Living Life Twice

  The Joy Of Conscious Wordplay Today, I had the opportunity to pander to my poetic passions. After a full day of presenting, I spent today in full writing mode... Using an extract from Laurie Halse-Anderson’s ‘Speak’ I went in search of some poetic pearls hidden within the narrative on the page. Using the blackout poetry strategy, I worked my way down the page with a fine line pen blocking in those words I wished to retain. Those words that appealed to my eye and sang to my ears. I looked for flow and continuity of ideas. I wanted my words to exhibit some sense of connection. Then using a thick black marker I obliterated all the words that had missed selection. What emerged was my found poem. A poem hidden within the original narrative. It appeared like magic. The search for a poem was both engaging and therapeutic.  There is much joy to be had in conscious word play. Here it is, my latest black out poem. Fresh and new within my notebook....

Today I found a poem. It was hiding in a rather unassuming volume. The book is titled, The Storm Book , and was written by Charlotte Zolotow and published in 1952. The cover does not have immediate appeal, but it would be a major mistake to dismiss this book on the basis of its underwhelming cover. For inside, it contains a  wonderfully rich, descriptive text.  The book tells the story of a storm from its approach, to its thunderous arrival and its demise and aftermath. I love this book and have used it many times to teach young writers how to write strong, visually strong description. It was given to me when I was living in New York . It has become a highly valued mentor text and sits proudly along side much flasher books on my library shelf. I periodically revisit this wonderful old book, and today I pulled it from the shelves, and began browsing. I became aware of buried treasure within the text. I sensed a poem was lying just below the surface. So I decided to d...