Move on from tired diction
‘Moonlight and you”; ‘Starry nights’; ‘stormy seas’; ‘sun-kissed waves’. For thousands of years poets have used the same old metaphors and symbols and juxtapositions and collocations again and again. It’s time to move on.
New disciplines, new language:
For many years I have been like a satin bowerbird hunting for blue treasures, only I am hunting for words, sifting through books on sciences I know little about . Law, cosmology, anatomy, earth sciences, quantum physics offer up many surprising and fresh phrases that intrigue the mind: ‘suspect terranes’; ‘katabatibc winds’; ‘blue shift’. Many of these phrases have found a place in some of my poems, and my thinking about poetic language. They surprise me, jolt me out of myself.
https://charlotteclutterbuck.com/613-2/
Evading control, breaking down writers’ block
Often when a writer starts a piece, they know where they are going. Once you start a sentence (‘The elephant…’; ‘The space-ship…’; ‘Rain’, ‘When’), you are already setting out on a path that is somewhat fixed. And if you don’t get where you think you were going you can get discouraged. But if you don’t know where you are going, you can embark on a voyage of exploration, with all the excitement that entails.
Weathervanes: An exercise in surprising yourself
Today my writing group enjoyed my exercise in surprise so much that they asked for it again next time. I brought in a variety of books drawing on different sciences––Anatomy, Vulcanology and ‘Harmsworth’s Self-Educator’––and an excellent list of weather terms:
https://www.weather.gov/otx/full_weather_glossary.
The aim was to get away from tired poetic images and idioms––sunset, moons and starry nights––and to surprise ourselves into new metaphors and juxtapositions.
Exercise: Weathervanes: 17.8.25
When words like moon and stars and dawn seem overtired (poetically speaking) try looking for new metaphors, symbols, juxtapositions in the language of other disciplines (weather, engineering, medicine, astronomy.
- You might choose some words/phrases from the weather list below.
- Add a few from one or more of the books.
- Feel free to swap, snatch, share the books.
- Mix vigorously.
- Write….
Select Weather Terms:
Adapted from: https://www.weather.gov/otx/full_weather_glossary
DENSE FOG – A cloud, with its base on the surface, which reduces visibility to 1/4 of a mile or less.
DEWPOINT DEPRESSION (TDD)– The positive numerical distance between the temperature and the dewpoint.
DIRTY HIGH OR RIDGE – High pressure usually brings clear weather. A high pressure is termed “dirty” if it has a canopy of clouds associated with it.\
DOWNBURST – A strong downdraft of air which induces an outburst of damaging winds on or near the ground.
DRY SLOT– Refers to a influx of dry air (especially toward a mid-latitude cyclones
ICE JAM – an accumulation of broken river ice caught in a narrow channel that frequently produces local floods during a spring break-up.
KATABATIC WIND – Local winds a result of cold, dense air flowing downhill.
LATENT HEAT – the heat energy that must be absorbed when a substance changes from solid to liquid and liquid to gas…
NEGATIVE TILTED TROUGH– A trough which tilts from the northwest toward the southeast, creating instability since cold temperatures in the mid and upper levels advect over warmer air at the surface.
STABLE AIR – air with little tendency to rise, usually clear dry weather.
STACKED– A pressure system which shows up in the same general location on every height analysis or forecast chart–– an indication low pressure is weakening.
STRAIGHT LINE WINDS– Damaging thunderstorm winds produced as air rushes downward from a thunderstorm. Often called gust fronts or downburst winds these winds may produce damage similar to that of a tornado.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION – Tropical mass of thunderstorms with a cyclonic wind circulation and winds between 20 and 34 knots.
WIND SHEAR -The change of wind speed or direction with distance or height.