shakespearemom

Here’s another writing exercise, and it should be a fun one. It’s an exercise in word play, and it should make you more aware of the rhythm/meter of your poem, even if you are dealing with free verse. Most importantly, it lets you play with a standard poem:

 

1.  Choose a poem you know well, or one you really like, or one that just sounds cool to you. You might also choose a poem you think is stupid. Honestly, pretty much any poem will do (except for prose poems or picture poems).

 

2.  Type it out. Example:

 

This is Just to Say (by William Carlos Williams)

 

I have eaten 

the plums

that were in 

the icebox

 

and which 

you were probably 

saving

for breakfast

 

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet 

and so cold.

 

3.  Write your OWN version of the poem, changing any of it you wish to. Some words can stay the same, and the rhythm should be EXACTLY copied, but the gist of the poem should be radically different. Let me do this to Williams’ poem:

 

Tell Me What to Say

 

I am breathing

in gasps

while you sit

bewildered

 

oh, why

did you ever say

you got

the ticket

 

Four hundred

fifty-five dollars

so much

so inane.

 

Here’s another possibility:

 

Fatty Cat at Play

 

Belly bulging

with food

while legs move

like windmills

 

toy mouse

still escaping from

his paws

like lightning

 

then Cat finds

his butt is the way

to squish

this mouse

 

Now go write your own poem. You can post the original, if you like, or at least tell us what the inspiration is. If you don’t want to make the poem as long, just do a few stanzas in mimicry. If you find it hard (and from the responses I’ve had in poetic form from all of you, I don’t think that will be true), keep working at it. 

 

Don’t be afraid. It’s fun! If I didn’t have to go right back to grading, I’d write more! (Maybe I will in the next blog)…

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