I still haven’t settled on a Friday blogging feature yet, but today I wrote a poem that I thought might be interesting to share.
We’ve had a visiting poet at my school this week who is absolutely amazing, and today she came to my class. We read and discussed her own work, talked about books and writing, and did a writing exercise involving a randomly chosen group of words and number of lines and a spontaneous poem that tries to incorporate a certain number of those words. I’d read the exercise before in The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach
Here’s what I wrote (please be kind):
We run down the hill together,
you are laughing, we are so close.
The house glows behind us,
the front door open, you
will always be the key.
The crushed blackberries
beneath our feet will always
bring me here to you.
When you are a ghost, I will
wrap myself in you
like an old flannel shirt, and
hold out my hand as we race
off the cliff together
and rise, rise, rise.
Reading that is a lovely way to start the weekend.
Were you thinking of your spouse or your girls for the “we”? Or were you just thinking of the feeling and no one in particular?
Thank you, dear Anjali
.
I was thinking more of the general timeless feeling of a great love, if that makes sense. I’m glad you enjoyed it– it was a great exercise.
Dear poet,
The Aquillrelle 2nd poetry contest is in full swing. This is just a reminder that you are personally invited to join our second contest.
Cash prizes await the winners, and publication the other finalists.
So, if you trust your poetry’s beauty, you are heartily welcome to submit.
Contest rules
1. Participants must be above 18 years of age, or sponsored by such a person.
2. Any style accepted, rhyme, no rhyme, nature, family, erotica, personal, society, humor, etc.
3. We apply no censorship, however it is fair to tell you up front that poems encouraging hate, violence, pornography, derogation of others, drug abuse, and similar, have no chance of winning. Of course, if such aspects are relevant and necessary as part of the “story”, then there is no problem in using them.
4. The specific conditions of each individual contest must be adhered to.
5. Proven plagiarism will result in indefinite banning from the site.
6. Poems must be between 10 and 50 lines long, empty lines included. This limitation might change occasionally, if specified in the individual contest. Submissions should be in .doc format.
participation and prizes
1. Any number of entries per contestant, grouped in groups of 5 poems with each group priced independently (see pricing lower down).
2. Participation is charged at:
- first entry $5
- second entry $4
- third and fourth entry $3 each
- fifth entry free
To be paid uniquely by Paypal.
Please select the number of poems you wish to submit, and the relevant submission fee.
Entries expected and accepted until 31 May 2010.
Contest results will be published on 31 July 2010.
The Aquillrelle team
http://www.aquillrelle.com
Aquillrelle contest is listed and verified by:
WinningWriters.com
FirstWriter.com
Please forward this newsletter to your fellow poets, writers and artists. Thank you.