One of my favorite activities to do is to find a poem with a rhythm I like and simply match it with a poem of my own. The key is to write from your own experience, using your own vocabulary, so you can end up with a completely different poem, with something that is genuinely YOU.
It’s a great way to break out of a slump, consider it a push start. It’s also a great way to experiment with a different voice. Consider it remixing the poem. Are you game?
Write On!!!
Poet Enzo Surin on May 8th 2011 in Basic Descriptive Assignment
Develop the following topic into a poem of not fewer than six lines. Your writing will be evaluated on the basis of organization, clarity, and use of language and mechanics.
Topic: On My Block
Prompts: what does one typically see when walking in your neighborhood? On your block? Near your house or apartment building?
Resources:
The following in an excerpt from Cachoeira by Marilyn Nelson. This should help you get started.
We drove on Salvador’s four-lane boulevards,
past unpainted cement houses, and billboards,
and pedestrians wearing plastic shoes,
and little shops, and streets, and avenues,
a park, a mall…
Poet Enzo Surin on February 10th 2009 in Basic Descriptive Assignment