectionist, facilitator of magical circles and poet who (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. When she isn't working with clients, writing or dancing, you can find her encouraging and supporting her writing community at @StoryDam, #OctPoWriMo, #PoetsonthePage, and  Playing with Words on her blog.

Yes she is on Google+ too!

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NaPoWriMo - Remember

Today kicks off the National Poetry Month, NaPoWriMo. We are not doing daily prompts for this but we, the volunteers at Poets on the Page, will be sharing some of our poetry with you.

I am struggling with what love means, love as in LOVE. I've started dating again after a two year hiatus. It is a struggle for me. When I find someone that I care about, my heart gets involved pretty quickly. It's all or nothing for me. I think it has to do with being an empath, I tend to feel things quite deeply. Probably why I chose not to date for two years. I will be exploring what love means to me through my poetry this month. Here is my first exploration through loop poetry. I chose loop poetry as it helps me dive deeper into my thoughts.

NaPoWriMo - Remember
Photo by MDragonwillow

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

remember
remember to find that special someone
someone that is the other half of me
me on the inside is being pulled out
out of the dark and into the light
light expanding outward brighter than the sun
sun rises in the morning, shining through the darkness
darkness crushes the internal light of hope
hope springs upward for all to bathe in
in the beginning everything looks bright
bright like a shining star that died a millennium ago and
and you snuffed out the light as that star dies
dies to the possibilities of you and me together
together will never be today or tomorrow
tomorrow there may be hope if I allow myself to bloom
bloom like the flower seeds that are buried in the earth
earth walking toward my inner being
being myself is the only way to find happiness
happiness is possible if I remember who I am
I am a spark of divine creation
creation is the ultimate of being here now
now is bright with possibilities if I allow myself to remember
remember

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My heart aches but maybe writing about love through poetry I'll be able to transform how I'm feeling now into glowing from the inside out with my own inner love and light. How are you using poetry this month? Are you reading poetry as well?

What I'm reading: 

If you write a poem on your blog for NaPoWriMo and would like to share it with us, place your link in the comments here and/or on the posts with our poems. We look forward to reading your poems.


Peace,
Morgan Dragonwillow
Read, Dance, Write, Repeat.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a writing rebel, foodie, urban gardener, recovering perfectionist, facilitator of magical circles and poet who (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. When she isn't working with clients, writing or dancing, you can find her encouraging and supporting her writing community at @StoryDam, #OctPoWriMo, #PoetsonthePage, and  Playing with Words on her blog.

Yes she is on Google+ too!

Make sure you sign up to receive our updates, tips and prompts to share in all the poetry fun!

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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.

A-Z Poetry Word Prompt P is for Power

Power can be an awe inspiring word or it can be intimidating.  What power do you have?  What power do you wish you had?  What power have you given away?  What does the word 'power' mean to you?  Write a poem with power as the theme and see where it takes you.

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.

 

He also visits his father and asks him the same questions.

Today we’re going to focus on the people who have influenced on our lives for the better, such as our parents, poets (for any Rumi fans, Coleman Barks is one of the thinkers in the film), philosophers, educators, scientists and our next door neighbor. Perhaps our child. Maybe it is a stranger you met one time and the conversation you had with that five minute friend changed the direction of your life.

Today we are going to focus on their story in relationship to your story - our story - and how your lives have intersected.

Tell that story in poetic form, whichever form you would like to use.

I will give a slight suggestion for you to take or not take. Please take a few moments to consider who to write about by making a list of people before you choose one subject.

Start with 5 to 10 people and allow yourself time and space to add to the list before you start writing. This isn't a poem to speed through for the sake of checking the "writing poetry" task for today off your list.

This is a poem to allow to simmer for at least a little while.

Quotes for inspiration:

“We tell stories in order to live.”

Joan Didion

“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split apart.”

Muriel Rukeyser

“Life is made up of stories, not atoms.”

Muriel Rukeyser

Word Prompt:

She/He is… I am… We are…

Sentence starter prompts:

I remember her/him….

I remember we together…...

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.

I have sort of been a lousy holiday person since the many loss experiences I have had and the impact those losses had on my holiday celebrations. I tend to have somewhat grief filled holidays. 

I rarely talk about it.

I rarely write about it.

What about you?

I thought today would be a grand day to write a poem about whatever special day you want to write about, be it a birthday, an anniversary, a festival, an opening night. Be creative and surprise us with your words.

Word Prompt: Celebration

Sentence Starter:    My next celebration will be….

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.


I am a woman who has a talent for locking herself in toilets.
I am a woman who hates letting people down.
I am a woman who rarely remembers her dreams.
I am a woman who likes listening to rock music.
I am a woman who loves the smell of the ocean.
I am a woman who works magic.
I am a woman who likes to wear green.
I am a woman who likes cats but loves dogs.
I am a woman who doesn't bake cakes.
I am a woman.

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.

I use my old fashioned notebook and simply write lines of poetry. Not poems, but lines of poetry, sometimes smoothed together into several lines, but usually just lines.

Because I love the haiku form, I often write lists of five syllables and lists of seven syllables and then I randomly put them together.

This has two effects: one is it sharpens my observations and helps me write clearly and concisely with carefully chosen words, it also allows me to the space to see the grace in simply showing up at the page to warm up.

Sometimes those non-effort haiku have actually been better than when I was trying.

I just saw a play, so I am going to revisit some of the scenes in a list of five syllables:

Stripes of glitter

His ears were not his

Gold dust  all around

Thees, thous, Entreats, huh?

Only one in white?

Bookish Helena

“Hermia” now blonde

Thin Lysander

Bottom stole the show

After Puck, he died

And now, how about some seven syllable lines?

Demetrius, more wispy

Dead Poets society

Plays in my head while I watch

Love the feathers in that crown

Feathers, can they sing like birds?

Pixie like face glitter smile

Down home music strums, struts, pounds

Yee haw, let’s try some moonshine

Animals always woo us

 + + + + +

The first time I made up this exercise I was sitting in a coffee shop, just writing what I saw, lines like:

Red deck sneakers squeak

Mommy takes baby

Baby takes Mommy

Purr, computers, purr….

Espresso smells so….

Who does she wait for?

Textbooks in a pile

Awkward laugh hovers

“Forgot my back pack!”

It is more fun than it looks – I guarantee it.

I also guarantee that warming up through using this very simple exercise over the next few days will assist you in being more attentive and writing more concretely, with more details and fewer “fluff” words.

If I happen to see one of you at a coffee shop scribbling in your notebooks or pretending to text on your phone, I’ll know what you are doing. I won’t tell a soul!

-- Julie Jordan Scott

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.