Most of my published writing is my body of twenty (so far!) middle grade and young adult novels of mystery, suspense, ghosts, and time travel. I've had some essays and articles published in magazines over the years . . . but I've never really tried poetry. Until just a couple weeks ago! I've been teaching a First Year Writing course to my college students this semester in a departure from Creative Writing, and I thought that along with trying their hand at research papers, persuasive writing and narrative essays, we would try poetry. I had them pick one of their earlier assignments for the course and turn it into both a series of Haiku AND a Shakespearean sonnet. Astonishing results! (Imagine a sonnet about Blockchain...and Haiku about public art installations...). I wrote right along with them, and enjoyed the challenge. So much fun!
That does sound like fun! And I think it's a great idea to work within some kind of formal structure at first with poetry--a haiku or a sonnet, etc. It gives your coats a rack to hang on, if that makes sense. It's something I've been considering too.
Visions from an airplane have always fascinated me, especially at night. That's when the imagination flies just as high as the place. Who's living at that solitary light in the desert?
As for writing poetry, when I was think of writing novels (managed to finish five), the weight of all those words and characters overwhelmed me. So I put the essence of the story into poems. It was fun and relieved me of the onus of filling up paper to express a simple idea. Since writing for Substack, my poems have become so verbose, I actually turn some of them into vignettes or short-shorts. I guess there's a format to accommodate any idea that comes along.
I was hoping somebody would jump in and talk about what it's like to shift between genres, so thank you! I like the idea of using poetry to lighten the weight.
Writing poems is also a great way to get right to the gist of the story. Short-shorts are a bit longer, but the same thing happens. I've found that commenting on FB has helped me hone shorts. Weird, right? FB of all things.
You have a gift of shaping words into a glorious, soulful dreamscape, Tonya. Take a bow! Anything you write I want to read ~ I love that you are picking up the poetic frontier with something you wrote in the past. That's beautiful.
Oh, Ellen, that's just about the most wonderful thing anyone has ever said about my writing--soulful dreamscape. I love that so much. Thank you, as always.
Most of my published writing is my body of twenty (so far!) middle grade and young adult novels of mystery, suspense, ghosts, and time travel. I've had some essays and articles published in magazines over the years . . . but I've never really tried poetry. Until just a couple weeks ago! I've been teaching a First Year Writing course to my college students this semester in a departure from Creative Writing, and I thought that along with trying their hand at research papers, persuasive writing and narrative essays, we would try poetry. I had them pick one of their earlier assignments for the course and turn it into both a series of Haiku AND a Shakespearean sonnet. Astonishing results! (Imagine a sonnet about Blockchain...and Haiku about public art installations...). I wrote right along with them, and enjoyed the challenge. So much fun!
That does sound like fun! And I think it's a great idea to work within some kind of formal structure at first with poetry--a haiku or a sonnet, etc. It gives your coats a rack to hang on, if that makes sense. It's something I've been considering too.
Your poem is beautiful and moving. Especially "You are a point of light."
Thanks so much, Kathryn.
Visions from an airplane have always fascinated me, especially at night. That's when the imagination flies just as high as the place. Who's living at that solitary light in the desert?
As for writing poetry, when I was think of writing novels (managed to finish five), the weight of all those words and characters overwhelmed me. So I put the essence of the story into poems. It was fun and relieved me of the onus of filling up paper to express a simple idea. Since writing for Substack, my poems have become so verbose, I actually turn some of them into vignettes or short-shorts. I guess there's a format to accommodate any idea that comes along.
I was hoping somebody would jump in and talk about what it's like to shift between genres, so thank you! I like the idea of using poetry to lighten the weight.
Writing poems is also a great way to get right to the gist of the story. Short-shorts are a bit longer, but the same thing happens. I've found that commenting on FB has helped me hone shorts. Weird, right? FB of all things.
lovely, Tonya
Thank you, Tabby!
Damn. This is easy to love.
Thanks, Damon!
The poem reminds me of a quiet little Amy Rigby love song, “Sleeping with the Moon,” though the poem does a great deal more than the song.
As Damon said, this poem is easy to love. Loss and all the places it takes you. Thank you.
Thank you so much Steven! (And now I have a song I need to listen to...)
If only all humanity could be viewed as points of light? But I'm a dreamer.
If only. Agreed.
You have a gift of shaping words into a glorious, soulful dreamscape, Tonya. Take a bow! Anything you write I want to read ~ I love that you are picking up the poetic frontier with something you wrote in the past. That's beautiful.
Oh, Ellen, that's just about the most wonderful thing anyone has ever said about my writing--soulful dreamscape. I love that so much. Thank you, as always.
My great pleasure. ♥️