The Power of Poetry with the Young Writers

The last Young Writers group of 2024 was a triumph, as we gathered online in defiance of the weather to celebrate poetry and create new poems.

The workshop began with a discussion where we talked about the variety of answers to a seemingly simple question – what is poetry?

One definition is: ‘Literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound and rhythm.’ (Nemerov, Britannica.com, 19th November 2024)

We then had a brief discussion on spoken word poetry, during which one participant remarked: ‘When you read your own work, you can read it in the way that you want others to perceive it.’

Working online offered the opportunity to draw on different kinds of resources. We shared Amanda Gorman’s performance of her spoken word poem The Hill We Climb from President Biden’s inauguration in 2020.

The writers identified many of the techniques that Gorman employed in her poem, and we used this momentum to discuss a clip of Taylor Swift and her producer finishing the song ‘Getaway Car’.

We then asked the participants to write haiku using themes of getting away or escaping, or the line ‘Sorry not sorry.’

Several years ago, we took a group of young writers to the Minack Theatre. I prepared a haiku exercise for that workshop on the theme of dreams, inspired by Rowena Cade.

I invited the writers to recall a dream they’d had, or consider a dream/goal that they hold for themselves and freewrite about this for five minutes, before drawing on that writing to inspire a haiku.

In the exercise that followed, we returned to a reliable source of inspiration – borrowing lines from song lyrics. This was the moment where most of the writers wanted more time with their work – always a joy!

The first Young Writers workshop of 2025 will take place at The Writers’ Block on Saturday 25th January from 10:00am to 1:00pm

 

Booking information can be found here