DerpDaBerp
Smash Champion
I know there is a poetry critique thread, meant surely to present finished products of our own design. But I happened upon a bunch of poetry exercises in a drawer from a class I took a couple of years ago that I remember liking and found somewhat valuable in my development. Because the aforementioned thread is kind of the only general poetry thread in the sub-forum, and poetry itself is such an awesome, inspirational and unbounded art, I thought it deserves a thread dedicated to promoting growth in the people who enjoy writing it. And with any luck, the nature of the exercises and the well-intended and constructive observations of your fellow members may bring out the poet in you you didn't know there was! Don't be sheepish, for there is no 'correct'.
The pile I found is not too large, so the longevity of the thread, so long as I feed it with these simple exercises, may not last long. Which is why I hope that if people participate, we can, through each other, continue to derive beneficial and diverse prompts.
I'd also like to make the disclaimer that I don't really have an opinion of the quality of my writing. I make this thread only because it's not already here, and I intend to grow as much as any of you (assuming of course that I can get assistance with prolonging this little project
). I make no claim of expertise.
I want this thread to be a group effort in discovering our own capacities as writers so we can expand on what we find we like about our own styles, and of course, for just plain ol' practice. This is not a critique thread, I want the purpose to be to point out what we find beautiful and effective about each others' styles so we can more clearly define them for ourselves.
As I present them, I'll include what I've composed in spoiler tags. It may be silly, but I guess I feel like your works will be more genuine if they're without the immediate influence of an example. For as I said, there is no 'correct'. Post yours, read others', and let us then build off of each other. I don't have the authority to tell you you can censor dodge, but I'd like you to throw presupposed limits of length and form to the wind. Or hell, retain them, it's all you.
I'll probably save all the prompts in the OP as more are presented.
Also note: All the exercises I found, as few as were recovered, were provided to me by one Dr. Steven Salmoni.
I hope this goes well
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1. Colors are interesting descriptors in that they don't really allow for any explicit definition, you kind of have to know them through experience. For example, ever think about how you would describe a color to someone blind from birth?
I'd like this exercise to influence you to stretch your point-of-view to describe a thing we all know in a way you've never considered before. Hopefully you find your capacity for conveying a rich feeling or finding the right words to capture the abstract.
Color
1) Write a poem or sketch that tells us everything you know about the color red.
2) Write a poem or sketch that tells us something that nobody knows about the color red.
3) Write a poem or sketch that tells us everything about the color red using only the color blue (or green, yellow, etc.).
Naturally, if you'd like to deviate from red as your color subject, feel free. Perhaps you can even test how you've expressed yourself by not giving an explicit title at all and allowing the readers to guess what color you're talking about!
Mine:
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2. The rules to this exercise are simple:
Close your eyes, and tell me what you see
At first, I thought this was kind of a silly, new-agey practice. "What the hell would I see?" Until this exercise, I had never really expected anything out of my unprompted mind's eye.
I realized that your mind's eye is ever-dynamic. I kind of learned how to let my mind do what it wants. I learned to not force anything. I learned that the natural flows out more plentifully.
You start with a blank slate as you close your eyes but your mind really does naturally replace nothingness with... things, haha. It replaces it with scenes, it replaces it with obscurities, it replaces it with pleasant recollections, with anything. Tell me what it is your mind replaces the nothingness with.
Mine:
The pile I found is not too large, so the longevity of the thread, so long as I feed it with these simple exercises, may not last long. Which is why I hope that if people participate, we can, through each other, continue to derive beneficial and diverse prompts.
I'd also like to make the disclaimer that I don't really have an opinion of the quality of my writing. I make this thread only because it's not already here, and I intend to grow as much as any of you (assuming of course that I can get assistance with prolonging this little project
). I make no claim of expertise.I want this thread to be a group effort in discovering our own capacities as writers so we can expand on what we find we like about our own styles, and of course, for just plain ol' practice. This is not a critique thread, I want the purpose to be to point out what we find beautiful and effective about each others' styles so we can more clearly define them for ourselves.
As I present them, I'll include what I've composed in spoiler tags. It may be silly, but I guess I feel like your works will be more genuine if they're without the immediate influence of an example. For as I said, there is no 'correct'. Post yours, read others', and let us then build off of each other. I don't have the authority to tell you you can censor dodge, but I'd like you to throw presupposed limits of length and form to the wind. Or hell, retain them, it's all you.
I'll probably save all the prompts in the OP as more are presented.
Also note: All the exercises I found, as few as were recovered, were provided to me by one Dr. Steven Salmoni.
I hope this goes well
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Colors are interesting descriptors in that they don't really allow for any explicit definition, you kind of have to know them through experience. For example, ever think about how you would describe a color to someone blind from birth?
I'd like this exercise to influence you to stretch your point-of-view to describe a thing we all know in a way you've never considered before. Hopefully you find your capacity for conveying a rich feeling or finding the right words to capture the abstract.
Color
1) Write a poem or sketch that tells us everything you know about the color red.
2) Write a poem or sketch that tells us something that nobody knows about the color red.
3) Write a poem or sketch that tells us everything about the color red using only the color blue (or green, yellow, etc.).
Naturally, if you'd like to deviate from red as your color subject, feel free. Perhaps you can even test how you've expressed yourself by not giving an explicit title at all and allowing the readers to guess what color you're talking about!
Mine:
On Red #1)
Beyond a pulsating, warm, enveloping hue
Red is either one or all of a few:
Red is a damning fury
Red is the proof you're alive
Red is that love you've never known till now
Beyond a pulsating, warm, enveloping hue
Red is either one or all of a few:
Red is a damning fury
Red is the proof you're alive
Red is that love you've never known till now
On Red #2)
Red sits primarily between Orange and Purple
pretending it's not having secret dealings
with Black
Red sits primarily between Orange and Purple
pretending it's not having secret dealings
with Black
On Red #3)
Blue may be Blue
but more than usual today.
It seems to be missing something.
It's timid today, and no one can seem
to get it out of bed.
It's sad today--
Blue--
but more than usual
Blue may be Blue
but more than usual today.
It seems to be missing something.
It's timid today, and no one can seem
to get it out of bed.
It's sad today--
Blue--
but more than usual
2. The rules to this exercise are simple:
Close your eyes, and tell me what you see
At first, I thought this was kind of a silly, new-agey practice. "What the hell would I see?" Until this exercise, I had never really expected anything out of my unprompted mind's eye.
I realized that your mind's eye is ever-dynamic. I kind of learned how to let my mind do what it wants. I learned to not force anything. I learned that the natural flows out more plentifully.
You start with a blank slate as you close your eyes but your mind really does naturally replace nothingness with... things, haha. It replaces it with scenes, it replaces it with obscurities, it replaces it with pleasant recollections, with anything. Tell me what it is your mind replaces the nothingness with.
Mine:
I close my eyes
There is a window looking outside
There is a man
He is made of wood
And he's watering plants
There is a window looking outside
There is a man
He is made of wood
And he's watering plants
I close my eyes
There is a slab of stone
It has swivelly letters on it that I can't read
It's big and probably important
There is a slab of stone
It has swivelly letters on it that I can't read
It's big and probably important
I close my eyes
There is a sea turtle
There are many other fish there, under the sea
But only one sea turtle
There is a sea turtle
There are many other fish there, under the sea
But only one sea turtle
I close my eyes and there is a museum
It's abandoned but all the art
is still there
There is a large piece on a wall
with the light above it
still on
It's abandoned but all the art
is still there
There is a large piece on a wall
with the light above it
still on
