Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Code Words - open link, below.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/14-secret-code-words-you-might-want-to-know-01hsvhx2c3r4?utm_source=feedingcuriosity.com
Monday, January 22, 2024
Writing prompts . Short fiction and poetry.
Response has been good to visiting site in the last couple
of days following post on Nextdoor.
Write about a moment that changed your perspective on life. Describe a place that holds special significance for you and why. Create a short story that begins with the line: "The door creaked open, revealing a world I never knew existed." Explore the concept of "home" and what it means to different people. Write a dialogue between two characters who have opposing views on a controversial topic. Imagine a day in the life of a character with a unique superpower. Describe a vivid childhood memory and its impact on your present self. Craft a letter from a character to their future self, reflecting on their current aspirations. Explore the theme of resilience through a character who overcomes a significant challenge. Write a poem inspired by a piece of artwork that resonates with you. Create a scene set in a dystopian future and explore the challenges faced by its inhabitants. Develop a character who discovers a hidden talent or passion later in life. Explore the relationship between technology and human connection in a futuristic setting. Write a piece that captures the essence of a specific season and its impact on emotions. Craft a suspenseful story that revolves around a mysterious object or artifact. Poetry prompts: Social Issues: Address a social or political issue through the lens of poetry, expressing thoughts and perspectives. Fantasy and Imagination: Let your imagination run wild and create a poem inspired by fantasy or surreal elements. Art and Creativity: Explore the connection between art, creativity, and the human experience in poetic form. Reflections on Time: Write a poem that reflects on the passage of time, aging, or the concept of time itself. Cultural Heritage: Delve into your cultural heritage or explore a cultural theme that resonates with you. Music and Rhythm: Capture the essence of music and rhythm through words, creating a poem that dances on the page. Seasonal Changes: Write a poem inspired by the changing seasons and the impact they have on the world.
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Read Poems by Thomas Pitre online. Read poems online at PoetrySoup.
A Poem published on PoetrySoup, 2011 A Sign The madman chalked red X’s on the sidewalks of the houses if he suspected or had evidence that people there were unkind to each other, or their dogs. When he was a young man, he studied hobo signs chalked on railroad cars, mailboxes, fences, buildings in barn yards, in towns he probed. Signs that said “doubtful”, “mean dog”, “be ready to defend yourself”, “dirty jail”, or “nothing doing here” sent him away or might draw him closer to investigate. He was a harvest hobo, following the crops in the West. Once beaten senseless, and left to die in a Fresno alley. They laughed when they punched and kicked him, stealing his knapsack and his kit. The beating injured his brain. He was never the same. He lost all inhibitions and good judgment. He couldn’t remember what rows to pick when he picked grapes in Visalia and oranges in Porterville. He lost track of time, and had to write everything down. He made little sketches so he could find his way back to his box under the railroad bridge. At night, he played his harmonica until he dropped into dreams of his days as a boy or his job with the city. He dreamt of the beautiful woman that gave him a whole pie when he begged for food at her door. He dreamt of the old, black man that looked into his eyes for a long time before tears came. The old man saw himself in his eyes. He saw a man with even less than himself, and it was more than he could endure. The hobo impressed the dirt path in front of the man’s simple cottage with a new mark – a mark never seen before. It was an austere eye, a large tear in both corners, made with polished pebbles and shells he carried in his pack.Read Poems by Thomas Pitre online. Read poems online at PoetrySoup.
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Maira Kalman: The illustrated woman | TED Talk
Maira Kalman: The illustrated woman | TED Talk: Author and illustrator Maira Kalman talks about her life and work, from her covers for The New Yorker to her books for children and grown-ups. She is as wonderful, as wise and as deliciously off-kilter in person as she is on paper.
Friday, March 24, 2023
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Friday, February 3, 2023
What elements make up a good poem?
The 6 elements that make up a good poem
1. Source - poems usually start with a fit of inspiration, but they shouldn't end there. Actually some of the strongest poems are something simple, like a red wheelbarrow, that's explained with a focus that makes it clear it's not really just about the red wheelbarrow. Experienced poets know how to sculpt their inspiring idea into a story that "shows" emotions through metaphors. It's a process that is never perfected & everyone can improve on.
2. Imagery. #1 by a long shot - when people read your specific concrete words, it creates a scene in their mind that anchors them to the experience. The more specifics you include, the more anchored they are, and the more power your poem has. Uncertainty breaks this anchor, like if you write "They went east or west" - pick one. Abstractions like "leads my mind astray" don't anchor to anything. "Show don't tell" is a rule in poetry that you should use a visible scene to show something instead of abstractly telling someone.
3. Story. It's hard to see all the details and pick out the ones that are most ionic and concrete, as well as figure out a clever twist or "ah ha" moment. A lot of times I'll take apart a poem and write down the series of things that happens - it's often not very many - then play with adding or removing some, or changing the order, or which parts are most iconic to focus on a bit more. Sometimes the result is an edit of the original poem, sometimes it is a new poem entirely. Read your work out loud to make sure it makes sense.
4. Flow & pacing. Lines in poetry shouldn't usually wrap by themselves, you should include a newline to give a natural pause. Know when to use commas, but if it could go either way, usually you don't want one. It's best to use stanzas of 3-10 lines to give the eye a break from the "wall of text." Many new poets write in microsoft word which automatically capitalizes each line, even if it's a sentence continued from the prior line - don't do that. Condense - if a word doesn't add to your poem, remove it.
5. Proper grammar, spelling, etc. English grammar gets surprisingly complicated. Read your poems out loud to see where they sound awkward. Never leave out articles like "a" or "the." Keep the past vs. present tense consistent. Don't use future tense since you can't anchor to something uncertain. Capitalize I's. Avoid the word "its", since 99% of people get the apostrophe wrong. Learn their vs. they're, site vs sight. Pretty often as a poet you'll find yourself unsure which of two ways is right - and the answer is to rephrase to avoid the question entirely - because if you don't know, your reader will probably get confused by it as well. Don't repeat things unless they're important, repetition is very strong. Don't include blank lines in your poem, repeat the title on the first line, or use all-capital words - which are read like screaming, and most readers find unpleasant. Avoid cliche, which is hard when you're new to reading poems, but includes anything like "soul" or "tears" or phrases that look familiar or overly-dramatic.
6. Imagination. Be unexpected. If a reader can tell where a poem is going all the time, it not going to hold their interest. I like thinking of unusual adjectives to use, or to take a metaphor from earlier in a poem and try to repeat it in a strange way later in the poem.
Of course, one of the most important parts of writing poetry is having fun - so don't worry too much about the rules. It's good to know them, it's sometimes good to break them, but in general, focusing on the 5 things above is a great way to improve your poetry in your future writing. And of course some people don't care to improve or how "strong" their poems are for readers - that's you, feel free to keep doing whatever you're doing.
Rhyming is a common question - we feel that mastering rhyming at the same time as learning how to write a good poem is a pretty tall order. The best way to avoid the many pitfalls of "forced" rhyme is to focus first on how to write a good poem, then try limiting the words you can choose to fit a rhyming scheme and see if you can still do it. It's really hard to do well. Be careful if insisting on rhyming before doing the above things is holding back your poetic growth.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
45 free online classes you can take (and finish) by the end of this year | Mashable
45 free online classes you can take (and finish) by the end of this year | Mashable: 45 free online classes you can take (and finish) by the end of this year
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
"Entombed" - A poem by Karen O'Leary of Fargo, North Dakota.
Karen O’Leary is a writer and editor from West Fargo, ND. She has published
poetry, short stories, and articles in a variety of venues including: Frogpond,Setu, Fine Lines, Atlas Poetica and NeverEnding Story. Karen edited an international online journal called Whispers
http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com for 5½ years.
She enjoys sharing the gift of words.
Entombed
Emma slipped out the pantry
door into the luxurious
Mansfield Garden, abloom
in a wide array of colors.
It allowed her a moment
to scrape the prejudices
of her father off her skin.
He yanked her out of Northanger
Boarding School two weeks
after her mother’s death,
declaring her friends
were beneath her station.
No amount of persuasion
could change his mind.
Emma suspected his mother
had fed the senseless fallacy
as she moved in as mistress
of the manor and controlled
almost every aspect of life.
Emma stole moments of peace
in the garden her Mom loved.
###
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Monday, August 8, 2022
New & Used Books | Buy Cheap Books Online at ThriftBooks - Great company to deal with. Recommended.
New & Used Books | Buy Cheap Books Online at ThriftBooks: Over 13 million titles available from the largest seller of used books. Cheap prices on high quality gently used books. Free shipping over $15.
Monday, July 25, 2022
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Friday, May 13, 2022
Righting Your Craft Retreat – Writers’ Inlet
Righting Your Craft Retreat – Writers’ InletI've studied with Angela, and she is wonderful, honest, inciteful, and friendly.
Thursday, May 5, 2022
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