Welcome to day 10! Today's prompt is an idea of what to write about: a suprising fact. Often poems are about ourselves and our own feelings, but sometimes it's a relief to take a break from ourselves and write about something completely different. And even if the poem ends up circling back to be actually about something we're thinking and feeling, it's all the stronger for being ostensbily about spores, or orchids, or astrolabes, or how cogs work, or whatever curious snippet set us going. You can choose your own favourite surprising fact for this, or use one of the options below:
- Ferns are so ancient they co-existed with dinosaurs, long before pollinating insects, so instead of flowers with pollen (which need insects), they reproduce with spores. (If prehistoric plant facts tickle you, the Eden Project has a bunch of titbits here.)
- ¶ This symbol, to show/hide hidden formatting in Word, is called a Pilcrow. It was used in the Middle Ages, before the existence of paragraphs, to mark a new train of thought. (If strange punctuation tickles you, try the Shady Characters website, now also a book, with much more of the pilcrow's deep history and assorted other surprising facts about other punctuation.)
- Humpback whales protect all sorts of different species from orcas, aka killer whales, or as I like to call them "the bastards of the ocean". Humpbacks have been recorded protecting other types of whales, seals, sea lions, porpoises, and, seemingly, human divers against orcas. (If this tickles you, read more about their vigilante behaviour on the National Geographic site here and more general info about humpback whales here.)
You could write this free verse or, if you fancy a type of poem to write, I have two serving suggestions for you.
For a quickie, if you're knackered after the week, why not write an elevenie – just 11 words across 5 lines. It's a delicious, flexible little form; full details on that here.
Alternately, if you have a bit more time and energy on hand, have a go at a sonnet – which, contrary to what you were taught at school, doesn't have to be "abab cdcd efef gg" OR iambic pentametre! You can read The Secret Truth About Sonnets Which No-One Told You At School and How You Were Lied To About Iambic Pentametre here. Plus a bonus Rant About Eye-Rhyme. As you'll see, the sonnet world's your oyster. Have fun!
The Meddling with Poetry course explores a host of different poetry forms as well as the musicality of language, poetic imagery, and other aspects of the poetic. It's 8 weeks long, one evening a week, and absolute beginners and experienced writers are equally welcome. You can read more details and book a place here.
