WELCOME HOME:
POETRY FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE
by Poet Jesse James Ziegler
November 3rd, 2024 at Our Center
According to Oxford
Poetry (noun) : literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.
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POETRY GLOSSARY
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary
PERSONAL WEBSITE
https://linktr.ee/SidewaysEight
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A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds,
to take sides, start arguments, shape the world,
and stop it going to sleep.
— Salman Rushdie
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Introduction
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Whether it is the blank page or the empty stage the art form of poetry as a literary method and a spoken word opportunity has always represented a sense of self actualization, therapy, healing, release and community I wouldn’t otherwise have. The potential held in the open space helps us realize many wants and needs. Along the way we find a sense of home wherever we roam.
Poetry may not be your first love as it is mine. However this workshop was designed for anyone beginning, intermediate or advanced in the art form to use poetry as a tool to help discover your greatest loves through the processes contained within. May everyone who engages with this material in a bravely vulnerable and courageously honest way grow from it and improve upon their self love as well.
Through practical exercise and free form writing we will collectively build our way up to personal enlightenment and public sharing. It is my deepest hope that the extended workshop held within these walls acts as a safe and open space to dismantle the walls and boxes that ensnare us on the way to true freedom, love and a sense of belonging.
JJZ
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I Statement Sonnets
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I am from_______
I am of _______
I love_______
I am inspired by_______
I am intrigued by_______
I am afraid of _______
I am in awe of _______
I respect _______
I am sad because _______
I laugh at _______
I am moved by _______
I am brought to tears by _______
I am excited by _______
I look forward to _______
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Forms of Poetry
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Sonnet – This very old form of poetry was made famous by none other than William Shakespeare, but the sonnet actually originated in 13th century Italy where it was perfected by the poet Petrarch. The word ‘sonnet’ is derived from the Italian word ‘sonnetto’ which means ‘little song’. Traditionally, sonnets are made up of 14 lines and usually deal with love. As a rule, Petrarchan (Italian) sonnets follow an ABBA ABBA CDE CDE rhyme scheme, whereas Shakespearean (English) sonnets are typically ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. But of course, rules are made to be broken!
Haiku – unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. The haiku first emerged in Japanese literature during the 17th century, as a terse reaction to elaborate poetic traditions, though it did not become known by the name haiku until the 19th century. Haikus don’t have to rhyme and are usually written to evoke a particular mood or instance. So, you can have a lot of fun with them! You may have written or will find yourself writing your own haiku at some point in school, or you can get creative and try it at home, too.
Limerick – Limericks are funny (and sometimes rude!) poems which were made popular by Edward Lear in the 19th century. They have a set rhyme scheme of AABBA, with lines one, two and five all being longer in length than lines three and four. The last line is often the punchline. Their sound is very distinctive, it’s likely you’ve heard or read one before!
Ode – Odes are one of the most well-known forms of poetry. They tend to serve as a tribute to a subject. This subject can be a person or an inanimate object, and the voice in the poem praises the subject in a ceremonial manner. Odes are short lyric poems, which convey intense emotions, and tend to follow traditional verse structure. They are generally formal in tone. Romantic poet John Keats wrote several odes, including Ode To a Nightingale.
Elegy – Similarly to odes, elegies are tributes to certain subjects, though in this case that subject is largely a person. These poems reflect on death and loss, and traditionally include a theme of mourning. Sometimes they also include a sense of hope, through themes like redemption and consolation. Elegies are generally written in quatrains and in iambic pentameter, with an ABAB rhyme scheme. These are loose guidelines, and many poets adjust them. There is a strong tradition of poets using the elegy in order to honour and pay respects to their departed literary compatriots, such as in W.H. Auden’s poem In Memory of W. B. Yeats.
Acrostic – Like haikus, you’re likely to encounter acrostic poems at school! But that doesn’t mean they’re boring – in fact, far from it! This type of poetry spells out a name, word, phrase or message with the first letter of each line of the poem. It can rhyme or not, and typically the word spelt out, lays down the theme of the poem. Why not try it with the silliest word you can think of – it can be really fun!
Ballad – The ballad is another old and traditional form of poetry that typically tells a dramatic or emotional story. They came from Europe in the late Middle Ages and were initially passed down from one generation to another, and often with music. Ballads do have a set form; they are typically four lines (quatrain) and have a rhyme scheme of ABAB or ABCB. However, this form is looser than others so can be modified to suit a writer’s (that’s you!) needs. Most modern pop songs you hear nowadays can be referred to as ballads!
Sestina – A complex French verse form, usually unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a three-line envoi. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different order as end words in each of the subsequent five stanzas; the closing envoi contains all six words, two per line, placed in the middle and at the end of the three lines. The patterns of word repetition are as follows, with each number representing the final word of a line, and each row of numbers representing a stanza:
1 2 3 4 5 6
6 1 5 2 4 3
3 6 4 1 2 5
5 3 2 6 1 4
4 5 1 3 6 2
2 4 6 5 3 1
(6 2) (1 4) (5 3)
Cinquan – A cinquain is a five-line poem consisting of twenty-two syllables: two in the first line, then four, then six, then eight, and then two syllables again in the last line. These are deceptively simple poems with a lovely musicality that make the writer think hard about the perfect word choices.
Pantoum – The pantoum is a poem of any length, composed of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first.
Villanelle – Villanelles (yes, this really is a type of poem, not just the name of one of the main characters in the TV show Killing Eve) are a little stricter and more complicated in form. They tend to have a fluid, almost lyrical feel to them, as they use lots of repeating lines. Villanelles consist of nineteen lines, in the form of five tercets and a closing quatrain, and they have a very specific rhyme scheme. The tercets follow the rhyme scheme ABA, while the quatrain’s rhyme scheme is ABAA. The first line repeats in lines 6, 12, and 18 of the poem, while the third line repeats in lines 9, 15, and 19. These repeated lines need to be signifcant and well-crafted as they occur so frequently. Villanelles often describe obsessions and intense subject matters. Well regarded examples include Sylvia Plath’s Mad Girl’s Love Song and Dylan Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.
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“The writer Philip Pullman once said
“Poetry is not a fancy way of giving you information.
It’s an incantation.
It is actually a magical spell
It changes things. It changes you
I come to you in the midst of the fires of hate with a sincere belief that we can be forged into something more beautiful on the other side
That doesn’t make me an optimist
It makes me a poet and to be a poet is to resurrect dead things like hope.
To be a poet is to be an ambassador for humanity in a society with an allergic reaction to itself
To be a poet is to notice the quiet magic that sustains life.
Is to tune each word to the hum of it.
Find majesty and magnificence in the muck
Poetry is not merely a genre of literature.
It is a mode of living:
Something we can all do if we allow ourselves to be beautiful.
So won’t you please allow yourself to be beautiful tonight.”
— Alok Vaid Menon
American writer and performer
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High Five
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What is sacred to you?
What is worth living for?
What is worth dying for?
Who is your real life super hero?
What makes you happy?
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“I’d cut my soul into a million different pieces just to form a constellation to light your way home. I’d write love poems to the parts of yourself you can’t stand. I’d stand in the shadows of your heart and tell you I’m not afraid of your dark.”
— Andrea Gibson
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Big Questions
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What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?
What is something you used to value that you no longer value?
What is something you didn’t value before which you highly value now?
How would you define your current purpose?
If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?
What is the most meaningful thing for you to share with a friend?
What is the most traumatic experience you’ve ever had in your life? And, how does the residue of that experience show up in your present?
How are you able to share the expression of your beliefs with others?
What brings you joy?
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“Your heart will fix itself. It’s your mind you need to worry about. Your mind where you locked the memories, your mind where you have kept pieces of the ones that hurt you, that still cut through you like shards of glass. Your mind will keep you up at night, make you cry, destroy you over and over again. You need to convince your mind that it has to let go…because your heart already knows how to heal.”
— Nikita Gill
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Memories
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Describe your earliest memory of joy.
Describe your earliest memory of pain.
Describe your favorite spot in the world using all five senses.
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I have these stories with me. The hard part was about reflecting on my feelings, not my experience. There are two parts to any story, the experience and the feelings. The emotions that come with this experience. And this is what poetry is to me.
—- Mosab Abu Toha
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Calendar Considerations
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Days of remembrance, mourning, grief, loss, and power listed in chronological order across the year. Celebrate the triumphant ones. Lean into and replace the somber ones. Learn from the destructive ones. Take power back over the darkest ones.
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:
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Personal Questions
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What’s the story behind your name?
What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever done on your birthday?
What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
What’s your favorite day of the year?
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Rank the seasons from 1 to 4. One being your favorite. 4 being your least favorite.
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Rank your five favorite colors in order.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Not So Random
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Heads or Tails?
Odd or Even?
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Prompts
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Write about returning to a home that is no longer yours. (Megan Falley)
Write a poem in which you give your memories away to the thrift store. Which memories no longer “fit” you but you think someone else might wear? Which memories do you donate but really should have just thrown in the trash? (Ollie Schminkey)
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Environmental Considerations
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Inside V. Outside
Sounds
Lighting
Temperature
Body position
Bodily Movement
Time of day
Rituals
Food and Liquids
Sleep/Rest
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Write all the time, and read more than you write. I see writing and reading as a conversation. As a writer, if you’re only doing one, you’re only getting half of a conversation which is never the full story. If you’re only reading it’s as if you’re only listening to others in conversation while never taking part in it. If you’re only writing it’s as if you’re talking to yourself in the mirror all of the time. You must be doing both all of the time in order to get better. Doing something a lot is the only way you get better at something. Inspiration is great when it comes, but discipline is always there. So you must always be disciplined on the way to inspiration.
— Dr. Javon Johnson
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Suggested Further Reading
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WE HEAL TOGETHER
Rituals and Pratices For Building Community and Connection
by Michelle Cassandra Johnson
FINDING REFUGE
Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief
by Michelle Cassandra Johnson
POETRY THERAPY
Therapy and Practice
by Nicholas Mazza
BIBLIO / POETRY THERAPY
The Interactive Process: A Handbook
by Arleen McCarty Hynes and
Mary Hynes-Berry
WORDS FROM A THERAPIST
When Poetry Meets Therapy
by Sahara Omar, MA, MFTC
BEARING THE UNBEARABLE
Love, Loss and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief
by Joanne Cacciatore, PhD
POETRY AS PERFORMANCE
Homer and Beyond
by Gregory Nagy
BLUEPRINTS
Bringing Poetry into Communities
Edited by Katharine Coles
WRITE A POEM, SAVE YOUR LIFE
A Guide for Teens, Teachers, and Writers of All Ages
by Meredith Heller
POETRY EVERYWHERE
Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community
by Jack Collin and Sheryl Noethe
OUTSPOKEN!
How to Improve Writing and Speaking Skills Through Poetry Performance
by Sara Holbrook & Michael Salinger
POETRY WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE
A Memoir
by Jill Bialosky
POETRY THERAPY
The Use of Poetry in the Treatment of Emotional Disorders
Edited by Jack J. Leedy, MD
POETRY AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Reading, Writing, and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations, and Intentions
by Robert McDowell
THE WORKING POET
75 Writing Exercises and a Poetry Anthology
Edited by Scott Minar
IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND
The Poet’s Portable Workshop
A Lively and Illuminating Guide for the Practicing Poet
by Steve Kowit
THE PRACTICE OF POETRY
Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach
Edited by Robin Behn & Chase Twichell
SPIRIT, RHYTHM, AND STORY
Community Building and Healing Through Song
by Terence Elliott
WINGBEATS:
Exercises & Practice in Poetry
Edited by Scott Wiggerman & David Meischen
THE ART OF GATHERING
How We Meet and Why it Matters
by Priya Parker
THE CREATIVE ACT: A WAY OF BEING
by Rick Rubin
THE HEALING POWER OF POETRY
by Dr. Smiley Blanton
SIDEWAYS EIGHT PROJECTS 