Squirrel

It was the middle of a class - or was it at

the very start - a squirrel! said someone

A squirrel! came from the back row, a-

squirrel ricochetted down

the hall and off it went  -  off

through an open door, and back 

up, up the limbs

of the larch tree where one of us

had spotted her

in the first place -  it was

the end 

of term; we wanted more

of what she had out there

and so

we left the subject to unplot itself,

our hair tangled

with the soft needles

we laughed, and fell down 

as rain

And then

spring

came

It is... like what?

As a way of celebrating Earth Day, choose some part of nature and describe it by saying that it's like something else. Or that it is something else.

A Shell

is a shape. It is a shade. A seal, broken. An equivalent of a bone. A home of someone who has left. A spiral. A staircase. One half of a two-part whole. It is a hole and a corridor. A cradle. A microbowl. A pink nail left in the sand. A white shard buried in a dune. A raven's beak's crescent moon. A stamp on the surface of a stone. A necessary stage. A story, lost and found. 

What's in a text? And what's in the two ones, put together?

Listen to the song "July Morning" by Uriah Heap:

https://youtu.be/grSWdLdp7po?si=xokUq7YtiUlMH6dg

and then listen to / read the poem "Journey" by Mary Oliver:

https://youtu.be/PW7KjF8mXPk?si=hJ02B8G9sN8qNA94

You can read the song lyrics here:

https://www.tekstowo.pl/piosenka,uriah_heep,july_morning.html

and the plain poem (with no music in the background) here:

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/5249/the-journey/

Brainstorm to find similarities and differences between the two texts. Consider these few questions (and, obviously, ask yours):

What is it about? Or, what's the first impression?

How does the music add to what's being told?

What's the time of the day / year in each text, and how does it matter?

Are there any colours? Specific elements?

What kinds of motion and stillness do you see? What purposes do they serve?

What draws your attention more than anything else (a line, an image, a word)?

What approaches to life does each text offer? 

What story is being told? Whose story might it be?

What's the most important thing in life?

Can the two texts, read together, bring a more whole picture of what life is about? Or do they contradict each other?

Have a beautiful journey.

Oppositions

Write a short poem of oppositions. Go for the obvious or for the less obvious... :) 

What's the opposite of a kiss?

                              - a bite
The opposite of green? Antarctic white

Of a train? a pile of broken bikes
Of cake? a funeral, or Finnegan's Wake

What is the opposite of a fence? an open space
The opposite of an I? the Uni-verse 



(The task was found in The Pocket Muse by

Monica Wood)

Translating a colour into images (and sensations)

Translating a colour into images (and sensations)

Here's how to do it:

BLUE

Blue is a lake. Some exotic sea. The Pacific. The sky, vast. It is my father's eyes, my sister's eyes, and mine. A scarf. Also, Portuguese tile mosaics. A magic fish.

The smell of fresh air. A breeze; the time between the last day of winter and the first day of spring.

Its taste? Nothing in particular. Or, maybe, the taste of an icicle. Something that was strong, and got rarefied.

It feels like traveling by plane. Distance, distancing. Touching cosmic space. It feels like a lot of water between your palms, a lot of time at your fingertips.

It sounds like silence. Like a bird flying. Or, like a seawave coming to the shore and going back.

Blue means waiting for something to happen or someone to come. But it also means quiet and calm. Like there's never been any noise in the Universe.

Travelling

As an old Latin saying goes, Navigare necesse est.  Bearing this in mind, write a blog entry (yes, this is an exam-oriented task, but with a slightly different mindset) in which 

- you will tell your readers about your latest journey/trip;

- you'll mention something surprising that happened at the station or at the airport;

- you'll reccommend a way of packing that proves successful and convenient in your case (pun!);

- you'll ask your readers how they choose - or find (another pun!! :)) - their travelling destinations as well as how they plan their journey/trip.

The word limit: 120-180

Hunting For Meaning

We're going to read "The Hunt" - a short story by Steven Nightingale, and hunt for different things as we go.

First, jot down a handful of associations connected with the title: hunt. You can include its derivatives, too: hunting, and hunter / huntress. Choose one idea, word or picture and underline it or write it down on a separate piece of paper and put it aside. We'll use it later.

Now, what do you expect the story to be about? Can you foresee some elements of the plot? Maybe the whole possible story line?

Read the story. Then look at the possible directions to go around it.

1. How do you find the story? Did you enjoy it? Was it lukewarm? Did you get disappointed?  Does it still linger in the air? 

2. If it disappointed you, try to find out why - or where. If you admire it - say what you admire. 

3. In your opinion, what is the most important part (a paragraph, a couple of sentences, a single sentence) of the story? Why?

4. Write a few questions concerning the plot or the characters. What would you like to know or clarify? What intrigues you? Where would you be willing to go further?

5. To make the story fuller, check up the images incorporated in the story. Proper names, names of species, etc. Landscapes. Can you read it with your senses?

Also, guess the meaning of the new words or look them up in a dictionary.

Now, let's pay attention to the story structure:

1. What hints, warnings or promises did the writer place in the first paragraph?

2. How do you understand the very ending: "...we must hunt what no one can kill"?

The story is an example of magical realism. What characteristics of this genre can you notice?

You can read an interesting article about magical realism here:

https://writers.com/what-is-magical-realism-in-literature

Now, here are three creative writing tasks to choose from:

1. Get back to what you noted down - an idea, word or image. Use it as a seed for a new story.

2. Answer the questios that you've written down concerning the plot or the characters as if you were the writer. You can incorporate your "findings" into the story.

3. What is this something that no one can kill? Make a few hypotheses.

Do you think this story matters nowadays? Why / how? Or - why not?