Poetry Lab 2
25.i.02

Formulating Styles
1. Using the catchy "name" you gave it as a subject, post your style statement to the "2. Style" forum on the discussion board. (If you've already posted it elsewhere, find it, copy it, and repost it.)

2. Read at least 20 of the style statements made by your classmates.  (Use the subjects to guide you towards those you might find interesting.)  On a piece of paper with your name on it, make a list of the five styles you find most intriguing and give it to me. (You need not have already written something in this style; it should, rather, be an area you would like to explore; I will use your list to constitute our working groups.)

Slow-Song Improvisation
Traci's acrostic suggests this improvisational experiment. The idea is to explore how repetition and variation can effect the sound, feel, mood, and meaning of a text. As a poetic technique, repetition can be found in ancient and contemporary writing (from the Bible to pop-song lyrics).

1. Read this poem, Slow Song for Mark Rothko,  by contemporary poet John Taggart. (You'll find Taggart included in your anthology. (More on musical repetition.)

2. Working at the keyboard, if you are a quick typist, improvise a new version of one of your poems.  You can be systematic or loose, but introduce a rhythmic pattern.  Use exact repetition of a key line, partial repetitions, etc.

3. Post it to the forum "1. Laboratory" on our discussion board.

Last Updated: 09 December, 2008