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Hello, dear students!

So, let’s dive into what’s due on Monday, 5/4/20…

Email your two poems to my creativewritingspring2020@gmail.com address by midnight Monday (that’s 11:59 PM on Monday, 5/4/20). Please send them in one email. If you’ve already sent them in multiple emails, please send them again, for my sanity.

Thanks in advance!

And now, let’s talk about dialogues…

Hopefully by now you’ve read the three scenes from the awesome play, Topdog/Underdog. I provided a series of questions that followed each scene:

What is the rhythm/pace of this scene?

How can you tell? (Hint: Look at the stage
directions.)

What do we learn about the brothers’ characters
and points of view?

I’ve divided the class into discussion groups for each scene in a document titled “Discussion Groups for Topdog/Underdog.”

By midnight on Monday, 5/4/20, I want you to comment on this post with your answers. Be sure to state which scene you are commenting on–Scene 1, 2, or 3! If you notice that someone in your group has already responded, you can say “I agree with X, but I’d like to add X” or “I disagree with X, I think X.”

One thing I want everyone to think about (and comment on) is how Parks used stage directions to enhance her dialogue.

Note especially the (rest) or the stacking of names to indicate that the brothers are involved in activities during conversation. Just like when you write poetry, white space in dialogue is very important.

Your homework for Monday is to revise your dialogue(s), based on your reflection on reading Topdog/Underdog and be ready to share them with your Cohort on Wednesday.

If you want to talk to me about anything, remember that my official office hours on Monday and Wednesday from 11:30 AM to 1 PM, but I can schedule different times.

Stay safe & be well!

My experience with poetry writing has been bad because I have never written any poems in the past. When I need to write poems, I was in a struggle to find out how to write a poem and how should I write it. It was also difficult when I actually start writing the poem since I keep have a feeling of the poem is not fluent and doesn’t sound right. So I often have to rewrite a sentence multiple time to make myself feel good about it. But in the end, I was managing to complete the two poems I was writing.

Ah, poetry.

So, I’ve been reading your reflections on poetry in particular and in general, and I feel much of the things y’all have expressed. (Side note: If you haven’t done Journal 9 yet, do so!) I love poetry. I love to read it, and, at times, to write it. That said, it’s a beast that I haven’t quite known how to deal with as a reader, a writer, OR a teacher.

When I was in grad school, the poet D. Nurkse told my Craft of Poetry class  (I’m probably poorly paraphrasing here) the difference between writers of prose and writers of poetry is the fact that writers are concerned with what is filling up the white space, while poets are concerned with the white space itself.

That’s always stuck with me when I’ve written–and read–poetry: the white space is just as important as the words that are filling the page.

As you revise your poems (due Monday, May 4), look at your white space around your words, and see how you can change it. Play with the words and the white space.

So, a few things for you to work on:

1. Formal critiques are due to me and the poets on Wednesday, 4/29. Please send your critiques to my gmail account!
2. Revise poems for evaluation on Monday, 5/4.
3. First, read assigned scenes from Suzan-Lori Parks’ play, Topdog/Underdog,
   answer the questions after each scene, and be ready to discuss dialogue on 5/4. (If anyone’s interested in reading the entire play, let me know and I’ll email a copy–it’s a really great play!)
4. Then, find text threads on your cell phones and rewrite them as dialogue. Maybe you have one long text conversation or several–it doesn’t matter how long, but focus on the content. Be ready to share them on 5/4. (Feel free to change names or other specifics.)

If you have questions, you know where to find me!

Stay safe & be well!

I think I’ve always been undecided in poetry. I either like it or dislike it. A poem should bring a kind of a chill. I believe that poetry is a way of being in the world that wasn’t made for us like Jennifer Bartlett said. According to the journalist I just mentioned “poetry is the most organic art form; it does not require money or physical labor. A poem doesn’t need to follow any particular grammar rules; it is the record of one’s own experience of the singular mind and/or body, a singular voice. For many of us, it is also a way of “being in the world,” a world that in many ways was not made for us and actively resists our participation. Through poetry, we are able to remake and reinvent that world.” And as you can see I think I have more reasons to like it, than dislike it.

My experience with poetry writing this year has been so-so. I believe that when I was writing poetry for this class, I became so enveloped in using dark themes from a source that I admire that I feel like that ruined my creative potential. I fear that when I did my poetry assignment, I strayed away from originality. However, I am somewhat proud of what I wrote. In my recent collection of poems, I had actually reused and restructured a poem from an assignment I did last year for my Type and Media class. I found this really enjoyable as with that assignment, the options on what I could create was hindered due to the limiting nature of the assignment. Without those limiting factors in the way, I felt as though I could slightly expand on the poem and use different writing tactics in order to enhance the mood.

The funny thing about poetry is that I have a love/hate relationship with it. Even though sometimes its no problem for me however, actually coming up with my own type of poem has never been fun. It’s been annoying for me to write poetry for years and I never enjoyed it as much as others. I thought by listening to music would help the creative process for poetry but honestly when it comes to doing it I don’t enjoy it. One positive I find while doing poetry is that despite me not enjoying it for the most part, reading poems are actually interesting and the different ways people express themselves through it grabs my attention.

My experience with writing short stories have always been a simple task for me ever since I was younger. Once I have a Idea for a short story then its easy sailing from there. Writing a short story is a type of freedom that helps me with the creative process since I can create any type of story i want, the possibilities are endless. If I could choose to do more short stories i would be happy to do it because creating any type of story is a fun process for me overall.

Hello, dear students!

Hope your weekend went well! Saturday was beautiful and sunny. I spent over an hour on the grass in a little park near my apartment (fully masked). It was good for my soul. Sunday hasn’t been as great, but listening to the rain fall has been somewhat soothing.

I’ve been reading your posts in little spurts–that has been very soothing!

Your poems are due on Monday, 4/27 (today)! You should share them with your Cohort by 11:59 PM on 4/27.

Formal critiques are due to me and the poets on Wednesday, 4/29. Please send your critiques to my gmail account!

I’ve seen some have already posted for Journal Assignment 9. No worries if you haven’t. Please reflect on your experience with poetry writing: the
good, the bad, the so-so, and why.

Have questions? Contact me!

Be well & stay safe!

My relationship with poetry writing was somewhat good. To start off writing it, it took me 5 mins to get one sentence out because my brain was acting like it doesn’t want to work half of time. I don’t know if I ever first written a poem back in Elementary through High School but since I began writing one, it’s pretty fun once you get the hang of it. As I might take another English class the next semester, writing a poem will help me push forward and developing my skill from it would turn me into a better writer, I hope.

For me, poetry is a form of art. Each person has their own writing style of poem whether its haiku or free verse etc.  In my own opinion, I think poetry is a hard writing piece for me. The being is that every time I attempt to write a poem I would always like it to rhythm to each other even though some poem is more open. Also, I tend to overthink what good words to follow the word behind so that I can actually give the true meaning of my poem. Probably the hardest thing for me writing a poem is choosing a style. Since there are many types of poems around the literature choosing one for my own poem often faces a problem since I can’t choose as they all fit perfectly for my topic. But at the end of the day, I like writing a poem. Since it both challenges me and allows me to connect to my reader.