Yep—still April. That 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 8, 2020
National Poetry Month 2020 Activity Pack Day 8
1) Today we're diving right in! Carolyn Forché is an American poet, translator and human rights advocate born in Detroit in 1950. Although her first collection was deeply personal and won the Yale Series of Younger Poet's award, she is mostly known for coining the phrase "Poetry of Witness" following her experiences in the civil war in El Salvador which she witnessed while in the country on a Guggenheim fellowship. Her 2019 memoir won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and she just released her first poetry collection in 17 years last month called In the Lateness of the World. This video is an interview from 1990 with the editor of Kaillope Magazine, in which she discusses her journey through poetry, a little about her experience in El Salvador, and she reads 2 of her poems—one of nostalgia: "As Children Together", and one of witness: "The Colonel".
2) SNL did a very funny send-up of the final (?) classroom scene of Dead Poet's Society, called "Farewell Mister Bunting"—which was originally aired at a late hour and is NOT for children or those especially visually sensitive. But before we laugh, first let's remind ourselves of why we love that dang movie in the first place with this scene where Robin Williams coaxes a poem out of a reluctant Ethan Hawke.
3) Now go read one, or preferably all of the following three 'recently' published poems:
"Elegy with Trees" by Alyssa Jewell (audio in link) in Yemassee Journal Volume 25 Number 1.
"Well, Really" by P Claire Dodson in The Mantle Issue 10.
"black winged and blue" by Harlow Crandall in Green Briar Review Winter 2020.
4) Go read all of the following three short poems that were published more than two years ago:
4) For a little fun, check out this video of comedian and former Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson's famously aimless/stream of consciousness monologues in which he focuses on poetry following Donald Hall's appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate. He touches on some stereotypes about poetry as well as more genuine appreciation. I miss Craig, he was such a unique personality and the formlessness of his show really shook the shackles of the late night genre right from his wrists. He would often dedicate entire shows to just having long discussions with a single guest. If you're curious, watch this full 2015 show with Steven Fry, and heed his warning if you are not familiar with the luminary, who spend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday with Craig. But for today, here's some poetry-related humor from 2006.
(Highlight the block to see the answers to yesterday's Poetry Anagram game (if you missed it, click here to go back first and see if you can figure the word scramble/anagram out for yourself): Villanelle, Edgar Allen Poe, Scanscion, Slant Rhyme, T.S. Eliot)
And for a little more Carolyn Forché, here is a minute and a half video in which she is reading the WWI rondeau "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae
5) Now it's time for Name, That, Poet! See how quickly you can identify the following 2 poets (without googling) from three progressively easier questions.
Poet A
1) This poet was mostly known for her love poetry, but she also wrote a good amount of war poetry in her later years, one poem of which inspired a Ray Bradbury story and was featured in the video game Fallout 3.
Poet B
1) An early adopter of Vegetarianism, this poet's writing was not widely published during his lifetime because publishers feared being prosecuted for blasphemy or sedition.
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Need another hint? Understandable, that first set was only for true bio aficionados.
Poet A
2) This poet won the first of the short-lived Columbia University Poetry Prize, and though it was only given for three years, it was renamed as the more familiar Pulitzer Prize for Poetry—and she is recognized by the society as the first Prize winner.
Poet B
2) This poet's second wife is probably more well known to the general public that he is—though for a different genre of literature. Oh, and he died at 29.
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Need another hint? The biographies of poets isn't always the most known things, don't feel bad. See if these hints help.
Poet A
3) This poet committed suicide in 1933—and the poem featured in Fallout 3 is titled "There Will Come Soft Rains".
Poet B
3) Known by 3 names (first, middle and last) , one of his poems served as the title for the Breaking Bad episode "Ozymandius".
(Highlight the block to see the answers to yesterday's Poetry Anagram game (if you missed it, click here to go back first and see if you can figure the word scramble/anagram out for yourself): Villanelle, Edgar Allen Poe, Scanscion, Slant Rhyme, T.S. Eliot)
6) For today's trip back in time, we're travelling back to May 28th, 2016 for this "Complete a Piece Saturday" exercise. You'll be assigned a structured series of individual sentences and then guided with how to put those together and form them into a poem. This exercise is great for a day when you don't have a particular idea stewing in your mind but you want to write, and because it involves random number generation to make your specific combination, you can repeat the same exercise a dozen times and get very different results.
