Volume VI, Issue 13 March 27, 2017 Word of the Week: summons Dear ,
Until I encountered Pablo Neruda's beautiful poem "Poetry"—this week's featured writing—the word summons had a rather negative connotation for me. (The time I got summoned to traffic court for parking in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was student
teaching in Pittsburgh comes to mind.) Neruda's poem had me see that a summons can call us to our greatest fulfillment.
Like Neruda, poetry summoned me at an early age. I still remember the first poem I ever wrote, when I was eight years old, looking out my window at the stars on a clear October night after I'd been put to bed. The simple, rhyming quatrain (that just means it had four lines, if
you're new to the poetry writing game) that seemed to appear to me, whole and complete, felt like a great gift.
Later, when I had the chance to study contemporary poetry in high school, I saw that one could express things in poetry that didn't feel expressible in any other form. I fell hard for e.e. cummings (helped along, no doubt, by the fact that my big brother, Mike, whom I still
hero worship to this day for good reason, set cummings's "somewhere i have never traveled" to music in a song he played on his guitar), and gave up capital letters in my poems for a good long while. (What I gained in punctuational pizzazz was well worth it!)
I have followed that early summons to this day and am so grateful for the opportunity to share my poems with others, as I got to do
at the Upcountry Literary Festival in Union, South Carolina, this past weekend. Here I am, sharing from my latest collection, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong. I'm also grateful to the festival staff, especially the one(s) who took photos! You can check out the fine writers on the program with me at www.facebook.com/upcountryliteraryfestival. (I get so overcome with the beauty and power of the readings at events like this that I almost never think of taking pictures, darn it. I'm sure glad others do!)
Hope you enjoy this week's prompt
inspired by the word summons, and, no, believe it or not, writing a poem is not required. Though you can if you want to! And if you're free this Saturday morning and want some inspiration, support, and company as you create poems so easily that you'll surprise yourself, I hope you'll join me for "Fooling Around with
Poetry."
Love and light, Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
FOOLING AROUND WITH POETRY
THIS SATURDAY!
(Learning What Makes a Poem a Poem;
Practicing Poem-Making via Playful
Prompts)
Ever wished your writing had more finesse? Or wondered what goes into the making of a fine poem? This workshop that celebrates both National Poetry Month and April Fool’s Day explores “poetic ingredients” in the areas of content, sound, and form that will increase your writing expertise. As we “fool around” with these ingredients through lively
discussion and playful prompts, you’ll learn how to identify and use them to strengthen your poetry and/or prose, as well as foolproof ways to ease into the writing process. All levels welcome. WHERE: Covenant Presbyterian Recreation Center, 1000 East Morehead Street, Charlotte, NC 28204. Click here for map.
WHEN: Saturday, April 1st, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
COST: $38 (Or save money by bundling
multiple “WordPlay National Poetry Month Celebration” Offerings—see below for details.)
* Or, you can save money by also taking advantage of one or both other "National Poetry Month" Offerings:
Bundle “WordPlay National Poetry Month Celebration” offerings and save!
To register for Fooling Around with Poetry AND Poetry Rocks, click here. (Your price will be $72, a savings of
13%!)
To register for Fooling Around with Poetry AND The Art and Craft of Polishing a Poem, click here. (Your price will be $66, a savings of
13%!)
To register for The Art and Craft of Polishing a Poem AND Poetry Rocks, click here. (Your price will be $72, a savings of 13%!) To register for Fooling Around with Poetry AND The Art and Craft of Polishing a Poem AND Poetry Rocks, click here. (Your price will be $89, a savings of 26%!)
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WRITE YOURSELF! (FOR TEENS)
WORKSHOP
FREE! Explore how creative writing can enrich your life with writer and teacher Maureen Ryan Griffin. You’ll learn fun, easy tools to help your words
flow. Whatever your interest, you’ll enjoy this informative workshop.
WHERE: South County Regional Library. 5801 Rea Rd, Charlotte, NC 28277
WHEN: Saturday, April 1st, from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
COST: Free!
TO REGISTER: To register
online, please visit the South County Regional Library website here.
More WordPlay opportunities here. Photo courtesy of http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/20/the-unknown-neruda.html And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night...
You can read the rest of Neruda's poem, as well as listen to it, here: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poetry-2/. (Although I will warn you that the automated voice does not do his beautiful words justice!) WordPlay Now! Writing
Prompt This is WordPlay—so why not revel in the power and
potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "summons."
PROMPT: We have all experienced being overtly summoned, and these summonses may or may not be welcome, as to an awards ceremony, a principal or boss's office, or to the bedside of a dying parent. But there are other kinds of
summoning as well, those that call us to a vocation or profession, as Neruda shares in his poem "Poetry."
Set a timer for five minutes, and brainstorm times of summoning, for you, anyone you know, or one of your characters.
Pick the summons that you would most enjoy WordPlaying with, and, this
time, set your time for ten minutes. Begin with the words "I/you/he/she was summoned..." and keep writing until the timer goes off, capturing the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of this summoning.
If you like, craft your writing into a poem, story, or
scene.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. One of her long-held dreams came true in July of 2015 when Garrison Keillor read one of her poems on The Writer's Almanac. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with
intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
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