Poetry Workshop - #loveseamusic

Back in September I went to a poetry workshop run by Becci Louise. It was part of an initiative by a local museum to support the upkeep and promotion of Sea Music, a sculpture by Anthony Caro.

Due to issues with promoting the workshop on the website only a few people turned up, but that made for a cosier and less classroom atmosphere. We were amply supplied with tea, coffee and biscuits, although Becci's companion parrot Maya forcefully let us know she wanted to share in the latter.

We started with a few minutes of drawing our interpretation of the spirit of the sea. We also did some free writing to Clocks and Clouds' Towers Fall Into the Sea, a majestic track that I felt was a little ruined by the pop-style drums. We also browsed some images of the sea, both artwork and pictures of some of the more unusual creatures that inhabit it. Throughout Becci asked us to write poems based on each of the exercises.

We also shared our opinions of Sea Music, and our thoughts about the sea. I reflected on how mine has changed as I've grown older. That led to more poems.

After lunch there was time for a little more work and chat, but then a cameraman turned up to film Becci reading her poems as part of the promotion. The rest of us left to finish our works, as it had been asked if we'd be willing to donate one or two to an anthology Becci was putting together to support the planned exhibition.

The exhibition itself opened on 21st October. I donated two poems, "Storm and Spirit" and "Dare the Waves", and received a copy of the hand-made anthology. There was also a collection by Becci herself, of the work she wrote while Writer in Residence.

I'm not normally a fan of workshops, but really enjoyed this one. Becci was expert at coaxing words out of even shy or reluctant poets (seriously, I hate free writing), and there was no pressure to share. I'd go to another, given the opportunity.

Poetry Prompts

While it's possible to get inspiration for poems from what's going on in the world (the news, family events), sometimes I find I need a little help to get started.

I've got a Poetry Prompt Pot, basically a jar in which I keep prompts from writing magazines, and leftovers from Poem a Day. If I'm stuck I can pull a prompt from there, although I usually pick three and throw two back.

There are also several sources online. The Poetry Society has a page of prompts, as does Creative Writing Now, and Writers Digest posts up a fresh prompt every Wednesday. Robert Peake's website has a prompt generator that will provide a list of words, a challenge (eg "Refer to an an extreme or intemperate landscape" and an image - plenty to combine for inspiration. The Visual Writing Prompts blog provides a selection of image/instructional prompts based on the genre of prompt you choose. There are probably apps as well, although I haven't personally tried any.

So plenty to be going on with, and thousands more at the click of a Google search. The only problem is finding time to use them all!

A List of Things I've Learned on Poetry Courses

I've done number of poetry courses over the years, so I thought I'd share some of what I've learned. In bullet points to begin with, although some of these will be worth a blog post of their own.

• "What if" applies to poetry as well as fiction. 
• It can be from the point of view of anyone or anything, animate or inanimate.
• Look at the scene or inspiration from a different than usual angle, or combine it with something unexpected.
• Know what your message is. It doesn't have to be profound, or mean the same to everyone.
• Pay attention to detail, but there is room to leave things open to interpretation.
• Sometimes poems go their own way - like fiction!
• Don't feel that every line has to rhyme, or even some of them.
• But if you do pick a rhyme scheme or form, stick to it - unless not doing so is part of the poem.
• Pay attention to rhyme, near rhyme, and slant rhyme - and make sure it's deliberate.
• Beware of rhyme crime! Avoid cliches, including a word just because it rhymes (whether or not the resulting line makes sense), and twisting the syntax of the sentence just to make a rhyme fit.
• Avoid outdated and archaic language.
• Use specific, rather than general, vocabulary.
• Using the senses will make it more powerful.
• Listen to it out loud - get someone to read it to you, or tape yourself reading it.
• Practice styles and types of poems you're not usually drawn to.
• Turn traditional ideas on their heads.
• Keep a list of poems you want to write.
• Bring in your personal experience, especially sensory details.
• If breaking the rules, make sure it looks deliberate (ie  do it more than once).

I'm sure I'll get around to blogging about some of these eventually, but for now it's mostly about getting all my notes in one place (as opposed to over six years' worth of notebooks).

March, April, May, June, July Update!

I've been quiet for a while. Not much to post about, although I have been writing a little. I've entered the Wergle Flomp poetry contest, and also the Mslexia poetry contest - I don't usually enter competitions with fees (not rich enough for that!) but feel the Mslexia one is worth it.

I've got a week's summer holiday coming up and am considering spending it on writing poetry. Possibly reading some how-to books since I've got a few I haven't read/finished.

Recently, I picked up a book of Sylvia Plath's work and I have to say I'm not a fan. ALthough it's the complete works presented chronologically so possibly it's only the early poems I don't connect with. I'm going to skip ahead to some of the later works and see if I like them better.

One of my poems sold last year shows no sign of actually being published, so I should chase that up. It's a glamorous life!

February Update

My copy of Stories of Music Volume 2 arrived, and it looks great. Now it's just finding the time to read it - I haven't even looked at the poetry-writing books I posted about last time. Or any poetry so far this year. I'm hoping to remedy that by signing up for a poem-a-day by email at Poets.org. A poem in my inbox every day might be just what I need. It would certainly brighten up the working day.

There hasn't been a lot of writing this month. I finished a poem, only to rewrite it from a different viewpoint a week later. I'm still not sure which way works better. Next up, I think, is to finish a piece that's been sitting unfinished in a notebook for the last six months.

January Update

I didn't sign up for an online course in the end. I've decided to do some old-fashioned book-learning instead, since I can do it in my own time and I've got quite enough going on already.

Book-wise it's either going to be Alison Chisholm's Crafting Poetry, or The Art and Craft of Poetry by Michael Bugeja, since I have both of those already. My Amazon wishlist is full of others, but I've already spent my Christmas money. Both have exercises in each chapter which will give me plenty of prompts to work with.

I received an email the other day saying my copy of Stories of Music Volume 2 is on its way, so I'm really looking forward to seeing that and checking out the other work. Some of it was sent along in the proofs, since contributors got to look at the whole section their work is in, but I didn't look at the other works or bibliographies because I wanted to wait until I could see the book as a whole.

Part of my first of January ritual is to clear out my old diary. This time I found the first draft of a poem I'd forgotten about, which was a good way to start the year. I've puttered with it since, and have had some ideas on how to develop it further, including a new title. Hopefully it will be ready to submit next time I have a submission day.