One of the exercises I gave my CPIT students recently was the classic "reanimating clichés" (i.e. take a cliché and treat it as though literally true. Explore it. Give it life again). I've always enjoyed it, and have managed to get a couple of perfectly acceptable poems from it in the past. One (light) poem …
students and Paul Muldoon’s “Quoof”
The session before last, I showed my CPIT students a range of different modern sonnets, ending with the least typical of all, Paul Muldoon's Quoof. It caused quite a lot of discussion. Among other things, why a poet would risk such an out-there image as my hand on her breast like the smouldering one-off spoor …
Teaching, and why it’s good for you
I have a lot of respect for good teachers. For one thing, I come from a family of them. A good teacher can change a student's life – give them that little push they need to really grow into their potential. Mind you, a bad teacher can destroy potential just as easily. I had both …
A Dark Feathered Art 