Watching the inauguration of Joe Biden yesterday, I was hugely impressed by the young poet, Amanda Gorman. Wasn't she amazing? If you didn't see her, I'll put a link at the bottom of the post.
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| Amanda Gorman |
Inspired by her, I thought we'd have a look at poetry this week. In discussion, several of you have said that you're unsure about how to write poetry that doesn't have an obvious, regular rhyme scheme. And Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate, has been mentioned - so I thought I'd look for an example by him. This was actually written about thirty years ago - I don't have anything very recent. Have a look at it, and think about the form as well as the meaning. I think it's probably true to say that poetry is a short piece of language which has a pattern: so what's the pattern here? Probably a good idea to read it aloud.
It would be interesting to do the same with Amanda Gorman's piece - it certainly had patterns - but I haven't seen the text yet. The task follows the poem.
In Clover
This winter, six white geese have settled near the house.
This morning as she polishes the furniture
and peers across the river to their nesting place
she finds the gaggle floating off downstream, and there
instead is one white egg sat upright in the sand.
The geese, distracted with a crust, are unaware
as Rose, her eldest, in ankle socks and sandals
cradles the egg in the lap of her pinafore
and picks a safe way back across the stepping stones.
She cracks the contents on a bed of cornflour
and paints policemen on the empty halves of shell
to sell as plant-pot-men in next month's flower show.
Later, the six white geese will crane their necks to smell
the fine egg-pudding cooling on the window-sill.
Task
Write a poem of your own, in 'free' verse. It can be on any subject you like, but here are some starters:
- Winter - this winter in particular. What are your feelings about it?
- Zoom in, on a particular detail: birds in the garden, first flowers coming up, a rainbow.
- Spme aspect of the inauguration - perhaps 'The Leaving of Trump'!
Have to say, that Amanda Gorman piece is exactly the kind of thing that leaves me stone cold. Apart from the fact that whenever an artistic, creative person goes up on a podium with politicians, it sullies them in my eyes. In addition she's not someone who's seen anything much of life. She's a well polished Harvard graduate, who has explicitly stated her ambition is to be President. The 'poetry' is a political treatise.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...
My neighbour sits on his arse
And moans that he has no work.
But when I hint that there's always something out there that may not be great
but pay the rent it does
not a flicker does he show
And so it seems
He just prefers
the mists of weed and mellowed fruitlessness.