First Day of Drama

Today's class was very enjoyable, with the first presentations of plays being read. I read my play first and I think that despite the typos (I typed it out really fast), it was a great opener. The others' plays were enjoyable too. I especially liked the play that examined the relationship between a serial killer and his mother. This was one of the ideas that stood for me the most when the ideas were being thrown out during the last week of poetry.

This section, I feel, is my second favorite section (the first being fiction). In fact, I think that the drama section acts like another part of fiction, since we're creating characters from our imagination.

Here's to the success of the first official day of drama and here's hoping that the next group of readers do well.

Drama

In yesterday's class, we started talking about drama. My fellow classmates came up with some interesting ideas for a short play, including a man with multiple personalities who is dating four different women, an elderly couple getting a divorce, two friends who want to blackmail a girl they don't approve of, a pregnant runaway slave, the relationship between a serial killer and his mother, etc.

I'm looking forward to hearing the finished product, since all these ideas sounded really intriguing to me.

Conclusion of Poetry

Today was the conclusion of poetry. After a brief introduction to drama, which we will be starting next week, we had a workshop where the people who didn't read last week read their poems.

The poem that stood out for me was "What Will Become of (?)," because my grandmother on my mother's side (my Nana), had leukemia, and for five and a half months, I watched her suffer as she went through aggressive chemo to combat the disease. Unfortunately, my Nana passed away nearly 10 years ago, but I remember the pain she went through. That's why this particular poem stood out for me. I know that I should've said this in class, but I didn't think about it until now.

Anyway, I look forward to drama. Should be fun!

Pantoum

I just finished the pantoum I was supposed to write for class and sent it off to the professor. I hope I followed the examples I found online and in The Poet's Companion correctly, since I've never attempted to write a pantoum until now. The poetry I usually write are either free verse or simple rhyming. I just hope my first attempt at a pantoum was a good one and I wonder what forms my fellow classmates have chosen to do. Guess I'll find out on Wednesday.

Poetry

Today, we continued with the poetry section, and the homework we were given was to write a poem in one of the forms that we discussed in class: haiku, sonnet, sestina, pantoum, or villanelle. I think I'll try my hand at a pantoum and see how I do with it, having never tried it before. It sounds like a fairly easy form to use, so I doubt I'll have a problem with.

Today, we also had a workshop. All the poems that my fellow classmates read were very interesting and I liked what each of them were about. I find that I like doing the workshop portion of the class because it gives me an opportunity to share my work and get feedback on it.

I'm looking forward to when we start drama, because although I haven't written a play in a few years, I think it'll be fun to do it again.

Poet's Companion

Today, I received "The Poet's Companion," and I decided to start reading it and possibly start writing a poem. As I mentioned in a previous post, it's been quite a few years since I last wrote a poem. I used to write poetry weekly when I attended poetry workshops with the VSA arts, a group that I have been involved with since 2003. Even though I haven't been able to participate in anything with them because of school and work, I enjoyed attending the poetry workshops and sharing a new poem every week with them.

I'm probably going to be a little rusty with poetry because I've been away from it for a while, but I'm sure that once I start, I'll know exactly what to do. I've got two weeks (since Spring Break is next week, even though for me, it started at around 1:30 this afternoon), so I'll have plenty of time to work on it. I'll also have time to re-read The Poet's Companion a couple of times.

Wrapping Up Fiction

Today, the people who didn't read last week presented their stories in the final workshop. A lot of the stories were really great. The one that interested me the most was the ones about the old lady and the murders that were taking place in the town. I liked the twist ending, it made you think that maybe the old lady snapped and committed the murders. Stranger things have been known to happen.

I enjoyed fiction very much and just because we're not doing it anymore doesn't mean that I won't still work on the fiction I was already working on before I signed up for this class. Also, I'm looking forward to Spring Break next week. I could use a break from all the stress, even if it is for a week.