Write a flash fiction or poem based on items in your junk drawer (or one of them!).
Category: Classroom Materials
This contains materials for classroom use.
Texture Press Wiki Available
Texture Press has a wiki:
https://sites.google.com/site/texturepress/home
In addition to having information about Texture books, it contains further writings (writing advice, essays, and more) by Texture authors.
For instance…from this page go to writings on jazz (or jazz related) by Rina Terry.
Susan Smith Nash (founding editor of Texture) has made available here many of her teaching videos (such as this video on Emerson on Notable Writers page).
https://sites.google.com/site/texturepress/home/notable-writers/emerson-ralph-waldo—on-circles
Here’s tP author Don Rigg’s in depth piece on the history of cyberpunk (on Genres and Styles page):
And more–
A new improved version of our main website will be available soon. But in the mean time, check out our wiki! Let me know if you want to contribute some writing here (write to vf25@drexel.edu).
Many thanks to Melissa Rodier for helping us create this wiki.
“Fantôme” by Benjamin Teperov
Benjamin Teperov
Fantôme
Sometimes I stop, peering down the road and trying to make out shapes in the fog.
There is something hanging from the trees. Yellow eyes wide. Watching—
—“What are you?” I call out.
It grins wider, mocking me in my own voice
“Ore no kanojo?” I echo, “Maybe I should bring a bouquet for you.”
I looked away, into the trees and the mist. If I went off the path for a little bit—
just a two-hour vacation—
what would I see there?
A mermaid, twisting through the grey air,
or jewelweeds twined together with their friends?
I could catch a midsummer shower,
run with the wolves in the wilderness,
follow them to the edge of the trees and peer into oblivion—
It might be the best day of my life.
I step forward onto the road, flowing cherry blossoms catching in my hair.
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Note: Teperov’s poem relies on song titles from Utada Ikaru’s album, Fantôme. For more on this writing prompt, view this blog-post:
https://poemsforthewriting.com/2017/01/04/musical-echoes-1/
Ping Pong/Writing and Drawing Prompt
Ping Pong Writing and Drawing
These directions are presented as a lesson plan. You just need index cards, pencils., paper. More art supplies for Part 2 if you have time for that. For a workshop setting, you could ask students to return to the next class with a revision.
We used the book Grapefruit by Yoko Ono for the third drawing part.
For writers working alone, just use a timer, and go down the list.
In place of the part where you are writing while someone reads the Ono instructions, if you don’t have the book, why not find a suitable substitute (evocative sounds, music in language you don’t know—something to create a shift at that stage)?
PART ONE (20+ minutes)
Go back and forth (2-3 minutes time spent on each step)
Draw a self-portrait, perhaps yourself as an animal, or, yourself in a dream
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Write about an incident involving an animal. Are your nurturing it? Hunting it? Is the animal part of you, like a sphinx or a centaur or some other creature?
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Draw yourself or a person or thing from different directions; or, draw yourself experiencing a strong emotion.
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Imagine what is going on outside the borders of your picture. Write about it.
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Draw while listening to Yoko Ono promptsfrom Grapefruit: A Book
of Instruction and Drawings.
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Switch one of your cards with someone else’s. Write in response to that picture.
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Draw yourself inside some kind of structure. The structure could be a building, a natural structure of even the belly of a beast.
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Write in response to that picture. If it helps, suggest questions like these:
- If you turn your head to the left, what do you see? To the right? Above? Below?
- What is the temperature like?
PART TWO
Use your drawings/writings as the basis for a poem that makes a strong visual impact.
Use your drawings/writings to make a collage or new drawing that incorporates letters and words.
Thanks to Kelly McQuain, Melanie Farley, and Jacklynn Niemiec for helping to devise this activity for a workshop given at Drexel University on May 12, 2016. Several participants read or talked about their new works, right after. One participant noted that while the parts seemed very different, and didn’t necessarily make sense, that she found a way to connect the parts, that her “brain” found a way to make sense of the parts.
Writing Between the Lines Revision Exercise
Writing Between the Lines Revision Exercise
Locate a poem that is in progress—you are willing to add to it or change it a lot. It just isn’t where you want it to be. This could be an older poem.
Rewrite the entire poem. Start by adding lines between each line of the poem.
So if the poem is a ten-line poem, you will be adding another ten lines.
If you are working on a poem that is already really long, you may want to devise a slightly different scheme.
Try not to censor yourself. Add a significant amount of writing.
One way to do this might be to print out the poem, and then hand-write the lines between the lines.
If you are a minimalist, this might feel a little strange—but keep in mind you can always chip away at the poem later!
The poet Peter Gizzi has this term he uses, the “shadow” poem—it is the poem behind the poem. That might be a way to think of this too. Is this two poems or one poem? Which version seems most intriguing to you, and why?
Backwards Revision Strategy
This exercise may help you to complete that poem you thought you couldn’t complete, or perfect…
Here’s what to do:
Choose a poem you have written that you want to work on more (or even a very old poem, from years ago!).
Choose a substantive poem (not too short, and long ones work quite well).
1. Write out (I recommend by hand) the entire poem backwards.
Either write each word backwards or each line backwards.
2. Check out this new “draft”–
Next, work on the poem some more, perhaps in your usual way (by intuition, a certain form–that is up to you).
If this seems to work for you, try it with other poems!
3. Think about your process. What happened? What did you learn here?
How do your versions compare? How/why are they different? Why does this style work for you (in some cases, or also perhaps not in others). And so on.
Have fun with this!!!
Dornsife Workshop: Blackout and Crossout Poems and Stories
Description of Workshop
(Happening at Dornsife Center at Drexel University, Nov. 3, 4-6 p.m.)
Black-out and Cross-out Poems and Stories
There’s a strategy for making poems and stories and art that has come to be known as “black-out.” It’s called that because it involves marking out or partially marking out words or images on pages. This is a close cousin to “found” art, or writing based on found materials. These poems or stories can be all about the words, or, they can contribute to a visual work of art.
Why try this? Using this method to write or make art has a way of engaging language in unexpected ways. It can have a lot of heart and humor. It can turn a story on its head. It can make a strong impact by how it combines word and image. It can reveal hidden, subtle messages by the very way it removes or obscures certain words or parts of words. It can act as social critique. Perhaps most importantly, it sure feels like playing. So the activity has a way of helping you to get started with a new story or poem. And while it may feel like play, it may lead you to serious insights.
In this writing workshop, everyone will write and share numerous works based on books and texts that will be available. In addition, feel free to bring your own book that you think you might like to use in your writing. Old newspapers and magazines work well, also. If you are drawn to collaborative works, or to art that combines words and pictures, you should have a great time in this workshop.
Examples/Background
Works by Austin Kleon
This time-lapse video shows Kleon making a poem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPAkoPsX0gA
Another example: Blackout poem process
This one is also an example of how this form (particularly when using newspaper articles) can be a great way to critique or comment.
Tom Phillips Humument Page
This extensive website not only gives the background to Phillips’ Humument projects, it has hundreds of images and ideas.
Maybe it will inspire you to create your own project or series of connected works.
Scroll through the pages of the “treated book”:
http://www.tomphillips.co.uk/humument/slideshow/1-50/item/5847-page-1
Examples from “Love, Teach” class
You can find many examples of blackout poetry online. These examples from the “Love, Teach” blog struck me as poignant. I could imagine these poems (for the individual writers) as the start of some longer works, perhaps including the pages, perhaps using the pages as inspiration for how the words could be used across the “field” of a blank page.
Review of Travis Macdonald’s The O Mission Repo
The reviewer notes how Macdonald uses an entirely “worldly” text (as opposed to literary).
The O Mission Repo (Philadelphia’s Fact-Simile Press), is based on The 9/11 Commission Report.
The Plan
Write, share, write, share–simple as that.
Cutting, pasting, and drawing will happen, also.
Some tips for teachers or for your individual practice–
–Allow plenty of time for a little planning and pre-writing.
View some examples (for example from Kleon links above).
Talk about previous experiences with this style of writing.
Most importantly, give a few minutes to find the right source-text.
Choosing a page or text you feel resonates with you–that speaks to you–may be important.
Recommended: read the source carefully, at first. Make a few notes, a few underlinings–in preparation for the drawng part.
–Have those Sharpies ready! But also have colored pencils, regular pencils, graphite pieces (and perhaps other materials) on hand. Different writers like different materials and implements.
–People settle into this–let them do so. They begin w. some note-taking, but proceed to a kind of combination of reading/drawing, etc. Not rushing at the start seems important.
–Have “back-up” pages ready. Someone who doesn’t want to use a newspaper article might prefer a page from a literary work. Old self-help books, cookbooks, and so on can be good sources. In Dornsife, many students chose pages from a dream interpretation book–this seemed very fruitful. Many also chose an article from NYTimes or Inquirer on a current event–also very successfully.
–Allow at least 30 minutes. If someone finishes (and time allows), encourage them to start a second one.
In the Dornsife workshop, everyone wrote for about 80 minutes (with some brief discussion/sharing at the midpoint, and then at the end).
–Follow up. If possible, find a way to share finished works (as many will finish their works later, or replicate this activity and come up with something they are eager to share).
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Lynn Levin’s “Flash Fiction: A Primer”
Lynn has posted this concise and thoughtful introduction to writing flash at the recently started Texture Press wiki.
(The wiki has just gotten started–but you can see where Texture is headed with it–a resource for writers, readers, with entries written with a bit of personality!)
Musical Artifact (Found) Prompt
When I moved into my house, an old piano had been left behind. It wasn’t until some time had passed that I realized that the piano bench contained dozens of music books and sheet music selections. These formed a time capsule of sorts, from the 1960’s. (I added a few newer pieces too, like the Into the Woods score you can see in the picture.)
I’ve shown these to friends and students, with the challenge: Write a poem or story that incorporates the artifact as an image or “prop.” Use some words found in the music. The prompt has been very successful. It may be self-evident that one might use one’s own artifacts as prompts for writing, but using found artifacts brings in some “wildcard” elements. People really enjoyed handling the artifacts and reading the music and the lyrics.
Warm up with Lewis Carroll’s Doublets Word Puzzle
Writing teachers, why not warm up a class by playing Lewis Carroll’s Doublet puzzle?
Here are a few websites that explain the puzzle:
http://www.logicville.com/doublets.htm
Generate a list of interesting words and then use them as a kind of spine for a poem.
This may work with adults and older students as well as younger ones.
Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets 