Line and Form, or Beyond Word and Phrase Creative Writing Lesson Three

Poem of the Day –“Loud Music” – Stephen Dobyns What images are conjured in your mind’s eye when reading this poem? Can you relate to it? Can everyone? Can you sum this poem up in three or less words?

Journal Entry #4 Do stream of consciousness writing for five minutes, with one minute song increments. –Stream of consciousness means you do not stop typing for five minutes. Try not to concentrate on the music, but write whatever comes to mind. Read your stream of consciousness writing, and pick one idea. Expand on it for 250 words.

The “Big” Question Once we have translated vivid and suggestive images into felicitous phrasing, what else can we do to further shape that image and develop it along with related images in a poem?

Form Think of organization (ordering for effect) –And development (expanding and emphasizing for effect) Of select details (singular images) –As Form. Many times, poems are a listing of sequential events. –Dying, dying, dying, dying…

Line How poems distinguish themselves from prose. –Use of the line to organize and develop images, as well as rhythm and flow of information. You too can control the speed and flow: –End-stopped: coinciding with the end of a phrase or sentence –Enjambment: end of a line interrupts a phrase or sentence –Caesura: a purposeful pause

Lesson 3 Assignment Read five poems from either plagiarist.com or poets.org. Link me to those poems. Read them! Write a poem that suggests the kind of day you’re having through the description of the objects in your bedroom, backpack, or locker. –Write quickly until you feel the poem rise to a point, its emotional center shift, or you come to a realization. –Title the poem that is apt and engaging. You may use a “working” title (i.e. “Today”) until you think of a better one. –Define the uses of imagery, form, and line in your poem. –Let your poem “rest” for 12 to 24 hours. Then revise it underneath your original, so when you it to me, there are two poems, your original and the revised.