READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11 – SEPTEMBER 17, 2006:

Tuesday, September 12, 2006:

Reading Assignment: Writing Poems, Chapter 10 – Finding the
Poem; Writing Poems, Chapter 2 – Verse

Thursday, September 14, 2006:

Reading Assignment: Writing Poems, Chapter 3 – Making the Line
(I)

Important!! Poem #1 Due Today

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Guidelines for Poetry Assignment #1: Image-Based Poem (Due
Thursday, September 14, 2006:

Write a poem that is saturated with concrete, sensual imagery.

Poem can be on any topic.

Poem must utilize at least five of the seven different types of imagery
discussed in class.

Try to make the imagery as precise as possible, while also using
imaginative word choice and methods of description to make the imagery
lively and fresh.

Avoid clichés and hackneyed language. Avoid using abstractions. The
poem should “show vs. tell” and use detailed, concrete language.

Remember that imagery doesn’t necessarily have to be “pretty,” and that
poems don’t necessarily have to evoke beauty, although they can and
some do.

Poem should be in free verse (i.e., please don’t attempt to make it
rhyme).

Remember to give your poem a title when you are finished.

Please type/word process your poem and bring a hard copy to class on
the due date. I'll write comments/suggestions for revision for you to
work with, and this will be the first piece that you revise for
submission in your creative writing portfolio. (With this in mind,
please make sure to keep the first version/draft that I return to you
with comments for the "before" part of your "before and after"
portfolio submission.)

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And finally, here is this week’s memoir prompt, for blog posts due on
Sunday, September 17, 2006:

Recall your greatest accomplishment. Was it an award? Did you have a
child? Was it something you were honored with publicly or was it a
secret thing? Did you do it alone or with a group of people?