The moderator for this week is Abby!
Abigail Licad is an immigrant from the Philippines, a former editor in chief for Hyphen magazine, a full-on feminist, a Tori Amos diehard fan, a mediocre classical pianist, a dog mama, a chocolate fiend, a terrible cook, a succulent addict, a lover of sending care packages, and a poetry junkie through and through. She has no tattoos, and lives in Portland, Oregon.
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022
"Blues on Yellow" by Marilyn Chin
Prompts:
1. Write a blues poem following the same structure of rhyming tercets, with lines 1 and 2 being the same, and line 3 incorporating a variation based on lines 1 and 2.
2. Write a poem about a color. In your poem, mention objects of that color, explore symbolic meanings of that color, and other associations you may have.
3. Write a collage-type poem that combines as many disparate archetypes as you can. For example, Chin's poem combines nursery rhyme references (ten-thousand yellow-bellied sapsuckers baked in a pie, stars) with spiritual figures (Buddha, the promised land), symbolic animals (crow), her own surname (Chin's kitchen), etc.
Thursday, August 4th, 2022
"The Leash" by Ada Limón
Video Poem: https://movingpoems.com/2017/06/the-leash-by-ada-limon/
Prompts:
1. Write a poem following Limón's 3-part structure of: (1) posing a question to open the poem, (2) responding with "I don't know" toward the middle, and (3) ending with a tentative "maybe" conclusion.
2. Incorporate or respond to one of the following passages in your poem:
"what's left?"
"isn't there still something singing?"
"Perhaps we are always hurtling our body towards/the thing that will obliterate us"
3. Write a poem about a recent walk you have taken, and describe the thoughts that went through your mind, along with any actions or events that occur, developing any strong, recurring themes.
Friday, August 5th, 2022
"América" by Richard Blanco
Prompts:
1. Write about a humorous, embarrassing, or awkward cross-cultural #FAIL that you have experienced, perhaps while traveling abroad, while spending time with your multi-generational immigrant family, or while trying something new and foreign.
2. Write about a memory from an extended family reunion. Some additional suggestions: think about the "role" you played within your family dynamic, how you viewed your family in comparison to others, what in particular made your family seem more strange or different, or some lessons you've derived from relatives' shared wisdom or conversations.
3. Write about ambivalent feelings you may have toward the United States right now. What makes you both love and hate this country at this particular historical moment? Be specific about the primary reasons driving your ambivalent feelings and include concrete examples.
Comments