Thursday, October 16, 2008

Read Write Poem: Wordle

I chose to write a poem based on the first prompt, using three words from the Wordle. The words that emerged first were "silence", "field" and "warm". My additional challenge to myself was to translate a physical feeling, a memory of sitting in my Wellington living room last night, into a piece of speed-written poetry. This is very much a rough draft! I tried not to think too much about the writing. I wanted to trust instinct to convey the sense of the moment.

Mornington
This night
silence is the
darkness.
The repeated call
of a Tui
in the valley
is the warmth
of dreaming.
The Vogeltown
Kaka fly screeching
where pine trees
were felled and
empty fields
were once
landfill.
The evening
is a held
breath,
each feather
a note from
an Oboe.

6 comments:

Rob Kistner said...

I am held by the spare beauty of this 'word music'... wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Very nice read, the images are wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Oh, this is great. You really stuck with the imagery and kept it clean and clear. Did writing quickly help you avoid the "dead" language that tries to make its way into all our poems? Your use of three words is nice, too. You don't have to use them all -- any or all, whatever sparks something, is all that matters.

Anonymous said...

Love this.

Anonymous said...

I really like your approach to this poem -- to be "in the moment." Your mind as you write seems particularly attuned to the music of language as in "felled" and "field" and "note" and "oboe." This is a wonderful piece.

Pip said...

Thanks everyone for your comments! Yes Dana, I did find that writing quickly did result in a stripped back poem. I usually start with far too many words and have to prune harshly so it was nice to be spare from the start!