Words That Sing and Soar
Wednesday evening I attended Georgia Heard's webinar "Word's that Sing and Soar," with Irene Latham. How wonderful it was to gather virtually with so many poets I have gotten to know through Boyds Mills(Highlights). Really looking forward to going to Poetry Palooza there this fall and catching up with them.
Be sure to sign up for these little ditties! They are both a little bit of poetry love, filled with great tips and news about upcoming webinars.
Georgia Heard's Newsletter: Heartbeats
Irene Latham's YouTube channel with Tuesday's 2-minute Writing Tips
I thought this Poetry Friday I would share a couple of word-play prompts that I found really helpful.
We were given a list of words to choose from—basic words like: enough, still, almost etc. and asked to write a brief poem about that word. I chose the word almost. I liked it because it combined "all" with "most." After a couple of minutes of thinking, I wrote this poem inspired by my husband, who has been fighting cancer for 5 years now.
Next was the 5-word challenge. Georgia selected 5 random words and asked us to write a poem. It was a great idea and so interesting to see how each person interpreted the words. I will definitely try this again.
The words were : Moss, Hum Indigo, Hour, Hem.
Here's my poem.
Irene Latham introduced me to a word I had not heard of:
Portmanteau:
-a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others.
For example:
Motel: (from ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’)
Brunch: (from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’).
Skort: (skirt and shorts)
What fun this tool could be! She gave us permission to be silly and make up words. This reminded me of when I write double dactyls. The first line is always two made-up words.
Here is one I wrote about Johann Sebastian Bach. Made-up words are so fun to say!
May your week be filled with words that make your heart sing!
Hope to share some more color-inspired poems next Friday.
Thanks to Molly Hogan at https://nixthecomfortzone.com/. for hosting this week. She also attended Georgia's webinar. Molly's poem inspired by the word, "still" is lovely. Hope you will pick a word and see where it leads you!
I always enjoy your posts, Cathy! This week, I especially enjoyed the five word challenge and the poem you created from the words. It's beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I found Georgia's Heartbeats in mid July and really enjoyed them.
Oh my... "beneath the hem of an indigo sky"...... GAW! Love it. And that it followed your first poem of love and gratitude in the face of a future not of your choosing... Oof. Thank you for your raw, beautiful honesty.
Thank you for sharing the prompts from the workshop, Cathy. I was sorry I was unable to attend. I especially liked your poem about the sea. "below the hem of this indigo sky" is a beautiful image.
What a delightful (and fruitful!) webinar! Thanks for sharing all the goodness, from the prompts to your poems.
ALMOST as good as being there. ;)
So much to love here, Cathy! The tenderness of your almost poem...so relatable. Thank you. It was so great to see you at Georgia's workshop. And your plinkety plinkety is so much fun. xo