And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 1:31
Given that we seem to be living in Apocalyptic times, I thought it might be worth flipping back to the early parts of the Christian bible for inspiration for today’s task: to write a poem that traces an act of creation. After all, the Ancient Greek word for poet, ποιητής (poiētēs), means literally “maker”.
What sort of creative act you write about is up to you. Baking. Planting a garden. Building a model. Painting. Pregnancy, or child-rearing. Sculpting. Building a house. Designing a piece of software. Writing a play, or a song. A tapestry. A new variety of wheat. Anything, as long as the act is a creative one. It could be something you do already, or something you’d like to learn to do. Or even something you have in the one day, when x happens, I’m going to … drawer, a plan that’s almost too nebulous to be a plan: a wish, a hope, an inkling. Something possible, or something impossible, fantastical, magical! The only thing you are not allowed to make it about is writing a poem. (That would be an Ars Poetica, which may or may not be an exercise later on …)
As you write your poem, aim to include (in any order):
-
-
- a physical description of you preparing for your creative act;
- a set of parts or ingredients needed;
- some information about why you’re doing this;
- at least one instance of synesthesia;
- an animal or a plant of some type;
- something going not-according-to-plan;
- what happens when you finish.
-
Have fun!
A Dark Feathered Art 