Creative Writing Genres for the Gloucester Project 2011
(On Monday June 13, 2011 you will pass in two poems.)
1. Spontaneous Poem
To activate your subconscious mind, do the following:
· Free write about your topic for five minutes. (This is stream of consciousness writing.)
· Pick ten vivid, interesting, revealing words from your stream of consciousness free-write.
· In five minutes write a ten-line poem in which each line contains at least one of the ten words and in which each of the ten words is used at least once.
· Make a title using a phrase from your stream of consciousness free-write.
· The point of this poem is to emphasize spontaneity, whimsy, seeming randomness, linguistic daring, absurdity, surreality, etc.
2. Metaphor Poem
· Start with your topic. Brainstorm aspects of the topic (for example, Fitz Henry Lane=schooners, house atop Harbor Loop, oil paint, crutches, apple-peru, etc.) as well as feelings and concepts associated with the topic (for example, Fitz Henry Lane=luminism, beauty, realism, observation, etc.)
· Then create metaphors for items in either list. (From the F.H. Lane list of concepts: Luminism is a painting with a light bulb inside. Or, a bit more vivid: The sky in the painting swallowed a light bulb. From the F.H. Lane list of objects: Crutches are legs Lane shed to sit and paint.
· String the metaphors together. Edit them. Revise them. Expand them. Contract them. Use your ear, your mind’s eye, and your sense of the language of images to guide your revision.
· Your poem should include at least ten metaphors and should be at least ten lines long.
