Here's a lovely poem I received this week from a young lady called Simran. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.
The best poems should always surprise the reader. My favourite thing about Simran's poem below is how she manages to surprise and delight with the variety and imaginative quality of her images. Furry butterfly lions? You can't get much more unexpected than that!
If you'd like to send me a poem, and perhaps see it published here, my email address is j.holland442@btinternet.com
Jane
*
Through My Magic Window
Through my magic window I can see ...
Santa Claus on my roof,
Little Elves in the phone booth.
A strawberry milkshake with a pink straw,
And nobody has to listen or agree to the law.
Walls made of apple pie,
While Pinocchio's nose is growing because he said a lie.
Fairies eating strawberry pears,
While shimmering dolphins swimming in the air,
Through my magic window I can see ...
Cinderella at my door,
While furry butterfly lions are having a big roar,
So babies block your ears,
Because you may get tears.
Come and join
this wonderful journey of fantasy with me!
By Simran
Age:10
School: Clifton Primary School
Showing posts with label Send Me a Poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Send Me a Poem. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Friday, 7 December 2007
Some Quick Tips for Writing Poems
Recently, I've been asked to produce a few tips on 'How To Write Poetry'.
That's another social role for a Poet Laureate: spreading the word about poetry as widely as possible. It's rather like being an ambassador (though without the posh dinners, perhaps fortunately for my waistline) where what I say reflects on poetry as a whole. So I always try to give the same good advice I was given as a beginner.
1. Be yourself.
2. Keep things simple.
3. Rewrite everything.
4. Speak your poem aloud as you write.
5. Make sure the line-breaks fall where you either pause naturally or for emphasis.
6. Only write about things that really matter to you.
Over the next month or maybe longer, I'll be trying a series of online workshop exercises at my other blog, Raw Light, chiefly aimed at those with some experience of writing poetry but who are perhaps still unpublished in book form.
If you'd like to try your hand at a poetry exercise or two over there, I'd be happy to discuss the results with you.
Don't forget, you can still send poems to me here or leave them in the Comment box below, for possible future publication on this blog.
That's another social role for a Poet Laureate: spreading the word about poetry as widely as possible. It's rather like being an ambassador (though without the posh dinners, perhaps fortunately for my waistline) where what I say reflects on poetry as a whole. So I always try to give the same good advice I was given as a beginner.
1. Be yourself.
2. Keep things simple.
3. Rewrite everything.
4. Speak your poem aloud as you write.
5. Make sure the line-breaks fall where you either pause naturally or for emphasis.
6. Only write about things that really matter to you.
Over the next month or maybe longer, I'll be trying a series of online workshop exercises at my other blog, Raw Light, chiefly aimed at those with some experience of writing poetry but who are perhaps still unpublished in book form.
If you'd like to try your hand at a poetry exercise or two over there, I'd be happy to discuss the results with you.
Don't forget, you can still send poems to me here or leave them in the Comment box below, for possible future publication on this blog.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Send Me a Poem
If you are the sort who scribbles, secretly or otherwise, and you have a poem you'd like to share with the other readers of this blog, please do email it to me here at j.holland442 @ btinternet.com or send it by post via the contacts section of the Warwick Words Festival website.
Poems related to Warwick or Warwickshire are particularly welcome, but not necessary. Please note that there may be special themes at certain times of the year, so check recent posts before sending. This invitation is mainly directed towards Warwickshire residents, but poets further afield can send work too, especially if they have a Warwickshire connection.
If you are under the age of 18, please let me know your age when sending the poem. I would prefer poems to arrive as normal text in the body of an email, but can accept Word attachments.
N.B. I will read all your poems and try to respond to everyone personally, but I'm afraid I cannot guarantee publication!
Poems related to Warwick or Warwickshire are particularly welcome, but not necessary. Please note that there may be special themes at certain times of the year, so check recent posts before sending. This invitation is mainly directed towards Warwickshire residents, but poets further afield can send work too, especially if they have a Warwickshire connection.
If you are under the age of 18, please let me know your age when sending the poem. I would prefer poems to arrive as normal text in the body of an email, but can accept Word attachments.
N.B. I will read all your poems and try to respond to everyone personally, but I'm afraid I cannot guarantee publication!
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Spooky Poems for Halloween
Here's a poem for Halloween from Warwick's past, attributed to the Elizabethan poet and courtier I'm in the process of researching, Lord Brooke Fulke Greville:
In night when colors all to black are cast,
Distinction lost, or gone down with the light;
The eye a watch to inward senses placed,
Not seeing, yet still having powers of sight,
Gives vain alarums to the inward sense,
Where fear stirred up with witty tyranny,
Confounds all powers, and thorough self-offense,
Doth forge and raise impossibility:
Such as in thick depriving darknesses,
Proper reflections of the error be,
And images of self-confusednesses,
Which hurt imaginations only see;
And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils,
Which but expressions be of inward evils.
*
And above are my three youngest children celebrating Halloween last year. Little devils, perhaps, but not 'evil', like the spirits conjured up by Fulke Greville's poem!
My older children were brought up in the Isle of Man, where they always celebrated Hop-tu-naa (Hop Choo Nay) at Halloween, carrying hollowed-out turnips or pumpkins with candles inside as lanterns and singing a traditional Hop-tu-naa song. Some people believe this descends from a type of ancient New Year celebration rather than being linked to the US-style 'trick-or-treating'. Whatever the truth, these old rural practices are certainly good material for poems!
This is a very short and spooky poem I wrote a few years ago, imagining someone who was half-man, half-nocturnal creature:
Whose Hands Were Made of Velvet
He held up his hands
and they were the place of dreams.
Inside each hairy palm, small softnesses of bats
took root, clinging
with astonished intelligent feet
to a skin-space
sweeter than milk.
*
Have you ever written a poem for Halloween, or perhaps on a spooky or supernatural theme? Do please email it to me for publication on this blog or - if it's short enough - leave it below as a Comment.
In night when colors all to black are cast,
Distinction lost, or gone down with the light;
The eye a watch to inward senses placed,
Not seeing, yet still having powers of sight,
Gives vain alarums to the inward sense,
Where fear stirred up with witty tyranny,
Confounds all powers, and thorough self-offense,
Doth forge and raise impossibility:
Such as in thick depriving darknesses,
Proper reflections of the error be,
And images of self-confusednesses,
Which hurt imaginations only see;
And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils,
Which but expressions be of inward evils.
*
And above are my three youngest children celebrating Halloween last year. Little devils, perhaps, but not 'evil', like the spirits conjured up by Fulke Greville's poem!
My older children were brought up in the Isle of Man, where they always celebrated Hop-tu-naa (Hop Choo Nay) at Halloween, carrying hollowed-out turnips or pumpkins with candles inside as lanterns and singing a traditional Hop-tu-naa song. Some people believe this descends from a type of ancient New Year celebration rather than being linked to the US-style 'trick-or-treating'. Whatever the truth, these old rural practices are certainly good material for poems!
This is a very short and spooky poem I wrote a few years ago, imagining someone who was half-man, half-nocturnal creature:
Whose Hands Were Made of Velvet
He held up his hands
and they were the place of dreams.
Inside each hairy palm, small softnesses of bats
took root, clinging
with astonished intelligent feet
to a skin-space
sweeter than milk.
*
Have you ever written a poem for Halloween, or perhaps on a spooky or supernatural theme? Do please email it to me for publication on this blog or - if it's short enough - leave it below as a Comment.
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