Lets make Poetry together !

While I was wondering what to write for this week , I thought to ask from my friends on Facebook to help me with a topic.  Anup , the guy who started a wonderful Poetry Group / Club for all poets of my city [ called PACH : Check the link to know more ] suggested me to write on duel poetry.

This reminded me of the few times I have unknowingly written along a friend and result has been a beautiful poem with alternate ideas and styles.

Little did I know this style of poetry has a name and structure since long time. Collaborative or collective Poetry [ wikipedia page linked ] is an alternative technique of writing poetry by more than one person. What I love about this style is the fact that two people can communicate and emote , linked by a similar thought. The voice can be of taking the story further or that of an opposing idea , but the fact that two people chose to communicate , in a poetic way is something that rejoices my heart to no end.

Its been a long time I was active on twitter , but I still remember replying to random tweets and watching so many others do the same with their own idea. This trigger of one thought and many poets adding to it or opposing it in their own fashion was what and how spontaneous poetry writing can be some times.

Historically , collaborative Poetry's origin lies in Japanese Poetry styles. Renga is the most popular poetry style which has been in practice from over seven hundred years. Also called as "Linked Poetry" , Renga is a syllable based poem form that opens with a 3 line poetry [ 5,7,5 haiku ] and others keep adding to it. Modern collaborative poets though are more flexible when it comes to form of every couplet.


With this mind , I searched the few posts , which I knowingly or unknowingly wrote in collaboration with other poets from blog / twitter. This is my favorite :

Some days
just some
I let go of
I think so
My regrets

In a moment
So many
I could forget
I think so
Those days

I think of
not just you
where I parted
of days gone
spent so alone

It happens
Always to me
Let it unfold
Soon I pray
As it will be.

The lines are blue are by another poet.

More such posts on my blog are here . 

[ If only I had an english duel poetry written by the two most amazing  poets I met in the poetry group PACH , I would have shared that instead of mine ] 

Although not really related , I also remember poems that inspire other poems , often as replies to the original voice. On another group blog , we use to refer these poems as "Reply Poetry" . Here is one such poem that I wrote as a reply to a friend's post on her blog. You will find links of all the poems that others wrote for this very poem. 

For me , any art form that inspires one to create another art form ( whether in words or image or music ) , has earned its worth and compliments. 

So some day , when you are out of ideas to write , pick your favorite poem and try to write a reply to it , in same voice or that of a stranger.

Or better, ask a friend to join in with you and maybe you both ( or more ) people can create a wonderful collaborative poem.

Any one of you willing to try that , can email me : nimuegal@gmail.com

~ Nimue

There's a Storm Coming - A Brief Introduction to James Nave'

James Nave' - photo shared with permission

A few years ago, I met with some girlfriends from my high school days for a GNO (Girls' Night Out). As we were catching up on each other's lives, I mentioned that I had been doing some writing and had been very inspired by Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. One of my friends spoke up and said that her brother-in-law, James Nave', worked with Julia Cameron.



From that dinner conversation, I discovered that he would soon be facilitating a creativity workshop at the Asheville Word Fest just a short drive from my hometown. I couldn't wait to attend and meet him. Little did I know about the storm that was coming!






Nave' describes the creative process as "From the Imaginative Storm to the Creative Form." He explains the concept in this video from TEDxAsheville.

One thing Nave' is known for is performance poetry. He has memorized more than 500 poems and is a co-founder of Poetry Alive! a poetry-as-theater company that has performed for students around the globe. 

In 2011, after awakening from surgery for prostate cancer, Nave' began writing a poem a day for the next 100 days. These poems are published in the book Looking At Light available online from Amazon.

I return to Nave's "Imaginative Storm to Creative Form" process often in my own poetry writing adventures. I will watch a dance performance or a television show and make a list of words that come to mind as I watch. Then, following his example, I begin to read the words aloud and I always - ALWAYS - find new, unusual, and interesting combinations to push my poetry in a different direction.

Nave' is a world traveler, but can be found frequently in either Taos, New Mexico, or Asheville, North Carolina. He is a wonderful teacher/facilitator and a remarkable human being. For more information about James Nave' including information on private and group creativity coaching, please visit his website HERE.

~Amy McGrath

Think Lyrically

 
Even though I'm a songwriter, there have been many times when I've written a poem specifically and the feedback I've received is that it seemed lyrical. "You should write music to that and make it a song."  That's a good feeling. Perhaps it's a subconscious thing that occurs naturally when I write from years of doing what I do and from listening to music incessantly while studying the album and later, the CD lyrics and liner notes.  Remember that? It made the experience so much richer to sit down and really listen to the lyrics while reading along.

It's a good exercise to try; sit down with your favorite album and pull out the lyrics and really listen. Pay attention to the rhythm of the words and how they work with the music. When you sit down to write your own poetry, you might find that you'll hear it in your head differently. Maybe a line will come to you in a more musical incarnation. I can't think of a better example than Bob Dylan. There is a wealth of material there that stands alone as poetry and the way he weaves his lyrics into song is sometimes unconventional, which lends itself to a teachable poetic lesson. Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, the aforementioned Suzanne Vega...all are prime examples and that's just in the folk genre. Perfect examples can be found in any genre - even and especially rock. Patti Smith is first and foremost a poet. Her poetry books, such as Auguries of Innocence, are collections of beautiful, ethereal prose.

Every time that I look in the mirror

All these lines in my face get me clearer

The past is gone

It went by like dusk to dawn

Isn't that the way 

Everybody's got their dues in life to pay

Recognize that stanza? It's from Aerosmith's "Dream On'. I've always thought that song was particularly poetic. 

So give it a try - think lyrically. See what beautifully poetic music comes to mind. 

For more musical reminiscence, I invite you to visit the new website that Jen Kehl of My Skewed View, Lance Burson of My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog and I have launched called Raised On The Radio. It's entirely dedicated to the music and lyrics we grew up listening to on the radio.  Stop on over and get your creative juices flowing.

The Joy of Used Book Sales - A Different Way to Grow as a Poet

Today I visited a store that smelled like my favorite kind of church: a sanctuary where other people’s books wait to become my books, where I can peruse shelf after self of older books, out of print books, little known books that find their way into my appreciative hands and into my heart.

You may find this assertion unconventional, but I think an integral aspect of my growth as a poet has come from attending used book sales, scanning thrift store book shelves and reading old text books, long ago thrown away to be replaced by a newer edition.

Just last Thursday I visited my local library, not to check out a book, but to peruse the Friends of the Library shelves, the place where they sell books for a meager dime a piece.

Guess what I found?

One of the very books you read about here earlier in the week: Suzanne Vega’s collected writings in The Passionate Eye.

I also bought some other poetry collections there: Circles on the Water, by Marge Piercy and Sunday Houses, an Iowa Poetry Prize collection by Elizabeth Hughey, a poet I had never heard of before but at ten cents I figured what did I have to lose?

Today I declined to buy a collection of Elizabeth Bishop poetry for $30, but I did pick up Sandra McPherson’s   Elegies for the Hot Season.  The only reason I have ever heard of Sandra McPherson is because I read her poetry in anthology I bought at another used book sale several years before.

All my poetry education comes at the feet of such purchases. I buy poetry textbooks. I buy letters written by poets and memoirs written by poet’s children. I rarely buy first hand. I often find gems by chance.

You have probably guessed by now I am a big fan of reading poetry on a regular basis, both aloud and silently, poetry of all types.

You may be thinking, “My town is too small for used book sales.”

A couple questions: do you have yard sales in your town? Estate sales, thrift stores, schools? I can guarantee you will find poetry in these places. Best of all, you may even write poetry in these places or about these places.

Reading this you may think I’m not being very profound today, but I dare you to venture out into your library sales, your goodwill stores or a garage sale sometimes before October begins.

Buy a book or two. Begin reading.

Come to know which work you enjoy most and what other poets do you connect with the most.

Then repeat the cycle often.

Over time you will see I am in fact being very profound today.

Used book sales have a joy all their own, a joy I hope and pray you discover soon.

 -- Julie Jordan Scott

Getting Into Reading Poetry

If you don't know a lot about poetry then you might not know where to start when it comes to reading it, let alone writing any.  One of the best places to begin is in an anthology, something like The Rattle Bag edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes which is a particularly good one.  Try to read all the poems at least twice because sometimes you get so much more out of a second or third reading.  You'll find that you are drawn to some poems but not others.  Seek out the authors of the poems you like and read their work.  Another tip is to try reciting the poems out loud.  This gives you a feel for the music and sound of the poetry.
Most importantly, don't worry about getting it wrong.  And the final tip is something I learned from years of listening to Bob Dylan.  You don't have to know what it means to love it!

To Writers Who Don't Think They Can Write Poetry

Again and again I hear writers say, "I can't write poetry." or "Poetry just isn't for me." and I can't help but think that they are blocking a creative tool that could actually enhance their writing. Possibly blow the doors right off the hinges. 

Crossing over to the other side.

I talked to writers on the Story Dam chat on Twitter last Thursday night and I decided I wanted to share with you what I shared with them. Of course I have expanded on it further.

Writers stick with me, you just may discover something you can use.

As a writer even if you don't believe in writer's block things can get stale and you can feel like the words just aren't streaming as they were before. 

That is when I believe changing it up to break down the walls to writing & poetry can come in handy.

. 

I have discovered that whether I am writing a novel, memoir, or poem it all comes down to getting the words onto the page. Whatever it takes to fill the blank page and for me it takes changing it up. Yes, okay I get bored. For me if I do the same things day in and day out I get bored to tears and want to do something else. That is why having a strict schedule doesn't work for me. I rebel against them over and over.

Changing it up can be anything. For some it can be changing the scenery of where you write - to what you

Light filled flowers.

write with. For others like me I have to change what I am writing all together. That's where poetry comes in.

I have been dabbling in poetry since April of 2012 (yes I wrote poetry before then but few and far between; mostly in high school). I didn't want to be a poet. I wanted to be a writer. I want to write magical mysteries and memoir but I kept getting stuck. I know that fear has a lot to do with it but writing poetry has given me an avenue to write through the fear in bits and pieces. And though Natalie Goldberg will tell you writing is not suppose to be therapy it has been, and still is, very therapeutic for me. If you doubt me check out my blog and read some of the Angry Poetry I recently wrote.

If you are still reading that means that somewhere inside of you this is making a little sense. You may even have hit the same walls that I have hit quite a few times. 

Last October I decided to dive into poetry head first and created OctPoWriMo because, as my Muse knows, I can't do anything halfway. It was within that month that I started really touching on deeper issues around my writing. Yes, poetry was helping me see deeper into my writing. It allowed me to write shorter pieces filled with angst, anger, rebellion, love and light (as anyone that has read my book has discovered). 

I was still coming up blocked in my other writing. Oh I was writing but fear was still stopping me, telling me I wasn't good enough, telling me it was a bunch of crap. Of course it was crap, I'm still new at all of this writing stuff. 

Playing with magnetic poetry.

Recently I started reading more poetry, reading it out loud, and pushing myself to write poetry on a regular basis. That's when I decided to build up my tool bag for poetry. I figured if I was going to be a poet (no halfway remember) I should have all the tools that I need. That is when I decided to get poetry magnets.

There is a place that I am taking you with all of this so please stick with me.

I have been using poetry magnets for my poems ever since I bought them. I knew I was going to like them but I had no idea how helpful they’d be. 

They allowed me to look at words differently & have different words in front of me to choose from; to really play with words.

What does that have to do with writing stories you ask? A poem is a story but in a much shorter form and

often w/rhythm or rhyme, but not always. It can be verse, free form, and many other forms that are out there that you can find on ShadowPoetry.com that are easy (mostly) and samples from this century. 

My first poem in years, Beauty Denied, (it was a picture of a floating flower that inspired it) was basically a really short story. The only thing I did was count syllables.

Morning chai and writing. 

Flower raised
Light in her eyes
Smiling face
Opening to Love
Shot rang true
Slow to fall
Last breath expressed
Beauty denied
Blood trail out
Floating Flower
Eyes looking up
Gone the light

Honestly the possibilities are endless but think about this - I have found just the act of writing more poetry the juices are flowing faster for all of my writing. 

Yes, I am writing more on my current manuscript and I actually can see myself finishing it within the next few weeks to a month.

Writers, I am giving you a challenge. If you have been having trouble with your own manuscripts, take a break and join us for OctPoWriMo. Who knows maybe you will have a break through like I am having.

If nothing else you can change things up and use it to explore within your stories. Feeling stymied on a character, write a poem for their feelings, their struggle, their pain. 

Don’t have poetry magnets, get a magazine & start cutting out words until you have a pile of words to play with. It is amazing what happens when you have words to choose from in front of you. Especially when they aren't words that you use on a regular basis. See what it opens up for you. No I am not telling you to paste them down, this is for playing with the words to inspire your writing to go in different directions.

Heck if you want to, go through the dictionary and write down all the words that pop out at you and then cut them up into individual words.

Don't let past writing issues, poetry issues, stop you from exploring and opening up your writing in new ways. You may not be a poet, but that doesn't mean you can't play with your words.

~Morgan Dragonwillow

Poetry Writing Tip: Add Your Voice to the Poetry Soup, Salad, Stew - Choose Your Metaphor

It seems like I have come in here and started many a blog post with a confession. I can’t help it. I am given a virtual microphone and I can’t help but say, “Yes, I did this!” because I feel like at least one or two or seventeen of you will look back at me and say, “You, too? I thought I was the only one who thought that?” so congratulations, dear poets, we are not alone.

Being together is a big part of what OctPoWriMo is, after all.

I offer you a place to practice pedaling around in the poetry stream in the days before we officially begin with my next confession. 

When I was a new poet – well, not new exactly but new in taking my poetry writing and love of poetry more seriously – I did not read much poetry by other poets.

I didn’t own a single poetry collection.

I just didn’t think I could get through them.

I still can’t say there was a defining moment when I said, “I think I’ll start reading published poets,” or specifically modern poets or poets that have won Pulitzers or something like that, but I do know the first collection of poems I ever bought was one of Mary Oliver’s on a bargain table at Russo’s Books here in Bakersfield.

It wasn’t in that book, but later, when I read the poem “Rain” by Mary Oliver, that I understood what Maya Angelou says here:

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper.  It takes the human voice to imbue them with

the shades of deeper meaning.” 

I started to discover slowly and steadily the joy of reading poems by other poets aloud.

When I was perfecting my English accent for a play I was in I bought a collection of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and was nearly in ecstasy listening to myself reading her words. 

Reading aloud gave each poem a whole new life, whether I particularly enjoyed the poem at first read or not.

I scoured the internet looking for poems for you to read aloud. I specifically hunted for  poems written during or after the twentieth century in honor of my friend, Morgan, who doesn’t fancy older poetry as much. such poetry.

Read this warning before you move to the link:

This page will bring you to a page of poems that have been chosen specifically because of how delightful they are to read aloud.

Scroll down to Number 7 (and the rest) to find the modern flowing poets. Number 7 is a blast to read aloud. I adore Ferlinghetti and all his Beat friends. A side note, if you are ever in San Francisco you must go to the Poetry Room at the City Lights Bookstore where many of these wonderful folks used to hang out, plus at the bar next door. A special bonus is Jack Kerouac alley right behind the bar. I digress.

The content of these poems are very different from one another, so even that will help you discover something of the craft of poetry by reading them ALOUD. I so strongly recommend reading them with your voice, at your pace, with your rhythm.

The Poetry Foundation: Poems to Read Aloud

Other poets to look for: Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou - please add your suggestions in the comments. I have a strong tendency toward women so gentlemen (and other ladies) help our OctoPoMo poets a bit here. 

A special bonus: visit a used book store, thrift store, library sale, and buy a collection of poetry.  Any poetry book will work.  Begin reading one poem aloud daily if you can. Even one aloud a week would be good. And then stick to it. Listen to your voice as you read that poet’s work. Notice when you sit (or stand) to write next time, if there is any new influence from that poet you read aloud.

If there isn’t, surely there is no loss in trying. Let the poetry seep into your bones.

You could read Ferlinghetti’s poem via the link here every day for a month aloud and I bet you would find something new in it.

Another suggestion: if you are unfamiliar with which poet’s collections to buy, I would suggest a compilation of different poets. If you go to your bookstore and ask at the customer counter, there will be someone there who knows which collection is popular. I especially love Roger Housden's "Ten Poem" series which have titles such as Ten Poems to Change Your Life or Ten Poems to Say Goodbye.

I also have a request for those of you who read poetry books regularly to leave some book recommendations for others to check out both now and in the future.

-- Julie Jordan Scott