Joanna Preston: Tasmanaut Poet
Today is Anzac Day, the day of remembrance for all those who have served in the armed forces of New Zealand and Australia. Your task for today is to write a poem in response to a war poem by someone who actually served in the military. (Wikipedia has an interesting page on War Poets that …
Continue reading "NaPoWriMo Quarantine Edition – Exercise 25"
The box: a poem in parts. Write a couple of lines for each section before moving on to the next. Form is completely open, and rhyme is permitted but not required. You come home late at night. It’s been raining, it’s dark and you’re tired. You almost trip over something that’s been left just outside …
Continue reading "NaPoWriMo Quarantine Edition – Exercise 24"
Below is a block of text, purloined from Wordsworth (whose deathiversary today is), and warped through multiple retranslations into a variety of languages and then back into English. Ponder the weirdness of it, and then use it to leap off into a new poem of your own. You aren’t trying to restore the original – …
Continue reading "NaPoWriMo Quarantine Edition – Exercise 23"
Today is the birthday of one of my favourite American poets – Louise Glück. Happy 77th birthday, Louise! But it’s also the anniversary of the death of another of my favourite American poets, Jane Kenyon. So a day for curling up and rereading, methinks. Your writing exercise today is based on the title poem from …
Continue reading "NaPoWriMo Quarantine Edition – Exercise 22"
And once again, it’s time for an ekphrastic poem. (Yep, it’s fertile ground, and I’m tilling away.) This is an exercise I first gave my students last year for one of our Poetry & Science classes. There are four image snippets that you’ll be looking at, hidden under the buttons marked One, Two, Three and Four. …
Continue reading "NaPoWriMo Quarantine Edition – Exercise 21"
A Dark Feathered Art 