Today I have a metaphor workshop. As preparation prior to the workshop, this past week we were sent some readings to do about the topic, and copies of all 12 participants' poems. We are to find positives in each poem, making note of rhythm, line breaks, word usage, etc.
As I read, I am getting a better handle on what they are talking about in writing poems of metaphor. As I read the other poems, I am getting scared. Mine is nothing like the others. The others are more "grown up", more sophisticated; and some I just don't understand. I feel like the Grandma Moses in a group of Rembrandts!
I'm already thinking of edits to my poem, not Rembrandt quality, but at least more to the point of the workshop! I have written a couple or three short poems using metaphors that I think may be closer to what I should be trying for.
This growing is painful, or exciting...I'm not sure. Ha! I think I had those emotions in childbirth, too! Now there's the beginning of a metaphor for you.
The Birth of a Poem
She thought she knew
Before it grew;
Excitement brewing,
Thoughts all stewing,
Then came the clue
There'd be pain, too!
Sometimes a flow,
Then times more slow;
But this she knew,
There was joy, too.
Donna JT Smith
I'll let you know how Grandma Moses felt or did next Friday.
Until then, keep perusing the list of poems at Jama's Alphabet Soup for Poetry Friday this week! Jama's serving some delicious doughnuts!
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Childbirth is a very apt metaphor for any creative process, but especially writing. I'm glad your poem ended with the joy. :) Have fun at your workshop: meta-phors be with you!
ReplyDeleteDon't second guess yourself! Be like Diane M. and stuff a sock in the mouth of that little devil on your shoulder. You deserve a place at the table and THEY will learn from YOU!
ReplyDeleteYou picked a rich topic there's a bevy of material there, and there's a lifetime of metaphor in childbirth, and then some. I agree with Mary Lee, take your place–if you are invited to share each others poetry something can be gained from all!
ReplyDeleteI love your metaphor but agree with Mary Lee that you should try not to second-guess yourself. here isn't one right way to write any kind of poem, and I'm sure yours weren't 'wrong'. Who needs everything to be the same?
ReplyDeleteJane Yolen compared the process of pulling a book out of herself to childbirth, leaning more to the agony and spilling of blood and sweat than to the humor and light rhyme. I think this is a metaphor that can play out differently, possibly depending on your experience of childbirth itself.
ReplyDelete