Monday, May 3, 2010
Barry's Poetry Workshop at Lake Cullulleraine 2010
Poem
Poetry is about saying things
differently. Poetry looks different on the page, sounds
different to the ear, speaks
in many voices, sometimes
in serious voice; sometimes
in humorous tones; sometimes
curious or curiously
whimsical.
Poetry is the music of words, the beat and rhyme
and pause
The weight of meaning clumped into
a few words.
When I write poetry I want it to say
something that I mean, say something
that means something to me.
Speaks with the intention of being truthful.
The Poetry Workshop
Running the Poetry workshop at Lake Cullullaraine was a newish experience for me.
Our starting point was a set of four poems: the first 4 poems from Steven Herrick's verse novel love, ghosts and nosehair.
Task 1: My Name
The structure of the workshop was simple enough. Everyone had a small booklet of poems and ideas for poems. We started with Herrick's poem My Name. I'd also had a go at writing a My name poem; I shared that with the group, and then we had 8 minutes to each create our own My Name poem. We shared them all, then moved on to the second task.
Task 2: My (ideal) Family
Imagine that you had the perfect family: what would it be like. That's the guts of Herrick's second poem. Again, we had 8 minutes for writing, then a few students read their pieces.
Task 3: My Real Family
In the third poem, Herrick pictures a dad slobbing in front of the couch, unwashed for three days; a mum in pink curlers; a brother in prison... The so-called "real" family is actually the family from hell.
Task 4: My Family - the truth
In Herrick's poem we discover there is no mother; she is the ghost from the title, whose death haunts the novel.
I invited students to write about either their "real" family or about the truth. Eight minutes of writing, some sharing ...
The remainder of the workshop
We looked at a number of "formats" for poems ...
* The I remember poem - check out Lena's memories in her section of the blog; or some of the student poems.
The Poetry workshop received pretty good ratings from the students who participated.
5
4
3
2 1 student
1 0 students rated the workshop "Totally boring"
I enjoyed the workshop. I wrote half a dozen poems and a couple of songs in the course of the camp. If I'd been a fisherman, like Tom, and my poems were fish, I would have been pretty contented with my catch.
Poetry is about saying things
differently. Poetry looks different on the page, sounds
different to the ear, speaks
in many voices, sometimes
in serious voice; sometimes
in humorous tones; sometimes
curious or curiously
whimsical.
Poetry is the music of words, the beat and rhyme
and pause
The weight of meaning clumped into
a few words.
When I write poetry I want it to say
something that I mean, say something
that means something to me.
Speaks with the intention of being truthful.
The Poetry Workshop
Running the Poetry workshop at Lake Cullullaraine was a newish experience for me.
Our starting point was a set of four poems: the first 4 poems from Steven Herrick's verse novel love, ghosts and nosehair.
Task 1: My Name
The structure of the workshop was simple enough. Everyone had a small booklet of poems and ideas for poems. We started with Herrick's poem My Name. I'd also had a go at writing a My name poem; I shared that with the group, and then we had 8 minutes to each create our own My Name poem. We shared them all, then moved on to the second task.
Task 2: My (ideal) Family
Imagine that you had the perfect family: what would it be like. That's the guts of Herrick's second poem. Again, we had 8 minutes for writing, then a few students read their pieces.
Task 3: My Real Family
In the third poem, Herrick pictures a dad slobbing in front of the couch, unwashed for three days; a mum in pink curlers; a brother in prison... The so-called "real" family is actually the family from hell.
Task 4: My Family - the truth
In Herrick's poem we discover there is no mother; she is the ghost from the title, whose death haunts the novel.
I invited students to write about either their "real" family or about the truth. Eight minutes of writing, some sharing ...
The remainder of the workshop
We looked at a number of "formats" for poems ...
* The I remember poem - check out Lena's memories in her section of the blog; or some of the student poems.
The Poetry workshop received pretty good ratings from the students who participated.
5
4
3
2 1 student
1 0 students rated the workshop "Totally boring"
I enjoyed the workshop. I wrote half a dozen poems and a couple of songs in the course of the camp. If I'd been a fisherman, like Tom, and my poems were fish, I would have been pretty contented with my catch.
Lena's page
I remember at Cullulleraine
I remember standing still and lonely in a schoolyard during recess.
I remember hitting a baseball so hard that it flew over the school fence and into passing traffic.
I remember my first bra and thinking it was all so wrong.
I remember being 16 years old and standing in a church, dressed in a wedding gown…and I remember the confusion.
I remember smiling and sobbing when my baby’s tiny hand touched my face for the first time.
I remember watching my mother put on ruby red lipstick in front of an oval shaped mirror.
I remember the way my mother’s gold earrings swayed behind her hair.
I remember when she stopped wearing earrings.
I remember feeding and showering my mother for the first time.
I remember my mother’s last breath and how it propelled me back to the stillness and loneliness of a schoolyard.
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