written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Monday 25 November 2013

Poetry Exercises - The Power of Three

Poetry Exercises.

Ho Ho Ho. Well what can I say? This one is going to be interesting for me. You see, I'm a very uneducated poet. Oh I have much knowledge in the way of music; art; literature; design; football; the human condition and other such things. But I don’t know much about what things are called.

I write poetry from a creative point of view. When I learn some rules I try them out, discipline is very much part of the creative process. So when setting this poetry exercises please understand, I’m flying by the seat of your pants on this one.

I'm running the workshop at the end of December. The wonderful Vicky will be away and like a fool on roller-skaters, I stumbled through the second verse of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ and fell flat on my arse on the floor of agreeing to do it.

This workshop, as all the workshop are, will be linked to the theme of the following open mic night. In my case it will be ‘The Future’

So how does someone with a grade 3 CSE in English Lit go about creating something that will teach, help and inspire people. Well, I think I can rely on an old friend of mine, and the ‘future’ of poetry, performance.

Not that I have qualifications from RADA. It’s more an understanding of spoken words. Many years back I experience the power of delivering my words to a sitting audience. It felt amazing, hearing how you have so many people hanging on your every word.

One of the great writing for performance tricks is to use the power of three. You will here all public speakers from comedians to politicians use this one. It adds power, meaning and connects with the audience. It’s like thumbing your fist on the table, the lectern or punching the air. It is the first, the second and the third.

It is a very powerful tool that can be used at the beginning, the middle or the end of a poem. OK I think I've made my point there however, it is worth playing with.

You have to work out the order of the words to use. Sometimes this is because you want to rhyme, though personally I use it as a rise so that the final word is delivered as affirmation to the idea.

To really play with this trick try writing a three line poem, each line being a ‘power of three’ delivery. You could try doing this as a Haiku if you really want to test yourself.

Remember, this is about delivery, connection, performance.

Stop, desist, No more
Together, united, as one.
A better now, a better future, a better society

Give it a change, have a go and feel the power. The power of words, of meaning, the power of three.

Ok I’ll stop now, that’s enough, I'm going.

4 comments:

Ashley Lister said...

Not one line of poetry!
Not TWO LINES of poetry!
But THREE whole lines of poetic genius.

Inspired.

Rhetoric in performance poetry is a great way to start the week.

Ash

Colin Daives said...

Thank you Ash, I just hope it makes sense.

Steve Green said...

When you're feeling wan;

When you're tired and weary too -

Write some lines and set yourself free.

Steve Green said...

When you're feeling wan;
When you're tired and weary, too -
Write some lines and set yourself free.