Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Day 2, afternoon session

Cat said there's no such thing as writer's block. Instead, there is self-doubt and that creates barriers when we write.

From 1-2, we were given time to write a poem in response to one of our four prompts. I put my headphones on, Lou Reed streaming through them, and hoped that I'd be able to create something "worthwhile" in the hour time span. I started a poem about stretch marks, time, and experience. After six lines, I then saved the document and moved on to something else. I wanted to write the poem in response to "I lift heavy things" and I wanted the piece to discuss emotional things that we lift up and down. I didn't get past brainstorming. I finally got some momentum when I got my "inspiration": cocoa butter!

Here is draft #1:


As you can see, I started a pattern of having a main noun as the first line of each stanza. Then, I described the noun and how it connected to cocoa butter. This got gimmicky very quickly and I felt frustrated.

I then decided to change the set up of the piece and wrote draft #2:



The draft "#2" that is above is actually draft #3. The document above already has changes within it from the afternoon session with the group. I had lines about "relentless sun" and "absence of rain." By mentioning the sun, there is no need to mention "absence of rain;" it is a redundant phrase. I also had some wordiness in the lines about reggae music. My workshop group helped me condense those lines and make them tighter. I still feel the need to work on this piece. That's the amazing thing about poetry. You could have a small 15 line poem and constantly be working on adding a single word or removing a single word. Revision is very strategic. For most readers, this poem may be "fine" as it is. I want to make some of the images more concrete (leftover brainswashing from Peter Murphy...lol). For instance, the lines that mention "gluttony" and "reckless living." What do those phrase exactly mean? Wouldn't it be better if I pinpointed those words instead of leaving them floating in the air of abstractness?

Day 2

We spent the morning workshopping our poems. We each read one of our poems aloud. After we each individually read, Cat has us go into the imaginary "green room." The poet who work is being discussed stays silent; meanwhile, the rest of us discuss specific lines that we liked, structural issues, etc. After a few minutes, the poet is let out of the "green room" and a whole group conversation takes place. This type of critique process works very well. Many complimentary things are said about people's pieces, but there is also valuable and constructive feedback on words that can be replaced or omitted, lines that can be broken up differently, or even just general brainstorming for intriguing titles.

This morning I read the following poem. It was from a prompt which required use of a subordinate clause starter, use of the word "ordinarily," and mention of fast food and textiles.

Below is my draft:





Parts of the poem definitely feel forced, but that tends to come with the experience of responding to a prompt. There was definite positive feedback from the group. Many enjoyed the language used in the last line, especially the word "cleaving." Laurie mentioned that there is an S sound throughout the poem and it makes it flow nicely when it is read aloud. Suggestions were made, however, to omit "ordinarily" from the poem and even to take out the whole sentence that features "ordinarily." Suggestions were also made to mention the specific type of food that is "sizzling."

Although poetry can be prose-like or can have stanzas and traditional line breaks, I decided to revise the piece so that there would be more line breaks too.



During the rest of the morning, we read two dog poems; these pieces went along with a prompt for later in the day. We also read two pieces that were considered "paraclausi thyron." One piece was contemporary and the other was a poem by Emily Dickinson. The two pieces shared the similarity of focusing on "being locked out or left out."

In addition to the two prompts above, we also were given a prompt "inspired" by a phrase that my husband often says: "I just want to life heavy things." We also were given the choice of writing about an item from a purse (from perspective of object, using the object as an extended metaphor, ode to the object, poem about history of the object, etc).




Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Business cards and cultural icons

Toward the end of the afternoon, we received an additional prompt. We each wrote down three cultural icons on separate strips of paper. We then mixed up all of paper strips and then chose three. Additionally, Cat had us randomly choose three business cards from her collection.

The idea is to create a poem which features one of more cultural icons "in conversation" with the business from the card. Our cultural icons ran the gamut. I wrote down Bill Clinton playing the saxophone, Oprah Winfrey, and Bart Simpson.

From the collection of strips, I ended up with the names Marilyn Monroe, Mother Theresa, and Brenda Starr. I quickly learned that Brenda Starr was a comic book character --a female reporter from the 1940s and onward.

I had three different business cards, but ultimately chose to write in response to a card that advertised a mime/entertainer.

My rough draft is currently divided into three sections, but it focuses on an underappreciated mime who meets and falls for Brenda Starr.


Working through a prompt

Below is draft one from my "answer a stupid question" prompt. After workshopping our poems during the afternoon, the most helpful piece of advice I received was to embed NJ more into the poem. The first line of the poem centers on NJ, but then the rest of the poem is general. Sometimes when one is writing, the most obvious inclusion is not obvious at the time.

This is only draft #1 and I am definitely going to revise the piece. I wanted to show it below so that readers could see the chaos of a first draft. At first, I made the poem in the past tense. Then, I scratched out verbs and changed them to the present tense. Sometimes, I change adverbs to adjectives and vice versa.

In short, this is definitely a "work in progress."

(Um...sidenote...somehow the image got deleted....oops. Well, it was chaotic...believe me...)




Titles prompt

I completed the prompt, but did not end up turning any of the titles into poems...yet.

1. Triskaidekaphobia
2. Heirloom tarnished silver chains
3. What was your dream last night?
4. Spelunking
5. Kyanize
6. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"
7. Please sit down and take out a #2 lead pencil
8. Elvis is alive and living with Mama Cass!
9. Two teens caught trying to steal kittens from Princeton animal shelter
10. ?
11. Wildwood Crest
12. 10% of the general population is left handed
13. Pictures of you
14. 180 days
15. "All the world's a stage"
16. Osmosis
17. Chutzpah
18. Intercourse, PA
19. ecstatic/joyful/happy/satisfied
20. Esophagus
Displaying photo 3.JPG

"Accidental tippings into work"

I want to detest poetry prompts---I really do. I want to have surges of creativity spontaneously occur. I want to be disciplined and sit at my computer on a daily basis, feverishly writing away for extended amounts of time.

I guess I also want reality to cease its existence too.

Although prompts can seem forced or even gimmicky, they really do help writers get started. They're especially helpful if one has been "out of the writing loop" for awhile.

We were given several prompts to stir our ideas.

Together, we completed something called Exquisite Corpse. Apparently, it's similar to an old parlor game called Consequences. It's basically a group poem. One person creates a phrase or sentence. The next person then creates a phrase or sentence that is the opposite of the previous line. The paper is folded accordion style so that each writer can only see one previous line. Our "exquisite corpse" began with streaks of light in the sky, eventually discussed Babe Ruth autographing a baseball bat, and ended with furniture missing legs.

The prompts we were individually given were as follows:

1. Use Susan Terris' "Twenty Ideas for Titles" and then fulfill one of the titles as a poem
2. Write a "stupid question poem"
3. Create a poem which follows these guidelines:
          a) begin the poem with a subordinate clause
          b) begin one sentence or line with the word "ordinarily"
          c) the poem must include mention somewhere of fast food and textiles






Introductions

This is my third year of aTi. For my first year, I completed the poetry workshop with Peter Murphy and stayed at Stockton College. Last year, I took a break from the written arts in order to pursue pottery instruction with Deb Goletz. This year, I decided to get back to my passion of creative writing.

Our workshop is being led by Cat Doty. Cat has always fascinated me since she is also a middle school Language Arts instructor. During the school year, I rarely feel the "fire" to write; those middle schoolers are wonderfully energetic, but sometimes they are also what I refer to as "energy vampires." Each day, after the duration of 6 1/2 hours, those twelve-year olds suck up one's energy and creative impulses----or at least that has been my experience. I give my all to my job, but when I get home, writing poetry is one of the last things on my mind. I wondered how Cat could balance teaching reading and writing (especially in this current age of new teacher evals and PARCC testing) and still create new poetic works.

Besides myself, our workshop includes four other attendees. There's Svea and Susan; they both teach high school creative writing courses in high-performing, competitive schools. There's Lauren, a high school English instructor in Newark. There's also Seema; she said she hasn't taught in "100 years" (her words, not mine), but she has an MFA, energy, and positivity.

We started off the morning by reading several poems: "Boy in Stolen Evening Gown," "Summer Solstice, New York City," "The Dream I Don't Remember," "Mirror," "Did I Miss Anything?," and a piece from Her Book of Difficulty. We spent time discussing line breaks, "turns" in poems (a surprise moment when the poem completely shifts and surprises the reader), contrasts from one stanza to the next, and poets' change in form over time (we specifically discussed Renee Ashley's career).

During the morning we also discussed our previous experiences with workshops. We discussed what exactly makes a poem. We did not come to one finite definition---which is actually how a discussion of that kind should end.

We next did a small activity that would later lead into an afternoon prompt. We were told to write down two "stupid questions" on a sheet of paper. We then read the questions aloud. Before I wrote down my stupid questions, I looked around the room and I thought to myself What if my questions are too stupid? Many times in life, we are our own worst enemies. This could not be any truer than it is with poets and writers. The goal here was to write stupid questions. I think I succeeded with my two choices: 1) What determines an "innie" or "outie" belly button? and 2) Can you flip your eyelids?

Later in the day, I noticed that the aTi Facebook page was filled with photos of day one. The photographs included people sketching and painting on canvas, playing drums, creating marbleized works, completing printmaking work, and molding clay. Our poetry workshop was not included. I do not think this was intentional at all, but I started thinking about how our photographs would look. If a person walked by our little poetry lair (our classroom is tucked away in a secluded spot), she might think we were just a bunch of people casually chatting. Although many of us think of poetry as an independent activity, interaction and discussion helps facilitate a more creative environment.

In the afternoon of day one, we did plenty of writing...