Action Words And Poetry

Recipes are written with a precise use of language. The application of action words in the form of vivid verbs is a feature of this form of writing. I love the clear intent of words such as:

sift, dice, boil, sprinkle, sauté, blanche, pinch, muddle, chop, whip, slice, bake, season, salt, soak, plunge, dissolve, melt, boil.

What if these verbs were applied to a non-cooking topic? Could we create recipes for animals, traveling, feelings and emotions, seasons, learning or many other topics?

I recall a wonderful activity Natalie Goldberg presented in her book, 'Writing Down The Bones' (page 87, The Action of A Sentence) that coupled verbs one generally associates with kitchen actions with common nouns in order to create fresh new sentences and to increase writers awareness of the power verbs possess.

A further possibility is creating a recipe for some wondrous, new, edible delight…

Elaine Magliaro’s poem is a wonderful example of this approach. Elaine skilfully applies powerful verbs when creating a recipe for making a perfect morning. the allusion to a recipe is in evidence.

How to Make a Morning

Melt a galaxy of stars in a large blue bowl.
Knead the golden sun and let it rise in the East.
Spread the sky with a layer of lemony light.
Blend together until brimming with brightness.
Fold in dewdrops.

Sprinkle with songbirds.
Garnish with a chorus of cock-a-doodle-doos.
Set out on a platter at dawn and enjoy.
by Elaine Magliaro

We must choose our verbs carefully. They should assist the reader to visualize with greater clarity. They are the muscles of writing, adding power to the poetry we are attempting to make. Viva Le Verb!

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...

Peter Dixon -Teabag Poem

Today I'm highlighting the poetry of Peter Dixon. Peter Dixon was not just a poet. He was a performer, educationalist and artist. He grew up in London during WW2, and as a boy his schooling was far from successful. He struggled with spelling and the understanding of word, form and grammar, so he tended to write secretly at home, drawing and writing of things largely ignored by schools. Despite this difficult phase of his life, Peter eventually became a school teacher and then a senior lecturer in education. It often mystified him as to how all of this came to pass. As a teacher, he strived to be unbiased and did not neglect the children who experienced learning challenges. Peter Dixon became a full time children’s writer and educational consultant. His first book was published in 1978. Whilst living in Winchester, Hampshire, with his family, he contributed to over 100 poetry anthologies and had seven collections of his own work published including Grow Your O...

Poetry Friday 'Storm On The Island' Seamus Heaney

Given the fact that we recently celebrated St Patrick's Day, it seems appropriate that I take this opportunity to continue the Irish focus and recognize one of Ireland's leading literary figures... Seamus Heaney was born in County Derry in Northern Ireland in 1939 and died in 2013. He became a multi award winning poet. His first collection of poems, 'Death of a Naturalist' appeared in 1966 and helped to establish Heaney as one of the major poets of the 20th century. From that first anthology, I have chosen 'Storm On The Island.' This poem tells us about the stoic resistance of people and structures to an incoming storm. The island is not named. Poetic scholars believe this is a poem that can be taken literally, as a monologue on the life and attitude of island people facing a storm, or it can be understood as a metaphor of political struggle on the island of Ireland. Heaney knew both worlds. The poems of this first collection are grounded in the soil...

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