| Author | Message | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30359 Registered: 11-1998 |
. Dearest Membership -- Here is the second in The Poet's Note Card series. These Note Cards come from a book entitled The Mind's Eye: A Guide to Writing Poetry, by Kevin Clark. Mr. Clark is a winner of the Distinguished Teaching Award, is a university professor at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, and a widely published poet. This book on the teaching of poetry writing is concise, practical, and has been designed specifically for a college-level term. It includes a progression of lessons, example poems, and stimulating exercises. While most advanced poets already know these things, it doesn't hurt to review them. Or to learn them if you are a beginner to the craft of poetry making. I'll try to bring you a Poet's Note Card every so often. While you might not agree with every point Mr. Clark makes, I do hope these note cards serve to help those who are new to poetry by providing some basic foundation of information on which to build. Oh, and I do recommend that you acquire the book. It's an excellent textbook, especially if you would like to attend a college-level poetry writing course, but cannot for whatever reason. The link above (click on the book's title) will take you to the WPF BookShop and the Amazon description of the book. Thanks for reading! Love, M (Administrator) ------------------------------------------------- The Poet's Note Card -- #2 from The Mind's Eye: A Guide to Writing Poetry by Kevin Clark Getting to the Roots of the Imagination 1. Poets render; they don't tell. 2. Good poets paint pictures using words. 3. The word image is at the root of the word imagination. 4. Poets find themselves inspired when they create images that capture their own imaginations. 5. The more universal the picture the more interested the reader. 6. Meaning in contemporary poetry is typically best communicated first via imagery and then via sound. 7. It is important to invest your poems with tension. 8. When starting a new poem, it's often best to explore an image or a story line; try not to decide exactly what you want you poem to mean before you write it. 9. Most abstractions are poetic quicksand; they aren't registered in the gut. 10. Literature typically uses concrete language and is implicit; philosophy typically uses abstract language and is explicit. 11. Reading poetry should be, first, a visceral experience and, subsequently, an ideational experience. 12. It's a good idea to put your poem away for a day or two, then come back and revise it. As French poet Paul Valéry suggests, a work of art is never finished, merely abandoned. 13. Writing well is an elevated form of play. . | ||
| Rania S. Watts
Intermediate Member Username: cementcoveredcherries Post Number: 601 Registered: 04-2008 |
Dear M, Thank you so much for this! Have a good day, Best, Rania S. Watts "You will hardly know who I am or what I mean" ~ Walt Whitman Cement Covered Cherries | ||
| Andy James Turner
Member Username: wildemanuk Post Number: 94 Registered: 06-2008 |
OOOO, this book sounds great and is just 12 quid, think it's worth buying after all you say here. As it is weird what you say, be it poems or wee kidies stories I don't write words that I see, but a painting or moving pictures that I see in my mind, and they can be there forever. I must read lodsa famous poets in the way song writers listen to millions of records... Cheers for this... Hmmmm M aren't you from JB? Andy | ||
| Ann Metlay
Senior Member Username: wordsrworthy Post Number: 4233 Registered: 08-2007 |
Dear M, I have really found these postcards useful. Thank you for putting them out for us. Ann I am paying attention to small beauties, whatever I have--as if it were our duty to find things to love, to bind ourselves to this world. (Sharon Olds) | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30365 Registered: 11-1998 |
You are most welcome, Rania, Andy, and Ann. Glad to hear that the points on the cards are beneficial to you. Hmmmm, I'm not sure what JB you're referring to, Andy. The only JB I know is J & B scotch here in the US. And I haven't had a drink in years ( not that I don't need one most of the time *LOL* ). Love, M | ||
| Andy James Turner
Member Username: wildemanuk Post Number: 95 Registered: 06-2008 |
HAHA, no, no, no the M I was thinking of was the top geezer in James Bond.... | ||
| Andy James Turner
Member Username: wildemanuk Post Number: 96 Registered: 06-2008 |
Yikes I'm deaded... I've just seen your a lady, whoops, I better think of another M PDQ  BTW it's now 10 quid on Amazon... Must be a Miss M who comes out of the sea, with hat heart thumping dashing look... M for mega stunning, does that get me outta gaol free Or there was a Miss Money something... I better stop digging a hole... Andy... (Message edited by wildemanuk on June 15, 2008) | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30366 Registered: 11-1998 |
Oh, that JB. Should have guessed. No problem, Andy, I've been called and/or mistaken for much worse. And it's Moneypenny. Miss Jane Moneypenny. Secretary to M. Only don't tell anyone here or they'll start calling me that. *LOL* Love, M | ||
| MV
Senior Member Username: michaelv Post Number: 914 Registered: 11-2003 |
MJM, I'm enjoying this refresher. I find these "guides" all affirm one another - and this is good. I appreciate the variety of articulation. Lucky 13: "Writing well is an elevated form of play." ^^ A workshop professor once said let's refer to this not as a "workshop," but as a "playshop." in the spirit of re-creation  MV | ||
| Andy James Turner
Member Username: wildemanuk Post Number: 97 Registered: 06-2008 |
M.... I promise I will not tell a soul..HAHA.. Kewl book notes, BTW. Funny how one finds such things at just the right time.. Tip top. You look most laid back on your bio, lol.. Andy x | ||
| brenda morisse
Advanced Member Username: moritric Post Number: 2057 Registered: 04-2007 |
Dearest M, mi hermana, I'm not sure I understand this one. 5. The more universal the picture the more interested the reader. I understand, but I don't. To me it's the very personal observation and experience that brings a poem to life. Is it the context that is universal ? love, love borrachita confused as usual} | ||
| David C.
Intermediate Member Username: david_shay_mish Post Number: 370 Registered: 07-2007 |
Writing well is an elevated form of play. I'll go along with that one all right. And as for It is important to invest your poems with tension - isn't that the conclusion we reached in our discussion of conflict? I'm still disinclined to live by all of his rules, but they are pretty good. And to live outside the law you must be honest, so ... Cheers David | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30370 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dearest MV -- thanks for reading and your stamp of approval. And yes, all the problems start happening when you take this business too seriously. If you're not having fun, don't do it. *smile* Dearest Andy -- well, at least I don't look merely laid. *LOL* Dearest borrachita -- it goes a little like this. If you write a poem complaining that your boyfriend is a dirty ratfink cheating SOB and all you do is whine and complain and say you'll never love again and you're going to die, this is personal and no one gives a shit. They got their own troubles. However, if you write that same poem and somehow show how your dirty ratfink cheating SOB boyfriend is like someone else's dirty ratfink cheating SOB boyfriend and have them know the depth of those emotions in a broader, bigger-than-life way as they apply to all humans living or dead, this is universal and people will go "aha . . ." You are looking for "aha . . .", not "I don't give a shit." Does that explain it better? Dearest David -- there is always one dissenter in the crowd. Outlaws are important. However, it is always better to know the rules before you break them. That way, it doesn't look accidental or naive. Love, M | ||
| brenda morisse
Advanced Member Username: moritric Post Number: 2059 Registered: 04-2007 |
Aha, mi hermana, now I understand. Thank-you. But really, what would I know about a dirty ratfink cheating SOB of a boyfriend or husband? love, love borrachita aha-ing | ||
| Emusing
Senior Member Username: emusing Post Number: 5802 Registered: 08-2003 |
Reading poetry should be, first, a visceral experience and, subsequently, an ideational experience. 1000% agreement. Thank you M. Very good pointers. x e www.wordwalkerpress.com | ||
| David C.
Intermediate Member Username: david_shay_mish Post Number: 374 Registered: 07-2007 |
Naive? Oops. | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30382 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dearest borrachita -- of course you would not personally know these things about dirty ratfink cheating SOB boyfriends or husbands. Neither would I. *smile* Dearest E -- glad the pointers are helpful to you. Your poems are always visceral first, so it seems you practice what you preach. *grin* Dearest David -- like my example to borrachita about the dirty ratfink cheating SOB boyfriend, my examples are only general. I never speak to anyone in specific. You only wear the naive shoe if it fits. From what I have seen of your poems, you always have tension and conflicts of the human heart in them, even if you choose not to call it that. You'd be surprised what is there that you don't necessarily see, generally speaking, of course. Universal "you." Love, M | ||
| David C.
Intermediate Member Username: david_shay_mish Post Number: 377 Registered: 07-2007 |
I know, I know. I'm just messing about. David |
