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All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry.
G.K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)
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Occasion, Event and Ritual Poetry Forms
“Oooooo. Aaaaahhh,” my children chant as we drive to the Habitat for Humanity thrift shop with our donation of gently used clothing. Twinkling lights drape houses like lace, and figures of Santa, his reindeer, and light speckled trees frolic in front yards. Some streets look like they were misplaced by New York or Las Vegas, they have so many lights, but Florida has to make up somehow for the lack of snow.
The December holidays are upon us and they give rise to several occasions, rituals, events, depending on your culture, and family traditions. I thought this a perfect time to cover these types of poetry and poetry forms.
Occasional Poetry
More of a poetry genre’ than a poetry form, occasion poems document—well, an occasion. While they are most often written about those special occasions, like weddings and births, they can also be about winning a race or baking cookies with grandma.
BRIEF HISTORY
As long as there have been occasions, there have been occasional poems. Whenever in history you find written language and a culture’s literature, you will probably find that someone wrote a poem about an occasion.
MUST HAVES
--Write about an occasion, that’s it.
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
--Any form (or no particular form) just follow the form's rules if you use one.
--Any rhyme (or no rhyme), unless a form is used, then you follow the rhyme scheme for that form.
--Any meter (or no set meter) unless a form is used, then you follow the meter required for that form.
--Length can be long or short. However, if you use a form, that form might dictate the length.
Ritual Poem
At first glance a ritual poem seems like it might be similar to an occasional poem. We all have specific things we do every morning and night that are ritualistic in nature. A ritual poem is actually very spiritual; a way to connect with your God.
BRIEF HISTORY
Just like the occasion poetry above, the ritual poem is as old as sacred rituals, and can be found in as many places.
MUST HAVES
There are two variations of ritual poem. One is to simply mention the ritual, a spiritual item, or a holy place. The second is like a list of instructions for the ritual. The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms has a fantastic modern example of this type of poem, as well as a list of instructions. Here is that excerpt:
”Inspired by a recent eclipse, a student wrote this ritual poem:
”Eclipse Ritual
”1. Turn off the lights and give paper moons to everyone.
”2. Pretend your face is the sun and put the moon in front of it.
”3. Say DARK DARK DARK DARK and close your eyes.
” 4. Say ECLIPSE ECLIPSE ECLIPSE ECLIPSE.
” 5. Then become one by wearing dark clothes.
”Here are some things to remember when writing this type of ritual poem:
”1. Decide what you would like to have occur.
”2. Examine all aspects of the subject.
”3. Think of actions to illustrate some of these aspects.
”4. Write each action down as a command.
”5. Number the commands.
”6. Let yourself go.
” (Padgett 157)”
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
As you can see by the example above, you don’t have to write a religious ritual if you don’t want to, however, you will want to choose a moment that might convey a spiritual feeling.
Event Poem
The event poem is another form of poetry that is a numeric listing. In the ritual poem, it contains a ritual of some sort. However, an event poem, doesn’t feature an event.
BRIEF HISTORY
“Event poems emerged in the late 1950’s, the same time as the art form called ‘Happenings.’ In fact, an event poem could be seen as the written equivalent of a Happening” (Padgett 74). Happenings were plays with no plots, in which wacky things happened. The event poem takes an ordinary object and lists wacky things to do to and with it.
MUST HAVES
--An object to write about.
--Start lines with verbs. No verbs of being (is, am, are, was, were been, etc). Only action here!
--At least three lines.
--Nothing you would normally do with or to the object in the poem.
Example from my favorite book of poetic forms:
“Pineapple Event Poem
1. Cut the pineapple in half and wear the two halves as earmuffs on a cold winter day.
2. Peel the skins off 100 pineapples and glue them down to the floor as tiles.
3. Cut out five of the little round lozenges on the pineapple skin and sew them on your jacket as buttons.
4. Look at the pineapple. It looks like the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
5. Feel the pineapple. It feels like a suede sneaker on the foot of a very large kid.
(Padgett 75)”
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
--Any object.
--Any length that is more than 3 lines.
--Rhyme or not (although most do not).
OF NOTE
Try using this type of poem as a way to practice your creative thinking, or a fun way to beat writers block.
Source Notes:
Padgett, Ron. The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms. 2nd. NY: T & W Books, 2000.
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Theme: events, occasions, and rituals.
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If so, send it through the feedback section at the bottom of this newsletter OR click the little envelope next to my name Red Writing Hood <3 and send it through email.
Comments on last month's newsletter:
Submitted By: Brooklyn 
Submitted Comment:
What a great idea! I am always looking for creative gifts. Nothing is more personal and creative than something from the mind and heart of the giver.
Thank you for writing a very useful and interesting holiday NL.  ~ Brooke
Submitted By: spidey 
Submitted Comment:
A great idea for creative gift giving! Personal, unique items like poetry are so thoughtful!
Submitted By: Cheryl O'Brien 
Submitted email Comment:
Thanks for your great ideas on giving poetry as a gift! It was very inspiring.
I would like to add some more gift gving ideas that involve poetry and are inexpensive to make and can involve everyoe in the family to take part in creating the gifts.
There are always some members of an extended family that seem to have all that they need and seem impossible to buy a suitable gift for however a personal gift from you and or your family can add a sparkle to their life.
I raised my children pretty much single handedly and as such there was not usually much money around for gifts to extended familes and so I enlisted the help of my children to create some great gifts that were truly personal. Adding interesting gift tags with a verse from a family member completed the gift in a very personal way.
Bath Salts.
From a very young age, probably three, four and five, my children were annually involved in the blending and bottling of bath salts for female members of the family. In a large bowl blend epsom salts (magnesium sulfate, the main ingredient in many baths salt products) a few drops of food colouring and a few drops of an agreed essential oil. Mix all with a wooden spoon and then using a funnel fill a selection of small decorative bottles, (we bought ours for $1 - $2 each at bargain shops.) Tie with a ribbon and attach a gift tag with a simple verse that a family member has composed. We usually made at least 6 gifts for under $10 in this way.
Special Albums.
For grandparents we often made an "Our Year" album which contained photographs of the family outings we had gone on and stories, poems, and pictures the children created throughout the year. Each of the children would have a hand in decorating the pages with glitter, colour pencils, and cut out pictures or postcards. The albums would always be gratefully received and trearued for years to come.
Holiday decorations with a twist.
As a family activity we often sat around the kitchen table making paper chains. One year my daughter suggested we make them into 'links of love'. So a new tradition was born. We make paper chains on which each link is written a loving or caring remark about someone in our family and friend network. We remember kindnesses that others have done, or special events, or things that were funny that happened throughout the year and these are written one to each link on our links of love and decorate our home. Wrapping paper from the previous christmas is often a great source of brightly coloured paper to make the paper chains.
Home made wrapping paper.
Using brown paper or any paper that is cheap to come by create stamps from potatos in holiday shapes, such as stars or trees or similar and teach the children to stamp the paper with bright paints. If the images are largish you may be able to write on them short lines of verse, or good wishes.
I hope these holiday ideas are helpful to others who would like to celebrate the reason for the season without the cost.
Kind Regards
Cheryl O'Brien
Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments and suggestions. Keep them coming! Red Writing Hood <3
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Poetry: December 10, 2008 Issue [#2768]
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