Write a collection of poems

Getting Started: Writing Exercises & Initial Poems

For the first week you'll be writing two poems, the imitation poem and one poem of your choice.
For the first week you'll be writing two poems, the imitation poem and one poem of your choice.

- The Imitation Poem: Write a poem in the style of the one you brought in to discuss for the first class. Do your best to imitate the aspect of the poem that you like most. Pay attention to the voice used, the rhythm, the kinds of images, and try to work in a similar vein. Here's a sample from me.

For your second poem, you can write about whatever you want in whatever style you want. If you're looking for an idea to get you started, here are a few optional prompts:

- The Place Poem: Go to your favorite place, take notes and write a poem about it. What makes it special to you? What does it represent about you?

- On Repeat: Listen to a song that has some sort of emotional resonance with you on repeat for the entire time you write a poem. Listen and see what ideas come out of it. I think this works best with songs that little to no words in them.
- Here's an example of a poem I wrote while listening to LCD Soundsystem's 'All My Friends' on repeat.
- Loss: Write about a recent loss in your life, something that used to be there, and no longer is. Could be as small as a favorite restaurant closing or as big as the death of a family member. How have you changed? How has the world changed?

- Marty McConnell's 7-Stanza Poem Prompt

- Or you can finalize one of the poems coming out of the writing group on Sunday.

Workshop one of the initial poems with classmates

Workshopping: Getting as Much Feedback as Possible

Write 2 Poems:
Write 2 Poems:

Watch this video from Corrina Bain and write a persona poem, in which you write in the voice of someone other than yourself, but who is able to connect to a feeling of yours. (Extra credit if you do the bonus prompt at the end of the video).

OR

Watch this video of Thomas Fucaloro and write a poem that makes effective use of a chorus, a repeated phrase that shows up throughout the poem.

AND

Write one other poem. You can do both of the above as well. You can also turn some of your 30/30 poems into a larger poem or write about whatever you want.

Projects

- If you're thinking about doing the multimedia project, come up with a plan and discuss it on the forums, in your group or with me. Come up with an early prototype version and see what people think.

Final Presentations!

- Present final projects to classmates
- Present final projects to classmates

- Email Todd at toddwords@gmail.com with 'Skillshare Class Anthology' in the subject line to submit to our final class anthology

- Email Todd with 'Final Class Presentation' in the subject line to present a portion of your project in Sunday's class.

Additional Resources

Welcome to week one of Finding Your Poetic Voice! My goal for the first week of class is help you get a sense of the poetry you like, figure out what you like about it, and then get you to bring that out in your own poetic voice. So I'd love everyone to come into week one with an example or two of poems they admire. Use the links below to find some, or just to browse around more of what's going on in poetry these days.

To start off, here are some of my favorite poems.

Large Poetry Collections (to find just about any poet)
- http://www.poetryfoundation.org/browse/
- http://www.poemhunter.com/
Current Online Journals
Video
Video Workshops Created Just for this Class

Joanna Hoffman's Imitation Poem

Corrina Bain on Persona Poems

Thomas Fucaloro Reads Bukowski

Multimedia Poetry
Poems for Jon Sands Lecture

Jennifer Gargarello

Library Student & Volunteer

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