Poetry Prompt -- Triversen from News

Twice a month I attend a poetry workshop at "River Arts." We take turns bringing in a prompt to share, and last week was my turn. Thought you might like to try the prompt!

 Two-Part Poetry Prompt for River Arts, August 4, 2015

First, prime the pump:

Part 1.  Getting some thoughts, feelings, ideas, vocabulary “perking”

A.   Think  quickly* of an event from the news in the last week or two that has had some impact on you, touched you in some way. Perhaps it involved you, touched someone or some place you know, prompted more thoughts or feelings than other news. It could be local, national, international, extra-terrestrial…

      Jot down 2 - 4 words which catch, or will remind you of, the connection or meaning of the event for you.

      *in other words, don’t ponder everything possible, just take one of the first few items that pop into your head.

B. Thinking of the event, think of a word or phrase for each of these 7 senses. Try to think quickly, you don’t need to get “the best” word(s), just something to list.:

Touch:

Taste:

Hearing:

Smell:

Sight:

Proprioception* (sense of where your body or a part of it is in space, e.g. my arm is above my head, I am leaning forward):

Kinesthetic* (sense of your body or a part moving, e.g., I am pumping my fist up and down, I am slowly stepping backwards):

*These two words may be used differently in different fields, by different people -- just go with these definitions for this exercise.

Once you finish this section, “put it on the back burner” and continue with Part 2.

Part 2: The Triversen

“It’s a fun poetic form developed by William Carlos Williams (one of my favorite poets–able to write both the concise, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” and the epic, Paterson).” -- Robert Lee Brewer at http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/triversen-poetic-form Click on this link for the simple description of what a Triversen is, and for one Brewer wrote.

Lewis Turco originally published The Book of Forms in 1968; the fourth version (revised & expanded) came out in 2011. He is now putting some of his work online. On his site, http://lewisturco.typepad.com/poetics/2014/08/form-of-the-week-2-the-triversen.html , you will find a slightly fuller explanation of the triversen, as well as an example by Turco, and “The Artist,” a triversen by William Carlos Williams. (Note: This poem was published when the “Mr. T” of TV and WWF fame was still a toddler -- it’s about someone else.)

Summary: The “ideal” triversen contains 6 sentences (verses), each broken into 3 natural phrases. Those phrases each contain 1 to 4 stressed syllables.

Once you have the basic idea of the triversen form in your head, go back to Part 1 to look for inspiration for your triversen.

Enjoy!