Matthew Sweeney’s Guardian workshop invites participants to choose from 10 opening lines from W. S. Graham poems and use one of them to write a poem characterised by drama – deadline 12 August.
I’m going to write ten poems, one for each line – one each day, starting tomorrow, and I’ll post them daily to this blog.
Once I’ve written eight (by 9th August), I’m going to revise the best two or three from 10th-12th August and submit the best of these to the workshop. Then I’ll write the remaining two poems on the 13th and 14th.
Why? Because I think something good will come of it. I have a feeling. Maybe just one really strong poem, maybe more, who knows? Heh, maybe none.
If any of you want to join me, go for it. You can make up your own schedule, starting and finishing whenever you like, and you can use the opening lines in any order. The only rule is that the daily draft poem can’t take you any more than one hour to write – that doesn’t include thinking time, scribbling occasional ideas etc.
The available opening lines are:
Imagine a forest
I leave this at your ear for when you wake
Whatever you've come here to get
Shut up, shut up. There's nobody here.
Meanwhile surely there must be something to say
I called today, Peter, and you were away.
This morning I am ready if you are
Gently disintegrate me
Just for the sake of recovering
I have my yellow boots on to walk
