Poetry Deuce

At the beginning of my Intro to Creative Writing class at East Carolina University, we did an exercise in imitation and "scaffolding" a poem called "Consolations after an Affair" by James Tate. In such an exercise, the author imitates the structure of a sentence, the imagery of a line, and even the parts of speech used in the poem to be imitated. (Try also, "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams.) The full step-by-step exercise can be found in the text "Teaching Creative Writing" by Heather Sellers.

Here is the first version, penned in January 2010.

"Consolations for a Winter" (After James Tate's "Consolations After an Affair.")

The grass is waving to the ground
it is welcoming the spring
which will arrive later than they hope.
There are peacocks with feathers
dancing to slow mandolins.
They suppose music is love.
Trees and pine straw crackle in the winter cold
snapping like broken legs.
I don't need a hard shoulder
to comfort my failures.
A bear lumbers through empty fields
like an old truck firing up.
I can smell snow in the air,
on this borrowed farm.


Today, on the first day of Creative Writing class at Duke TIP, I did the same exercise with my students. These 12, 13, and 14 year old students really wrote some amazing poetry. They already have a great grasp on imagery, metaphors, and simile. Most of them didn't like doing the exercise because they thought the poem we imitated was "weird." Remember, you can imitate or scaffold any poem you like. Pick especially a poem that imitates rhythm, sound, language, or diction that you enjoy.

Here's try two. Same exercise, sort of different poem.

"Consolations for a Ghost"

The floor is opening up to the ceiling

who is yawning like a train,

loud enough to creak the walls.

There are pictures of grandpa climbing telephone poles

that cling to the smell of smoke.

They know how houses age.

For them, heat in July

is shelter and seeking.

I've discovered I don't need

The shadows of a ghost to linger beside me.

A bear lumbers away

like a slow, crank engine.

I can taste the cold of January

from the winter field I love.