Creative Nonfiction

Find one work of Creative Nonfiction from In Brief that speaks to you, and write a short paragraph explaining that connection.

My Favorite Flash Fiction, Part Deux

Find another short story from Flash Fiction International that speaks to you, and explain how and why it sparks your interest.

Writing Color

Nice work, everyone!  You rock!

Favorite Short Story, Part 1

Choose a favorite story from Flash Fiction International, and write a brief paragraph explaining why and how it speaks to you.

Performance-Generative Poetry

In keeping with CAConrad's eco-deviant poetry, generate a (poetic) list of instructions to generate ideas/inspiration for a poem.  Post the instructions to the blog, and bring the poem you write that was inspired by your instructions with you to class.

(Your second assignment is to write a sonnet, so bring that with you to class as well).

Your New Favorite Poem, Take Two

Find another poem from Wide Awake or Best American Poetry, and explain how/why it speaks to you.

Poem that Speaks to Me

Woodman, I've been reading The Best American Poetry 2014 and/or Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, and I really like the poem ______________ because _____________.

Harryette Mullen, Rolf Jacobsen, Homero Aridjis, Dylan Thomas, Emily Dickinson, and William Blake

As with the previous post, find one line that speaks to you from a poem by Harryette Mullen, Rolf Jacobsen, Homero Aridjis, Dylan Thomas, Emily Dickinson, or William Blake, and provide a brief explanation as to why that line stands out for you.

Erasures / Cut-up Poem

On 1/6, the class practiced writing erasure/cut-up poems using Steven Shevell's Science of Color as the source text.  Each student wrote his or her own poem, and then shared the results with a group.  The group then chose the strongest line from each poem.  I took these lines and made a Franken-poem with the results . . .  Here it is, "The Color of the Natural Body" as written by the Winter 2016 Introduction to Creative Writing class.

The Color of the Natural Body
(a collaborative erasures poem based on Steven Shevell’s Science of Color)

I
The human eye is the energy of light,
a blue appealing end
learned by children, seen in a rainbow
in whose eyes underlie absent pink skin.
The purest of substances found to scatter light
produce flames, blue eyes.

II
He draws a small circle that is then the circle of gravity
connecting the greatest brilliancy,
the first to understand the purest of substances showed intensity by the power of light.
It seems remarkable but the eye is sensitive, visible to the ultra-violet,
seems remarkable that color is applied to the eyes,
the epitome of rarity in the eyes.
The blue sky and red sunset scatter in the atmosphere.

III
Color is perceived.
Color can produce vibrations, and the effects give the colors some sort of movement.
Color centers from scattering rainbow prism and defraction of opals.
Color vibrations aurora brass.
Color is light.

IV
Colored shadows seen to enter a room,
complicated epitome.
Impurities, one colorless:
hues vary, brilliant white, light.
However, that epitome of this rarity, which dominates
a visual experience,
distinct color small to the eye.
Explanations incorrect.

V
Interactions of the colorless increase bonding.
Higher energies poured on individual action.
Promiscuously white light.
Energy is absorption and allowed
light, surrounding another is illumination.
Bonded with wide variety is the interaction of light.

VI
We judge uniquely character color of the object.
We perceive color
illuminated by skylight,
pink skin just below the surface,
brown black colors absent in whose eyes?
Not completely polarized toward us
can permanently alter the human of light.

VII
Suddenly, an illusion is illuminated by sunlight:
dust into atmosphere,
blue sky, blue eyes, red sunset,
and so on.
Blue sunset, the epitome of the blue moon droplet fires,
intensity and power of scattering light then end.
The light depends on the dark.

Simic, Bishop, & Herrera

After reading the poems (in the course reader) by Simic, Bishop, and Herrera, what was your favorite line?  Why?  Answer in a short paragraph.