Pushing the Envelope – New Challenge to Remove Writer’s Block

Sometimes we see poets complaining via social media that they want to write but they feel wrung dry.  This is what we refer to as writer’s block.  We feel an irrepressible need to write, and when our muses are silent, we get aggravated.

Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, would be proud of this blog.  Chuck Yeager pushed the envelope of supersonic flight and “pushing the envelope” steadily grew into popular phraseology.  Pushing the envelope does not have anything to do with the postal service, rather, it means pushing a mathematical envelope of normal possibilities.

One way that writers tackle writer’s block is through poetry writing prompts.  Personally, many writers will agree that the best poetry writing prompts are the ones that push the envelope of the traditional iambic pentameter.

Using an alchemy of mathematical structures and writing, you can create a fun poetic masterpiece. Remember back in school when you were given a writing assignment with forced structure?  (Yeah, most of us hated that.)  The type of structure we suggest here is akin to cryptology.  Could you write a poem where the first word of each line rhymes?  Could you write a poem of homonyms?

Check out this fun ABC poem, shared with the permission of poet, Eric Musse:

Crazed Word Smithery

Another banished boy
Courageously creatively
Displaying every facetious facet
Gregariously hilariously
Interpreting indiscriminate implemented juxtaposed jurisdictions

Killing lusty lascivious laminated Mesopotamian mentalities
Neutralizing obvious overt possibilities
Quarantining ridiculous responding superficial Sumerian scleras
Seeking torturous time travel tendencies
Underlying viciously vacuous violent wizard-line youthful Zohar zealots.
-          Eric Musse (c) 2013

Thank you, Eric Musse and Chuck Yeager, for reminding us to continue pushing the envelope.

Keep writing and keep sharing!
Cronin Detzz

ANAGRAM POETRY IN 5 EASY STEPS

Feed me!  Anagram Poetry by Cronin Detzz

Here is a new challenge for your inner poet! Tackle your poetry writing block with an anagram of your name. The longer your name is, the more words you might find, but this is not always the case.

1. Start by choosing the name you'd like to anagram. I recommend starting with your own name. If you'd like to write an anagram for your ma (nice Mother's Day or birthday gift!) And her name is Jane Doe, you might want to also use her maiden name or make an anagram from a short phrase, like:"Jane Doe, the greatest mother ever."

2. Make a list of words. Give yourself extra points if you can create a word without using the same letter twice. For instance, Jane Doe only has one "d," so challenge yourself to use words that require only one "d." "Jane Doe, the greatest mother ever" contains words like an, and, are, as, dart, dear, do, don't, even, emote, gem, go, great, has, hath, heat, meager, mood, more, neat, nod, node, need, never, one, ogre, onto, over, read, remote, rev, she, so, some, son, stand, tart, tear, test, them, there, ton, vest. I'm sure you'll find more, as well.

3. Expand your word list, remembering word prefixes and suffixes. It is similar to playing a game of Scrabble or doing a good old fashioned word search. For example, many words end in "-tion," "-est," and "-ly." Many words begin with "pre-," "in," or "re." Our example contains retest, greater, greatest.

4. Look for short articles such as "in" or "the." You may find different insects or animals as well. This example has a doe, a dog, a deer and a moth. Keep your mind open.

5. Finally, see what you can string together. Don't worry if it doesn't rhyme. If you need a few more words, try rewriting all the letters in a jumbled order and your eyes will pick up new combinations.

Jane, a dear mother, a gem
Great to meet, she is neat
Never a greater heart
Most others never even start
She stands the test
Dare to meet the greatest
A hero, she has the "mostest"

Psychics say that our names have a vibration that is unique to each of us. Guess that makes me "so cozy!"

Keep writing and keep sharing!
- Cronin "Suzy" Detzz