"Meditate on what the poet hath written: 'Wonder not, if my Best-Beloved be closer to me than mine own self; wonder at this, that I, despite such nearness, should still be so far from Him.'..."
--Bahá'u'lláh (Gleanings, page 185
"Yes"
c. 1998 L. Early
Back to top.Have you ever had fun with magnetic poetry? My girlfriend has five or six different sets displayed all over her large white refrigerator. It's amazing how fast time passes while playing with those little blocks of meaning.
This technique which I'm calling "collage poems" is based on the idea of swirling words picked at random until they have special meaning for you. They are then placed "ransom note style" on a larger image, or collection of images.
My first piece, Experience Quest, is shown below, click on it to read the poem I wrote about searching for my birthfamily. The "mock-haiku" piece above, Yes is set on a base of squares and triangles of paper images-- like a quilt made out of images. Actually a good portion of the shapes were cut from photos of fabric.
Supplies:
You will need some simple things in addtion to providing yourself a large space to work. This project is not easily accomplished on your lap. Gather together: a wide variety of magazines or other printed materials--old letters, advertisements, anything; sharp paper scissors; glue stick, and aything else you would like to embellish your finished piece with.
The first step is to decide what you will be writing about, a general theme. For "Experience Quest" I thought about my family and all the places and events associated with them. As you think about your theme, flip through the magazine pages and cut out any words that interest you - don't think about anything but gathering words at this point. You will probably use only a small fraction of the words you gather in your final poem, so just cut and keep moving! Place the gathered words right side up on a flat, stable, wind-free, surface.
You can do all of this while doing another activity as well, this is not the part of the process where you need to concentrate fully. If you come across any images that relate to your theme you can also cut them out and lay them aside for later, but this should not be a priority - gather words! And, don't forget to cut out a few punctuation marks and conjunctions (if, ands, or buts) to pull your thoughts together later.
When you feel you have enough words to work with, begin arranging them into phrases or other groupings that have meaning for you. If you get stuck, form a few questions related to your theme and answer them using your cut words.
Decide how you want your lines to read. You see, the great thing about playing with these kinds of free-moving words is that you do not have to keep them in left-to-right, top-to-bottom, right-side-up, order. EXPERIMENT! Start with one word in the center and spiral them around from there. Turn words upside down. (I turned the word "surrender" on my poem upside down as to me that was the total expression of that word in that place in the piece.) Create movement you can't normally create on a typewriter.
Make a word picture-- for example, writing about a lost love? Pack the words into a heart shape. Most of all have fun - there really are NO rules.
You may wish to include images alongside your poem or underneath your words. There are no guidelines for this, it's really up to you how you wish to present your poem.
Carefully rub the glue stick on the back of each word and/or image and lightly press into place on a larger image or piece of backing paper/cardstock. Allow to dry flat, embellish and/or frame as desired.
"Experience Quest"
c. 1998 L. EarlyPlease send me photos of your finished pieces to share here. Thank you.
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