Transcripts
1. Intro: Poetry is such an
important form of writing. It confronts our feelings, dissects the human experience, asks all the right questions and gives diversity to voice. My name is Nicole May, and I'm a writer and filmmaker
from Treaty for Canada. At the core of all my creative
expression is poetry. I currently have
two poetry books published and am working
on releasing my third. I've hosted a variety of
poetry workshops over the last few years and have had my poems featured in
various short films. My passion and love for
poetry is expansive. And so today, I'm really excited to help you
with your own journey. Whether you're new to
poetry, feel stuck in it, or are just looking for new
avenues to branch out into. This class is for you. It has been made accessible
for all types of skill levels so long as you're looking to
elevate your poetry. Together, we'll be exploring how to discover the substance
of your poetry, how to inspire writing
through unique methods, how to set yourself apart from other poets and how to
tackle writer's block. I should mention
these skills are transferable outside
of poetry, too. You can use them within
other genres of writing, your academic works
or workplace pieces. In general, by the
end of the class, you'll have a new approach
to putting the pen to paper. With that said, let's
begin our first lesson.
2. The Pull: For our first lesson today, we're going to be narrowing down the substance of your
poetry going forward. I'm going to be
calling this the pole. The pole is about why
you're drawn to poetry, the inner pole towards it. Some examples of the pole would be an exploration of identity. Poetry is a great way to
express queerness, disability, race, and all other
identity points, a form of therapy. There could be memories
from childhood or traumatic experiences that
need to be healed from. And poetry is a very
safe place to do that. An expression of love. Perhaps you have a
sweetheart in your life and there's emotions bubbling
up through story. But on the other
hand, the pole can be something a lot more
simpler than that. Poetry doesn't have
to be so serious. And it could be
an observation of nature just about
the city sounds or trees or strangers
around you in case any of these examples of the
pole resonated with you, I will quickly recap them. The pole can be an
exploration of identity, a form of therapy and
expression of love, and an observation of nature. Because we'll be reflecting
on and writing our own poem today is important to figure out what the pole means for you. If it's one of these four, that is a great place to start. But if you think
you're drawn to poetry for a different reason, take some time right
now to really sit with yourself and think about the
story that wants to be told. Once you got it, we'll
start our next lesson.
3. Unique Ways to Get Started Writing: Now that you've discovered
the pole of your poetry, you'll want to get
that pen to paper. For some of you,
this will come quite naturally and you can
just get started. But for others, if beginning your poem feels quite daunting, I have a list of unique
ways to get started. So first off, listen to some of your favorite songs and pay
attention to the lyrics. Are there any words or terms that particularly strike you? How do they relate to the pole? You can use this to create the first sentence of your poem. You can also create
a blackout poem. Blackout poetry is the process of taking pre-existing text, whether that's a
page from a book or a magazine or newspaper, and then finding
a poem within it, you can use a marker
to blackout any of the excess words and you'll
be left with your own piece. Blackout poetry is one of my personal favorite
forms of poetry. I find it's very
engaging and really gets me in the
creative headspace. Another way you
can get started in writing is to look up prompts. You can find them across
all social media platforms. Personally, I like to search up writing prompts in the
Instagram search bar. That being said, you
are on the Internet right now listening
to this class. So I will provide for
writing prompts right now. Snail, grandma's
cooking, pillow, and a lost item. Now, if you like the
idea of writing prompts, but generally want to
create poetry from a place disconnected
from the Internet. I would recommend finding
a pocket dictionary. They are quite cheap if
you want to buy them, but oftentimes libraries
have them as well. You can take this dictionary and flip through it randomly, whatever word your
finger lands on, use that as your
writing prompt as well. If you're a more visual person, you can look at photography. This could either be
through a photo album and you can create a
poem based on a memory. Or you can look at
strangers photography and fabricate a story to it. Journaling is another great way to get started writing too. Sometimes our brain is
just stuffed up with everyday things or
situational messiness. Journaling about
whatever's going on in your life is not only a great
way to clear your head, but it's also a way to
actually get started writing. When you have a final entry, you can go through it and find different sentences to
create into a poem. Lastly, try experimenting
with Haiku. The format of haiku
is quite simple. You need to create
three lines where the first one has
five syllables, the second has seven
and the third has five. Traditionally, haiku is
about depicting nature. But for the purpose
of creativity, you can use this format for
whatever the pole is for you, it can be challenging to create a story from only 17 syllables, but I also find that
it is less daunting because there just simply
less words to be written. Now, I'm going to recap
this list for you as well. Some unique ways to
get started in writing are by observing the lyrics
of your favorite songs, experimenting with
blackout poetry, searching for prompts
on the Internet, flipping through a
dictionary to find prompts reflecting on photography,
dissecting journal pages, and playing with haiku
with this list in mind, as well as the poll from
the previous lesson, I'd love for you to
write your own poem. Try not to worry about it being messy and don't get
hung up on the details. We have two more lessons to go. And in those we'll be
refining whatever you right at the end of all of these lessons is when
you'll be submitting. So just start off by
writing from your heart. Good luck
4. Determining Your Skill Level: The best way to determine
your skill level is by reading other
people's poetry. You may have heard the infamous
quote from Stephen King. If you want to be a writer, you must do two things. Above all, others. Read a lot and write a lot. When you read other
people's poetry, you're able to find cliches, the words and phrases
that are overdone. For example, in my own
readings of modern poetry, I've noticed an
oversaturation of metaphors relating the human body
to flowers and plants. I've also noticed lovers being compared to the
moon quite a lot. When finding these
sorts of cliches, you want to identify
if they're in your own works as well. If they are, that's
perfectly alright. It just might be
worth picking up with the source and
exploring different, more unique ways of
explaining your topic. On the flip side,
you'll want to note poems that blow you away, that create a physical
reaction inside of you and feel like they've fallen into your life at the
most perfect time. Poems like that are special
and it's important to notice the themes and perspectives you're
gravitating towards. An easy way to keep
track of this is by flagging your favorite poems
in a book with sticky notes, or by taking pictures
of them while observing these
outstanding poems, you'll want to think
about your own. Do they have a natural
place amongst them? Could you see your poems
being published in the same book if you'd likely have a high skill level and a clear understanding
of your writing style. If not, you now have
the opportunity to find out what's disconnected
from your poems. You can figure out
what's missing in order to elevate your poetry. Some people prefer to read
individual poems online, while others prefer to
read them within books. I personally am
quite a book lover, and so in case you are as well, I will recommend
three to start with chasers of the light
by Tyler not Gregson, exhibitionist by Molly
cross blah shard. And I'll fly away
by Rudy Francisco. So to put it simply, in order to figure
out your skill level, you need to be reading a lot. Be mindful of cliches
in your writing and try to spot similarities
to your favorite poem. This is a long-term practice
to your writing journey. So make sure to
have fun with it. I'll see you in the next lesson.
5. Setting Yourself Apart: Now that we've discussed
the importance of reading other
people's writing, we can now look at how
to set ourselves apart. The go-to question
you're going to want to be asking yourself is what has lacked in your readings that only you possess meaning? What are the stories
only you can tell, the phrases only you
have thought of. I'll give you an
example about setting yourself apart in storytelling. Let's say while reading
through other people's poems, you've gravitated towards
themes of childhood. You've read all sorts
of poems for the poetry call their experiences
as a seven-year-old, a 10-year-old, and so on. It's as if they're back in their adolescent body
is experiencing life. But you notice no
one has written about childhood through the
perspective of a memory, you think about what it means
to look back on your life, not as a participant, but as a witness. There is grief and longing
and a sense of wanting to talk to your adolescent
self who is so naive. You've written through
that perspective though. That would be the gap, that would be what
sets you apart. An example of setting yourself apart through phrasing would be, you've loved reading about the ocean and you've
noticed people describing it as an endless
blue or sapphire ripples. But you think back to the last time you were at the beach. And remember looking at the
water with a thought of the ocean looks like it's attending the first
day of school. Hesitant and eager. What a unique way to look at something as universal as water. Sort of offbeat
phrasing will set you apart to go a step
further in this process, you'll want to get feedback
from other people. You could start off by sharing a poem with a friend or a peer. Then my posting some online
to get strangers feedback. If you're feeling
especially bold, you could attend a
spoken word poetry event and test out the waters there, regardless of who is
giving the feedback, it is always helpful
to have a second set of ears or eyes on your work. I personally think it's one of the best ways to figure out what people like and see what sort of poems resonate with people. When I share my poems to others, I like to ask questions like what lines stood
out to you most? And was there anything that
sounded choppy to you? This might be scary at first. In these moments, it's
important to put your ego aside and take people's
opinions with grace. Ultimately, feedback is
there to advance your craft, not hurt your feelings will dive a little bit
deeper into how our emotions can intertwine with our writing in
the next lesson. But for now, I'll
recap this one. In order to set yourself apart, you'll want to identify which experiences
are unique to you. How to include offbeat phrasing, and what kind of feedback
you'd like to receive from others to make that
last step easy for you, I'll be providing
feedback when it comes time to submitting
your class project. Just keep that in mind when
writing your poem today. I'll see you in the next lesson.
6. Tackling Writer's Block: Important to discuss
riders block. You're going to have moments
where you just feel off. You want to write poetry, but you can't really
get it going, or you're having a difficult time fine tuning
what's already there. It's daunting and discouraging, and in these moments
of riders block, we need to look inwards. After years of writing poetry myself and workshopping
with every skill level, I've observed that
riders block comes from two specific things,
exhaustion and insecurity. On the side of exhaustion, you'll notice the effects of writer's block when life
gets too cluttered, when you're overworked
and overtired. Creativity comes through
the absence of thoughts, not the multitude of them. It might be a good idea to
get ahead on your work, sort through those
responsibilities, and catch up on
errands or sleep. Do your best to get to a place where your brain
isn't running around. Allow what I call thinking time. Tim dedicated to nothing
but free flowing thought. Creativity will find
its way to you. On the side of insecurity, you'll really feel
the effects of writer's block when you
overthink your craft. Poetry really exposes the soul. Perhaps you're worried about the emotions and memories
that will be popping up. Common examples of this would be your writing and you start to think about who's going
to read your poem. Now, you start to
feel the pressures of being perceived and perhaps you really don't want people to know these
deepest parts of you. Some people are
afraid of failure or success and what's going to happen to their poems
once they're written. Others self criticize too much. Sometimes while writing, you'll start to
feel retraumatized. Whatever the case, there are so many unconscious beliefs and thoughts that will resist
our hand to the paper. If you find yourself
experiencing writer's block, it is important to
take a step back. Look inwards at the insecurities and exhaustions in your life. Ultimately, you want to try
and step outside of them. Paste yourself,
forgive yourself, and just try to not over
complicate the writing process. You got this. Now let's
discuss the class project.
7. Class Project: For today's class project, you'll be submitting a poem
that you want to receive feedback on as discussed
in the lesson, setting yourself apart,
you'll want to start off by reading other
people's poetry. Visit your local
bookstore or library, or even read some poems online if that's more
accessible to you. After doing so, reflect
on your own works. Have you been
including any cliches? Is there anything
particularly unique about your writing compared
to what you've read? Keep this in mind when
submitting your poem today, I'll be providing
feedback on this. I think feedback is
an essential part of advancing one's poetry. I love seeking it out
with my own works. And so today's class project
is help you with that. A couple of tips
to help complete your class project would be
referred back to the lesson. Unique ways to get started
when beginning your poem. And have a central
theme in mind for the substance of your poetry. Once your poem is written, submitted to the
project gallery, include a few sentences describing what
your poem is about, as well as the different
methods you used to create it. Good luck. I'm excited
to see what you create
8. Closing Notes: Congratulations. You have made it to the end of the class. Thank you so much for
taking the time to listen, learn, and discuss
poetry with me. Now, you should have
an understanding of what pulls you into poetry, unique ways to get
started writing, how to set yourself apart, and how to deal with writer's
block if it comes up. Above all else, I'd love for your main takeaway
to be a new sense of confidence and inspiration going forth into your poetry journey. I know I feel that every time I involve myself in the
writer community. With that said, get involved and submit a poem to the
project gallery. I'm excited to see what
you've written today. If you are wanting to
stay up to date with me, make sure to follow me here on Skillshare as well
as on social media. You can go to my website, www.peachpies.com
to find my accounts as well as the projects and
poetry books I've created. Thanks again, and I will
talk to you later. Bye.
