March 2023 Supplementary Meeting Minutes

 

HIGHTOWN WRITERS’ WRAP-UP FOR 14 MARCH 2023 MEETING

 

 

 

Venue: Peepo

Time: 7 pm [although a certain unnamed person arrived around 7.25…] till around 9.15 pm

Host: Me (Alex)

Guestlist: Adam, Irena, Tony, me

 

 

The second annual Alternative Tuesday went down better than a man tunnelling to New Zealand. Four intrepid word warriors squared off against the English vernacular for an evening of syllabic synergy – or something like that…

 

The escapades began with a free-write, which, as I mentioned in my previous write-up, is a stream-of-consciousness exercise where the participants write – or type – whatever comes into their heads.

 

Adam’s, Irena’s and Tony’s pieces were standard pieces of prose, whereas mine was, as last time, rather surreal.

 

After that, we had the first round of the read-outs portion of the evening. Tony had completed Liz’s homework task, and he recited a piece of prose that he had written. It recounted the life of an 18th-century man from Hereford. Tony’s knowledge of that period was rather good, and he incorporated that knowledge into the piece, detailing the man’s life as a clergyman.

 

Irena read a countryside-themed poem that she had written whilst taking a break from her “lurcher memoirs”. Normally, she writes prose; however, she is going through a poetic phase at the moment, and it is producing good results! The poem contained great descriptions, and I look forward to reading it on this blog.

 

Adam had completed some of my homework tasks, and he read out a well-crafted space-inspired tanka and a woodland-themed sonnet. Both were rich in imagery, particularly the latter, which zoomed in, so to speak, on various aspects of a wood; it was a very imaginative and original sonnet.

 

Then it was time for the word maze. The words were tin, grass, mountain and compound. Having just four members present perhaps made the task seem a little less structured than it normally is, and so Tony’s, Irena’s and my pieces were rather open-ended, so to speak. Adam, however, went in a different direction and wrote a nature-themed piece about the history of a mine; it’s always interesting to hear where these writing prompts take us.

 

Next, I decided that we’d have a second round of read-outs because we had a lot more time tonight. So, Irena read out two more of her poems, which contained a lot of imaginative imagery and original metaphors.

 

Adam, continuing to contribute to my homework task, read out a haiku entitled “Dark as night”, mentioning that he wasn’t keen on the piece’s title. Nevertheless, it was an interesting haiku. He followed it with another space-inspired tanka, which was based on

 

observations from his window. Adam has certainly captured the essence of haikus and tankas, and I look forward to reading more of his poems on this blog.

 

Tony read out a short piece of prose called “Character study of a salesman”; this was a light-hearted biographical piece about handy traits to have when pursuing a career in sales.

 

Adam then concluded the round by reading out a hip hop-style piece by the name of “Civilisation”. This was a very rhythmic, rhyme-strewn work that contained a lot of sociological themes, and he certainly conveyed a hip hop song’s spirit.

 

The third, and final, writing task of the evening was what I call “Simply Similes”. The challenge was to come up with some unique similes from some “starter lines”, and I think we succeeded. The lines were as follows:

 

As soft as…

As strong as…

As angry as…

As gentle as…

As light as…

As nimble as…

As slimy as…

 

Finally, it was time for me to set the homework. You may select one, some or all of the following four tasks. So, for the prose peddlers:

 

1. Write about your favourite animal.

 

2. Write about your favourite colour.

 

And for the poetry purveyors:

 

1. Write a poem, using only ‘perfect’ rhyme.

 

2. Write a spring-themed ballad.

 

Right then, I suppose I’d better explain the preceding two tasks.

 

So, by “perfect rhyme”, I mean words that rhyme completely. The following word pairs are examples of this concept:

 

grow/flow

blink/think

shade/glade

two/through

silly/hilly

thrifty/nifty

pulley/gulley

given/striven

 

The word pairs below are not examples of perfect rhyme; they are examples of half-rhyme [on this occasion, assonance – see my previous write-up for more information about half-rhyme].

 

grow/flows

blink/inch

shade/beige

two/view

silly/busy

thrifty/swiftly

pulley/flurry

given/vision

 

Yes, poetry is a rather pedantic science! Remember that it is the sound that counts and not the spelling. So, for example, rough and bluff rhyme perfectly. And if anyone manages to find a rhyme word for pint, then I shall recommend them for an OBE (I have the authority to do such things) – no eye-rhymes, please!

 

I am assuming that not everyone knows what a ballad is, so here’s my explanation of one:

 

Basically, a ballad goes der-duh-der-duh-der-duh-der-duh/der-duh-der-duh-der-duh. For example:

 

[Line 1] I stood upon the stairs and cried,

[Line 2] “I need a house, though, too!”

 

And then:

 

[Line 3] The vibrant wind engulfed my face;

[Line 4] A roof, as well, would do.

 

So, a ballad has four iambs in the odd-numbered lines. (An iamb is a ‘light’ syllable followed by a ‘heavy’ one – for example: the word away (-/) is an iamb; the word central (/-), however, isn’t.) And it has three iambs in the even-numbered ones:

 

Line 1: -/-/-/-/

Line 2: -/-/-/

Line 3: -/-/-/-/

Line 4: -/-/-/

[etc]

 

A ballad’s rhyme scheme is generally ABCB:

 

A house, a roof – my life’s complete! [A]

I’ve never known such bliss! [B]

But now, of course, I need some rooms – [C]

They wouldn’t go amiss. [B]

 

However, a ballad doesn’t have to rhyme – it’s your choice!

 

Well, everyone, that’s your lot! The group’s next meeting is scheduled for 28 March at 7 pm; the host is to be confirmed – volunteers, anyone…?

 

 

Alex