English
251: Introduction to Creative Writing
Instructor:
Bryan Fry
Office:
Avery 371
Office Hours: MWF
10:00-11:00 a.m.
AND Friday 2:00-3:00 p.m. (4th floor of the CUB)
Prompt
1—Imitation Poem
Using
Ethridge Knight's "Belly Song,” write three stanzas that begin
with the following refrain: "This poem is . . . "
You are
welcome to use the line as a dedication (i.e. "This poem is for Erica
Garner . . .") or as a metaphor (This poem is a match . . ."). But pay
attention to the rhythm and the construction of the lines in the
original poem and practice stretching out your own lines:
This poem
This poem
This poem / is /
a gray / hoodie /
a bag of candy / a boy
going somewhere / a boy going
somewhere fast in February.
The three
stanzas do not need to be connected, but keep in mind we are going to
use them to build a collaborative poem in class. There is no
theme, but the original "Belly Song" has a tone. It's a poem about pain,
love, celebration, and struggle. It's a poem about "feeling" in
general. So write whatever you need to write about, but consider the
tone. Don't make it silly.
Prompt 2—Chant Poem
Write a
16-20 line chant poem using at least one refrain (you are
welcome to use more) to establish repetition. You can use long or short
lines and write about whatever you want, but make it musical. Stray
away from forced rhymes and clichès, and read your poem out loud
as you compose to hear what it sounds like off the page. There are no
other formal or thematic rules. Just listen as you write and have fun
with it.
Here is an
example of a chant poem by William
Evans and another by Galway Kinnell and yet another by Jayne Cortez.
OR
Write a
16-20 line poem using anaphora. This is very similar to a chant poem so
don't get stuck on the "chant" and "anaphora" definitions.
Prompt 3—Blank Verse Poem (A variation
of a prompt found in The Poet's
Companion)
Write a
16-20 line poem in blank verse—unrhymed iambic
pentameter. Before you begin read a lot of blank verse and listen for
the iambic (ustressed/STRESSED) rhythm. You can start with Patricia
Smith's "Incendiary Art" (page 9) and "Emmitt Till: Choose your own
adventure (page 19). The Poet's
Companion also suggests Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" and "Home Burial". If you don't understand "iambic
pentameter," read up on it in The
Poet's Companion (138-150).
Prompt 4—Incendiary Art Poem
Write your
own 16-20 line "Incendiary Art" poem using Patricia Smith's "Incendiary
Art" poems as examples (there are seven poems entitled "Incendiary Art"
in Smith's book you can draw from). You will need to do some research
to come up with the historic moment you want to cover in your poem. The
moment should be poignant since you are writing an "incendiary" poem.
So challenge your readers with the subject matter. Finally, title your
poem "Incendiary Art: [Place, Year] and begin your poem with an
epigraph just below the title. Again, see the example "Incendiary
Art" poems for help. We will work on these poems for the duration of
the semester and I will collect for a class anthology. You will receive
one copy of the class anthology at the end of the semester. The draft
is worth one writing prompt, but the final poem is worth 10% of your
grade.
Prompt 5—Group Slam Preparation Poem
At this
point you should know your slam group and have selected a theme and a
refrain, and created a plan to draft your individual portion of the
group poem. This prompt gives you the chance to work on the poem that
you will contribute to the group this Friday when you put the larger
poem together. Try to compose at least 16-20 lines and, as always, be
prepared to hand a copy in at the end of class.
Prompt 6—Image Poem (from The
Poet's Companion)
Write
a 16-20 line poem using one of the following prompts from The Poet's
Companion:
What images
obsess you? What do you think about when you are daydreaming? What
kinds of images do you find yourself returning to or seeking out for
comfort? What object, person, place, picture could you look at for
hours and not get bored? Look at one of your obsessive pictures and
describe it intimately. Do it in prose, quickly; don't worry about
making a poem yet. Then, contrast it with an image that you prepress
continually, that you really fight with. Describe that second image
just as closely. Once you've done that, try joining the two images;
mingle them as Hummer does in his poem (page 92), and see what happens.
OR
Describe a
pair of shoes in such a way that a reader will think about death. Do
not mention death in the poem.
OR
Describe a
painting or photograph (not an abstract one, but something that
pictures people or objects) as though the scene is really happening;
animate it with movement, speech, story. See Victoria Chang's "Edward Hopper's Office at Night."
Prompt 7—Witness Poem
What issues in the
world concern you? Write a rant; be as rhetorical as you like, get up
on your soapbox and scream. Once that's out of your system, you're
ready to begin a poem. Explore a large issue--racism, sexism, violence,
war, vanishing wildlife. Find out how and where that issue enters your
life, intersects with it. Make it personal: the story in the newspaper
on your kitchen table, next to the plate of eggs; the homeless person
sitting next to the Coke machine outside the grocery store; a
remembered incident from childhood.
OR
The Poet
James Merrill wrote, "we understand history through the family around
the table." In what ways does your own family story overlap with the
story of others--an ethnic group, a historical event, a social issue?
Write a poem about someone in your family and how his or her story is
related to history.
OR
What
communities of people do you identify with and feel you belong to?
Write a poem from the voice of this collective "we." talking about your
troubles, your failings, celebrating your strengths.
Prompt 8—Memory Essay
Prep
(we may do some of this in class): Think of a moment in your life
that is important to you and list of inventory using sensory detail
(sight, taste, touch, smell). Begin each sentence with "I
remember . . . " When you are finished create another list
and begin each sentence with "I do not remember . . ." Even though it
may feel counterintuitive, continue to use sensory detail with your
second list.
Prompt: When you are done creating your lists, write a
1-2 page essay that examines your memory of your event? How do the
things you remember and do not remember work as a metaphor for your
life story? You may find that using this exercise can get you back into
the scenes and images you remember but never knew how to approach. You
can write some very powerful essays based on this prompt, exploring
material that seemed too dangerous to examine head-on.
Prompt 9—Scene Writing (From Tell it Slant)
To
get a feel for writing scene, re-create an event that took place in the
last week--one with characters you can delineate and dialgoue you can
remember. It doesn't have to be important--it probably will help if it
isn't. The point is simply to write two or three pages in which a
location is established through description, people are characterized
and talk, and something happens.
.
Prompt 10—Character Writing (from Tell it Slant)
Write
a portrait or character sketch. Think of someone close to you and try
to cove thier essence, through clothing, sound, dialogue, gestures,
and so forth, in two or three paragraphs.
Prompt 11—Placing Characters in Scene (from Jewell Parker Rhodes' Free Within Ourselves)
Using
a character created in class or in a previous exercise, imagine a
scene in which your character is responding to a specific event or
person. Because you already know your character's history, appearance,
and emotional life, you are much more likely to "breath life" into your
character in a credible, consistent manner.
Write a
two-page scene emphasizing your character's actions, reactions,
thoughts, and speech. Do these aspects have to be created in equal
measure? No. Sometimes, a character may not think but impusively
respond. Speech can be limited during a blank heist or tender love
scene. A prisoner, arms and legs chained, may only be capable of
limited actions/reactions to a sentencing. However, characters will be
more vivid if you use as many character-building techniques as you can.
Prompt 12—Changing Point
of View
We canceled
this prompt, but you can still do it if you need more work in the
portfolio!!
Pick a scene
that you have written this semester or one you plan to write and use in
your short story. Write the scene in three different ways:
first person point of view, second person point of view, and third
person omniscient point of
view.
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