Ladies and Gentlemen...
Diane Mayr is in the building!
Following up on
her last post in the Ask a Librarian series, today Diane encourages us to maintain a poetry practice routine with some useful resources to loosen the imagination.
How to Get to Carnegie Hall
The joke has been around for an eternity: A man is walking the streets
of NYC, looking a little lost. He stops a stranger to ask,
"Hey,
Mister, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?"
The stranger answers,
"Practice, practice, practice!"
Fortunately, the answer to many questions can be answered with,
"practice, practice, practice." How do you walk the length of the
Appalachian Trail? You start with practice trips carrying a backpack.
How do you publish a book of poetry? You start by reading and writing
poems. Lots of poems. Perhaps write one a day or several a week. You
must practice, practice, practice writing poetry!
So here's the rub: what do you write about? Where do you get your ideas? I addressed this question in my
February post
at Today's Little Ditty,
“Be Curious.” In it I recommended several online newsletters
packed with writing ideas to pursue. But, if you're going to write
several poems each week for practice, you don't need to dive headfirst
into a topic.
What you need is a prompt. Michelle provides
monthly prompts here at
TLD; this month it is to
write an abecedarian. Laura Salas provides a
photo for a
15 Words or Less poetry challenge each Thursday.
Laura Shovan,
during the month of February over several years, used postcards,
colors, sound files, and more to provide readers with prompts. Other
bloggers provide additional starters.
If you set yourself a goal of a poem with your morning cup of coffee, or
a poem before going to bed each night, you'll need something easily
available to give you a nudge. And, you're going to need variety to
keep your writing fresh. Let me suggest the following:
The Athenaeum.
Here you'll find the artworks of thousands of artists across the ages. Pick a random
work of art, or pick an
art movement.
There are many ways to classify the history of art by time period,
stylistic features, or geography. Currently The Athenaeum calls all such
groupings "art movements."
I have no idea of what the "Veduta" movement is, so I might click on
that, then on an artist, then on a work. Here's the point, don't think
about whether or not you like the work you land on, just use it. Let it
set your imagination loose. Imagine what the artist was thinking when
she created it. What would the subject of that work think about you
looking at him? Can you come up with a story to fit the picture? Can
you do it in 15 words, or three stanzas, or in rhyme? What about the
colors? What do their use reveal? How does it make YOU feel?
A painting from the Veduta movement:
The Length of an Arm
The length of an arm—
two arms—
spanning a gap.
The length of a glance—
two glances—
bridging a difference.
The lengths to which
we must go merely
to survive.
© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.
The Museum of Bad Art.
This site is loosely art related. It makes me laugh, which, as far
as I'm concerned, is a major plus! Again, pick a picture and go!
flickr.
For a long time I've used flickr.
In the drop-down menu titled "Any license" I click on "No known
copyright restrictions." Then, I put in a random term such as
"weathervane" or "goat" or "permanent." You never know what is going to
come up—art, photos, vintage ads.
(Word of warning: some of it may be
distasteful since anyone can post photos free for use, but it's
generally a small portion of what is revealed. Another note: flickr is
owned by Yahoo which recently entered into a
deal with Verizon.
Within the past few weeks I've had problems accessing the site--it
started asking for Yahoo passwords. As of 9/16, everything seemed to
working right again, but be aware.)
If you prefer a word-based prompt, try one of these:
The Journal.
J. Robert Lennon Random Poem Idea Generator.
Random Line Generator.
Robert Lee Brewer's Wednesday Poetry Prompts.
There are plenty more places to go for writing nudges. Perhaps you can
share your favorite in the comments section? There is no excuse for not
writing a poem a day when the prompts are so abundant. Start today and
you'll be on the road to Carnegie Hall!
Brava, Diane!
Thank you for sharing these fantastic resources with us!
Be sure to check out Diane's other posts in the Ask a Librarian series:
Diane Mayr (a.k.a. Kurious Kitty) is a long-time public librarian and a freelance writer. She is the author of a storyhour favorite picture book, Run, Turkey, Run!
(Walker & Co., 2007). Since 2007, she has concentrated on haiku
and other short form poems, and works to improve her graphic skills by
illustrating them. Find out more about Diane at her website.
I'm delighted with the turnout for Carole Boston Weatherford's abecedarian challenge. (This is
not an easy poetry form!) This week's featured daily ditties included poems by
Suzy Levinson,
Juanita Havill,
Rosi Hollinbeck, and
my own, written for yesterday's International Day of Peace. Although abecedarian poems will be accepted through the end of September, next Friday will be our wrap-up celebration. To be included, post your contribution on our
September 2017 padlet.
This week's Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at
The Poem Farm.
