Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Writing an Ode

Well, a truer title would be 'Not Writing an Ode'. A friend of mine told me on Facebook I should write an ode about my new walker, which I had been writing great things about.

I value this friend's opinion on poetic things, so I went away to pen this ode to my walker. I started out by brainstorming and writing down words, phrases and so on, then began penning my ode. I soon realised I needed to read up about odes, famous ones, different types etc.

I got back to 'Ode to my Walker' wrote a few lines then stopped. I just didn't feel connected enough to the idea I think. But having said that, I've just had the thought that I should revisit what I've written and perhaps take my walker out for another walk to get some more ideas to write about.

Hmm, this blog post was going to be all about failing in my writing and ode mission. Poetry is funny like that - you start out somewhere and your head takes you to places you may not have known existed.

Goodbye - I have an ode to write!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Poetry, Students and Vegetables - this can Work!

I am currently putting together a project in my role as a Community Foodie in the Wakefield/Mallala region. This project brings together things I care deeply about, poetry and good nutrition and is planned to be a fun thing for everyone involved. The title of the project is Vegetable Victory.

I will be working once a week for four weeks at a particular Primary School and will talk to year 4/5 students about vegetables and why eating them is important. Every week there will be unusual vegetables to look at and learn about. Every week there will yummy vegetable snacks to eat.

The most fun part for me, I think, will be sharing poems about vegetables with the students. I've written some poems about vegetables especially for this project, and other Adelaide poets have got involved and given me poems to share too. I thank those poets for their kindness, thanks John Malone, and thanks Kami McInnes!

Students will hear poems and have a go at writing their own vegetable poems. At the end, I hope we can produce a publication with the student's poems and with pictures to share with the school and the community.

If this project goes as well as I hope it will, I’d like to take it to other primary schools in the region.