A Turn for the Verse: Draped in moon shadow

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Draped in moon shadow

Picasso's The Tragedy

Draped in moon shadow, dressed in a tailored sorrow

There is a weight to the asphyxiating air
Heavy-laden with a diaphanous vapors
Hardened by a lingering soft touch

They stand together but are too much alone

Heads bowed in both quiet faith and surrender
Despair is seldom as sweet as when her sounds are spoken in memories

Fractured hearts can little support slumping shoulders
Darkened eyes laid to the ground obscuring view

Even after souls disappear, hopes and curses remain
Neither the angels in a broken heaven

Nor the wretches held deep in the brooding sea
Can ever sever a loved soul's eternal memory

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WRITING PROMPTS

Week 4 Uncertainty

Use the phrase, "I Don't Know" as a catalyst for your next poem. You can use it as a theme, as a title, as a first line (or last line). You may not even use the phrase at all and still be writing about it. And yes, Cassidy, you can even say it in French. :) See you Wednesday.

Week 3 Ekphrasis, Art, and Empathy

Pick a visual work of art from the NYU's Art, Literature, and Medicine Database, and reflect, in your poem --What do you see? --What else do you notice? --How does this work make you feel?

Week 2 The Body

Choose a part of the body and describe it.

Describe something being done with or to that part of the body.

Use (and be ready to discuss) simile, metaphor, or other figurative language in your poem.

Week 1 Fever

Think back to your own experience of illness. Recount a particular sickness, accident, surgery, or other anecdote related to your own health. Like Plath, try to describe not what happened, but how it made you feel. Try to write lyrically -- expressing the emotional experience -- rather than literally.

HOW TO READ/COMMENT ON A POEM

I find that reading a poem is like looking at a piece of art, a painting, a sculpture, a movie, or a play. When we read each others' poems we have an opportunity to show appreciation and to help the poem get even better! Try to answer three basic questions, and even if you don't have a lot of experience reading poetry or using any of the lingo, you'll still have much to say.

What do you see?

-- What does the poem look like on the page. What can you say about its structure, form, line lengths?

-- What is the literal meaning of the poem, what is actually happening? How would you say it in your own words?

-- What is the setting of the poem? Where and when?

-- Who is speaking in the poem? What does the speaker want?

What else do you notice?

-- What are the sounds of this poem? Look for lyric devices, such as meter, rhyme, assonance, alliteration, consonance.

-- Look for figuarative language: similes and metaphors, imagery, symbols and allusions. Look up words you don't know or familiar words used in unusual ways.

-- Take longer poems in chunks. Comment on a favorite stanza, line, or word.

-- If there is a part that seems confusing, it's OK to say where you get lost, it may help the poet revise and rework the poem.

-- If there is a part or device that works particularly well, make sure to mention it.

How does it make you feel?

-- Mention how the poem makes you feel. Does it remind you of anything, any time, any place?

-- What is the theme of the poem? Is there a message here?

Always remember to criticize the poem, not the poet.

Have fun, and thank you for sharing your thoughts!

A Turn for the Verse

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Draped in moon shadow

Picasso's The Tragedy

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