April is drawing to a close and Spring is in full force.
It is time to take that note book or electronic device outside!
Go for a walk, look at your surrounding – what are they? What do they say about you or your community?
How do they fit in with the world at large? Are you a recluse hidden in the woods or a club hopping socialite?
Wonder and then sit and write these thoughts down. There should be a glimmer of a poem in there somewhere 🙂
Look at the pictures you created during week-one or go to a gallery and look at some of the more abstract pictures.
Look at the way the paint rain down the canvas whilst drying, or the curl of brush strokes evident, the way the colours contrast or merge. Do the random shapes suggest ghosts of structures?
Think on these things, ponder them and then write about the pictures, you should get some material that can be hammered into a poem.
Look at your book shelves or go to a local library and examine the spines of the books.
The tittles of those books, are an excellent way to inspire a poem! Write down a few of them and then write about each for a few minutes trying to ignore anything you know about the books or author – just focus on the title and what it could mean.
Or you may wish to play a game of fitting in as many of the titles into your writing as possible – this one can be fun and turned into a game for a group of poets 🙂
Take paper, canvas or computerized versions of same and paint for an hour – do not worry about expensive paint materials and if nessaccery nick the kids poster paints!
If you don’t have any paint available and no drawing packages on your computer either then just use pen and paper – preferably felt tips or something with colour. Mixed up instant coffee and a folk can work to create an image if you are really stuck or just want to experiment!
Now don’t try and draw anything specific just brush the paint onto the canvas – fast or slow it does not matter – use two or three colours and maybe some water to make them run into each other. Swerl the paint, lash the paint with the paint brush – let you mind go blank until there is just the painting.
Often people find that ideas will now start to pop into their head. If this happens – great fantastic – keep them milling around in your mind until the hour is up. Then write what you can remember down.
If this doesn’t happen do not worry or panic just continue to paint. Once you are finished sit down and just describe the sensation of painting, of the brush in hand, of the paint oozing through the brissles.
National Poetry Writing Month is almost upon us and we thought you could do with some writing excerises to get you going!
Go to your photo albums, physical or virtual doesn’t really matter – what you don’t do photographs well look at that collection of postcards you have from mad aunts who go on world tours at 70 yrs old! What you don’t have one of them either? Well get some national geographics from a charity shop, or any magazine with large photos in them.
Look through this material – same of the pictures will catch your eye more than others. Take note of these photos – relax into the sensations and memories associated with the photos and do 2 minutes response writing to each of those pictures. This means just write – don’t think about it – just what ever comes into your head weather it is a list or full blown distription or something bizar and abstract.
Having done this – you should have a few pages of notes with vivid imagery and discription in. These can be used to construct poems around or even just used to spark a new idea!
Beginnings can be special and traumatic times, they can be gentle or violent and sometimes both. Think about beginnings, such as the birth of you or your child or the universe, of cultures of art movements, of science.
So start your writing off with “In the beginning…” and see where it takes you!
Write for at least 5 minutes without stopping to assess what it is you are putting down on the paper!
As you have probably gathered from some of the other exercises, the senses are very useful for creating strong imagery.
First find a lemon, then on the top of separate pages write down these questions:
What does it look like?
What does it smell like?
What does it feel like?
What does it sound like? (sound can be a bit tricky but ping it with your fingers, drop it or cut it, or just hear its silence!)
What does it taste like?
How does it make you feel, does it stir any memories or associations for you?
Now answer the question – fill up as much of each page as you can, the more material you have the easier constructing a poem from it will be!
Scour your house and find five objects with different textures on them, then set these up in your preferred writing area.
Now examine them, touch them, and if it is safe to do so taste them! Are they rough or smooth? Think about the associations you have with specific textures.
Write all this down and mix in a few colours. From the resulting jumble of phrases there may well be something a poem can grow from 🙂 If you are really lucky you might even get a poem right off – happy composing 🙂
The night sky has always held the human mind spell bound, the glittering array of stars peppering the inky sky has been a source of many rich myths and legends, entire religions have grown out of that vastness.
The moon itself has many personae and associated powers and without it in the sky our world would be very different.
The night sky has always beckoned us onwards whether through exploration of the mind’s own darkness within or to reach up to the very depths of space and build giant metal birds to do so!
But with all this beauty and all this history it is something the modern town dweller often misses. And even out of the towns with their majestic orange glow there is often little incentive to wander out into the crisp cold dark.
However – even on overcast nights the sky can be dramatic and beautiful as anyone who’s seen the moonbow will attest. So go find a patch of night sky and really look at it – look at the stars, look at the wisps of cloud, sip that hot chocolate as purple storm clouds pour freezing rain down on you. Remember these sensations, this experience and now go and write!
Historical figures are normally surrounded in some sort of mystique, whether for the good or the bad – think King Arthur and his round table, or Gengis Khan. Pick an historical figure and spend half an hour looking them up on the internet.
Sometimes just the imagery is enough – the rich vibrant textures or the fact that so little is actually known about the person they are a shadow; myth and deeds and nothing more!
So start writing about whom ever you choose 🙂
If you are stuck for a Historical figure why not choose Ada Lovelace as March sees Ada Lovelace Day where people pledge to write about women in technology on their blogs and what not! If you have a poetry blog you could save the poem and send it live then 🙂 And there are plenty of other historical female technologists to choose from too like Caroline Herschel.
Good writing to all.