A couple poetry exercises (Beginnings)

Hey all,

I know we're going to meet up tomorrow to do some writing together, but I thought I might share some exercises with you early, in case you want to do something on your own time.

So here's two exercises I like, borrowed from John Drury's book, Creating Poetry, both from the section on "Beginnings." The first one is nice,because it doesn't actually require any writing, which, as we all know, can be awful awful hard. The second one fits well with it, so I include them together.

1. Look through a book of poems, at how the poems begin. Ask yourself - do these poems welcome in the reader, or are they forbidding? If they don't seem effective (whatever that means to you), how would you rephrase them? If they do seem effective, how could you emulate the effect?

extra credit!! - use one of the rephrasings/emulations that you come up with to start a poem of your own.

2. Try out a series of beginnings on the same topic -- you can write about anything, but if it's hard to come up with something, try describing a place you knew in childhood that now seems evocative (garage, soda fountain, vacant lot). Write a set of opening lines in the form of: a setting, a time, a statement, a question, an exclamation, an image, a metaphor, or some comparison, a bit of conversation. Choose your favorite one, and continue on into the poem itself, incorporating as many of the other lines as you like along the way.

If you like, post what you find from these exercises in the blog, or you can keep them to yourself.

(note, words and phrases in this post borrowed quite gratuitously from John Drury. thank you JD)