Last week, I was blessed with two poet rock stars for Oregon. I wrote about Ursula LeGuin HERE. On Saturday, Paulann Peterson, Oregon Poet Laureate held a free workshop at a local library.
The afternoon was typical Oregon: cold and wet. Inside twenty writers sat at tables for four hours and wrote. Paulann is a great believer in priming the pump as well as using scratch paper for priming. For the priming of our first poem , a “DNA” poem she led us through questions and visual imagery of a favorite place. Here’s my first attempt:
I am the sun sifting through striated clouds.
I am high tide careening toward craggy rocks.
Boughs that creak from the weight of the fog are me.
Salt air blends into wet sand.
I am the well worn path to the sea.
As the afternoon continued I realized that I had perhaps one of my children’s poems:
I am the skip, hop of the hopscotch game.
I am the empty swing in the schoolyard.
Clouds creatures skiffing across the sky are me.
Bullies stand in shadowed corners.
I am the child waiting to be chosen for kickball.
Poetry Friday is at A Year of Reading.
Happy Reading
MsMac
DNA poem? Love this way of looking at it!
My favorite line is:
“I am the skip, hop of the hopscotch game.”
I really need to make more of an effort to go to local poetry events. I just hate going to them alone. (Bad excuse, I know.)
“The child waiting to be chosen.” I like the realistic look at the playground.
Even though they follow the same format, the poems each have a very different feel.
Jone- Wow! I agree with Mary Lee, even though they follow the same format, they have a very different feel. The end of the playground one surprised me. The first poem made me long for beach time– you capture that feeling so perfectly!
Sounds like you had a rich day, and came away with riches to boot. I enjoyed your DNA poems!
Wow, that sounds tremendous. My favorite phrase is “Boughs that creak from the weight of the fog,” but I also love the melancholy mood of your second poem. Lovely.