Metaphor by Metaphor

From David Starkey’s excellent Creative Writing,

Read published poems . . . and respond to them with poems of your own. It doesn’t matter whether you respond to the subject of the other person’s poem or just a single line or image. Generally it’s most effective to find the moment of maximum energy or tension in the published poem. Identify what excites you about the poem, then make the same thing happen in your own work.

Try this using either a favorite poem or one of the “2250 Five poems” at MetaphorByMetaphor.com.

From David Starkey’s excellent Creative Writing,

Write a poem in the form of a letter. Richard Hugo’s book 31 Letters and 13 Dreams is a great source for these types of poems. Hugo addresses poems to close old friends and to newer fiends he doesn’t yet know well. He brings these people detailed news of his own life and asks for information about their world. However, because the letter is in the form of a poem, Hugo condenses what he has to say and present the material as eloquently—and as imagistically—as possible.

From Benjamin Percy’s outstanding collection of essays, Thrill Me, here are “Designing Suspense” and “Modulation.” Read them carefully. We will talk about them in class.

In addition, here is “Home Improvement.”

Let’s workshop this poem together before we look at each other’s work.

Snow came down February 15^th feeling bad

I’d slept on the couch the night before

and suddenly the next morning cold

was thick on the ground, white, heavy with water

My wife asked me if we have two shovels I’d

thought of them one light plastic the other heavier,

a hefty blade of ragged tin splintered wood

We shoveled together the cold grew less bitter

Back in the house, our children threw soft sticks

of butter at each other, probably

shared plates of leftover greasy, cold chicken

with the dog I hate so much often, we

divide tasks my wife and I as our breath

fogged the air we worked side by side forging warmth.

1. Give a general reaction to what you’ve read.
2. Which scenes are interesting? Why? Is there a character that wants something? How do you know? What action does the character take to get what they want?
3. Describe one of the characters in the story. What is his or her personality like? Quote the words in the story that suggest this personality.
4. What does the dialogue in the story accomplish? Is it usually doing more than one thing? Quote an example.
5. Describe the setting. What does the setting suggest about the people in it?
6. Where is the story confusing? Quote clichés so they can be revised. Quote a memorable image.