Creativity

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d.school

Struggle to recall where I read of it recently

There has to be a word for it.
I 'struggled to recall where I read of it recently' when I came across The Death of Archimedes by Antoni Slonimski.
I searched all the essays in my email. I recalled the recent poetry books I read. BJWard, Billy Collins? But I knew it was a female writer. I was going to look in the library reading history.
This blog is a Reading log

The power of adjective

1. Wax candle stays with you long after you read the following poem. The next time you read of a candle (flame), you are sure to think of this 'wax candle'.

Virgin and Child in Quentin Masys poem by Jaroslaw.

To get your creative juices flowing, look out for adjectives that can be added into any drab piece of reading to make it  unique and memorable.
Wax candle would strike redundant at first but now since we have the Flameless candle , its a point in time from where man has learnt to seperate the light and warmth from the flame.

2. I recall reading about Archimedes death recently in The Calculus diaries  that he was frought in geometry while the death not knocked on his door but really barged in. This poem To the Germans with the reference to adder nests in the marble of the house, through its plunge in image takes the mind along the process of dislocating the floor reflecting the disorbitation of the guy who could move the earth from a firm spot.

Multitude

When do we think of plural

when teacher asks for many

of a singular form

Does a musician fixate

on one instrument?

Tree work ahead

Friend says

For a preschooler

everything is work

When you drink tea

its tea work for them

What is tea work?

Making

Drinking 

Clean up

What is tree work?

Hssh. the trees are at work

sprouting

The tree is the sign 

of 

nature at work

All things pink

are iconic
Pink flamingo

MCSweeney poetry series

Recently I came across Mcsweeneys poetry series and now I am reading The Boss by Victoria Chang which is a part of that.


Trimeter

old 20 note goes out of wallet faster than a fresh 5

Men tip more. Does it align any one way if its a waiter or waitress?

Younger students perform better. But what if students joined the school system a little later like say at the age of 5 instead of 3.

Clive James poems

Taw in the memory game in Stagedoor Rocket science

Poems with pictures
Whitman and moth
Shark

Exercises:
1. Write a poem with strong first, second, third lines - Nefertiti in the Flak tower
2. What is poetry to you? for e.g Poetry as Numismatics. In this poem, the poet compares the process of writing poetry to making coins out of Planchet
3. A petrels fast movement is likened to an agile dancer in Against gregariousness.

 The movement of spreading out your wings or limbs does look similar like skydiving.

What if the dark nights were mountains

like the illustrations in A snowy day. 

360 degree story weaving

City of refuge project

Business writing

A colleague of mine writes very good emails about the history of a problem, its solving.

1. Whats in it for them.

2. Benefits not features.

3. Using Relationship building techniques. But we feel a certain way and only then ask about.

Older book

Why Literature

View from the top of a slidy mountain

Al Jaffee's Mad Life

Recently I started reading 'Inklings: A memoir by Jeffrey Koterba', but I had to put it away as it was too evocative of the family conditions. I am not made to read well written books like 'Angelas Ashes' by Frank Mccourt.
The material that Al Jaffe has could have been written in a similar way, very well and never be read. But written in the collabarotive way that it is, with Jaffe's unique sketches of his childhood and Weisman's writing, 'the book will be read' (Paraphrasing Adam Levine).
Even if you try to get ahead of the book with the sketches, they need explanation of all the mischievous things that Al Jaffe has been upto in his life. This way the writing and the sketching take the yarn ahead smoothly. This book is an example of how difficult situations like displacement from your familiar environment into a different culture back and forth, can be looked at in a 'funny' perspective at some cost to the author.
Talking of funny, its the 'funnies' that he looked forward to in the tough time and little surprise that he grew up to be such a big contributor to MAD magazine. Fold-ins. Tall tales.

Feb 19, 2011

Go put your apron on

Pure and Simple: Vidhu Mittal

I tend not to make pulao dishes for the excessive amount of rice in it, but this book has cast a green spell on me with its 'Broccoli-Zucchini-Spinach pulao'. It tastes good and while chewing spinach, you get to understand why this dish does not need many spices. Yellow looking 'Sabz Pulao' with cauliflower, potataoes and peas is a good way to get all the veggies in.
The book increases your interest in cooking. Its both the pictures and the simple steps. Finding a pictorial how-to for the 16 layer paratha, I dived in.

Jan 11, 2011