April 1, 2009

Play with your words

It's National poetry month, everyone. Dare to disturb your universe.
Find a line that makes you want to turn cartwheels and then chalk it all over the sidewalk. Break out your poetry notebooks and free some verse.

Not sure where to begin?
Try the Internet Public Library's Poetry Page. It has lots of word play exercises and ideas to get you started.

Next, go play with the magnetic poetry game online, or make your own set of refrigerator words and play away!


DIY Magnetic Refrigerator Words - More DIY How To Projects

Once you are ready to dive right in...
Try Immersed in Verse: an informative, slightly irreverent & totally tremendous guide to living the poet's life by Allan Wolf, and "may the metaphors be with you" as you learn how to rearrange your favorite poems, stage an open mic night in your basement, record some spoken word, and get your work published.



Don't forget to drop by the Bealeton Library this month and help decorate the Poet-tree with a line or two from a poem you love.
If you can't make it to Bealeton, you can post your favorite lines of poetry here in the comments section.

Here is one of my favorites from "Coal" by Audre Lord:

"Some words are open like a diamond
on glass windows
singing out within the crash of sun"

March 9, 2009

Teen Tech Month: Mixed Emoticons

Main Entry: emo·ti·con
Pronunciation: \i-ˈmō-ti-ˌkän\
Function: noun
Etymology: emotion + icon
Date: 1987
Definition: a group of keyboard characters (as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications (as e-mail)

From: Merriam Webster Online

How expressive are emoticons? I think most of us occasionally sprinkle them in emails and IMs. I find them quite handy when I need to clarify the meaning behind my words. ;)

Could you write a poem or tell an entire story with emoticons? Rives, a comedian, storyteller and slam poet, does just that. Watch.



Feeling inspired? Try writing your own emoticon poem in the comments section, below.

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