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"Poetry: Not for Dummies" --> A Primer on Writing Poetry, with one example by P J Gammarano, Sr.

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About This Lesson

"One way to write a poem": 

  [  by P J Gammarano, Sr.    from  25 October 2020]

With credit (similarly as my NASA Astronaut friend spacewalking Mario had cited, in his NY Daily News article part bio) to the true top-quality of elementary Catholic school education. 

In my case it was Immaculate Heart of Mary, Brooklyn, NYC--being as one of the classroom "desk duckers", i.e., those of us who have fond memories of being ordered by our Teachers under our desks; as practice for nuclear attacks by the 1960s Russians & Nikita Kruschev.  

Like those wooden school desks would have protected us ?!

            ========================================

So here is the "1-2-3" poetry tutorial:

1 - think of a situation, or be inspired by such a circumstance.  It can be a person or a place, also.

2 - find at least one "catch word" or a few which fit with the situation, person, or place, then...

3 - think of words that rhyme with the catch word(s); "run the alphabet" through the catchword.

For example:  Knight, goes with  ----> light, flight, slight, white, sight, trite, etc.

What inspired this e-note ?

The word Trump on the TV news.  I had quite erroneously thought at the time that the news caster had said "President Slump" sarcastically !

Then, the thought of Klump, Hump, Dump, Frump immediately came to mind -- even before the "alphabet run"  as follows -

Bump

Crump

Gump (as in Forrest Gump)

Jump 

Lump

Mump

Pump 

Rump

Schlump (it's in the dictionary !)

Sump

So there are the metaphorical bricks to build yourself a "wall of poetry".

And why stop there in 2020 ? 

What rhymes with "riden" ?

slidin'

hidin'

confidin'

widen

And now for the" alphabet run":

chidin'

collidin'

deridin'

dividin' 

glidein'

sidin'

tiden'         

==================

Build your own "wall of poetry" !

================================================

On a related e-note:

There was a hit song in the mid-to latter 1960s "The Name Game" (written by Lincoln Chase and Shirley Elliston), which took the above concept of word-rhyme to popular music with people's first names.

You may recall, it goes like this:

  Shirley, Shirley, bo' pearly, bo nana, nana bo pearly, fi, fi mo mearly, Shirley.

Let's do Lincoln...

===========================================

This is alot of fun for students younger & older alike.

========================================

Here is one example:

"Music Notes, and Notes on Life"

                        by P. J. Gammarano, Sr.  26 Feb 2021

Guitar players strum...

Drummers, they drum.

To many folks, a politician's a bum;

with all the news, we're getting numb.

Media treats us as if we're all dumb.

'May be true, but not for some.

Fluters play their toot.

Robbers seek their loot.

Sports fans for teams, they root.

When coaches fail, they get the boot.

Accountability an important part.

"Getting over" is merely an art.

The legacy it makes is fake.

The record 'speaks itself'; foresake...

...the errors made along the way.

Main mission's accomplished,

                   it's quite safe to say.

Musicians play their distinctive notes;

Pundits state their quotable quotes.

Voters cast their now-questioned votes;

the fishermen cast also, from their weathered boats.

Yes, the band plays hit tunes not gone,

as this pen here on paper pushes on.

Even after the major issue is gone,

it tells us, keep our senses in line...

...that goes with having consistent a spine.

Decisions made, decisions done.

Those wisdoms established, with room for fun.

==========================================

Wellness,

P J G

Prof. P J Gammarano, M.A., JD     

Health Educator, and former very-large institutional Risk Manager / Safety Manager / Contracts Associate Director, inter alia

LinkedIn.com member  with 50+ article postings

Kingsborough Community College /CUNY  <---ranked "top 150"  for USA community colleges & 2nd in NY State !

Author of  - 

"Teaching: Not For Dummies // Substance Abuse Awareness: A Guidebook"

                             and other book titles

Publisher  -  http://www.XLIBRIS.com

CUNY - KBCC  HPER Department since 1997   

  [St. Johns University SI campus  (Telecomm courses)   1999 - 2005]    

  ========  Not necessarily the views of the colleges / universities ! =======

  ======== View authored article posts (diverse topics) on  LinkedIn.com

and 

          various sports articles on http://www.STACK.com​ ========

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