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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

14 October 2024

Posted by Tabby Hayward

NIGHTMARE POEMS

9 attending

Some people find the whole concept of poetry nightmarish (which is sad!)...so this week we looked at how to describe a nightmare in a poem.

First, we looked at kennings - Old Norse/Anglo-Saxon metaphorical compounds, where two words are glued together like a compact little riddle, to tell the story or true nature of a thing - for example, sky-candle (sun), blood-icicle (spear), whale-road (sea). After guessing some of these Old English kennings, the writers were challenged to come up with some of their own, for sleep, moon, bed, blanket, fear, wake, worry, night, nightmare and daydream. There were some brilliant ideas and we had a lot of fun guessing them!

Next, the writers came up with quick fire answers for if a nightmare was: a colour, an object, an animal, a weather, a shape, a mythical creature, a plant, a person.

Then we looked at four poems about nightmares - Nightmare by Frank Chipasula, Fox by Alice Oswald, Nightmare by Alan Grossman and Nightmares, Daymoths by Anne Stevenson. Inspired by the very different ways these poets described nightmares or a nightmare state, through metaphor, imagery, sound, rhyme and shape on the page, the writers came up with their own nightmare poems - the only rule was that they had to include at least one of their kennings, and at least one of their metaphors.

Here are Lawrence, Tia and Imani's richly atmospheric poems:

By Lawrence:

I am walking across old ground, knowing
I am pursued; a
hunter’s  breath
Flickers within now
treacherous tree-lines I
called home, before life’s verve lulled me away,
before
mother’s-weaving was replaced
with pills
prescribed by men
whose well-to-do smiles never reached their eyes.

By Tia:

‘Sleek beast
Prowling, oh so softly
He hunts alone
He hunts for me

He cries
And calls his mother-night
I weep with him
Yet all alone

Gnarled hands
Caress this second-skin
They clutch and crush
Ensnaring breath

Coarse-rain
Descends, so swift and true
False-death awaits
The beast, he hides

He knows
The truth in darkness lies
We’ll meet again
We always do’

By Imani:

Child like minds wrecked with courage taker
Stalked by panther
And body follower
Midnight blue smiles
Circles
It raptures you in thunderstorm
Toss and turn
As dare to dream steal





































 

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