Joanna’s got an interesting post about poetry over on Confident Writing. I like the suggested method for unlocking your creative juices and finding your poem.
Put your pen to paper and keep it moving for ten minutes without stopping. Then put your notebook away without looking at it.
The next day, pick up your freewriting and underline every word or phrase that looks interesting or surprising to you. Choose one, and write that down as your first line. Maybe you want to also include a few other phrases from your freewriting too…
It reminds me a lot of the ‘reflective splurge’ method of reflection that I used such a lot during the degree. (Gillie Botton)I’d almost forgotten that this same way of working could be used to tap into a more artistic form creative writing. (Another unexpected cost of the degree).
I used to really enjoy writing poetry, especially the discipline of fitting words to my chosen form. I was quite keen on sonnets and haiku. I’m going to have a play with this idea now. I might post the results of my experiment tomorrow.
