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Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!
Navy Jacket - Found by Georgia LV
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Last Saturday, my daughter Georgia and our friend Karla went to a thrift store in downtown Buffalo, NY. It was one I had never been in before, and Georgia found the Navy uniform from today's verse. Last night that uniform talked to me, and this poem tells what it had wanted to say for a long time.
From the drafts and times below, you can see that I spent about thirty minutes in my notebook again and then shifted to typing. It is quite interesting for me to look at these draft pages, to see where the crossouts land and the good lines stay.
This poem is a mask poem, or a poem in which the writer writes in the voice OF something else. Those of you know my work know that this is something I love to play with, imagining that I actually AM something else.
If you are interested in writing rhyming poetry, I strongly recommend getting yourself a good rhyming dictionary and/or using RhymeZone. Both book and online source will give you so many words that your choices will feel unlimited. Do remember that rhyme is only good if the meaning is strong and clear.
You may see that even though I use both dictionary and online source, in the drafts above, I still love making lists of possible rhymes. The exercise of writing out the alphabet and going through each letter is tedious but so interesting.
Please don't miss the wonderful post over at my other blog! Seventeen year old writer, Alex McCarron, shares her journals, index cards, and process over at Sharing Our Notebooks. Thank you, Alex!
Please share a comment below if you wish.
