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Posts tagged ‘reading poetry’

Dec 17

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Using the poetry in us to influence our writing

“….Everybody, even people who don’t read poems, have poetry in their heads…,” says poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Filmed as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, the 4-minute video below features poets Enzensberger and Tracy K. Smith, who discuss the nature of poetry and their process of working together.

Enzensberger says we find poetry in nursery rhymes and prayer and other everyday occurrences. Poetry is part of the fabric of our lives. Poetry can be a way in to other writing formats.

Watch the video below and then check out my earlier post, “Using poetry to enrich your prose” to see more ways that poetry can inform our lives and our writing.

Jun 18

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Master class tips for reading and writing poetry, part I

Do you ever struggle to figure out what a poem means or how to approach writing one?

I’ve always loved poetry so when I studied for my MFA, I attended every poetry workshop that I could, even though it wasn’t my focus in the program.

One of my favorite classes was a master class by poet and teacher Matthew Shenoda.

One of Shenoda’s tips was to read poetry conceptually. He suggested we ask ourselves these questions: