Yessir—April 2020, which means...
You will have a change to write poetry even if you've never done it before—the writing prompts aim to demystify the process of writing a poem. This will not take the place of the 2020 Writing Exercise Series, but will be in addition to it, so there will be a bounty of poetry to feast your eyes upon.
So. Let's begin.
April 19, 2020
National Poetry Month 2020 Activity Pack Day 19
1) Let's call today Steve Kowit day. First, this short video of Steve Kowit talking about his main piece of advice to writers, as a longtime teacher in San Diego.
For reasons which will become apparent soon, here is a short overview of the villanelle form using Theodore Roethke's poem "The Waking"
2) TV TIME! Here is Steve Kowit shows the place where he was inspired to write, and reads the poem "Refugees"
Here is Kowit reading his poem "Dusk in the Cuyamacas"
And finally here is Wendy Cope's poem "Summer Villanelle"
3) Now go read one, or preferably all of the following three 'recently' published poems:
“Here Comes Someone Whose Name I Should Know” by John Kenney in The New Yorker Daily Shouts April 18, 2020.
"Do You Sleep" by Ace Boggess in Isthmus Issue 9 (Summer 2019).
"The Window" by Josh Mauler in Puerto Del Sol Online April 10, 2020.
4) Go read all of the following three villanelles that were published more than two years ago:
5) To learn more about the villanelle, read this in-depth article the form that I spent a long time researching and writing, complete with a number of villanelles you haven't read here (and a couple you did), some history and writing prompts. Villanelle by Numbers: The Poetic Form Decoded
6) For today's game we have more poetry anagrams! This time it's all poets.
(The very serious poet...)
S H A N T J O K E
(An alternate universe where Mr. Hanks is a predator, he is known as...)
' H A N D S Y ' L . A . T O M
(A playground taunt to nose-vacuum eraser shavings...)
S N O R T R U B B E R
(It can feel good to let it all out after a tragedy as a sort of...)
W A I L - L I K E B A L M
(After Crew K got scurvy, they called up...)
S A I L O R C R E W L
(The disciplined WWI soldier with pustules had)
P O X A N D A P E E L E R
7) The time machine is set to August 27th, 2015 for this "How to" exercise that lends itself very well to the villanelle. It's not explicitly a villanelle prompt, so don't be scared. You got this. Time to write.
