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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/1906
Poetry: August 22, 2007 Issue [#1906]

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Poetry


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  Edited by: Red Writing Hood <3 Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter



Poetry should please by a fine excess and not by singularity. It should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost as a remembrance.

John Keats (1795 - 1821)

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting with the gift of speech.

Simonides (556 BC - 468 BC)



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Letter from the editor



Constructing additional meaning with Concrete Poetry

Concrete poetry is sometimes known as shape poems, calligrams, kinetic poetry, visual poems, pattern poetry, or permutational poetry. When you begin investigating the form you realize the lines between words and art can suddenly become blurred.

This type of poetry can be as simple as a love poem written in the shape of a heart, to being as complex as words sliding on and off a computer screen at predetermined intervals.


SAY WHAT?


Nothing tricky here - pronounced the same as the cement-like substance.


BRIEF HISTORY


Concrete poetry found its way into regular poetry circles in the beginning of the twentieth century and became a popular experimental form in the sixties. However, according to VISUAL POETRY: A Brief History of Ancestral Roots and Modern Traditions by Karl Kempton, “the oldest illustrated example is a circa 3,000 year old Egyptian near-labyrinth crossword hymn from the 20th dynasty (i.e. 1000 BCE).”



MUST HAVES


Anything goes here. If you have a high degree of creativity even the sky won’t limit you.


COULD HAVES or WHAT’S THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?


*Medium – Will you use pen and paper, digital language and computer, traffic signs and a camera or something else – perhaps something completely new? If you want to try new, consider what technology is newest and try to come up with a way to create visual poetry with it.

--If you choose a typewriter or word processor, think about what font style, font size and even color. All can add extra meaning to your work. Consider the visual impact. Think how stretching the word, word or letter placement, or even leaving out portions of words or letters will affect your readers visual sense.

--Let’s say you’ve decided to use natural materials for your poem about global warming. What’s in your backyard or inside your house that could aid you? Does that rock? Could this stick? Maybe that roll of toilet paper is just what you need. Think about items that could have dual (or more) meanings that relate to what you are trying to say with your poem. To give you an idea, I’ve seen pictures of words and letters painted on rocks that are then artfully arranged for poetic impact.


*Imagery – Are you going to stay close to the ground floor and use more concrete imagery or will you go right to the roof and opt for the abstract, or maybe you only want to climb the scaffolding to the first few floors and combine the two.


OF NOTE:

Concrete poetry is not relegated to the visual, sound can also be used with the visual or by itself with this form.

Websites to investigate:

A few examples of more complex visual poetry online:
http://www.logolalia.com/minimalistconcretepoetry/archives/marko-niemi/touchme.h...
http://www.logolalia.com/minimalistconcretepoetry/archives/marko-niemi/portraits...
http://mdrzine.livejournal.com/

A way to create some complex visual poetry for yourself:
http://www.robotype.net/
(click on “English Version” if you don’t read French)




Editor's Picks



 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 Ode to a Drink in a Bar Open in new Window. [13+]
A shape poem originally written on a barroom napkin.
by Sid Falcon Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor



 
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Ask & Answer



Do you have a question, answer, problem, solution, tip, trick, cheer, jeer, or extra million lying around?

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 Author IconMail Icon and send it through email.


Comments on last month's newsletter:


Submitted By: Dr Taher writes again! Author Icon
Submitted Comment:

This was an absolutely super newsletter and I am looking forward to joining your Renga campfire soon. It sounds very interesting!


Submitted By: monty31802
Submitted Comment:

Very interesting. thank you for a fine newsletter.


Submitted By: Karl Author Icon
Submitted Comment:

hmmm - you might like my several haiku under 1wordman or karl king. From what I have gleaned from reading the great Japanese haiku masters and from email exchanges with the guy who organizes the Vancouver, B.C., haiku celebration, haiku should present two independent images - the first image setting up the second, and more profound, image that reveals something about life.

Haiku is a difficult genre to practice and should not be used for silliness. The Japanese were, and still are, experts in minimalism and haiku is the supreme example of condensing an observation of life into the least number of words.

1wordman


Thank you all for your wonderful comments, insights and observations - keep 'em coming!





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