Yesterday was World Poetry Day. Do you ever write poetry? I know that I’m no poet. I once took a piece of my descriptive writing and removed all the extra words in an attempt to write a poem. It was not a success.
I don’t read much poetry, either, but I should. It’s a good exercise. I do love Maxine Kumin’s poem, “Hello, Hello Henry.”
Poetry is about playing with words. It’s about beauty, feeling, form, rhythm, and so much more. We should strive to make our prose more poetic.
April is National Poetry Month, and I’ll discuss poems a bit more then. For now, see if you can conjure your inner poet this week. Play with words. Make your descriptions more poetic. Use metaphor. Try your hand at haiku (an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables) or cinquain (an unrhymed poem consisting of five lines arranged in a special way).
Then, you may want to purchase one of the on-demand videos from my Writing Detail and Description coaching program to help you make your experiences as vivid on the page as they are in your memory:
- Sensory Detail – You know what your five senses are, but how can you use them to amplify your text? This video discusses what sensual writing is and how it can transform your descriptive writing.
- Simile and Metaphor – What is the goal of figurative writing and how does it differ from literal language? What are the characteristics of effective similes and metaphors? Learn all about similes and metaphors and how best to use them in your stories.
- Specificity – Be amazed at the difference a little specificity makes in your writing. What is specificity, you ask? This video tells you all about it and how one simple tool helps you write like a pro.
You can purchase the videos here. Shake things up a bit. Describe something beautiful. Play with words. Enjoy!
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