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Amotisse week nine

26/5/2020

Make a list of all the things you did that you wouldn't have done if isolation 2020 never happened.

Last week we visited odour.
This week it's all about 'touch'.
How does your world feel right now?
Set the timer to 15 minutes and free write continuously on this theme.

I’ve been feeling distracted lately. I often welcome distraction, as it is a state in which interesting things can happen. Sometimes distraction is uncomfortable, when we don’t know where we are at.
What distracts you? What sensations does it evoke? How do you survive distractions?

This was part of an exercise and reflection in a poetry course I've been enjoying through futurelearn.com
Check out this interesting art/poetry concept,
http://www.valerielaws.com/quantum-sheep---a-haik-ewe.html
What do you think of this idea?
What role does randomness play in your writing?
Can you imagine a random writing exercise to share?

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Amotisse - week eight

18/5/2020

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Certain themes stay with me, I keep finding new ways to explore them and they seem inexhaustible! The senses are one of these. We use them, often without thinking, every day. In fact, we barely use them; we take them for granted, so nothing like some mindful observation to warm up the senses.

Try this little exercise from Juicy Writing by Brigid Lowry:

I smell like
I sound like
I taste like
I hear
My skin feels like

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/edu-monteiro-sensorial-self-portraits

Word share – pick a word out of your hat, add it to our collective word bank,(https://www.facebook.com/notes/amotisse) take some or all of these words and paint, weave, spin, build some magic with them.

Some call it brain or mind dump, in The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron recommends morning pages and many simply call it free writing. It is the practise of writing whatever comes to mind for either a set period, say 10-15 minutes or a set number of pages. It doesn’t have to make sense or be grammatically correct. If you are stuck, keep repeating a word until the flow continues. It is an effective writing warm up, especially when practiced regularly. Sticking with the senses, get a timer ready and write for 15 minutes focusing on – odour.

Julia Baird’s book Phosphorescence is aptly named; I have been receiving plenty of enlightenment from her thoughts and words! She dedicates a couple of chapters to providing heartfelt wise words of advice for her daughter and son, hopes and dreams and words for a bright future. In journaling, I was invited to write a letter to myself, from my future self, either from 6, 12 or 18 months ahead. The experience was thoughtful, powerful and not so easy.Which wise words will your future self share with you? Why not transform it into an act of self-love…write it out as a beautiful letter on lovely paper with your favourite pen!

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Amotisse week seven

12/5/2020

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As we continue our exploration of playful wordsmithing, it's time to discover and dabble in a little poetry.

Chinese portrait – if I was…

an animal
a colour
a sin
a painting style
a time of the day
a drink
a fabric
a mythological character
a flower
a public building
a vegetable
a fruit
a dance
a town
a writer
a country
a piece of furniture
an object
a natural phenomenon
an emotion
an activity
a monster
a song
an artist
a spice
a sport
a historical year
a dessert
a meal
a movie
one of the 4 elements
a verb
an adjective
a jewel
one of the 5 senses
a sound
a superhero
a famous person
a month
a day of the week
a landscape
movie genre
school subject
high tech object

part of a house

Cento

I am currently enjoying a 3 week free poetry course with www.futurelearn.com and through this discovered a new type of poem called a cento, also known as a collage or patchwork poem. A cento is made with lines from other poems to create a new poem. It is like a form of appropriation and because we are quoting only one line at a time, we are not infringing copyright.
There are surely many ways to go about it; however, we will experiment with a short two-line cento.

Find two poems that you like.
Choose two lines, one from each poem.
Place them together how you like, use a theme if you want but it doesn’t have to make sense, have a play around and see what you come up with
Make sure you cite the title, author and source of each poem.

Cinquain

This is a little poem of five lines (from French, cinq = 5) from what I have discovered there are a few different ways to write a cinquain. The following format focuses on a central theme, matching tenses and point of view and specific numbers of syllables per line as below:

2 syllables
4 syllables
6 syllables
8 syllables
2 syllables

The second, (above), I found in an old school textbook.
Follow the pattern or instructions to make your own cinquains.
Which do you prefer?

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Amotisse week nine

Amotisse - week eight

Amotisse week seven

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Amotisse week nine

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Amotisse week seven

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