Month: January 2016

Poetry Memoir Class

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I am offering what I hope will be a cornerstone of my term as Cupertino’s third Poet Laureate:  a Poetry Memoir Class!

Memoirs can be tricky.   Have you ever thought of writing a memoir, but you aren’t sure how to go about it?  Maybe you’ve started and become stuck.  Maybe you haven’t started because the task seems too enormous.   Or maybe (hopefully!) you are really enjoying the memoir writing process, and you’d like to find a creative way to complement your work.  Yes?  Well, this class is for you.  A poetry memoir is an approachable, definitely doable project!

The class will help writers create a collection of interrelated poems.  In a fun and affirming atmosphere, beginning and experienced poets will discover ways to write about the “cast of characters” and the “settings” of their lives.  There will be plenty of examples and exercises to give poets concrete, meaningful, and productive writing experiences.  Poets can also learn about other writers who work with poetry and memoir, discovering a broader, deeper world of reading to enjoy.

The main goal, of course, is to HAVE FUN while preserving our memories in this beautiful, powerful art form.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a small book of poems for your life?  Yes!  We will write together, and each class session will send participants home with two or more poems for their memoirs.

Attend the whole course or drop in for a day.  Each session will be a stand-alone class, so you won’t be lost in Class 3, for example, if you could not come to Class 1 or 2.

Meetings will be in the Cupertino Library Story Room from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on February 26, March 11, March 25, April 8, and April 22.  There is no fee.  Please bring a notebook.

An RSVP is helpful but not necessary.  Show up spontaneously if you like!  Thanks, everyone.  I hope to see you there.  Oh, and bring your friends.

 

Write Your First Poem

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One of Jennifer Swanton Brown’s last events as Cupertino Poet Laureate was the “Write Your First Poem” workshop, held Thursday, October 8, 2015. Fifteen people came to the Cupertino Library Story Room for a fun and interactive workshop. A few people were there writing their very first poems, and a few were old timers from the community, looking for some new inspiration. All went away with poems, and from the smiles on their faces, a good time was had.

write your first poem group with kids.JPG

These photos are of the exercise Jennifer did to warm up the crowd, the poem they wrote as a group from random words (chosen from Jennifer’s “word bowl”) and the prompts offered to tempt first time writers.

One of the first time writers was Yana Gulati, an elementary school student from Cupertino, who came to the workshop with her mother Elisabeth Merkle. Yana has given us permission to post her poems here, both in their first rough draft form and her typed second drafts. (I have a sneaking suspicion that Yana is not really a first time poet…)

Enjoy Yana’s poetry and please, Cupertino, keep writing!

two poems by Yana Gulati rough drafts_Page_1two poems by Yana Gulati rough drafts_Page_2

 

Why?

Why part for tomorrow, when you can do things today?

Why go back in the past when you can live in the present?

Why have a world with worries when you can have a carefree world?

Why would you have wrinkles when you could be young and frolicky.

Oh yes, there are many “why’s” in our planet.

 

Lies

Lies? Why tell lies about rushing when you say you got stuck in traffic, but you actually lost your pet rat Cinnamon.

Lies, Lies, the more you tell, the guiltier you get.

Why tell lies about loving spinach leafs, but when you eat them you spit it out.

Why tell the lies, the guilty, guilty lies instead of being truly honest.

 

 

Cupertino’s Sixty Year Sonnet

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To honor Cupertino’s 60th Birthday, Jennifer Brown wrote this poem, which was published in the Cupertino Courier, September 25, 2015.

Sixty Year Story & More

You can’t be born or buried in Cupertino—
no hospitals, no graveyards. People come
to our city to work, to go to school, to live
with the likes of us, right here. Weirdly square
on the map, we stand on land both old and new.
Change is great and terrible and never ends.
The creek where first Ohlone stood – now dry.
The apricot cannery corner gone – except
in memory. A father brought his family
to streets where paving over prune trees was
the modern way. Now buildings named for new fruit
crowd the proud roads, green with bike lanes glittering.
60 years of safe and happy homes—
you might just be the coolest city we know.

You can read the article that accompanied the poem, “Telling the poetic story of Cupertino as city turns 60” at this link.

With thanks to Matt Wilson of the Courier for all his encouragement.