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Blog Post #10 (Last One!)

In this last post, you will reflect on writing poetry after spending an entire semester exploring different forms and types of poems as well as reading multiple contemporary poems.

After spending an entire semester focused on poetry I am really satisfied. With most classes on the graduate level in the concentration of English sometimes I find myself reading some texts for the second or third time and just having a dialogue about it - which is great because you can always find something new. However, I really enjoyed the class because I learned a lot of new things about poetry. I got to read some pieces from poets that I never have read before and I also got introduced to concepts and types of poetry that I know I would not have outside of class.

Through learning about different types of poetry (like list poetry) and sharing my poetry I have become much more confident. I really look forward to applying a lot of what I learned here in the future!

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Blog Post 9

I did go ahead and sign into my submittable account. I did submit some poetry in May 2022 to The New Yorker through there. While it did not get picked up I used it as a learning experience. I hope to submit to Cygnet for school and then once I get even stronger submit to some other journals and places again.

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Blog Post 8

In this blog post, I will detail my process of writing a formal 21st-century sonnet and also reducing that sonnet into a haiku or transforming it rather.

I found the writing of the sonnet to be quite exciting. I knew exactly what I wanted to write about when I saw it said 21st-century sonnet because I wanted to write about a 21st-century issue that we have with technology. Once I knew what I wanted to write about it was easy to jot my thoughts down, but the challenge for me came with the syllable count. I really had to focus on word play and making sure that I cut out all excess words in order to make the syllable count. Even though the assignment was challenging I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The haiku as a continuation of the sonnet was not as challenging as the sonnet. I did have to change my wordiness because it was hard to stick to the three lines without feeling like I needed to explain myself further. I think that the haiku makes you really have to reflect on the exact words that you are choosing.

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Blog Post 7

Before writing the list poem I revisited pages 199-201 quite a lot to reread the poetry examples. I found the list poems to be so interesting and fun! I enjoyed how the titles functioned for most of the examples I read as a gateway or description for the poem.

So for my prewriting this time I really focused on enjoying the examples and rereading the workshop 3 requirements.

For the drafting I went through a few ideas of what I wanted to write about first. The initial idea I had was to write about my career in education, but then that idea changed into me wanting to write about one of the jobs I enjoy the most, being a mom. I started my thinking about the characteristics and then added details about the joys and qualities.

I am still getting better with revising and editing my poems. I think that what has been helpful for me is asking myself about what the reader would take away. Once I asked myself that I did add a lasting line to my poem for clarity purposes.

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Blog Post 6

The writing of the persona poem is interesting and fun because once you figure out who your subject will be, you then need to explore how you will include that person. You can either include the person through hints, through the title or at the very end of the poem. The persona poem serves as a way for you to create a little adventure for your reader and have fun doing it.

In the assigned poem for this week by Jeannine Hall Gailey she places her person within the title "Wonder Woman Dreams of the Amazon". In the poem she gives you the character she is addressing in the title and then explores details about the characters life, while giving the subject matter of the Amazon. In other persona poems poets sometimes do not state their subject within the title, but instead may include an important event or details that make you research or think about who the person could be.

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Blog Post #5: Music and Rhythm

There is so much importance in music and rhythm within poetry. Many functions of poetry lend to its ability to be musically and rhythmically pleasing. When a poem has various types of rhyming patterns such as, slant rhyme, end rhyme, and true rhyme it gives the poet a chance to convey or emphasize different ideas and stress different important points with to the reader. For example, a poet might utilize end rhyme or true rhyme to ensure that a poem keeps a certain "ring" or maybe take on a certain tone.

The rhythm of the poem also relates closely to the poem's form. When writing the poems for class and reading our peers poems' aloud to complete the form I realized how much stanzas and line breaks work to give poems a different sound and rhythm.

Reading poems and texts aloud allows for me to also be reminded of the importance of punctuation and how it can speed up or slow down the ways words are read.

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Blog Post 4: Image & Metaphor Redmond

Imagery is very important in the context of poetry because it is the "building block of all successful writing" (Huey & Kaneko 69). The reality is that when writing poetry I feel that the poet often has an image of something(s) in their head. The words that the poet uses is the way that they translate that vision onto the paper.

Metaphors help to get the message and image across to the reader. Sometimes a metaphor can be used as a way to advance the ideas in the text/poem. For example, extended metaphors can take over several lines in a poem and work to make the poems message a lot clearer. A metaphor is also a way for the poet to use lesser words in a way to expand an idea or thought.

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Blog Post 3: Warm Up: Word Substitution

I thoroughly enjoyed my word substitution poem assignment. I know that actually retyping the poem was very beneficial for me because it served as another way for me to better understand its form.

Through the process of rewriting and creating my own poem with the same format I got a chance to write a poem that I otherwise would not have. The form was challenging because despite the length I also wanted to convey a strong meaning with few words, just as the original poets did.

When I ponder on the statement, "[We] learn to make art by copying what previous artists have done. We learn to write poems by reading successful poems and imitating them" (Poetry, 22), it makes me think about how things such as art come around in cycles.

It is easy to understand that while there are very unique artists and forms of art, that people do lend from others and adapt. Adapting and changing art or even mimicking it closely is how new ideas come about.

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Blog Post 2 "An Introduction to Poetry"

I think that what it means to be a poet is to want to use language to communicate feelings and thoughts in a creative way. In the text "Poetry: A Writer's Guide and Anthology" it is clear that writing poems are not the most "straightforward" way of communication, which also speaks to poetry as what I would say is a form of art and free expression. When I think about the various types of poems from epic to haiku to free verse and even shape poetry it makes me think that the talent it takes to be a poet varies.

While there may be a misconception that poetry is just difficult and old or aging out I find poetry to be very interesting and I love to write poetry. However, I think that a poem is something can be plain and simple in language, but also very complex and challenging.

The talent that it takes to be a poet is not much different than the talent to be any other artist or writer in my opinion. I think it is just a preference in the way you would like to communicate with the world and a desire to share experiences and emotions in a specific way.

[xenscribes]

Blog Post 1

Greetings, I am a classmate in Advanced Poetry Writing. My blog name is XenScribes. I love to read and write poetry, so I am very excited about the class this semester. I do love the "classic" poets, such as Eliot, Baldwin, Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, and Hughes. But I also have read works from more current poets, such as Jasmine Mans and Rupi Kaur.

I do feel like poetry is a genre in itself that is underrated and not as widely consumed as novels. However, I do hope that poetry will continue to expand and reach more audiences with the use of technology and social media.