Tuesday, March 3, 2009

breaks and ....pauses




Trinity Writers' Workshop held a poetry seminar for members on Saturday, Feb. 28th. The guest speaker, David Evans, is the Poet Laureate of South Dakota. A charming and thoughtful man, he eased us into the world of poetry. Discussing structure, beat, and word choice, he emphasized that poetry should be accessible. We looked at proverbs, rhymes, one liners, and prose poems. He engaged us in writing exercises and encouraged us all. One form I hadn't given much thought is Haiku - three lines. Syllable count is five, seven, five. Brevity and thoughts on the physical world are key. I'll give it a try based on the ROCK in the Outback of Australia. See pictures above. First the night
Reds to purples fade
light switch of sun flickers once
slate blue gray nightfall
And day:
Raw red rock rises
majestic sparse glare and heat
aboriginal
It's fun to distill a picture into a few words, hopefully an accessible image.
Joanne

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful images - both the pictures and the word spashes.
    Ann

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  2. I love them! The photos are awesome...I would love to see that big red rock for myself. I like your poetry, too. One of the things I like about poetry is the way the rhythms and brevity make you fit your creative spirit into a structure. Quite a challenge some days. A worthwhile one, too.

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