This week's writing activity highlights a form of poetry that we have tried each of the past few years: the villanelle. Here's a famous example by Elizabeth Bishop:
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| Read more about Elizabeth Bishop on Wikipedia. |
(Write it!)
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Writing Activity: Compose a Villanelle
Attendance has been small recently, but the few of us who show up still play with language and still wish you were here...
This week's writing activity highlights a form of poetry that we have tried each of the past few years: the villanelle. Here's a famous example by Elizabeth Bishop:
(Write it!)
This week's writing activity highlights a form of poetry that we have tried each of the past few years: the villanelle. Here's a famous example by Elizabeth Bishop:
(Write it!)
Hide and Seek!
|
Eyes closed tight,
face against a palm tree
|
Footsteps I
heard, running away.
|
Wings flapped above
my head.
|
واحد، اثنان، ثلاثة،
اربعة، خمسة
|
I'll search the farm
for siblings and cousins
|
A giggle here,
a whisper there
|
حلال دم الغزال
|
Cracking of sticks
behind a tanoor[3]
|
A rustle in the
fields
|
واحد، اثنان، ثلاثة،
اربعة، خمسة
|
Footprints by the
river
|
An impatient head
sticking out of hiding
|
حلال دم الغزال
|
I'll find them all,
as I always do.
|
Run to catch one,
call out "you are it!"
|
واحد، اثنان، ثلاثة،
اربعة، خمسة
|
حلال دم الغزال
|
We Could Have That Conversation (a villanelle)
We could have that conversation,
Three of us
In the afternoon silence
Waiting for more rain
At the end of the day.
We could have that conversation
Once upon a time,
That shaped our dreams
In the afternoon silence,
With what noise of a clock,
A footstep, a voice that said
We could have that conversation.
With what do we welcome
The eternity in not knowing?
In the afternoon silence
We didn't. We tried to.
We gathered together and laughed.
We could have that conversation
in the afternoon silence.
Three of us
In the afternoon silence
Waiting for more rain
At the end of the day.
We could have that conversation
Once upon a time,
That shaped our dreams
In the afternoon silence,
With what noise of a clock,
A footstep, a voice that said
We could have that conversation.
With what do we welcome
The eternity in not knowing?
In the afternoon silence
We didn't. We tried to.
We gathered together and laughed.
We could have that conversation
in the afternoon silence.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Writing Activity: I come from...
Last week, writers met and started with the phrase "I come from...." The challenge asks us to consider our influences, which is more than just a place. What made you? We all come from some place, but we come from much more than that, too!
I Come From...
by Haya Al-Mannai
I come from a family of 5 children,
with 3 brothers and a sister.
I may not be the eldest,
but I was the first to graduate high school.
I come from a house on a commercial street
in neighborhood with tall streetlamps and tiny roundabouts.
I come from a city called Doha,
where traffic either drives you crazy or kills you, literally.
I come from a country in the east,
where cultures and traditions matter more than anything.
I come from a planet called Earth,
like 7 billion others.
I come from the solar system.
I’m glad we have a sun;
otherwise, we’d be dead.
I come from a family of 5 children,
with 3 brothers and a sister.
I may not be the eldest,
but I was the first to graduate high school.
I come from a house on a commercial street
in neighborhood with tall streetlamps and tiny roundabouts.
I come from a city called Doha,
where traffic either drives you crazy or kills you, literally.
I come from a country in the east,
where cultures and traditions matter more than anything.
I come from a planet called Earth,
like 7 billion others.
I come from the solar system.
I’m glad we have a sun;
otherwise, we’d be dead.
I Come from Superstition
How about that?
I come from a black cat
across your path,
a rusty horseshoe
nailed above the door,
salt over your shoulder.
I'm older than you,
Friday the 13th,
your birthday wish.
I come from a broken mirror
and a four-leaf clover,
cross my heart.
I'm over the moon about it.
I walked under a ladder.
What's the matter?
I come from a union of two
who stepped on cracks in sidewalks,
they were dreaming of fish
and someone was pregnant
I come from a black cat
across your path,
a rusty horseshoe
nailed above the door,
salt over your shoulder.
I'm older than you,
Friday the 13th,
your birthday wish.
I come from a broken mirror
and a four-leaf clover,
cross my heart.
I'm over the moon about it.
I walked under a ladder.
What's the matter?
I come from a union of two
who stepped on cracks in sidewalks,
they were dreaming of fish
and someone was pregnant
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Writing Activity: What is Your ABP Recipe?
How do you make a good / bad student? How do you pass a test? How might you impress a teacher or get kicked out class?
Read some of our recipes below!
Read some of our recipes below!
How to Make a Good Student?
by Shahad Abdulla
- First, add 100 ml of hope and faith
- 1 cup of attention
- 2 teaspoons of notes
- 3 cups of improving
- 2 cups of organization with a sprinkle of
time-management
- 14 ounces of mind maps
- Finally, enjoy the results
How to Impress Your Teacher
Ingredients
- none
- cellphone (optional)
- Starbucks beverage (optional)
- tardies to taste
Instructions
Attend class irregularly. Absences should be unexcused.
When entering the classroom after the lesson has started, move the chair as disruptively as possible while greeting your classmates, even if the teacher happens to be speaking. Shuffle papers and otherwise sit down noisily.
Arrive without brain or other required ingredients.
Stare dumbly at the clock until finished (about 50 minutes).
- none
- cellphone (optional)
- Starbucks beverage (optional)
- tardies to taste
Instructions
Attend class irregularly. Absences should be unexcused.
When entering the classroom after the lesson has started, move the chair as disruptively as possible while greeting your classmates, even if the teacher happens to be speaking. Shuffle papers and otherwise sit down noisily.
Arrive without brain or other required ingredients.
Stare dumbly at the clock until finished (about 50 minutes).
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Writing Activity: Desks & Tables
After a one-week Eid holiday, The Creative Writing Club reconvened yesterday, and we planned our first activity in conjunction with The Photography Club. While they were going to take pictures of desks and tables around the ABP, we tried to focus our energies on capturing those objects in words.
Circles With Brothers at Their Feet
by Khalid Omar
Circles with brothers at
their feet
(Circles/Others) with crosses as their feet
An eggyolk (tender/mother)
lying in the heat
Wooden arcs that might
not be as neat
White rectangles
that don’t fit
The elite
Ceramic rectangles as
Homes of cooked meat
Digging
by Aisha Alsai
digging
cut
kill
- a stapler digging into the papers
- a koala relaxing on the top of the cabinet.
- red flowers stabbed in the middle of a giant rose
- papers everywhere killed
- coffee
- papers
- hearts
- cards
- koala
- a weird red red flowers vase
Brown Wooden Desk
by Sara Al Darwish
Brown wooden desk
With so many colors, green,
Pink, yellow
Notes with many different
Shapes, a black phone, papers and
Books, pink clock also
Another clock that shaped like
A yellow book, cards
Everywhere, an open computer
On the desk
Perfumes,
Newspapers and calculators
Brown wooden desk
With so many colors, green,
Pink, yellow
Notes with many different
Shapes, a black phone, papers and
Books, pink clock also
Another clock that shaped like
A yellow book, cards
Everywhere, an open computer
On the desk
Perfumes,
Newspapers and calculators
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