Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “Joy”

02 Apr 2015

NPM: #2–Wonder and Joy


image: flickr.com

Wonder and Joy

Robinson Jeffers, 1887 – 1962

The things that one grows tired of—O, be sure
They are only foolish artificial things!
Can a bird ever tire of having wings?
And I, so long as life and sense endure,
(Or brief be they!) shall nevermore inure
My heart to the recurrence of the springs,
Of gray dawns, the gracious evenings,
The infinite wheeling stars. A wonder pure
Must ever well within me to behold
Venus decline; or great Orion, whose belt
Is studded with three nails of burning gold,
Ascend the winter heaven. Who never felt
This wondering joy may yet be good or great:
But envy him not: he is not fortunate.

 

This particular poet focused his poetry around the Big Sur area. It would be easy to be inspired living in that region!

My fave stand out lines: “Of gray dawns, the gracious evenings…”

I do so appreciate the balance of these two images and the art of alliteration.

Posted in Americans, Nature, Poetry, Reflections, writers and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
22 Apr 2013

Shaping Up Poetry: Metaphor Thirds


 

joyous heart

joyous heart (Photo credit: Leonard John Matthews)

 

 

I’ve made this a part of our sophomore poetry curriculum and I am always taken by surprise at the superlative poems students produce with this format.  I found this form in  the book Risking Intensity by Judith Rowe Michaels.

Metaphor Thirds

1. Fold a piece of paper into vertical thirds

2. In the first third write five emotions, then fold back the paper

3. In the second column write five colors—these can be basic ones like red, blue, yellow or a bit more imaginative like periwinkle, chartreuse, silver-gray—then fold over this section

4. In the last column write objects or animals

5. Open out all the sections and read directly across

anger                    red                            door

sad                        periwinkle              mirror

 joyful                  chartreuse              star

loneliness         indigo                       blanket

nervous             brown                      rabbit

6. Read each line across to make five metaphorical statements. For example: Anger is a red door, sad is like a periwinkle mirror, joyful as a chartreuse star, loneliness is like an indigo blanket, nervous like a brown rabbit

7. Choose a metaphor statement and begin to think about the feeling, the color, and the object. What associations come to mind? Brainstorm some of what comes to mind with the image.

8. Begin to work the metaphor statement into a poem, either placing the statement as it is written or work the image into a conceptual piece. The metaphor thirds poem actually works best in a free verse form, although internal rhyme works well.

Chartreuse Leaf

Chartreuse Leaf (Photo credit: teresia)

multicolored splendor
that’s just how my day
has been
confetti bits of happiness
round about me
dancing
bright lights
of promise
like spring after
a tedious winter
A happy day filled
with greens, and light
Joyous like a chartreuse star
-(first draft of the poem found on the Triptych of Daffodils post)

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14 Apr 2013
3 Comments

A Triptych of Daffodils


The Poem

The Daffodils (I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud)

by William Wordsworth

Portrait of William Wordsworth, by William Shu...

Portrait of William Wordsworth, by William Shuter, 1798. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The Parody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv1L-8f2erg

 

The Possibility*

       JOY

Multicolored splendor
that’s just how my day has been
Confetti bits of happiness
round about me swirling
filled with
Dancing Bright Lights
of promise
Like spring after
a tedious winter–
a golden day filled
with pristine greens
The release of dark days
and the renewing
of earth’s
bounty
Liberating–
like the  spangle sparkle
of firecracker flickers punctuating
the night sky
Free–
grass blades shimmer emerald
tree leaves bud pink
robin song chuckle eloquent
Bright light points of promise
that dance out from the earth
tingling and jingling
into
smile
eyes
all in reach
catch that feeling
of delicious buoyant
bounce of new
and they, too
will become
Joyous like a chartreuse star
Confetti

Confetti (Photo credit: DuracellDirect)

*from the collection The Dance of Color (an exploration of synesthesia)

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