Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Since you asked, here's the technique I used for that last poem.

It was actually the combination of two techniques I learned in Kaminsky's class. One was: make a list of 10 random/strange questions, and then, at another time, without looking at the questions, make ten bizarre/strange answers or statements. Then see if you can match the answers and questions up in any way.

The second, pick your favorite lines from your old poems, and save them and use them in your new poems. I took 20 poems from 2001-2004 and picked my favorite line and put them in a 5 page document -- in random order. I added a few questions and statements, but not right next to each other. Then I picked lines that had similar images or tone, and that made about two pages. Then I slimmed it down to one page, and changed the pronouns and tenses so that it seemed more coherent. I added one new line and switched the lines/sections around a lot and voila! new poem.

1 comment:

angela simione said...

yay! i will give this a whirl! i've never tried slicing up my own writing before. i'm looking forward to it.