Mentor Text: dedications of poems I cannot write by Joseph Fasano
Techniques:
- Idea generation
- Dedications in poetry
Background –
I am very much lamenting the slow decline of Twitter as a teaching resource and community.
Yet, as frustrating as it is, I hang on. Honestly, what I’m sharing this week is part of the reason.
I’ve loved what Joseph Fasano has added to poetry feed. He shares his poems, which are often of the moment, and timely to bring into class. He shares threads of poems around different themes, inviting the poetry community to add to them. His prompts, which went viral, and are going to be collected in a forthcoming book are wonderful writing inspiration.
As I waited for my wife on a recent morning, I scrolled through my feed, and found this gem from Fasano that I knew I wanted to share.
How we might use this text:
Idea Generation – Bear with me here. Fasano lets us know, by listing these dedications, topics he can’t write about. Much like the conversation I have with the students who are in my class when we discuss career development, figuring out what you can’t write may be the key to figuring out what you can write. Maybe it’s the things within a specific theme or topic our writers can’t explore. Maybe it’s a list of the things that they can’t write about, or the people they can’t write for. My initial saving of this poem went into my memoir writing file – let’s identify the things that aren’t on the table for our memoir work.
However, with the right group of writers, mightn’t we use this list as a challenge? What are the things on this list that we actually can write? How can we face the aspects of one, or more of these topics or people, and actually write that piece?
I really love the idea of using a list poem as a brainstorming tool, a catalyst for future pieces of writing.
Dedications in poetry – Maybe it’s the nature of my work as a high school teacher, but it feels like we get away from some of the specificity in some our writing assignments. Perhaps the age of our students means we’re not writing to specific people. Even when the relationships conform to traditional, stereotypical norms, the pains and perils of being a teenager make those things fraught with weird tensions. Maybe I like the challenge of exploring those emotions. Maybe I hope some catharsis and healing can be found in that writing.
Also, I really think the idea of having a clear audience may lend purpose to their writing. And sometimes, that purpose helps the writing happen.
Maybe it’s because I’m writing this surrounded by books and records, with a handful of geeky collectibles on those shelves. Maybe it’s because I have dear friends with wonderful collections that I low key envy. Maybe it’s a desire to push my writers to talk about themselves without doing it as explicitly as some of the texts we’ve looked at so far suggest. Regardless of the reason, I’m glad that this piece popped out from my collection of memoir mentor texts so I could share it with you.
Do you have elements of writing tasks that are small, but feel like they could be more important? Are there favourite sources that you rely on for new texts and ideas? With the changes we’re seeing in social media, where are you connecting with colleagues online?
Leave a comment below or find me on Twitter @doodlinmunkyboy!
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