I became aware of the incredible achievements of Charles Blondin watching a  television progam a little while back and was prompted to go in search of more information concerning this fabulously talented funambulist. What an amazing life Charles Blondin lived... As someone who has always struggled with heights I found myself in awe of this man's incredible mastery of tight rope walking, his superb balancing capabilities. He crossed Niagara Falls numerous times. I've been there once. I was happy to view the falls from a safe position.  Anyway, my curiosity was sparked and the subsequent research has resulted in another docupoem. I shall be adding it to my ever expanding collection of these poems.  Docupoems are reliant on realism, written from an observer’s standpoint, and shaped with a desire for revelation. They share truth in collaboration with the poet's voice. Readers, I present The Mighty Blondin!   The Mighty Blondin Famous French funambulist Charle...

It is often said that as writers and poets- 'First we imitate, then we innovate.'  When I first wrote a haibun poem I followed the structure and form without question. Since that time I have written numerous poems in this classic Japanese poetry form.  Among my personal poetry collection I own a copy of Robert Wood Lynn's 'Mothman Apologia'  In this anthology the poet innovates with a variety of layouts for his poems. He writes a series of ten elegies where there is a complete absence of punctuation and adopts layouts with multiple blocks of justified text. He is challenging visual norms. These considered actions focused my reading.  All this brings me to this week's poem. I have presented it as a haibun, but have consciously removed punctuation a la Robert Wood Lynn to make it a hybrid presentation.  My poem tells the story of a coal delivery man in England in the 1920's. 'Alfred, The Coalman Cometh' could also be categorized as docupoetry, or an o...

  Here are five of the most popular Poetry  posts for 2024. Thank you for your continuing support and interest in teaching poetry and all it entails. Here's a chance to reconnect with poetic ideas. Ideas you can easily carry forward into 2025. Just click the link... Trinet Poems Revisited In this post I turned my attention back to the Trinet, a seven-line poetry form based purely on  its word count. Trinets are terrific fun to write! Run Roger Run- A Docupoetry Delight When writing docupoetry, the poet may arrange lines or phrases from the source texts to create poems, convey their interpretation of the documents through original poetry, or write poems that fall on somewhere between these various objectives. This poem features Roger Bannister, an English athlete who forst broke the four minute mile. This form of poetry instantly appealing.  A Bit Of Short Stuff- Poems As Brief Encounters When writing short verse each word seems to carry an increased load. You do not ...

I came upon Chrissie Gittins' poem, 'The Powder Monkey' while reading Michael Rosen's impressive anthology- 'Michael Rosen's A to Z -The Best Children's Poetry From Agard To Zephniah,' Puffin, 2009. I was so taken by it, I felt compelled to do some research regarding the poem's origin. It turns out the poem formed from a conversation the poet had with a friend. Chrissie Gittins, the poet visited HMS Victory in Portsmouth, U K and learnt about the young children, often orphans swept off the streets of England, who worked on eighteenth century sailing ships as powder monkeys. They kept the artillery on the gun decks stocked with gunpowder. She was shocked to discover that before 1794 children as young at six went to sea. She visited the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum to research further. The  resultant docupoem  won the Belmont Poetry Prize for individual children’s poems. This was especially significant as the shortlist was drawn up by...

Last week attention returned to docupoetry in some of my discussion with fellow poets. That prompted me to return to the poetry vault and unearth this docupoem paying tribute to the brave and fearless, Amelia Earhart.  Docupoetry puts a bit of twist on information text. It contains a dose of fact and wraps it in a protective layer of supportive words. I read recently that marine explorers may have located the crash site of Amelia fatal flight. It currently remains as an enduring mystery. Let's take flight with the brave and daring Amelia as she ventures out to cross the Atlantic ocean, solo.   Amelia’s Aeronautical Achievement In a flight filled with danger wild, icy weather And a broken altimeter Amelia took off early one morning From Newfoundland In her Lockheed Vega -a frantic Atlantic flight unfolded. A copy of a local newspaper tucked under her arm Confirming her departure date And sharing local news far and wide. -No fake news for Amelia.   ...

I have featured Docupoetry poems in previous posts. They combine primary source material with poetry writing. A number of sources may be accessed to inspire docupoetry. Sources include: news articles  letters  photographs  diaries, journals  court transcripts  medical records  public records  non-fiction texts reports Poets can therefore access a wide range of documents brimming with poetic potential in the pursuit of such writing.  When writing docupoetry, the poet may arrange lines or phrases from the source texts to create poems, convey their interpretation of the documents through original poetry, or write poems that fall on somewhere between these various objectives. I find this form of poetry  instantly appealing.  Yesterday in a debriefing session with a group of teacher at a nearby school, I mentioned the subject of docupoetry and they expressed interest and curiosity in this poetry form as an alternative way of conveying informa...

 During the month of May, I set myself a personal writing challenge of writing a poem each day based on historical events that took place on a particular May date.  The project delivered a number of documentary style poems (docupoetry). My previous docupoetry poems have been somewhat lengthy. These latest poems are shorter. I think time constraints may have contributed to this outcome. Writing projects /challenges are fun. They invigorate the mind. They reveal a lot. Here are two docu-poems  focusing on events in the lives of two disparate historical figures. The Last Word   A decade of faithfully recorded thoughts A life captured in diaries Rich in detail and scope Reached a premature ending When the writings of Samuel Pepys Hit a wall of darkness.   The final entry The last word Inked for posterity.   With eyesight failing And shadows advancing across the page His pen, he reluctantly laid to rest.   The writer found himself Out of sight ...

     May20 On May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart accomplished her goal of flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean. An amazing feat, achieved under extreme conditions. Today, it's all about brave Amelia...   Amelia’s Aeronautical Achievement In a flight filled with danger And wild icy weather And a broken altimeter Amelia took off early one morning In her Lockheed Vega From Newfoundland With a copy of a local newspaper tucked under her arm Confirming her departure date And spreading local news far and wide Along the perilous flight path Flames shot out of the exhaust manifold And fuel leaked into the cockpit.   She pulled out of an unscheduled tailspin Before landing in a field in Culmore North of Derry, Northern Ireland   A farm hand asked Have you flown far? ‘From America Said an undaunted Amelia.   The first woman Flying solo across the wide Atlantic Ocean Amelia set her own course in aviation And received a standing ovation From a proud nation -But sadly, n...

MAY 2 -Just Plane Dangerous The world’s first commercial Jet Airliner a De Havilland Comet with 36 passengers paying up to £315 for a return ticket took off from London for Johannesburg on this day on 1952. The plane cut up to a third of the time from traditional aircraft flight times. However, these planes began showing serious issues during their initial years of commercial operation. Several aircraft crashed in a short time. The Comet became a catastrophic craft with 7 of the fleet of 21 crashing.  Just Plane Dangerous The De Havilland Comet Lifted off from London airport Its four jet engines roaring On a Saturday morning in 1952 Before soaring off to Johannesburg The first commercial jet airline flight Smoking included. Those 36 passengers arrived  With a safe landing -Unlike seven other De Havilland Comets Which unexpectedly crashed Within the next two years De Havilland disasters. So, despite having the word land in the name De Havacrash might have been more accurate No ...