It's summer here in the US. School is out. For some of us, the pace of life is slower; others may find themselves busier. Even if there's more to do, though, the hot weather seems to slow most people down.
Pacing and tempo are very important in poetry as well. Compare the breathlessly rapid lines of Emily Dickinson's Wild Nights with the slower but inexorable train-roll of Nazim Hikmet's Things I Didn't Know I Loved. Notice how Richard Hugo's Driving Montana accelerates through the last few lines. How does he accomplish this? Look at the tempo changes in Carl Sandburg's Chicago and Tom Sleigh's Augusto Jandolo.
Write a poem and pay careful attention to the pacing. Make it slow or fast, accelerating or decelerating. Consider the effects of line length and punctuation. Pay special attention to the verbs you use.
Come back Wednesday night or Thursday morning and leave us a link to your
Totally Optional
poem, or to something else entirely.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Totally Optional Prompt: Tempo
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Here's my tempo-laden (?) entry.
DISARMING – A METAPHOR ODD ON A CEPHALOPOD, at Nickers and Ink
Need instructions for making active links for blog comments" Check out SIMPLY SNICKERS (weekly poetry prompts) or MEME EXPRESS (daily blog prompts) for simple tips. Feel free to bookmark it for future references.
I received so many requests for tips on this . . . that I posted it in both spots.
Blessings all,
Linda
Who keeps tempo better than a horse?
Here's an acrostic tanka . . . with syllabic tempo:
5-7-5-7-7
PLAYING H-O-R-S-E, at THE MANE POINT
Here's mine... a deliberately meanderning and broken up free verse called slow times
Sorry - I keep losing track of which sites want you to post links with the original prompt and which want you to wait until a request goes up!
is elbow slipping considered a tempo? see here
well here's mine:
http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com/2008/07/mayfly-time.html
"Days when even drinking didn't help".
I guess we're supposed to leave links now on this post instead of waiting for Mr. Linky.
Here is my offering for this week:
The End of a Marriage
-Nicole
Okay, mine's in this post:
Tony On Recession, Time & More
Enjoy.
No Mr. Linky? Ah well, here's my contribution - thank you for this prompt! I've been meaning to fix this one, but needed a reason!
Late Winter Snowfall
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