Things You Can Lose

6/20/2019

Free Write Prompt

Tell me about all the things you can loose. Write for 10 minutes.

Poem Prompt

In your free write, underline phrases, words, whole lines that seem interesting, fresh, have energy, are reverberant…and be generous with yourself. Pair those selections together and let them be the psychological bones for a poem. Make conscious connections among them, weaving them together to write a poem. (OR) Write a poem about all the things you can loose, about stages of loosing, or about loosing one thing. Write for 15 minutes.

Example Poems

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

In 2011, Vassar celebrated the centenary of Pulitzer-winning poet and Vassar alumna Elizabeth Bishop '34. Here M. Mark, adjunct associate professor in English, reads and responds to Bishop's "One Art."

2 Comments

Brenda McCaffrey

9/30/2019 11:32:06 am

Lovely reading of the poem. Thanks for sharing this! I'm reminded of our conversation in last week's discussion about the need, or lack of need, for structure in a poem. Seeing how much effort the poet put into revising her initial "stream of consciousness" makes me curious and interested in trying more structured poems.

Christine

10/1/2019 10:34:47 pm

Right! It's nice to see how the words and form can be revised and revised--16 drafts, because she was working in one of the hardest poetic forms, the villanelle. The speaker treats us to what she believes was happening in each draft. It makes me think of how functional, technical, or emotional my own edits are--or aren't!

Author

Christine curates the POETRY BONES blog and hosts the weekly live writing practice. Contact her with inquiries.

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