Welcome to Day 16! Today's prompt is an idea of what to write about: an unusual word. My favourite words are usually very plain ones that have heaps of different meanings ("bolt" is a stunner that way) or that name very precise things (like "snag" for a dead tree that's still standing). I also have a soft spot for rarely used words: farrier, eidolon, monger. I don't generally have much time for fancy other-people-won't-know-this words, especially when they don't have any extra meaning; I can't bear that sort of elitism. If someone's saying "crapulent" to show off (it just means "drunk"), then frankly they're a bit of an onanist! With that proviso, there are some fabulously unusual words that have heaps of unexpected meanings, whether that's an unusual thing you never knew the name for or an incredibly precise term you didn't know we had. Those are worth adding to the word-hoard and turning into poems. So today's prompt is to base your poem around an unusual word. You can use your own favourite unusual word or pick one of these three:
- thaumatrope: an optical toy that was popular in Victorian times. The best well-known one has a drawing of a bird on one side, a birdcage on the other, and when you use the string to spin it rapidly, the bird appears inside the cage. Read more on thaumatropes here.
- coquecigrue: an imaginary creature regarded as the absolute embodiment of absurdity. The jabberwocky might be one of those. The hodag, too. The platypus would be, if it were imaginary! You could make up your own, in your poem?
- accismus: pretending you don't want something when you really, really do, feigning indifference, an "Oh, I couldn't possibly...", that tension between being so casual and wanting it so much
Alternately, you could write it as an acrostic, using the letters of your word down the left-hand side of the page to start each line of the poem. Sometimes, with acrostic poems, I heap on an extra form, depending on how many lines my word gives me. 14 lines always suggests a sonnet. 11 lines suggests a fold poem. 8 lines opens a raft of options – Poets' Garret has a handy list of 8-liners here. Whether you want to take it that step further or not is completely up to you; sometimes I find it super-fun to heap on extra constraints; sometimes I find I've added one too many and tied myself in knots! You do as pleases you.
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.
