HOW TO DRAW A POEM
Our PonyXpress workshop sessions vary from week to week with different activities and writing prompts. Our most successful sessions include reading and responding to a poem. This spring, I brought Layli Long Soldier’s book, Whereas to read her poem “38.“ After we listened to the poem, we passed the book around the circle to look at the pages. In the conversation that ensued, we observed how the poems are structured on the page; how she constructs and deconstructs meaning; her comfort in using grammar to meet her needs as a writer; and how marks (like arrows and boxes) are part of the text. We let our writers inspired by her work try their hands at writing a poem inspired by some aspect of Whereas.
Regular readers will recognize how Nolan James Briden’s voice and his interest in structure met the challenge in “Shots Fired! Shots Fired! Indins Enduring!” The programming of Substack doesn’t accommodate his structure, so we have attached a PDF to show how he uses the page.
Historic in time, present in time, in-time
Over
Time
Never stops as
Authoritarian rules reign in the name of: Industry.
Fragmented sentences rain
R. Miranda’s “X Marks the Spot” moves through personal history, opening and closing ideas around mark making on walls, on skin, the lines we draw. We are pulled through with ~ the mark used in one of the languages that runs through his veins.
Marking line ~ leaving lines ~ re•moving lines?
Straight lines becoming bent lines
Connections connecting
Oblique words arching ~ over arching
Becoming full circles
Concentric circles of concern; circles of influence; circles of power!
As we mark summer solstice and tonight’s full moon, we include J. Hunter’s “Shadow’s Light.” We are excited to have him join us this year and look forward to publishing the stack of writing he has submitted in the coming months. | TDS