Tag: workshop
Poetry at the Delaware Library
The Joy of Writing: Haiku
It is my firm belief that anyone can write poetry. It is not an art reserved for the learned or the few. Much like painting it can be taught. I want to walk you through a process today much like Bob Ross did in his series, Joy of Painting. We will have colors on our palette much the same comprising nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Follow along, express yourself, and above all, have fun.
The Joy of Writing
It’s a wonderful day to write poetry and today is about haiku. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about it. It has to have 5-7-5 syllables or it must be about nature. These are guidelines at best. Modern haiku can be any combination of three verses under 17 syllables.
Let’s start out and run all the words across the screen that you need to write along.
First off, we have some basic nouns. Let’s make them about nature, though it is not a requirement:
Snow; flower; midnight; moon
Now, that you’ve got those, let’s consider what nature is doing by looking at verbs:
Whisper; sleep; fall; gaze
And finally, I’d like you to imagine how you will describe nature with adjectives:
brilliant; white; effervescent; swift
The first thing you’ll want to do with these nouns is pair them with verbs. Think: how am I like nature? I’ll give examples but you can put them anyway you like.
Sleeping flowers
Whisper Midnight
Falling snow
Remember our adjectives? We haven’t forgotten about them. Take them from the list and pair them up: brilliant, white, effervescent, swift.
Sleeping white flowers
Whisper swift Midnights
Effervescent snow
Feeling confident? There’s one more step. Feel free to change and rearrange verse in any way you see fit. Every line doesn’t necessarily need an adjective.
Whispering moons
Gaze on swift snowfall
Sleeping white flowers
Now, you’re a haiku poet. That’s all there is to it. Let me know how it turned out and be sure and share poems on your blog or in the comment section.
Until next time: stay confident and stay writing!
The Joy of Writing: Recap
Last week I shared another edition of my poetry workshop Joy of Writing. The topic was love poems, and I had some great responses . Here is an incredible poem written from the exercise by Kim Stapf.
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You kiss my lips
I tremble down deep
I can feel my heart pumping
With every touch I burn
I’m trapped with no way out
The Joy of Writing: Love Poems
It is my firm belief that anyone can write poetry. It is not an art reserved for the learned or the few. Much like painting it can be taught. I want to walk you through a process today much like Bob Ross did in his series, Joy of Painting. We will have colors on our palette much the same comprising nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Follow along, express yourself, and above all, have fun.
The Joy of Writing
It’s another fantastic day and I’m happy you’re here to write with me. Remember, we can all be poets and express ourselves. Because that’s what it’s really about: expressing ourselves. Just stay confident and stay writing.
Today we’re going to try something a little different. I’m going to walk you through writing a love poem. First off, we have some basic nouns, or body parts:
Face; lips; hands; hearts
Now, that you’ve got those, let’s consider what we might do to these different body parts by looking at verbs:
Brush; kiss; burn; break
And finally, I’d like you to imagine how you will describe these body parts with adjectives:
Pale; dark; trembling; firm
The first thing you’ll want to do with these nouns is pair them with verbs. Think: how will I interact with the person I love? I’ll give examples but you can put them anyway you like.
Brush face
Kiss lips
Burn hands
Break hearts
After this we can determine who is kissing lips and breaking hearts.
The simplest form to take for all of these is you, the writer:
I brush your face
I kiss your lips
I burn your hands
I break your heart
But you can just as easily enjoy these things with the person you love:
We brush faces
We kiss lips
We burn hands
We break hearts
Remember your adjectives? We haven’t forgotten them. Take them from the list and pair them up: pale, dark, trembling, firm.
I brush pale faces
I kiss dark lips
I burn trembling hands
I break firm hearts
I hope you’re writing along because there’s one more step. Let’s try different perspectives in the same poem: I, you, or we.
We brush dark faces
We kiss pale lips
I burn trembling hands
You break firm hearts
Feel free to change and rearrange these in any way you see fit. Every line doesn’t necessarily need an adjective.
I burn your hands
as we kiss lips
brushing dark faces and
breaking pale hearts
That’s it for today. Thank you so much for writing with me.
Remember to believe in your abilities and let me know how it turned out. I encourage you to share poems in the comment section or on your own blogs. Email me with any questions or concerns: beeditty@gmail.com
Until next time: stay confident and stay writing!
The Joy of Writing: Recap
About two weeks ago I posted a poetry workshop called Joy of Writing. I had some great responses and plan to post another this Sunday. Here are two poems written from the previous exercise by Kim Stapf and Brock Gates.
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by Kim Stapf
I touch the sky
With my eye
Watching the clouds go bye
Snapping a picture
The clouds move quicker
With just one clicker
I catch the picture
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My lover from another realm
by Brock Gates
She loves the blue earth
The elegant blue marble we float away on in the cosmic
sea
We love the skies in the twilight and at midnight
With bountiful heavenly bodies so illustriously close and yet
so vast and far away
We oscillate our voices with natures rhythmic tone
Of crickets and night song
I remember that hill
That we met on that summer night
Hidden love bright moon light
That was in another life
The Joy of Writing
It is my firm belief that anyone can write poetry. It is not an art reserved for the learned or the few. Much like painting it can be taught. I want to walk you through a process today much like Bob Ross did in his series, Joy of Painting. We will have colors on our palette much the same comprising nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Follow along, express yourself, and above all, have fun.
The Joy of Writing
It’s a fantastic day and I’m glad you could join me. Let’s start out and run all the words across the screen that you need to write along with me.
First off, we have some basic nouns:
Sunset; sky; earth; people
Now, that you’ve got those, let’s look at some verbs:
Touch; taste; feel; love
And finally adjectives:
Alluring; elegant; red; blue;
The first thing you’ll want to do with these nouns is pair them with verbs. I’ll give examples but you can put them anyway you like.
Touch sky
Taste earth
Feel people
Love sunset
After this we can determine who is touching sky and loving sunsets.
The simplest form to take for all of these is you, the writer:
I touch the sky
I taste earth
I feel people
I love the sunset
But you can just as easily enjoy these things with someone else, perhaps a close friend or even lover.
We touch the sky
We taste earth
We feel people
We love the sunset
Remember our adjectives? We haven’t forgotten about them. Take them from the list and pair them up: alluring; elegant; red; blue.
I touch blue sky
I taste red earth
I feel alluring people
I love the elegant sunrise
Feeling confident? There’s one more step. Let’s try it from different perspectives in the same poem: I, you, or we.
I touch blue sky
You taste red earth
I feel alluring people
We love the elegant sunrise
Feel free to change and rearrange these in any way you see fit:
You taste red earth
I touch blue sky
We feel the elegant sunrise
We love alluring people
That’s it for today’s tutorial. Let me know how it turned out and be sure and share poems on your blog or in the comment section.
The Midnight Writer 