Tumbling into Poetry: Using Blocks to Unblock (Jennifer Guyor Jowett) Transform a class into immediate poets through connections and collaborations by digging deep into the critical thinking box and taking away the pressure of getting started. Using the game of chance and Metaphor Dice created by Taylor Mali, writers roll, discover, and craft poems with twists by adding kennings, antonymic translations, and line lifts.
Metaphor Dice Poetry is a morning songbird With words taking wing Lyrical melodies filling spring air
1. Roll the dice (red is a subject, white an adjective, blue an object). Poetry is a burning memory 2. Artfully restate by adding Taylor’s Mali’s phrase “which is to say” OR begin with his phrase idea “I used to believe” Poetry is a burning memory, Which is to say the words singe my mind OR I used to believe poetry was a burning memory found only in the deepest night 3. You might roll again for a completely different metaphor and then bridge the two together. Poetry is a burning memory found only in the deepest night I wandered through black shadows looking for my place of birth only to discover Home is a midnight meadow, a word field made for harvesting. Options 1. Change up the verb - make to be into an action (dreams, memorizes, sings). Poetry sings of a cryptic thunderstorm or Poetry sings like a midnight raven 2. Kennings are the metaphors of Norsemen, Jedis, and poets. In Beowulf, they are two word metaphors joined by hyphens (whale-road for sea) or phrases (storm of swords for war). Use the metaphor dice to create kennings by placing a subject (red) and an object (blue) together. Poetry is a midnight raven becomes The poetry raven is… My father is a thunderstorm becomes The thunderstorm father… 3. Take a turn through antonymic translation (use antonyms for various words within the poem to change the meaning). Poetry is a midnight raven becomes Poetry is a morning songbird Poetry is a burning memory/found only in the deepest night becomes Poetry is an icy fact/found often in the shallowest light 4. Line Lifts: listen the line justifications (which is to say phrases) of several writers after a roll of the dice. Did you hear any lines that inspired you to lift from someone else? Now’s the time.
*More on writing Antonymic translations can be found here: https://www.ethicalela.com/antonymic-translation/ *More on Kennings poetry can be found here: https://www.ethicalela.com/kennings-atmosopheric-atoms/