Assignment for Week Three

The assignment for Week Three is to write or revise a poem, paying particular attention to your "voice" in the process.  Be aware of the persona you assume as you write.  Is it "you?"  Or is it a character you've created? 

Imagine the person or people to whom the words of your poetry "speak" as you write them. 

Imagine the details of an interpersonal setting (a reading? a conversation? etc.) in which the poem will be communicated. 

Be aware of the tense[s] you have chosen to write the poem.  Are you narrating something from long ago?  Does narrative time distance between the event or subject and your narration enhance the experience of writing?  Or would it facilitate the process to return to the time that it happened, so that it seems to be occurring before your eyes as you write, and as the reader eventually reads?  What would happen if you were to experiment with a change of tense or narrative time distance?

Be aware of your choice of narrative "person" [first ["I"], second ["you"] or third ["he" or "she"], or first person plural ["we"] or even third person plural ["they"].  What might happen if you were to experiment with a change?  Would it enhance the comfort of your writing?

Allow these contemplations to affect the way you write and complete the poem.