Creativity Exercises: 3 Ways to Awaken Your Mind to Poetic Thinking

Celebrate National Poetry Month! [Web Version »]( &p1=%40S28d9CjRrBm8VtDHqefADTaTrw%2FE7td9mhC3Rs%2FE32I%3D) [Writer's Dig]( &cid=DM112255&bid=1104861308) [Creativity Exercises: 3 Ways to Awaken Your Mind to Poetic Thinking]( &cid=DM112255&bid=1104861308) by Natalie D-Napoleon Poetry has been called the "gateway drug" into writing because many writers often begin their craft by attempting to encapsulate simple observations into poems. As our skills develop, we sometimes struggle to find new ways to express what was once fresh and inspiring. I’ve been writing poetry since I was 15 years old, and after several decades of dabbling with the form I continue to look for new ways to reinvigorate my practice. Guggenheim Fellow and poet Jane Hirshfield explains, "Poetry’s work is the clarification and magnification of being." Here are some creativity exercises to help awaken your mind to poetic thinking, and to clarify and magnify your poetry writing. 1. Try An Experimental Form Experimental poetry introduces elements of play and exploration into practice and allows us to challenge the established use of language, reviving our point of view. One experimental form of poetry gaining in popularity at the moment is erasure poetry. Erasure poetry is a type of "found" poetry that’s been around since the 1970s. In a &cid=DM112255&bid=1104861308[Writer’s Digest article]( &cid=DM112255&bid=1104861308) Robert Lee Brewer defines an erasure poem as "any poem that sculpts itself out of another larger text." Erasures can be created by writers using whiteout, blackout or by online programs that delete and manipulate random words from web pages using sites such as [thedeletionist.com]( ). Tom Phillips’ [A Humument]( ) is one of the earliest and most famous book erasure projects while [Austin KIeon]( ) recently revived the form with his blackout poetry. Poet Mary Ruefle, who is an obsessive erasure poet, believes that [erasures are created not found]( ), "I certainly didn't ‘find’ any of these pages, I made them in my head, just as I do my other work." Whether they’re found or created, here are some methods for exploring erasure poetry: - Grab a story from a newspaper and blackout the words you don’t want to use to create a blackout erasure à la Austin KIeon. - Download [thedeletionist.com]( ), find an interesting website, then click on the app; use the poem as found or add your own edits to the words erased. - Go to [Wave Books online erasure page]( ) and try your hand at creating an online erasure from the page of a famous book by writers such as Virginia Woolf or Herman Melville. - Grab a cheap book from a thrift store and some whiteout tape, open a random page and begin erasing. [Read More...]( &cid=DM112255&bid=1104861308) [Feature]( ) [Smash Poetry Journal by Robert Lee Brewer]( ) Don’t wait for inspiration to strike! Whether you’re an aspiring or published poet, this book will help you get in a frame of mind to make creative writing a consistent part of your life. With prompts from Robert Lee Brewer’s popular Writer’s Digest blog, Poetic Asides, you’ll find 125 ideas for writing poems along with the journaling space you need to respond to the prompt. [Get yours here.]( ) $16.99 $10.99 [SHOP NOW]( ) &p1={EMAIL}&p2=225535665 &p1={EMAIL}&p2=225535665 &p1={EMAIL}&p2=225535665 Please do not reply to this email. We are happy to help you with any questions or concerns you may have. Please [click here to contact us]( ). This email was sent by: F+W, 10151 Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA [Unsubscribe]( &cid=DM112255&bid=1104861308) | [Web Version »]( &p1=%40S28d9CjRrBm8VtDHqefADTaTrw%2FE7td9mhC3Rs%2FE32I%3D) We respect your right to privacy. [View our policy.]( )