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  • Hey guys! I'm just getting home from a poetry workshop that I took in Delray. It was at

  • the Murder on the Beach Mystery bookstore. It is an amazing bookstore, small and locally-owned,

  • and they have a great series called the authors academy, which are writing workshops taught

  • by different authors. Some of them are Florida authors. and they cover a wide range of topics

  • from memoirs to children's books, general fiction and now poetry. I hadn't been to a

  • poetry workshop in quite a long time, so I was really looking forward to this one. I

  • really love writing poetry when I sort of need a break from writing my book, which I'm

  • working on slowly but surely. So I really love poetry as a vacation from a huge story

  • that I'm writing.I really enjoyed the workshop. The teacher, Judy Ireland, is an amazing poet

  • - you should check her out, and I will put some links in the description box below so

  • you guys can check out some of her poetry, because it really is good. I think you'll

  • really like it. I think she's very talented. SO what I really wanted to get into was an

  • exercise for poetry writing, and this was the exercise that we did today. And I will

  • give you one piece of advice that Judy Ireland said that really stuck with me, and that's

  • that it is as much about what we leave out of poetry as what we put in. So, you can really

  • say less and the reader will fill in the emotion, and that lets them connect to the poetry more

  • completely for them, rather than putting in something that's so specific that they might

  • not be able to identify with it. So the exercise is we're going to write down a few things

  • from our day or past few days, and there will be 11 things and we're going to write them

  • down. And you can take about 30 seconds to a minute for each thing and, really try to

  • do it off the top of your head, as quickly as possible, so that it's as organic as it

  • possibly can be. So it's not anything you have to think too hard about. Because the

  • idea is sort of just that when you think of things your brain is already making connections

  • that you don't realize. Once we're done with that we're going to put it together, sort

  • of piece by piece, like a puzzle, and make a poem out of it. And then you can revise

  • it if you want or if you like how it turned out, you can keep it that way. I think it's

  • really fun, so let's get started. Now, the first thing you're going to want to do is

  • take out a pen and paper and write the following things down. The first thing is: write 5 objects

  • that you see every day and the order in which you see them. So, I wrote "black cat, glasses,

  • window, trees, pool". And that was just me, I'm not going to repeat all of my answers

  • for all that, but you do it now, pause the video if you need to, but don't pause it too

  • long and don't think too hard. Now we'll do number 2: For number 2, write down three non-primary

  • colors, like shades, so for example cerulean is a shade of blue, so don't write red yellow

  • or blue, but you can write down any other color, like lavender or periwinkle, do what

  • you want, do some colors that you're feeling right now. the 3rd is you're going to write

  • down an object that you have encountered in a dream, either recently or ever. The 4th

  • is an experience you had as a child that made you angry at the time or now, whichever. The

  • 5th: write down a forbidden thought pertaining to love. Number 6: write down 3 questions

  • for which you've never found an answer. Number 7: write something about love that you find boring

  • Number 8: write down 3 slant rhymes - so, two words where the consonants are similar

  • so you kind of have a a similar sound on your tongue. The example the author gave was "moon mine".

  • I wrote down "purple petal" or "jangle jewel" and another one that is included in

  • my poem, so I'm not going to say it just yet. but you can really do whatever. I'm not sure

  • how good mine are in the scheme of things, but I like them. Number 9: write 3 things

  • that people said to you in the last 48 hours - little short phrases. Number 10, write 3

  • transitional objects, so something to get you from one part of your life to the next.

  • The example the author gave was a teddy bear, mine was a sweater, so it can really have

  • a meaning to you or it could be a more traditional transitional object, but I chose to do ones that were transitional

  • for me personally. Number 11: if you had a rock band, write down what the name of your

  • rock band would be. Go. So once you've done that, we're going to put the poem together,

  • sort of like a puzzle. The first thing you're going to do is take number 11, which was your

  • rock band name, and that's going to be the title of your poem. Write that down. The first

  • line of your poem is from item number 6 - 3 questions for which you've never found an

  • answer. That's your first line, so write that down and make sure to leave some space between

  • all the things I'm telling you to do, so we're going to do things kind of out of order, and

  • then you can either reorganize them if you want later, or just keep it the same way I

  • tell you. Then you're going to write the last line, so like I said, keep some space, and

  • that is going to be from item number 9, which is 3 things that people said to you in the

  • last 48 hours. Then in the middle, you're going to take item 5, which is a forbidden

  • thought that you had pertaining to love, and put that in the middle of your poem. THen

  • in there somewhere, whichever order your want, put in a combination of items 4 and 7, which

  • is the experience you had as a child that made you angry and something about love that

  • you find boring. SO sort of combine those two thoughts to be one sentence, or one thought

  • or one idea and then put that somewhere in your poem where it mixes and if you want at

  • this point you can start thinking along a theme, if you've already been making connections

  • between the things you've put on the page already, that's a good thing and you want

  • to go with it. I found that while I thought that all of the items seem extremely random

  • at the time I was writing them down, when I started putting them in an order, sort of

  • slecting which ones I was going to use, I started seeing connections between them and

  • how there is a common denominator between all thoughts that you think, and YOU are the

  • common denominator, so find that commonality there and grasp onto that. Then again in there

  • somewhere, you're going to do a combination of items 2 and 8, so use one of your non-primary

  • shades and combine that with one of your slant rhymes. And then just sort of see what you

  • have on the page, and see what it looks like, and then go ahead and fill in spaces where

  • you think they need to be filled in. If you need to connect some things or move some things

  • around, feel free to do that. This is just sort of to get your brain thinking in a more

  • creative way and searching for things - searching for deeper meanings sort of. But just to get

  • you thinking in a certain mindset. So I'm going to read you my poem, and keep in mind

  • this is my first draft, so it's not very good - well, okay, I won't say that, I like it,

  • I really enjoy it, I enjoy reading it, and I'm happy with it at this point, especially

  • for a first draft. The title of my - Oh, and if you haven't finished your poem, then go

  • ahead and do yours now, and pause the video so that yours won't be affected by mine at

  • all, so pause it now. Okay, hopefully you are done with your poem now, and I would love

  • to hear your poem in the comments. I'm going to read you mine now. And the title is "Ouroboros",

  • which was my rock band name. So the title is Ouroboros. Is honey magical? And if so,

  • what of the bees? And what of their loyalty to the hive? Sometimes life puts us in a cage,

  • sometimes we put our self in one. Did you feed the cats yet? We are more like animals

  • than we think. But who knows if we are in the zoo or the jungle? Hanging from a tangerine

  • tired tree, picking fruit all day long. Don't wake me up when I'm sleeping. So that was

  • my poem. I really, really would love to read you guys' poems, if you want to do a video

  • of you reading it or just leave your poem in the comments below, I would love to hear

  • it. I really loved hearing everybody else's poems from the workshop because it was really

  • interesting to see what everybody did from one exercise. It's the same exercise, but

  • it really shows you, I don't know, just how differently everybody's brains think that

  • the other people in the class could come up with something that was so unique to them,

  • and it really gives you an idea of their sort of life flavor and I think that exercises

  • like this are really fun, because it kind of just gets you in the mood to be creative

  • and think a little bit differently and make connections in ways that you wouldn't have

  • thought of before. So i'm a big fan of writing exercises, if you have some more poetry or

  • short stories or other exercises, send them to me and I'd love to try some. And if you

  • guys want more exercises like this, then leave a comment down below saying that you want

  • them. So have fun with your poem, share it with your friends, because I think your friends

  • will enjoy seeing this little bit of your creativity, so also share this video with

  • your friends, because I think it'd be fun for you to see what your friends come up with,

  • especially when you know them. so have fun with it and I hope you guys have a great day!

  • by the way if you like my jewelry, go check out my etsy shop, catcoule.etsy.com, and have

  • a great day! bye guys!

Hey guys! I'm just getting home from a poetry workshop that I took in Delray. It was at

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