Topics: Haiku Sound, Density, Intensity, and Doubleness Voice in Poetry Persona poems Activities: writing haiku, review prose poems, lecture, journal assignments, and begin poetry/prose assignment for next class Materials handouts The Wind from the Sun ; Mixed Tapes
Do come to class; if you miss more than one class, you will be dropped, unless you have spoken to me first Do type all formal work; single space poems and double space everything else. (Refer to Burroway for formatting guidelines.) Do write in your journal daily; I will collect them every six weeks. Do push yourself to be a better writer; expect some bumps and confusion. Don t miss class. Don t turn in handwritten work (except for journals) Don t blow off your reading; how do you expect to improve your vocabulary? Don t rely heavily on a thesaurus; how do you expect to improve your vocabulary? Don t pout when your work is critiqued; don t become defensive; you will fail to grow as a writer. Don t assume that your failures are indications of a lack of talent or skill; you are in a steep learning curve; treat all experiences as learnable moments Do expect me to ask you about the choices you make concerning your writing. Do ask questions, lots and loads of questions! Do come and see me during office hours. Do read and read and read and read and read Do have fun!
Select a line from below and finish the thought: Now the River can soften its huge heart (318) They are not pigs, they are not even fish (319) A can can roll or not. What isn t was (320) a person with whom I never made the effort (321) Fathers are (322) But let s admit there is a pleasure, too, (323) I have wanted some epic use for my excellent body (324) If I am the most insane disgusting filth (325)
The speaker What makes a voice, a voice? Diction the words you choose and how you say them Syntax Rhythm Pace Natural language (you already speak in multiple voices!) Persona - mask
The first thing you look for is the stance. -Amiri Baraka Stance is another way of saying point of view both in terms of opinion and by how the poem reveals who is standing where to watch what scene.
The mask adopted by the author which may be: A public manifestation of the author s self A distorted or partial version of that self A fictional, historical or mythological character.
A thousand doors ago when I was a lonely kid in a big house with four garages and it was summer as long as I could remember I lay on the lawn at night, clover wrinkling under me, the wise stars bedding over me, my mother s window a funnel of yellow heat running out, my father s window, half shut, an eye where sleepers pass and the boards of the house were smooth and white as wax and probably a million leaves sailed on their strange stalks as the crickets ticked together and I, in my brand new body, which was not a woman s yet, told the stars my questions and thought God could really see the heat and the painted light, elbows, knees, dreams, goodnight.
I have gone out, a possessed witch, haunting the black air, braver at night; dreaming evil, I have done my hitch over the plain houses, light by light: lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind. A woman like that is not a woman, quite. I have been her kind
Write in the voice of someone else: Scenarios: the breakup, the firing, at the deathbed of a loved one, the first date, or the hostage situation Select one scenario and create two personas with his/her own distinct voice, e.g., the employee and the supervisor; the person dying and the loved one and so on Next Steps: Adopt one of the personas and write a poem in that voice, reacting to words, actions, condition or circumstance Due next class
Song Titles Assignment Select a national or world event and adopt the persona of a participant, e.g., a child crossing the border illegally, a caregiver in the Ebola-stricken African nations, a protestor in Ferguson, MO. etc. Free write to capture the voice of your character Select 10-20 song titles that once strung together as a poem elicit the voice of the character Fine tune the assignment and turn in next class
Date What s Due 17 September - Fiction Writing the Short-Short Story, Chapter 6, Story, 166-175; 34-39 Poem 4 Due Poem in Persona; Song title assignment; and 3 haiku; Read The Wind from the Sun (handout)