Thursday, January 29, 2015

POETRY CHALLENGE NINE

WRITE A POEM DESCRIBING AN INCIDENT IN WHICH YOU SCOLDED A CHILD.  IT COULD BE YOUR CHILD, OR SOMEONE ELSE'S.

DISCUSS THAT THIN LINE BETWEEN DISCIPLINE AND ABUSE!



Friday, January 23, 2015

POET PROFILE

Derek Walcott was born on this day in Saint Lucia, in the West Indies, in 1930.   He is a poet, playwright, and professor. He was raised in a colonial society and educated as a subject of Great Britain. In the West Indies where they spoke a French/English local dialect, Walcott learned English as a second language. He has become highly skilled  in it's use, and his many writings have reflected his divided allegiance to a European and a Caribbean culture and ancestry.

Walcott attended St. Mary's College in Saint Lucia and the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. After graduation he moved to Trinidad where he became a teacher and a journalist. He has taught in several universities in the United States, as well as Grenada, and Jamaica.

Throughout the past several decades, Walcott has won many awards for his poetry and drama, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in  1992. He was the first Caribbean writer to achieve that honor.

Following in the footsteps of his father, who was a poet and a painter, Walcott trained as a painter under a professional artist, and his later poetry collections included his own illustrations in watercolors.

Walcott's works have received high praises from major poets, writers, and critics from all over the world.  He is a living legend.



To read his entire bio and sample his poetry Google search his name

Thursday, January 22, 2015

POETRY CHALLENGE EIGHT

WRITE A POEM TO TO COMPLETE THE EXPRESSION: "YOU KNOW IT'S TIME TO LEAVE WHEN...


Thursday, January 15, 2015

POETRY EVENTS - WASHINGTON. D.C.

Thursday, January 22, 12:00 Noon
BAGLEY WRIGHT LECTURE SERIES: TERRANCE HAYES
As part of the ongoing series, National Book Award winner Terrance Hayes will give a lecture on poetry. This event is free and open to the public.
Location: Whittall Pavilion, ground floor, Thomas Jefferson Building <view map>
Contact: (202) 707-5394

MORE POETRY TO READ OUT LOUD

ASPIRATION

Henrietta Cordelia Ray


We climb the slopes of life with throbbing heart,
And eager pulse, like children toward a star.
Sweet siren music cometh from afar,
To lure us on meanwhile. Responsive start
The nightingales to richer song than Art
Can ever teach. No passing shadows mar
Awhile the dewy skies; no inner jar
Of conflict bids us with our quest to part.
We see adown the distance, rainbow-arched,
What melting aisles of liquid light and bloom!
We hasten, tremulous, with lips all parched,
And eyes wide-stretched, nor dream of coming gloom.
Enough that something held almost divine
Within us ever stirs. Can we repine?

READ THIS POEM OUT LOUD

Life

Henrietta Cordelia Ray













POETRY CHALLENGE SEVEN

WRITE A DIALOGUE POEM BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR '"INNER MONSTER" DISCUSSING THE REASONS BEHIND A RECENT TANTRUM.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

POETRY CAN ALSO BE FICTION



     The noted English Romantic poet, William Wordsworth once defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings..."  This quite naturally may lead one to surmise that poetry comes directly from the heart and soul, and that it is a personal and genuine emotion based on fact and reality. 

And while this  may be true for the most part, the truth for the other part is that poetry can also be fiction.

     A poem in general should contain within it a number of the  elements of fiction. They should have a character(s), a plot, setting, mood, theme, POV, and so on down the line as the poet deems necessary. 

 A poem should also contain some type of beginning, middle, and end of the story that it is telling.

So keep this in mind as you create poetry. The story and situations taking place in your poem(s) can be real or they can be totally a figment of your imagination!


POETRY CHALLENGE SIX


After reading, THE SNOW FAIRY,*** by Claude McKay, write a poem with a different outcome for the speaker/character.

*** See post on blog "Read This Poem Out Loud," Friday, 1/2/2015


Saturday, January 3, 2015

POET PROFILE

=========================

Henrietta Cordelia Ray,  poet, writer, teacher, and activist, was born somewhere between 1849 and 1852. Her specific year of birth is uncertain. The fact that she was born into a well-to-do family, however, is not.

She was one of seven children. Her father, Charles Ray, a minister and abolitionist,  believed that breeding and culture were important assets in life.

Henrietta had high aspirations. She wanted to make her mark in literature, gaining major notice as a writer in 1876, when her poem  "Lincoln" was read at a dedication ceremony attended by Frederick Douglas. 

After graduating from the Sauvener School of Languages and the University of the City of New York in 1891, she went on to become a NYC school teacher and taught in the public school system for over 30 years.

Meanwhile, her poetry over the years, appeared in several publications and friends encouraged her to publish a complete collection. She published two collections of 146 poems, whose technique has been described as "unusually rich."



"Sonnets" was published in 1893 and "Poems" in 1910.

Ray died in 1917.

To read her complete bio Google-search her name

To read her poetry log on to poetryfoundation.orgpoets.org or poemhunters.com

Friday, January 2, 2015

READ THIS POEM OUT LOUD

 

The Snow Fairy

 
Claude McKay

Thursday, January 1, 2015

POETRY CHALLENGE FIVE

Consider this statement: "I realized I was God one day when I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself."

WRITE A POEM  reacting to this statement. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? What real and tangible true facts do you have to support your stance?What unreal and imagination-based information of non-support is in your mind?
Take a deep breath!!! Let's hear it!!!