How Do I Become A Poet?
A person in a white sweater and tan fedora begins to cross a hanging bridge with various trees and ferns in the background.
Your First Assignment:
Create a new file for the things you will write in this course.
Name it "My Poetry 20[_ _]" or any title of your choosing.
This file is for your words, your thoughts, your stray lyrics and random lines, and every bit of imagery you wish to remember and preserve.
Note: I highly recommend inserting a page break after each poem or entry, (or using one page per poem in your journal.) This will help them stay organized and make for a quick count if you like to keep track:
A visual of a google document demonstrating how to make a page break.
Have you named it yet? Awesome. Congratulations! You have just stated your intention.
You are opening a new doorway and embarking on a new adventure.
Pause right now and let that sink in for a moment.
How does it affect your outlook to view poetry-writing as an adventure?
A person with long brown hair wearing an embroidered jacket crouches in a forest glade, holding a notebook on their lap.
Your Second Assignment:
The blank page can at first seem intimidating.
Turn that thought on its head by pretending the white space is an invitation to be yourself at the party without anyone laughing.
Start right here and write down your thoughts about how it feels... to begin.
Take five minutes to ponder first steps. Thoughts? Feelings? Fears? Excitement? Risk?
Write it all down in whatever order it comes to you.
It doesn't have to fully make sense. Do emoticons make perfect sense? Probably not, but they certainly help communicate your state of mind.
Practice noticing details, and using descriptive words throughout your day to create more vivid representations of life around you.
Just for fun: Try assigning a one word emotion to an emoji face. Ex: Use a word such as furious or livid instead of mad-face; heartbroken or devastated instead of sad.
Food for Thought: Imagery is everywhere.
Your One Word Prompt:
(Use the prompt below the photo to stir up your thoughts and inspire some creative word flow.)
A young woman with a long braid and patterned blue romper prepares to jump off a boulder into the mildly churning ocean.