Tag Archives: Queenswood Centre

Poetry Corner – Description as Mood Food

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Hello Dear Ones!

Last week on Poetry Corner I wrote about each of us being the poem in our everyday lives. Expressing our individuality through our uniqueness. Taking pride in all that makes us special, allowing us to stand out in a crowd – even if only a crowd of one – ourselves.

I also touched briefly on my pleasure at reading quality description – stand alone paragraphs, phrases and poems that ignite the reader’s senses to flare into action. A well written piece can actually activate a physical response as though the body itself was experiencing the event first hand. Craftily complied phrases about food should have the mouth juices flowing. Expressions of tactile origin can have you scratching an itch or brushing an invisible spider from your shoulder or rubbing your fingers and thumb together as though that rose petal truly lay between them. Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner

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This past May I had the honour and privilege of attending a personal week of retreat at Queenswood here in Victoria, BC, Canada. What an amazing opportunity and experience! In the quiet and beauty of this secluded area, I spent the majority of time in meditation – walking, reading, writing – listening and feeling. Even meals were a time of silence if I chose the earliest sitting.

I found myself drawn to the library (open 24 hours) late one evening and discovered a new author, Wendy Morton. She is a local woman, from Sooke, BC here on Vancouver Island. Her book “Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast” practically fell into my hands from an upper shelf display as I walked by. Through this book and her shared story and writings, Wendy has inspired me to perform spontaneous, playful ‘Random Acts of Poetry’.

In Wendy’s book (definitely a worth read!!!!!), she describes a style of poetry I’d never heard of before – Pantoum. It is a French form of poetry with ‘an intricate pattern of line repetition’.

Since that day, I’ve found myself using the Pantoum style any time I want to delve deeper into a concept. I’ve used it to expand ideas, to open myself up when blocked about something, to more fully explore a fabulous emotional response to a person or situation. Basically, when I want to understand my own self better, I take a thought or idea and ‘pantoum’ it!
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