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 #8 - A Tasty, Yummilicious Writing Experience

Did you have a poetry filled weekend? No, this isn’t a trick question, it is to let you know you are not alone if you didn’t.

I didn’t. I had so many activities on my plate that I managed to write a couple haiku. I barely had time to read or comment anything.

I could feel guilty about that and call myself “done!” with the OctPoWriMo adventure, but I know better than to do something my mother would say would be like “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

With that in mind, step one in today’s Monday poetic adventure is this: Let go of any resistant and self judgment. Take a moment now to get on your feet and stretch or stretch from your seated position. Work on relaxing your chest, shoulders and face. Breathe deeply…. And end with a “THANK YOU”… and…

Here we go.

Let’s dive into using more specific – and possibly playful -  images into your poems by using our senses. Today’s prompt will focus on the sense of taste.

Our taste buds collect vivid imagery when we savor our food. There is a reason there is a dessert called “Better than Sex” although I highly doubt anything tastes better than really excellent sex.  (Did I actually write that?)

I have also found that throwing word-spaghetti on my page makes me hungry for more words, it builds anticipation when I let go of “being in control” and just start throwing out more spaghetti – more word combinations, tighten what I have written and trust my creative process, not unlike what my friend Igor Stravinsky says, “Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.”

If I feel resistance to creating a “poetry banquet” or even some “poetry a la carte” I know if I start creating analogies and metaphors, ideas will start flowing.

I found this in one of my notebooks which I wrote after eating  pancakes for breakfast:

The taste of pancakes always says to me, “everything is going to be all right, you are safe. Pancakes can be trusted, like the old lady next door who knows all the comings and goings yet simultaneously minds her own business.”

One step further - My children love Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup on their pile of pancakes because she is a character from my childhood table. They want to look into the mirrors inside the mirrors inside the mirrors of their DNA, stacked and stretched across the centuries from one table to the next to the next.

Poetry Writing Prompt:  First, Go to your kitchen and look for something you can eat simply a bite of right now. A piece of celery, a spoonful of applesauce, a fork of leftover spaghetti.. whatever is convenient, available or simple.

Next, eat “one bite” slowly, with your eyes close. Savor and experience it more fully than you have in the past. Taste it as if you are greeting a dear friend after a long time apart or taste it like it is the very first time.

When you finish with your “one bite” write whatever  analogies  or thoughts come straight from your eating experience onto the page, creating a list of sorts, such as:

• Egg salad reminds me of Mrs. Nussbaum when I was in kindergarten.

• I remember when I was pregnant with Samuel & all I wanted was egg salad.

• Egg salad’s texture says “soft, lumpy and more than slightly perfect, like Grandma”….

• Egg salad tastes like (something that one doesn’t eat).

• Egg salad tastes like being tucked into bed at the end of a long, tiring day.

Allow the ideas to flow for a bit. Sentence starter prompt (Insert Name of Item you tasted) is..... (or) (Insert the name of item you tasted) makes me feel.... 

Word Prompt(s) Item .... Taste

To create your poem, let yourself take what you started about egg salad and begin to weave those thoughts/words/ideas into a poem.

Enjoy your word banquet. I'm hungry for your poems even now!

A couple links for your descriptive poetry writing pleasure:

Yummy exercises for using the sense of taste in all your writing

Descriptive Writing Using the Senses