Finding the Poet within You Understanding and Working with Various Forms and Structures

Traditional Forms of Poetry Ballads – Stories told in verse Psalms – Built of two line verses Sonnets – 14 lines, written in iambic pentameter, standard rhyme schemes Ghazals (guzzle) – each line same # of syllables, series of couplets, lst couplet rhymes, others don’t need to, repition Haiku – 5, 7, 5 syllables Tankas – Haiku with two more lines of 7 syllables each

Open-form Poetry or Free Verse Doesn’t have to rhyme But usually has plenty of rhythm, patterns, and repetitions Has self-imposed structure and form

Understanding Open-Form Poetry What open-form is What open-form isn’t Almost anything goes Open form is not closed Designed to open your mind – memories, associations and subconscious thoughts You don’t restrict the lines to only one shape, length or rule Sudden swings in tone, feeling and subject – zig zags No traditional sonnets, ballads or rhyme schemes Trusting the poem and how it emerges Can include iambic verses if they add something Every feature must have a reason for being included

Techniques for Open-form Poetry Economy of words – cut everything not necessary Grammar and syntax – try alternatives to complete sentences, bursts of words, single words, word fragments, different punctuation Parts of speech – focus on nouns and verbs, use adjectives that add something special Rhythms – they should contribute to the meaning Lengths of sentences – vary them, length based on need Line endings – make them meaningful Treating the page as a field

Exercises to Expand Your Creativity Journal – create poems from words you capture Walking poetry – a verse or stanza about each block Write a one or two paragraph essay – turn it into a poem Magazine poetry – clips words out of magazines and turn them into poetry Nature or comforting sense of place – describe the place using a mind map and translate that to poetry Beginnings – start a poem and have others finish it Rework a poem – make the sentences different lengths, change the structure, edit it for un-needed words

Exercises – (continued) Team project – have everyone write a poem together or have everyone write of the same topic and combine pieces into one poem Take a group walk – everyone writes down notes and ideas, throw in hat to retrieve to create mix and max poem Go to a totally different space with no distractions Read others works – outloud or silently