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Erin Koehler commented on the post, The poems contained in this children’s poetry portfolio are not made for children. , on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 4 months ago
I really loved that link Robbie! Children’s literature always seems to be categorized by age group, and that’s even more interesting when you consider that children’s lit (alongside Y.A.) is one of the only […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 5 months ago
One of my favorite parts of our workshop this semester has been the weekly writing exercises. I know that sometimes people had trouble making the time for writing each week, and back at the beginning of the […]
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, Rhyme Time, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 5 months ago
I don’t know if this will help you, because I too think that rhyming is really difficult to pull off so that it doesn’t sound like a nursery rhyme/Dr. Seuss story, but try use internal rhymes. I agreed with […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 5 months ago
Over the past year, as my interest in Children’s literature has been growing, I’ve been reading a lot of children’s books. Like a lot a lot. The more picture books I read, I start to notice the ones that catch my interest the most, and the ones I end up re-reading several times in a row, are the ones that feel the most poetic. By that I mean that even though the language may appear to be “simple” the language is actually rich in complex diction, syntax, and imagery–not to mention attention to rhythm, sounds, and pacing. Sound familiar? Like a poem maybe? Let’s take a look at my latest obsession: Once Upon an Alphabet, by Oliver Jeffers.
[caption id="attachment_324" align="alignnone" width="218"] *Spoiler Alert: A isn’t for Apple*[/caption]
Here’s of my favorite letters in the book (although I have several favorites, let’s be honest). The story is titled “C: Cup in the Cupboard.”
[caption id="attachment_326" align="alignnone" width="224"] It’s all fun & games until you decide to go for it.[/caption]
As I was reading the book I couldn’t help but look at each story as a little poem because of the way the stories are framed as stanzas. I’m not sure if Jeffers would call them stanzas, but it’s not a stretch to consider them as such. While I typically try to get the most milage out of line breaks by pushing the line to its most dramatic potential (without being too dramatic) if you read this story/poem it’s pretty clear the lines are broken where it sounds natural, because the nature of of picture books are usually to be read aloud to children. This really isn’t too far from poetry at all.
I could go on and on about why I consider picture books a super close relative to poetry, but I’d love to see what other people think about this! Has anyone else thought these genres as being related? Is there anything else about this mini story that captures your attention poetically/artistically? I’d love to hear your comments!
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, American vs. British Spelling: Why? , on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 5 months ago
Somebody told me once a trick for remembering to spell “grey” as “gray” is that Americans use the “a” spelling because A is for America and the “e” spelling used in E for England. That’s really silly, but it’s […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
I was having a conversation with a friend about genre and the expectations that are inherently within labeling and categorizing different modes of writing. Although as an English major, you’d think I’d notice genre a lot more, but I really don’t until I walk into a bookstore (mostly to avoid the “Teen Paranormal Romance” section). This could be due to the face that within the Creative Writing track at Geneseo when we take workshops they’re strictly in the genre of “literary” fiction or CNF. I was having this discussion because my friend had just recently read the book We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart–a book of the Young Adult genre.
The novel is considered YA fiction, and it’s a book that’s gotten a lot of hype and positive reviews. So when I asked her if she liked it, she said she didn’t but that maybe I would because the style of writing was really unique–sort of prose and sort of poetry. This piqued my curiosity so I took a peek at her copy and read the first chapter cringing at the abstract poetic language (which my friend had described as “flowery”). Regardless of my feelings about the quality of the writing the book has been receiving very high praise.
So this all got me thinking: as writers how are we constricted by the genres we have created for ourselves; and in turn how can we break out of them? To what extent can we even break out of them before our writing becomes a new genre? Genre is built around a reader’s expectations. We Were Liars is marketed as a YA fiction novel, yet a vast majority of it is written as a mix bag of prose and poetry. What does it mean when these genres start to blend?
All this has be getting frustrated at the prose poem again. WHAT ARE YOU DOING PROSE POEM GOSH DARN IT I DON’T UNDERSTAND. And it also makes me think of Katie’s issue distinguishing prose poems and lyric essays. Is a prose poem just a poem because we decide it is? I’m still figuring it all out. While I don’t consider myself a “tidy” writer by any means I understand the want to read something that’s able to stay within the bounds of a genre. But seeing how far we as writers can push past these boundaries is always more exciting.
So what do you all see as distinct qualities of the “genre” of poetry? Have you read anything that totally and radically defies this? I’m also really interested to know if anyone else has read We Were Liars and what they thought about the book.
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, Eight Weeks In, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
It’s amazing how much I feel like I’ve improved and it’s really incredible to see how much everyone else in the class has too! For me I’ve tried to experiment with structure and punctuation more, and working with […]
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, Getting Lost in Translation, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
Amy,
I’ve never done translation work, and I doubt that I could, but objectively I think the best way to go is just making sure you keep the integrity of the original poem. Maybe instead of looking at the poem […] -
Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
Something that caught my attention about the Gallaher reading “A Line Is a Hesitation, Not a World” in A Broken Thing is a line in which he says, “I dislike hearing someone mention the ‘music’ of the line just […]
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, I’m Scared of Poetry! Help! , on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
Hi Jay,
I really liked the honesty of your post. I feel like I’ve been writing poetry a long time, but I didn’t feel like I had an “understanding” of poetry until I took Poetry I last fall. Even then I got […] -
Erin Koehler commented on the post, Sad Poetry, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
I really loved this post Kallie. I’ve noticed an occurrence like this in my own work as well. No matter how hard I try to write a “nice” or “happy” poem, my poetry always ends up having a dark/creepy undertone […]
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, When to Stop Writing, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
I’ve definitely had this problem. This might not be any help, but generally when I’m writing a first draft I feel a poem is done when I feel like the poem has exhausted whatever it needed to release. This […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, Finding the Time, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 6 months ago
I think all writers have this trouble. Not pushing myself to make time for writing is something I used to beat myself up about a lot. I still feel that way a lot. It’s difficult in college especially when […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 7 months ago
I hope everyone’s having a good Wednesday! This post is going to be a sort of continuation of Katie’s last post, and my comment from that post.
Being honest, I thought I was not the type of person who enjoyed attending readings–I didn’t know what to expect and I thought they would be awkward and stuffy. I’m the type of person who likes to stay in my bed and eat an entire box of Oreos. But since joining the creative writing scene here at Geneseo I’ve realized how important it is to push ourselves and do things we might not normally think we’d enjoy.
Since becoming a part of this writing community I’ve attended several a lot more readings than I ever expected. I’ve attended ones the school has provided, as well as several in Rochester. The most recent reading I attended was last Sunday for the BOA’s 17th Annual “Dine & Rhyme” event featuring Jillian Weise. Going into the reading, and as is the case for most readings I go to, I didn’t know the poet. In my last post I said readings are exciting because you never know what you might learn that you’re not expecting. This reading was no exception.
Right off the bat, I was blown away by Weise’s humor. She was self-depreciating and serious about not taking her poetry too seriously. Humor is not something I ever include in my poetry, and yet for Weise it seemed natural. I found the same to be true of the narrative quality to her poetry, and the casual pop culture/technology references like Skype calls and Bruce Springsteen.
Weise is a charismatic and funny speaker, and I found myself laughing more than I expected I would at a poetry reading, as she made her way through poems I was unfamiliar with, but ended up enjoying immensely. That’s the beauty of poetry readings for me–they always feel like celebrations of poetry I end up admiring and learning from.
Weise’s poetry is funny, exciting, and rich. If this has piqued anyone’s interest check out her collection The Book of Goodbyes. If you missed the reading here’s a video of Weise reading three poems featured in her collection The Book of Goodbyes. Skip to 4:15 in the video and enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVfgFe5agNQ
So to sum this up: go out there and attend readings. As writers we need to constantly push ourselves and get out of our comfort zones. That varies from person to person, but Geneseo always has opportunities to listen to writers read and talk about their work. Don’t forget to put yourself out there, ask questions, and keep an open mind–and at the end of the day you can go home and reward yourself with a box of Oreos.
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, Is There a Geneseo School of Poetry? , on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 7 months ago
Katie & Christina,
I’ve been thinking about your comments for a while, and the similarity of Geneseo poets is something I too have thought about. There’s no sense denying that we all learn from each […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 7 months ago
I’ve been thinking about Katie Waring’s post about poetic inspiration. Her post was interesting in the way she finds inspiration, but also made me think about the way I become inspired and excited about […]
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Erin Koehler commented on the post, The Poetry of Social Media, on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 7 months ago
Lauren, this is an awesome way to see how other people view art without (assumably) having much experience with it. I think it’s interesting how you needed to change the facebook status to be more inviting, and […]
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Erin Koehler wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 7 months ago
Since the first Poetic Whirlwind several class poems have stayed with me, but I’ve been especially thinking about and envying Romy’s poem “Uncles.” I’ve never written a poem that short, and certainly not one […]
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Erin Koehler joined the group The Contemporary Poem 9 years, 7 months ago
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