A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Hundred-And-Sixty-Nine
I am feeling the need to charge up a bit more, in terms of my poetry. In part, that will be reading, and also doing some revision, as well as continuing work on a longer poem that I had begun last week. As well, it is reaching out to some other people. I know that I am in the zone, and I recognize that I need to maintain this level of energy through these various means. It took a long while to build myself to this point, and I don't wish to relinquish what was gained. I know that I cannot lose it, in some sense, but I also realize that it is easy to let things go dormant, and that I do not wish to do that again, at least not right now.
I did get a poem written, though not one that I think has much merit in many ways. It was an exercise, and mostly just spinning my wheels. I need to come up with a specific process and exercise to get me thinking in the right way when I don't have an idea at hand. It is a matter of process, and that is important to remember. At the moment, while I can write a poem without any real prompt, it generally isn't something with a center to it. I need to find a way to get going that is playful and puts me into the right mindset.
In that direction, I did think about an exercise for the workshop that I am preparing to teach over the Summer. It is a fairly interesting idea, I think, and one that is intended to illustrate the concepts I am hoping to discuss in a very specific way. The first part is to think of a kind of jargon, preferably technical or professional, with which you are familiar. It might be medical or legal, or it could be plumbing terms, or even something from a hobby, like scrapbooking must have its own terminology. Anything of that sort.
Now, think of an event or place that is not related to the context of the particular jargon you've previously chosen. This could be anything, from a discussion with a friend over dinner, to a party, to a walk down the street, or it might just be a place, a particular room, or a favorite spot by the lake. It needn't even be a real place or event, but could be imagined or drawn from fiction, it really does not matter, but it should be a subject that would normally not be described using that jargon.
The next step should seem obvious, by now: construct a poem that uses that jargon to describe the scene or locale. For example, imagine a father and son fishing told with terms from a chemistry textbook, or a description of a forest in terms that would be used by a car mechanic. If the idea of what to do is difficult to come up with, try retelling the story of the three little pigs, or a similarly familiar tale.
I am going to do this tomorrow, and am excited to see how it goes. I've not yet decided on a specific type of language, but am thinking about it at the moment. I think this will be very interesting, and I am excited to get to it in the morning. For now, I am going to call it a night, though, so I can try for a more productive day tomorrow. I have various things that I have been putting off, and it is time to get at least a few of them completed.
I did get a poem written, though not one that I think has much merit in many ways. It was an exercise, and mostly just spinning my wheels. I need to come up with a specific process and exercise to get me thinking in the right way when I don't have an idea at hand. It is a matter of process, and that is important to remember. At the moment, while I can write a poem without any real prompt, it generally isn't something with a center to it. I need to find a way to get going that is playful and puts me into the right mindset.
In that direction, I did think about an exercise for the workshop that I am preparing to teach over the Summer. It is a fairly interesting idea, I think, and one that is intended to illustrate the concepts I am hoping to discuss in a very specific way. The first part is to think of a kind of jargon, preferably technical or professional, with which you are familiar. It might be medical or legal, or it could be plumbing terms, or even something from a hobby, like scrapbooking must have its own terminology. Anything of that sort.
Now, think of an event or place that is not related to the context of the particular jargon you've previously chosen. This could be anything, from a discussion with a friend over dinner, to a party, to a walk down the street, or it might just be a place, a particular room, or a favorite spot by the lake. It needn't even be a real place or event, but could be imagined or drawn from fiction, it really does not matter, but it should be a subject that would normally not be described using that jargon.
The next step should seem obvious, by now: construct a poem that uses that jargon to describe the scene or locale. For example, imagine a father and son fishing told with terms from a chemistry textbook, or a description of a forest in terms that would be used by a car mechanic. If the idea of what to do is difficult to come up with, try retelling the story of the three little pigs, or a similarly familiar tale.
I am going to do this tomorrow, and am excited to see how it goes. I've not yet decided on a specific type of language, but am thinking about it at the moment. I think this will be very interesting, and I am excited to get to it in the morning. For now, I am going to call it a night, though, so I can try for a more productive day tomorrow. I have various things that I have been putting off, and it is time to get at least a few of them completed.
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