Thursday, June 23, 2011

Writing Workshop

Mark invited me to a writing workshop he was holding. I brought a poem because that was what I had written the day before, and I mentioned this to the other writers because I wasn’t totally sure about the poem in question (which is a good reason to ask people what needs to be changed.)
After I read my poem, Kean said “You wrote that yesterday?”
Er, yes. Actually, I probably wrote it in about a half hour, maybe forty minutes if you could fooling around with the line breaks. I usually write poems without regard for line breaks, and then experiment with them later.
Everyone was mostly supportive of the poem. Kean mentioned that it sort of spun off on a tangent fairly early on, and the more I look at it, the more right I realize he is. So, I’m cutting that bit.
Mark did give me a wonderful compliment though: he told me I have amazing catalogs in my poems. That made me feel wonderful. I must admit, I’m sort of obsessed with catalogs, so I was happy to hear that.

3 comments:

  1. Eliza, well I hope you re going to post it.
    It sounds great.

    I'm not sure what catalogs are.

    In England we have catalogues but they would have nothing to do with poetry. No, that's not true. A poem can be about anything. A poem about using catalogues would be just as authentic as any other subject.

    All the best,
    Tony

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  2. Catalog poems either are a list as a poem or have lists as part of the poem. Whitman is probably the most famous poet who used catalogs, in poems such as "Song of Myself" and "Passage to India."

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  3. Oh thanks Eliza. Yes, I know what you mean.
    Same language but different usage sometimes!!!! Ha! Ha!
    All the best.

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