Volume X, Issue 16
April 21, 2021
Word of the Week: metaphor
Dear ,
Recently, I captured my first exposure to metaphor. It was love at first sight/sound:
Was I five or six? I don’t remember. I do remember that I was dressed in flannel pajamas as I stared out at the night sky through the framed dark square of my bedroom window, bemused, bewitched by the words Mother had read me from a library book with the strange name of Hailstones and Halibut Bones. Poems, the words had been, but not like the poems I knew that told silly stories, like “Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens” or “Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill.”
No, this book said that “Brown is a feeling/You get inside/When wondering makes/Your mind grow wide.” What did this mean?
I didn’t understand, not with thinking, but my body seemed to know that, indeed, “if you listen/You can hear blue/In wind over water” and that “in the fall/When the leaves are turning/Orange is the smell/Of a bonfire burning.”
And, while walking the path behind our house through the woods that led to my friend Laurene’s backyard, I had felt myself that “Green is a coolness/You get in the shade/Of the tall old woods/Where the moss is made.”
The shiver that ran across my skin that night had nothing to do with the cold windowpane I stood in front of, staring out at the black velvet night sky.
Now I know this was my first introduction to metaphor, to the way that the things of our color-filled world allow us to express with perfect precision just how we feel and what we think.
You can surely understand why I couldn't let National Poetry Month fly by without sharing a metaphor opportunity with you, courtesy of poet and writer Cheryl Boyer, this week's featured WordPlayer. Here we are together several years ago at the "coming out" part of Cheryl's poignant, beautiful,
hopeful Counting
Colors: a journey through infertility.
I hope Cheryl's playful "mud metaphor" (just right for spring!) and the prompt inspire you to try your hand at some poetry of your own. (Or to weave an apt metaphor or two into whatever you're
writing these days.
Love and light,
Maureen
Some Noteworthy Sensoria
Events
Sensoria, CPCC's gem of an arts festival, is back this spring, after being cancelled last year due to the you-know-what. All the 2021 events will be virtual, so you can attend in your pajamas if you like! I've included some of the events I'm most excited about below. Here's a link to all the offerings: www.cpcc.edu/community-and-arts/sensoria.
April is National Poetry Month!
Celebrate with
POETRY ROCKS!
Would you like your writing—prose and/or poetry—to be more graceful,
powerful, beautiful? Do you sometimes find poetry confusing or intimidating and wish you could “crack the code”? Or do you enjoy writing and reading poems, but want a more thorough understanding of what makes a poem good? Then this poetry extravaganza is for you.
Expect a good time exploring what makes a poem a poem, gaining the knowledge you need to confidently create and revise poetry, and strengthening your writing skills in all genres.
It would be a joy and an honor to share what rocks about poetry with you. Learn more here.
HERE’S WHAT YOU GET:
- 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox. Each tool zeroes in on one aspect of poetry and provides an innovative method to approach writing a poem. Many of them are great for creating prose, too. The tools include:
* a purpose, so you’re clear what you will learn
* background information when helpful
* “how-to” directions to create a poem
* an example that illustrates the poetry tool in action
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
* “Hone Your Craft” suggestions for further exploration
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
- A PDF document of each tool that you can print or save on your computer
- An audio recording of each tool, so you can learn by listening and/or reading
- Instruction on the role of audience, reading like a writer, and the process of revision, including a handy Revision Checkpoint Chart—this information can be applied to strengthen your prose as well as poetry
- An e-book that contains the information and resources covered, as well as your 23 poetry creation tools for ongoing use
WHERE: From the comfort of your own home, via the web.
WHEN: Any time you want! And once you receive all 23 tools, they’re yours to keep, which means that you can keep using them for years to come.
COST: $45
TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email here for instructions. To register for Poetry Rocks! online, click here.
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WRITING OURSELVES WHOLE
Come explore the benefits writing can provide—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
In this workshop/retreat you’ll learn and practice simple yet profound ways to use words to heal, to transform, and to grow, as well as to reflect on the way Spirit is working in your life. These methods can also be used to create stories, poems, and/or essays.
Our time together will be ideal for beginners as well as for seasoned writers as we renew and deepen our relationship with God, self, and others.
Well of Mercy offers a beautiful space to connect with yourself, nature and Spirit. Take this time and space for yourself.
Please register early as this retreat is limited to 10 participants.
WHERE: Well Of Mercy, 181 Mercy Lane, Hamptonville, NC 27020
WHEN: Wednesday, July 21, 2021 @ 2:00PM — Friday, July 23, 2021 @ 1:30PM Eastern Time
COST: $240 (includes lodging and meals
TO REGISTER: Visit the Well of Mercy website by clicking here.
More WordPlay opportunities coming
soon.
Stay posted!
Featured Writer
Cheryl Boyer
Cheryl Boyer is a writer and novice shutterbug whose work has appeared in a handful of journals, including Kakalak, The Main Street
Rag, and moonShine review. She is also the author of Counting Colors: a journey through infertility and is currently working on a collection about her experiences as a foster mom.
She lives in a small town in North Carolina with her husband and two children, is a home-schooling momma, and a former foster mom. Though not a coffee drinker, Cheryl finds it essential to eat a bit of dark chocolate every day.
You can read more about Cheryl at her blog here: www.myferriswheel.com
Purchase/learn more about Counting Colors here.
Featured
Writing
Creating Metaphor
by
Cheryl Boyer
This poem grew out of the same exercise I'm sharing with you this week in our prompt, a kind of metaphor game we recently played in one of my Under Construction classes. Cheryl is a member, as is author Kim Love Stump, pictured with Cheryl
above celebrating the publication of Counting Colors.
Cheryl dove right in, and was kind enough to share the first draft writing she did before crafting her words into the poem below. I'm always interested in seeing how writers shape drafts into finished work, and though you might be too. In this case, it didn't take much tweaking! The finished poem follows.
I always feel stuck when it comes to metaphor, ankle deep in sucking mud and sinking deeper, each attempt to free myself pulling me down, squelchy ooze soaking up my pant legs, weighting me, wet tendrils like fingers gripping me to the spot, paralyzed in the knowledge that with each passing moment without a clever metaphor my legs are getting heavier, and as the mud begins to
harden I panic, unable to grasp at fleeting images that flit through my brain like dandelion tufts, elusive thoughts that could save me, free me from being cemented in place if only I could catch one.
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Creating Metaphor
makes me feel stuck in ankle deep mud
sucking me in, sinking deeper,
each attempt to free myself
pulling me down,
squelchy ooze soaking up my pant legs,
weighting me,
wet tendrils like fingers
gripping me to the spot.
I’m paralyzed
in the knowledge
that with each passing moment
without a clever likeness
my legs are getting heavier,
and as the mud begins to harden
I panic,
unable to grasp at fleeting images
that flit through my brain
like dandelion tufts,
elusive thoughts that could save me,
free me from cementing in place
if only I could catch one.
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 “metaphor.”
Play with some metaphor creation of your own by using the "What Is It Like?" exercise on the attached handout. After you've finished the exercise, choose one or more of your favorite metaphors and weave them into your writing. Want to learn more about metaphor? Here's a guide to understanding the parts of a metaphor and how they
work together.
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.
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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