Greetings fellow poets!

Today’s sunrise swept over the land quietly, highlighting the yard and bare trees with delicate shades of rose and grey. A few stray cirrus clouds broke up the light behind the horizon. Perhaps the only way to describe how beautiful it felt to see the sun come over the windowsill would be to compose an ode. Poets.org has a lovely little explanation of the history of the ode and the most well-known forms of this particular form of poetry: Poetic Form: Ode.

However, what struck me most after reading through the page was the intent of this particular type of poem, “the ode can be generalized as a formal address to an event, a person, or a thing not present” This is too dry a recitation of definition. When I think of an ode, I think of my last bike ride, or my grandmother’s funeral, or the strange feeling that swept over me when my son’s first smile crept across his face. It is the lyric joy or sorrow of the moment or thing that inspires one to write an ode.

This week’s spark: write an ode. Don’t worry about fitting the poem into a formal robe, instead, write an irregular ode. Write an ode that is completely free, or that rhymes, or that feels like a sonnet, but isn’t quite. Let the poem choose its own way, and focus instead on the thing, the reason, the person for which the ode exists.

Here are some examples for you to use as a guide:

Robert Creeley America

Mary Oliver The Black Snake

Dorianne Laux Girl in the Doorway

John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn

Greetings fellow poets. Several days ago I read an article in LiveScience about synesthesia: in poetry, the use of language that fuses imagery from one sense to another, from the Greek words for “joined feelings.” Some examples are: loud hands, bitter colors, a cold voice.

This technique has been used in poetry to great effect because it opens up a world of connotation that cannot otherwise be stated so simply. From academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu comes this explanation of how Keats used synesthesia in his poetry:

Keats’ poem, Ode to a Nightingale, uses synesthesia—for example:

“In some melodious plot / Of beechen green” (stanza I), combines sound (“melodious”) and sight (“beechen green”).

Here are some other examples of poems that use synesthesia:

Arthur Rimbaud The Seekers of Lice and Vowels, one of the more famous synesthesia poems. According to answers.com:

More poetic synesthesia examples:

Ann Stafford Listening to Color

Jim Harrison Birds Again

This week’s spark: write a poem that uses synesthesia. Good luck, be creative!