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The Pantoum form can be a bit intimidating and unwieldy, it can also be a lot of fun. It’s one of my favorite forms to experiment with. Each stanza is made up of 4 lines which are repeated in a specific pattern. Consider the following layout:
1st Stanza
Line A
Line B
Line C
Line D
2 Stanza
Line B
Line E
Line D
Line F
3rd Stanza
Line E
Line G
Line F
Line H
4th Stanza
Line G
Line I
Line H
Line J
- and so on. Sometimes the final stanza has a unique twist. The 1st and 3rd pattern continue the pattern established, however, the 2nd and 4th line of the final stanza repeat the 3rd and 1st lines (C and A) of the very first stanza.
Using this approach, it was surprising to see how the poem came together in unexpected ways.
Rather than going at it cold, I suggested we use some of the material/inspiration from our Superstitions exercise and couple it with a familiar fairytale. Ahead of time I had printed up brief synopses of the fairytales and paired them with each of the superstitions so there was some common theme between the two.
Wrote wrote for 20 minutes. The results were fresh and complex.
In honor of the 2nd consecutive Friday the 13st, we wrote about superstitions. Various superstitions were written on slips of paper and placed in a bowl. Each person picked one and had to write for 15 minutes abou how the superstition was invented.
For March’s writers’ group warm-up we explored how the inclusion or exclusion of certain letters constrains and effects one’s writing.
We started with the Pangram, which is a sentence that includes every letter of the alphabet at least once. In 5 mniutes, we tried to write as many, or at least one, sentence that included every letter of the alphabet.
Next, we explored the Lipogram, which is a sentence in which one or multiple letters are avoided (think George Perec or Christian Bok). For each vowel (A,E,I,O, and U) we wrote 1 sentence that did not contain that vowel. A warm-up for the warm-up.
Then, we each selected a vowel (for example, I picked U) and wrote for 15 minutes about a marriage or union we experienced without using that vowel to write about it.
This exercise comes from San Joy. He had experimented with this on his on and suggested it for the group. Thank you! It was a great way to wrap up the night and explore the song lyrics from two perspectives. Here’s how it goes: collect the first line and the last line from 10 songs. Ultimately you’ll want to create 2 10 line stanzas from what you’ve collected.
Maintaining the order you collected them in, create a poem by rephrasing each line so as to retain the original meaning, but produce something personal and new. The first stanza should contain the first 10 lines and the last stanza the last ten lines.
A variation on this exercise is to NOT change the wording of each line, but to, instead, earrange the lines to create a new poem: the Cento. A cento is a poems composed entirely of pieces from poems (or lyrics) from other authors.
Write for 15 minutes about how to build something or take something apart. You can be as creative as you want.
I have my friend W.B. Keckler to thank for this inspiration, what he called Tenning Fours. The idea is to start with a word, preferably longer than four letter – it works better that way. That’s word 1. For word 2, take the last four letters of the first word and add to it. For word 3, take the last four letters of the third word and add to it. For word 4, take the last four letters of word 3 and add to it. And so on. Do this until you have 10 words.
I see no reason not to resort to the aid of a dictionary if necessary. W.B. offers some intriguing variations on his blog and choice words. This month, for the group, we each picked a starting word and passed it to the left. So, we had no control over the starting word. This adds an element of surprise.
Check out W.B.’s explanation ad results at: http://joebrainardspyjamas.blogspot.com/search?q=tenning+fours
The lune is the West’s response to the haiku. Because it is less restrictive, I thought it would be a goodpoetic form to start with. There 2 ways to write a lune, but the basic form is always comprised of 3 lines.
Approach # 1 (traditional): Counting Syllables – In this version, the lines have 5, 3, and 5 syllables, respectively. The resulting image is a crescent moon which gives the form it’s name. Exploring this form complimented the full moon this past weekend.
Approach #2 (adapted): Counting Words – In this version, the lines have 3, 5, and 3 syllables, respectively.
Experiment with the freedom and limitation of both!
The second exercise of the evening is a loosely structured 15 minute free write. It’s helpful to make some connection either between the warm-up exercise or the form exercise for cohesion and (in the case of the form exercise) some potentially useful material. In this case, we carried forth what we had gained in the warm-up.
Using the first and last word from the first Circle Word exercise, write a story. Provide the group with a brief scenario to help reign in their thoughts and offer a useful obstacle. In this case, the words were Peace and Bob Sagat. The scenario: Bob Sagat is in Pittsburgh to give a talk at the/sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center about Peace. Write your story either as an internal monologue from Sagat’s perspective moments before he goes to the podium to speak OR write the speech he gives. This exercise was a lot of fun.
This month we stayed true to our intentions and started the evening with a warm-up to get comfortable with language and one another. This month we did a group exercise. It’s fairly simply: pick a word and pass it around the circle verbally. Each person should say the first word that comes to mind when they hear the word. The cycle is continues, all turns stemming from the first one.
San Joy was gracious enough to offer a poem from D.H Melhem in response to the Gaza conflict (see his post here and http://behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com for most info.) Not only did this help to set the tone for the evening, it gave us our first word with which to start the Circle Word: Peace. The word was transformed several times, leading in fresh and unexpected directions. And then somehow we got to Bob Sagat and the our focus began to dissipate with laughter. You can end the circle at any point, and this seemed like a good one. And a good way to segue into the next exercise.
Despite not having a Writer’s Group this month, I still wanted to offer an activity or 2 for those interested. This exercise is one I’ve done with favorable results. Find a Rumi poem – preferably a short one and you’ll see why.
Using all the words from the Rumi poem, write your own poem. Try to rearrange the words as much as possible to make it as personally yours as possible. Notice what your poem and the Rumi poem have in common. How are they different? Theorectically, you can do this exercise with any poet’s/author’s work.
