Category: writing exercise

poetry, Uncategorized, Writing, writing exercise

Pollock, a Poetic Form

carolyncordon

This poetic form is one I hadn’t ever heard of before this year. A blogger I know, Paul, has written about the ‘Pollock’, which is a poem based on, in fact consisting of, a quote by the famous American artist, Jackson Pollock. There are rules and things, and rather than describe them I offer this link to Paul’s Poetry Playground, where the original blog post is, describing this form of poetry.

It’s well worth exploring Paul’s great blog, he has many interesting poetry related posts there, with all kinds of poetry related things for you to enjoy!

I read the blog post earlier this year, read Paul’s own ‘Pollock’ poem, but didn’t think any further about it. Then I saw another poet’s attempt at this odd style, and it piqued my interest, so I have now had a go at it myself.

I decided to find a different quote, and so called on Google to assist, as I often do. I don’t know how I feel about the poem I created, in response to this challenge, and though I haven’t read my poem aloud (yet), I suspect it will work better as a performance piece, than it may as a written poem.

Here it is, for you to read, have a look – I’d love to know what you think about it!

 

It’s Just a Pollock

Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.

A technique, a statement, just arriving …

A just statement, a means of arriving.

A statement arriving, a means of technique.

Arriving at a statement, just.

Technique means, a statement arriving.

A just means, arriving …

A just means of arriving at a statement.

Statement, technique, just …

A statement just is …

At, just means a statement is arriving.

Just means.

Just.

‘Arriving at’, means just is – a statement!

poetry, writing exercise

A Small Workshop

carolyncordon

I’m a writer, and like many other writers, I find a variety of ways to go, as a writer, beyond just writing books. I write poems, I write articles and blog posts, such as this one, and I also do writing workshops, sometimes paid ones, other times just for a community group perhaps.

This workshop is one I am going to be presenting at a group that meets regularly in Gawler, a town I spend a lot of time in, even though I don’t live there. Many of my friends live in Gawler, and my writing group meets every week, in a lovely, historic hotel in Gawler.

This workshop is happening at a community centre, not a hotel, but that’s still a good thing. Anyway, this is the Workshop, take a look and give it a go. Feel free to ask any questions you have about it, in the comments section.

 

Workshop – Loved Little Things

Writing simple little poems can be easy, if you scale back what you want to write, and just stick to closely watching one small aspect of something you love, or love doing. It may be a hobby, for instance knitting, and you could write about a favourite item of clothing you’ve knitted in your past.

Or it could be cooking, and you choose cake making as your topic, and perhaps write a poem about a kind of cake you like to make. I used to enjoy making muffins, and I’ve written about vegetable muffins in the past, I think. I was very ‘into’ vegetables, in a former line of volunteer work – I was a Community Foodie, teaching people about healthy eating, and cooking.

Nature is one of my favourite things to write poems about, and the poem I’ve got on my notes here today is about a little part of Nature, the ant. I used rhythm and rhyme in my poem, but that isn’t necessary, it’s up to you to choose your poetic style. Or if you’re not in a poetic mood today, any form of writing will be fine,

You might write a small note about your small thing, or perhaps write a letter to it, or about it. Any kind of writing will be fine. So take that small part of the thing you love, and insert yourself, and your thoughts and wondering into the piece of writing. Think about how you relate to, or gain joy from, your loved thing, and write about that.

This little poem was one I wrote last year, think it was, after seeing a line of ants on our front veranda, and then over the course of a few days, realising there was always a line of ants in exactly the same spot. I thought it was an interesting little thing. I am a poet, and as a poet, I find myself looking, seeing, and finding many little bits of not much, that can broaden out, and become something – a poem.

Make your small piece your own, make it quirky, make it cute, make it something you’re proud of, or something that makes you small to yourself. Just write it!

 

macro photo of five orange ants
Photo by Poranimm Athithawatthee on Pexels.com

Ant March

 

Ants are marching, tramp, tramp, tramp

Ants are busy, gathering food

Ants are climbing, up that ramp

Ants in an adventurous mood

 

Ants on the veranda, ants on the lawn

Ants are spreading all around

Ants near that sheep that’s just been shorn

Ants up a tree, ants on the ground

 

What are they up to, those little ants

Will they bite if they get the chance?

I’m going to keep myself well away,

We’ll meet up again, on another day!

 

My poem is a rhyming poem, with the first two verses using this rhyming scheme: abab, cdcd, with final verse eeff
Can you see what I mean there with the term ‘rhyming scheme’? The letters refer to the rhyming final word in each line, ‘a’ is the words tram and ramp, ‘b’ is the words food and mood. and so on. I hope that makes sense for you. And I hope you get some nice small poems about ‘Loved Little Things’!

 

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn Cordon, writer, poet, blogger, newsletter editor

writing exercise

Creative Writing Workshop 3 – Healing Yourself, Help With Self Esteem

carolyncordon

Write Yourself Well workshop

If you follow what I did at this workshop, using the eight ways, below, I hope you may gain some understanding of yourself, and remember good times, in the hope more may come again

 

Eight Quick & Easy Ways to Raise Self-Esteem

  • Tell yourself this: I am a good person, and believe your words.
  • Write a list of the things you are good at.
  • Write a list of good things you have done in the past week.
  • Spend 5 minutes when you wake up, to remind yourself that you are a good person.
  • Spend 5 minutes when you go to bed, reminding yourself that you are a good person.
  • Write a list of the best things about yourself.
  • Remember your childhood years, and write down the things you used to do that were fun.
  • Think about your greatest achievement, and sit there, thinking about it. Feel the happiness at your work, and just sit with your happy memories.

 

I, Carolyn Mary Cordon, honestly believe I am a good person.

  • I am good at creative writing, talking in public, saying positive things in almost all circumstances, being kind to family, friends, and others.
  • This week, I have given hugs to people who wanted and deserved them, I have attended a function and given love and friendship to friends, I have helped around the home as best I could (feeding and cleaning up after dog etc), watering our plants, running a group meeting, being involved in running a Poetry Reading,
  • Best things about myself? I make others feel good about themselves. I am a caring family member. I am a good community member.
  • I remember riding my bike, with my best friend Wendy. One particular day, we rode from our homes in Klemzig all of the way to the Adelaide Zoo. We got in for free, using the zoo tickets my dad had, and spent ages sitting with the two dingoes that lived at the zoo. These dingoes, and male and a female, were very tame and loved being scratched behind their ears, just like any other dog likes. I was such a fun time, and we both felt almost blessed to have these dingoes feel so secure with us.
    Going to the Torrens River as a kid, with my brothers and their friends was always fun too, catching creatures and either keeping them or setting them free again. Yabbies were the main creature we didn’t release back to the wild, they came home with us, for dad to cook and eat.
  • Now I’m thinking about the book launches I’ve had, sharing my own words with others. Remembering, remembering. Lovely times indeed.

 

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poetry, writing exercise

Creative Writing Workshop 2 – Writing an Ode

carolyncordon

An Ode is a celebration, a lyrical poem praising something. It can be something wondrous, or it may be something so-so that the poet can make wondrous through their words in praise of it. John Keats has a well known Ode – Ode to a Grecian Urn, and another titled Ode to a Nightingale. They are both fine Odes, but today we are going to look to more contemporary times with the odes we will write. When writing a ode, you have permission to go overboard with the imagery and metaphor!

 

 

And that’s it. With an Ode, you can rhyme or not, as you choose, you can be as silly or serious as you wish, it’s all up to you and your thoughts. The most important thing is to go beyond the obvious, and take your love of your chosen thing as far as you can, lauding it all the way to the sky and stars!

Ode to the Op Shop

Oh wondrous home to much –

glorious treasure trove  

Of love and possibility

Staffed by precious volunteers

Those whose freely-given time benefits many –

Small-time hoarders like me,

Or those in the know who buy much

Then onsell to many

But a delight for those searching

Looking for their next fashionable fancy

And when finding such, our joy

Is met with smiles.

Named junk shops by some

Those who think a label

Rather than a look, is the fashionable thing

But limited new ‘range’ to choose from

Is just the so-called latest thing

Ignoring the clothes of yesteryear –

The best of their time, made best again,

At a bargain price, when payment gives back

To those who have little.

My wardrobe & drawers

Are filled with many found treasures

from within your worthy walls

And walls of other stores like you,

Clothes that have lived a life

Before they came to me,

That could tell such stories!

Each item willingly given up

To be worn again with pride and thanks

Is testament to the love shared

In one of these slices of community

And humanity, wonderful Op Shops,

Shared spaces, filled with memories of the past

And hopes for the future.

Op Shops, oh how I love you, Op Shops

Fine resting places for my unwanted items,

That I bring to an Op Shop such as you,

Knowing that when my need for them is over,

They will be with those who understand

The Op Shop’s fine and long tradition

And who realise the wonders to be found

In the taking up of clothes, both pre-worn and pre-loved,

Knowing the impermanence of such clothes

And relishing it. What has been with one,

Can be again with another, and once lived with

For a while, can move on again, via an Op Shop

And so it goes on, treasure donated by one

Found by another, one who in time,

May donate again, and so it goes,

Op Shops building community,

Community loving Op Shops,

All sharing the love, and the clothes.

We are many, those who share the love

of these wonderful Op Shops –

Treat them well, care for the treasures

found within, and share them with others

at an Op Shop when the proper time comes …

                                                         © 2017 Carolyn Cordon

 

 

You could choose to write an ode to your football team, your pet, a flower, anything, just as long as it’s something you love and have many thoughts about!

 

So think of the subject of your Ode, and start writing down thoughts about why you love it so much, then get working!

 

Carolyn
Carolyn Cordon, kittycordo@gmail.com

writing exercise

Creative Writing Workshop 1 – Acrostic & Cordonostic

carolyncordon

For this exercise we will concentrate on two different Poetry Forms, Acrostic poetry, and Cordonostic Poetry.

Acrostic poetry has been around for a long time, and is much favoured by school teachers, I think, who find it an easy way for their students to get into writing poems. With this style, a single word can be chosen, and then the first letter of each line begins with each of the letters of the word, in order. So, with my chosen word – Autumn, the first line begins with the letter, A, the second line, U, the third line, T, and so on, all the way to the final letter, N.

 

You can choose to use just one word for each line, or you can write a short phrase, whichever you wish. But a poem is not a novel, so keep those phrases short. Autumn is my favourite season, and I enjoyed writing this poem, some years ago.

 

The poem just below is my own Acrostic poem, based on Autumn, my favourite season. Attendees are to choose one of the four seasons, for their own two poems.

 

Autumn

April comes along, trees

Until then heat struck, though

Tended well, and watered

Ultimately recover,

Managing leaf colour changes –

Nature’s amazing beauty …

 

 

Next Poetic Form – Cordonostic Poem We may have looked at this form previously, but I will clarify what it is all about:

 

The Cordonostic poem is based on syllable counts, with the first line having three syllables, the second line having five syllables, and the third and final line of the first stanza (verse) having seven syllables.

 

For the second stanza, start with seven syllables for the first line, then five syllables for the second line, and three again for the last line. For the third stanza, follow the stanza count as the first stanza, and for the fourth stanza, follow the second stanza, and so on.

 

Using the same season as you used for your first poem, write a poem, using words and phrases about your chosen season, bearing in mind the necessary syllable counts for each line. For the title of your poem, choose a word that is relevant to what you have written.

You don’t have to concern yourself about the poem title first though, often you need to finish a poem to see what it’s about, and so what the title could be.

 

This poem below was written after I had done some research into why leaves changed their colours, and I feel it is a fitting tribute to the wondrous way Autumn brings on this colourful phenomonem.

 

Photosynthesis

trees, their leaves

red, orange, yellow

lovely, chemically changed

 

trees and branches a backdrop,

and a gallery

for the leaves

 

wind-released

they drift off downward,

as ground becomes a carpet

 

then leaves, in decay, produce

nutrients, and trees,

fed, grow more –

 

trunk, and leaves

then blossom, perhaps

and after blossom, come seeds

 

and then, wondrous, welcome fruit.

the process goes on,

always will,

 

so long as

trees get the water

they need, fruit will come again.

 

autumn – colour, winter – rest

spring – blossom, then fruit –

nature’s way …

 

Thank you, I hope you have enjoyed this poetry session today, and I look forward to our next session!

 

Carolyn Cordon,

 

Writer, Poet, Community member, lover of Nature

www.carolyncordonwriter.wordpress.com

 

kittycordo@gmail.com

 

0418806490