PRESS RELEASE: AVBOB POETRY
 
 
Released:  to be announced
 
THE GAMES POETS PLAY
 
While poets tend to take their craft very seriously, it is worth remembering that creativity thrives on playfulness and tends to catch us by surprise.
 
Dorian Haarhoff (https://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za) is a poet, storyteller and workshop facilitator who believes in the power of poetry to unlock our innate creativity. Earlier this month, he shared the following three short exercises, adapted from his wonderful book The Writer’s Voice: A Workbook for Writers in Africa (Zebra Press, 1998). Do these exercises to free and focus your wandering mind.
 
1. Roethke's rules
American poet Theodore Roethke reportedly introduced complex rules for poetry students. These rules can be learned as games. For example, one exercise involves working from a list of arbitrarily chosen nouns, verbs and adjectives to compose a poem. Here's a list.
 
Nouns                         Verbs                          Adjectives
eye                              to run                           holy
dog                              to kiss                          old
sand                            to burn                         steamy
archway                      to ride                          hard
rain                              to bite                          shady
animal                         to caress                     dangerous
language                     to smile                       sharp
water                           to dig                           cold
edge                            to surprise                   possible
daughter                      to argue                       thunderous
 
And here's the game: Use any of the nouns, verbs (you can use any form of the verb, eg has run or is running) and adjectives from the list to write a poem of two eight-line stanzas, using four or three stresses to each line.
 
Out of an artificial exercise that ignores the way a topic we feel strongly about chooses us, we can write something. While we are concentrating on the form, the poem slips in unconsciously.
 
2. The line: Turning prose into poetry
I find sometimes, when writing a letter, if I break a few sentences into lines, I have the beginnings of a poem. Here's a simple example. 
 
"I love your letters.\ They seem to come \ at just the right time,\ lifting my spirits\ like a bird in flight." 
 
Attempt a similar poem in letter form. If you like, write it first then break it up into lines. Alternatively, write a prose piece about an important experience. Now, chop it into lines.
 
3. The haiku and tanka game
Here's another game using two Japanese poetic forms.
 
The haiku is a three-line poem. It consists of 17 syllables, arranged in lines of five, seven and five syllables, respectively. For example, 
 
In the grey wet day
The mist swirls round my lost feet.
Then you take my hand.
 
The tanka (an extended haiku) has five lines and 31 syllables. The first three lines are exactly like a haiku. Lines 4 and 5 each have seven syllables. Here's a tanka: 
 
Round the firelight
we lean back and sip our wine.
We raise our glasses
to catch the colour of love
reflected, red, in our eyes.
 
Think back to an early childhood episode around fire or water. Write down five words from this memory. Don't choose words of more than three syllables. Now, use the five words and add any necessary interlinking ones to write a haiku. 
 
In the same way, you can choose seven words and write a tanka.
 
You can also think of an abstract noun as a title, such as freedom or justice. Now, write a haiku or tanka to illustrate that title with a concrete picture.
 
These Japanese forms help us practise word economy. Part of the power of the haiku and tanka is in what they don’t say.
 
In the next few days, write at least one haiku and one tanka that includes your favourite natural element (earth, water, fire or air).
 
The annual AVBOB Poetry Competition opened for submissions on 1 August 2024. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za and find out how to enter your best poems.