In high school, I had a young teacher straight out of college. She came up with the idea to have us study song lyrics as modern poetry. We’d pick the words of a song and analyze what the songwriter was trying to say. I thought it was a cool thing to do at the time. I still like the idea. I want to revisit that practice on this last leg of my Golden Shovel Poems. I plan to take the lyrics of some of my favorite poems and use each word to end my lines. Bob Dylan’s from the Storm will be my first selection. I might as well start this off with a master like Mr. Dylan. Therefore, this new Golden Shovel Poem will be titled The risk.
Terrance Hayes invented the Golden Shovel style of poetry. This form of found poetry allows the writer to take a favorite poem and use it to make something original. I experimented with found poetry last year when I wrote Blank Verse poems. Now, I am having fun writing Golden Shovel Poetry.
The rules for writing a Golden Shovel Poem and Palm The risk
While researching this style of poetry created by Terrance Hayes, there seem to be four simple rules. You can use as many lines of the poem as you want, and the poem will end with you being your creation. I find this idea interesting. Written below are the three simple rules.
1). Choose a poem that you like. Currently, I will use Bob Dylan’s Shelter from the Storm.
2)Use each word in the line or lines as the end word in your poem. Make sure they stay in order.
3) Construct an entire poem around them. The meaning doesn’t have to be the same.
4) Give credit to the original poet who wrote the line or lines you used.
The risk
There is a single letter between no and not
A temptation, a trap, and a
Decision wrapped in a single word
Both negative as it was
But with a smile he spoke
“There is no in-between
The two of us”
And I trembled standing there
Because I knew the way it was
And I hesitated a little
Because I knew the risk
And wondered if I should be involved
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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Before the Storm
In high school, I had a young teacher straight out of college. She came up with the idea to have us study song lyrics as modern poetry. We’d pick the words of a song and analyze what the songwriter was trying to say. I thought it was a cool thing to do at the time.…
I love this. We are using Jim Morrision for the kids’ poetry work this week.
Puts us right there. Well done.