Writing Prompt — World Seeds and Visual Poetry

A friend of mine posted on an interesting topic -- world seeds. I thought it would make an excellent writing prompt. The thoughts we dwell on, with their accompanying emotions, affect our view and experience of our world. So here's the idea: create a positive visual mantra. According to Wikipedia, a mantra is "a word or…

The Poetry You Have to See to Believe

Sorry to disappoint, but this isn't one of those "Shock and Awe" posts. Most often, people will tell you that poetry is meant to be heard. The rhythm of a poem comes out when spoken aloud, especially for genres like Beat poetry, and a reader can immerse him/herself into the sound of the poem. But there is a…

Confessional Poetry — the poem for the prompt

Here is my first attempt at the Confessional Poetry writing prompt. It didn't go quite the way I expected. I will try this prompt again and see if I can be a bit more successful at it... Untitled Dear Journal, it's nothing new, these entries of lust and love the jealousy that drives me to…

Confessional Poetry and Sylvia Plath

Confessional poetry emerged in the 1950's and 60's. This genre of poetry is all about the intimate life of the poet. The poems deal with sexuality, mental illness, disease, family, etc.  It is often unsettling and uncomfortable to read, since it makes the reader feel like he/she is prying into someone's personal life. (And sometimes, it really…

Haiku — The Tweets of Poetry

...And I'm back! I apologize for the hiatus, but the important part is that I'm back and ready for some poetry! Today, I want to talk about Haikus.  This form of poetry originated in Japan. A Haiku consisted of three lines equaling 17 syllables in the 5-7-5 syllable format. However, modern Haiku can be 1, 3,…

Poem Prompt: Meditation

Confession -- Lately, I haven't been writing much. I've become so drained and worn out by work that I lost all will to do what it is that keeps me sane -- write. So I decided, recently, to put aside all my animosity towards, well, everything, and try to take a breath and move on.…

Writing Prompt

So, for the last writing prompt, we wrote a poem in the style of a specific poet, eventually revising it and turning it into our own unique piece. This time, we're going in a slightly different direction: The "fan fic" version of poetry. In order to do this, we must decide on a specific universe…

Lesson Time! Clarifying the last post.

OK, so a friend of mine asked me the difference between Contemporary and Modern poetry.  I realized that a lot of people probably don’t even know what those words mean in this context, so I decided to create a supporting post for the one on Robert Frost.  You know what this means? Another poetry lesson!…

Writing Prompt: Emulation

Emulating, or imitating, a poet or author is a great way to experiment and develop your own voice. (Plus, it’s a great way to get started when you’re struggling to write.) I know it’s considered taboo to copy fellow authors; it’s considered theft  of an idea or signature that makes what that poet or writer…

Writing Prompt: The photo poem

I love photo poems. Photographs often tell stories that I doubt even the photographer intended. As writers, we often see more than the average viewer. Poets and writers, in general, have an ability to look beyond the obvious and mundane and see so much more. Let’s have some fun and tie this into the previous…