More poetry

[gayalondiel_bak]

Another poetry prompt. *Whimper*  All my attempts to make poetry make sense, reading out loud, rearranging the text into prose, making the writing very very big; they're just not working. with odd examples I just can't comprehend the fucking things. And now I have 12 hours to write a fic from one. 12 hours.

Sodding, sodding, sodding hell. I'm used to feeling uneducated in both Holmes and Tolkien fandoms, but I rarely feel this bloody stupid. *headdesk*

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Comments

emergency poetry crafting advice which may be no use at all

[caffienekitty]

-Disconnect, as much as you can, the part of your brain that thinks in grammatical structure. No editing while writing.

-Find the strongest image or emotion in the poem prompt and follow it, rambling stream of consciousness style, until you feel you've explored the feeling or image enough to make an impact of some form on the reader. (Yeah, that's a tricky bit.)

-After you've written enough, try to eliminate as many non-content words as you can, and try to find the most precise content words you can. Thesaurus, if necessary. Focus on the senses and imagery present in what you've written, try to make them as clear and evocative as possible.

-Unless the prompt specifies a metric structure or rhyming, completely forget about both, they'll just mess you up.

-As for line breaks, break them wherever you please. Read a line break like a long comma. Try to keep major image/sensory segments together.

...aaaand I just now realised you aren't writing a poem, your being prompted by a poem. Arg. Ignore me. If you point me at the poem (fairly soon, off to bed shortly) I can try and summarise it if that would help.

Re: emergency poetry crafting advice which may be no use at all

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

*tight hugs*

I'm keeping that! I want to be able to write the damned things as well as read them. My husband once decided to help by buying me Stephen Fry's Ode Less Travelled which helped a bit because I could hear Mr Fry's voice in my head, not my own, and I did get three chapters in and spent a good two weeks writing rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter before conceding I wasn't very good at it. I intend to pick it up at some point though and I will file your advice with that.

Thank you for the offer to summarise - I'm rather proud enough that I want to get the hang of it on my own. Which is (a) a failing and (b) will probably lead to failure, but stubborn is as stubborn does. Sleep well, dear one.

Re: emergency poetry crafting advice which may be no use at all

[caffienekitty]

Might it help to think of it as musical lyrics rather than a poem? or go line by line? If you can latch on to an image or feeling in the poem, that might give you enough to go with.

Anyway, good luck with it.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well, given that I've read the poem, I think all you really need to pull from it is the idea of a hospital ship - and given that it's Watson's Woes, you could probably either write about him stuck in WW1 doing doctorly things or fudge it to the Orontes and the trip home after Maiwand.

And I'm kind of staring at it trying to think too!

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

My ship is... different than that. *bites lip* If I keep increasing in crackiness by the same increment it's going to be COMPLETE AND TOTAL INSANITY by the end of the month.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

I sympathise...but it doesn't mean you are stupid ;)

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

It makes me feel stupid.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

Seriously, for the TGIO prompt, all you have to do is find even one sentence or phrase of a few words in one of those poems that speaks to you, or from which you can spin a theme or an idea. It's less about using the whole poem (although I'm sure some people will do that) and more about deconstruction and extrapolation.

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'll find something. I find them really incomprehensible to read, though. Something about my brain just won't take them in. The great big chip on my shoulder about being one of the least educated/intelligent people in this fandom is not helping, of course.

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

What on earth are you talking about? You have a master's degree, for crying out loud :)

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

Yes, but not a very good one. And in Tolkien and Holmes the balance seems to be people who either have or will have at least one PhD. And are very intelligent and literate. I am none of these things.

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

My PhD is still at risk, last time I checked.

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

(a) You'll get it. (b) Published Author/Poet trumps pretty much everything.

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

Only if you're famous (I'm definitely not). Also, poetry terrifies people *wry grin*

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

Poetry terrifies me. I'm definitely not people. And I did love that fairytale one.

BTW did the email about Emperor get through?

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

It did. I can't justify spending money on theatre tickets at this point, unfortunately!

(Or on fountain pens, much though I am fantasizing about them on Twitter at the moment :-P)

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

Bother, I am reading this too late.

I don't think it's 'stupidity'. I think it is very interesting, showing how human brains work. Like it's interesting that I get very accurate 'ear worms' (Shirley Bassey/Propellerheads are stoping me sleeping at the moment) but can't sing.

So, a question and a suggestion.

Question: how are you with performed poetry (whether it's something which started out as performance, or something which is read text)? But poetry you listen to on youtube (or similar). Not a helpful question, but one because I'm interested in how our brains work!


A suggestion: Next time you are faced with a poem as a provocation: look over the words. Just as words. Don't make any attempt to make sense. Take three of them (any three - choose by throwing a dice, or because they seem interesting or by any other method).

For example: The prompt is "Such at tide as moving seems asleep, too full for sound and foam" Your words might be "tide, asleep, and"
Who cares if this says to you 'washing powder! piles of washing left while I dream"

The whole point about 'prompts' is that they are provocative. People can, and do and should be prompted both to the obvious 'oh it's about the sea' and the personally significance that really, even stretching it a lot, nothing to do with the original 'oh, it's about earworms'.

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

I've never really listened to performed poetry. I bought both "Words for You" albums and then had a minor breakdown when Anthony Stewart Head began reading Rossetti's "Remember" and had to switch it off.

I might try that idea about random words though. The TGIO prompt for this month is poetry.