I've been thinking for a few hours about teaching poetry in my classroom. Where do we begin? was always my first question. Reading chapter 5 of triggering town gave me some ideas about the contrustion of a poem, which should help me in the classroom. Being a sports writer has made creative writing difficult for me, because I was always worrying about the facts of a story. Now, I have to step outside that box and find new ways to tell the same story.
The chapter focuses on how we can make our poems more intersting, which is something that I need, so my students should suffer the same problem. Instead of tyring to come up with types of poems to write, I think I will start with simple writing exercises and hopefully poems will come out of there. Then, we can move on to learing about the different styles and types of poems. I already feel 1,000% better about teaching poetry, and it has only been a few days in class. Hopefully, I will continue to grow and try new things to reach my students. I really feel that all educators could benefit from taking classes like this, because they are way better than professional learning workshop about learning focused schools.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Improv, Week 2
Sadness
Shuntaro Tanikawa
Sadness
A half-peeled apple
Not a metaphor
Not a poem
Merely there
A half-pealed apple
Sadness
Merely there
Yesterday's evening paper
Merely there
Merely there
A warm breast
Merely there
Nightfall
Sadness
Apart from words
Apart from the heart
Merely here
The things of today
Sadness
Chris Yarbrough
Sadness
Waiting for next year
Not a title
Not a championship
Merely there
Waiting for next year
Sadness
Merely there
Yesterday's box score
Merely there
Merely there
A blue flag
Merely there
Lights cut off
Sadness
Apart from expectations
Apart from happiness
Merely here
Waiting for next year
Sign Inventory, Week2
A Poetry Calendar
I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn a page of the sea
throw away a tight-lipped dead clam
the day not quite dawn the beach white
a mother's barren womb a broken oar
I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn a page of the horizon
throw away a snake's too light slough
the day not quite dawn a useless parasol
the suspicious laugh cold fried food
I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn the page of the sky
sweep together and throw away all the soot stardust
the day not quite dawn the grass full of hanging tears
I leaf and leaf through a calendar
yet I don't appear
I who wait for myself
world of imaginary numbers love without arms
1. The first three stanzas all begin the same way, but the third and fourth lines have variations.
2. The refrains all start the same way, but after the first two lines there are changes to the words.
3. The first major change happens in the last stanza. It is only three lines compared with four from the other stanzas.
4. The speaker changes the last stanza from "I who wait for myself" to "yet I don't appear I wait fro my self." There is a reverse from lines one and two.
5. There are no punctuation marks in the entire poem. Each line breaks without ending to create a feeling of openness.
6. In the refrains, the author uses huge spaces between words. It is the only time that the he creates this space throughout the poem.
7. All the stanzas begin with the same three lines, except for the third stanza, where it begins "sweep together" instead of throw away. But throw away is used later in the same line.
8. The third park of the refrain is very different each time. You have the white beach, useless parasol and grass full of hanging tears. The third item is very different, because it invokes a much different image.
9. In the final three lines, the objects become much more abstract. We go from leafing through a calendar to love without arms.
10. The idea that the speaker is not there is interesting, because the "I" is able turn the sky, sea and horizon.
I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn a page of the sea
throw away a tight-lipped dead clam
the day not quite dawn the beach white
a mother's barren womb a broken oar
I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn a page of the horizon
throw away a snake's too light slough
the day not quite dawn a useless parasol
the suspicious laugh cold fried food
I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn the page of the sky
sweep together and throw away all the soot stardust
the day not quite dawn the grass full of hanging tears
I leaf and leaf through a calendar
yet I don't appear
I who wait for myself
world of imaginary numbers love without arms
1. The first three stanzas all begin the same way, but the third and fourth lines have variations.
2. The refrains all start the same way, but after the first two lines there are changes to the words.
3. The first major change happens in the last stanza. It is only three lines compared with four from the other stanzas.
4. The speaker changes the last stanza from "I who wait for myself" to "yet I don't appear I wait fro my self." There is a reverse from lines one and two.
5. There are no punctuation marks in the entire poem. Each line breaks without ending to create a feeling of openness.
6. In the refrains, the author uses huge spaces between words. It is the only time that the he creates this space throughout the poem.
7. All the stanzas begin with the same three lines, except for the third stanza, where it begins "sweep together" instead of throw away. But throw away is used later in the same line.
8. The third park of the refrain is very different each time. You have the white beach, useless parasol and grass full of hanging tears. The third item is very different, because it invokes a much different image.
9. In the final three lines, the objects become much more abstract. We go from leafing through a calendar to love without arms.
10. The idea that the speaker is not there is interesting, because the "I" is able turn the sky, sea and horizon.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Response to a classmate’s journal, Week 2
From Zac Cooper's journal:
I understand a lot of where Zac is coming from and I was struggling with the same felings. During the imatation process, I find myself trying to emulate the poem's style with some kind of idea. I'm still working on my imatation this week, because I can't find the right balance. Zac's comments on creative writing are telling for us that don't consider ourselves creative writers. I feel that many of the ideas in this class will help us come to grips with the notion that everyone can write if they spend enough time working through those different exercises to help us come up with intersting items in our poetry.
Throughout the course of my writing this week I have tried to employ some of the notions we have been discussing in class. One of these notions that stuck out for me was the technique of using words within a poem for their sound and/or connotation instead of their meaning. While I grasped this idea in our class discussions and can observe it in other writers' poems, as a first time creative writer I was having trouble using the technique in meaningful ways in my own writing. However, I feel that while completing the Improv/Imitation entry for this week I had an epiphany of sorts with the technique.
Even though this entry was an imitation of another's work, I went through several drafts of my poetic attempt. As I continuously changed words and searched for synonyms I noticed that I was choosing words based on their sound alone. I didn't mean to, but I definitely started doing it somewhere along the line. After I noticed this technique taking place I went back and analyzed what I was choosing and why. I realized that there were two specific sounds I enjoyed using in that particular poem (which I titled Weekly Relic). Those sounds were the soft, conciliatory "s" and the hard, sharp "k" sounds. So, I decided to use and contrast those sounds within the poem and the title. Now, by no means am I singing any form of praises of this poem or claiming to have broken through a milestone in the art. However, I am saying that for me, a person who has never looked in the mirror and seen a creative writer, it was fun.
I understand a lot of where Zac is coming from and I was struggling with the same felings. During the imatation process, I find myself trying to emulate the poem's style with some kind of idea. I'm still working on my imatation this week, because I can't find the right balance. Zac's comments on creative writing are telling for us that don't consider ourselves creative writers. I feel that many of the ideas in this class will help us come to grips with the notion that everyone can write if they spend enough time working through those different exercises to help us come up with intersting items in our poetry.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Junkyard Quotes 3, Week 2
Ayo, lesson here, Bey. You come at the king, you best not miss. - Omar, "The Wire"
Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar: Day at a time I suppose?
Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar: Day at a time I suppose?
Junkyard Quotes 2, Week 2
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher, 1971
I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us. ~Walt Whitman
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher, 1971
I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us. ~Walt Whitman
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