Beating The Blank Page Poem

Poets, experienced and inexperienced all face the challenge of the blank page. So let's approach the writing we choose to do with a can-do attitude. The blank page is the very reason the rehearsal of our 'first' or opening words is so vitally important. When we rehearse those initial words, we turn up the party bearing gifts! We bring with us a string of words to launch the writing. Words ready to splash across the page. Words to get things going. These words provide momentum. To help develop a can do attitude I have written this poem, a battle cry of sorts. A poem to create a mind set for action. We should hold no fear of the blank page. The idea of writer's block is something of an excuse. Afterall, do doctors suffer doctor's block? Do electricians suffer electricians block? Let's get this party started!

Beating the Blank Page
A Battle-Cry for the Brave Young Writer

Hello blank page
I’m here to let you know
You hold no fear for me
I come prepared
For above all things, I am a mighty writer
A writer armed with fearless words
And clever, tenacious ideas
Your unmarked surface
Your dazzling, papery blankness
Are no match for a word warrior
Such as me
I shall stare you down
I shall annoy you
I shall employ you
I shall destroy you one word at a time
Watch as you yield to the irresistible spread of my words
My powerful phrases
My vivid verbs
My agile adjectives
Letter by letter
Bit by bit
Your landscape will be transformed
Your emptiness filled
You hold no fear for me Blanky- Blank Page
For I remain a mighty writer
And I shall stare you down
Take my word for it.

Alan j Wright

Poetry Inspired by Images and Objects

There are many ways pictures and photographs can be conscripted to support the writing of poetry. Allow me to share a few ideas with you: Old photographs are a great source of inspiration. Cynthia Rylant explored this idea with great success in her book 'Something Permanent' where she employed the Depression era photographs of Walker Evans to add a new voice to the starkness to the lives of people experienced under extreme circumstances. I have used this strategy to spark many individual poems. In ' I Bet There's No Broccoli On The Moon,' I used a photo I had taken in 2004 while living in New York to inspire a poem. The poem was based on a story related by a friend who grew up in New York. I regularly combined poetry and pictures in my writer's notebook, drawing on inspiration from the photograph and my personal memories. We can also utilize existing cartoons and illustrations to create ekphrastic poems. I frequently use the illustrations of Jim Pavlidis to co...

Opposite Poems

O pp o s ite P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,' Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. N...

Powerful Poetry, 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston

This week, Poetry Friday is hosted by Janice Scully @ Salt City Verse where Janice shares some original words and offers us a taste of Thomas Carlyle to ponder. I encourage you to join a host of poets from all around the globe and visit Janice's page... Almost two years to the day, I wrote a post featuring the poem 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston. The poem was included in Brian's first book of poetry, 'You Took The Last Bus Home.' A very powerful Reverso poem and technically brilliant. A Reverso poem can be read from top to bottom or bottom to top. It will often express opposite opinions depending on which way you read it. Such poems really make us think. A Reverso poem is like a picture turned upside down, a frowning face upended to reveal a smiling one. The poem read in reverse, contradicts itself with an opposing message. In 'Refugee' Brian Bilston focuses on a societal issue that tends to polarize feelings and the opposing views are clearly in eviden...

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