Divas Girls Group - Poetry and Refresher & Editing

The Diva Girls Group

Session 13:

Poetry and Refresher & Editing

December 22, 2017

When I watched 2017 slowly tick away into 2018, there was a certain irony there. I watched Christmas turn into New Year’s Eve on the brink of new things that could happen. New perspectives on things that have already happened in the year happened. This time of year was a time of pondering and reflection. Shannon Hale said it best. “I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that I can later build castles.” Writing is a way of reflection, a way of expression and with that self-expression, I learned that writing – for all the years I had been doing it – could shift in different ways that brought the writer freedom and room for new discoveries.

Discovery was what I saw during the Poetry Refresher & Editing session of the Diva’s Program. The Divas came through to brainstorm what was the definition of a good mood. What made a poem impactful? What made a piece of poetry stand out? They explored this while adjusting pieces they had already written at the same time. They explored methods of using transitions, storytelling through real and imagined lived experience, flow that kept the reader hooked, conflict that brought tension to the piece of poetry. Like a smooth rollercoaster ride that made the reader buzz with excitement at the turn of events before the steep drop of a rollercoaster. See what I did there?

The Divas went through how to make their writing and poetry richer with description, alliterations and fragmentations to break sentences and even cause emphasis for the reader. They even experimented with rearranging sentences that weren’t as strong as intended, and even a writer could shorten or lengthen their sentences. The Divas, during the session, also experimented with the idea of using colour and rhyming words to emphasize their points and leave an impression on their audience.

I think writing is universal in every language, can be used in every kind of style and shaped in any kind of life experience. To experience all of the techniques suggested like using colour, testing sentence length, alliterations, here is this spoken word by grade seven student Olivia Vella as she talked about experience as a growing teenager. This, of course, relatable, because everyone is going or – someone like me – have gone through this. ​

Olivia Vella | "Why Am I Not Good Enough?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu_Gl0woeOw

--Erika Kakrah

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