Wednesday’s writing task

A blackbird, by Lukasz Rawa

Each day this week, we’ll load up a fun poetry task for you to use in conjunction with the poetry competition prompts, which are designed to help you get inspiration for your entry.

Wednesday’s task: Thirteen ways of looking at…

A very famous poem is ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ by Wallace Stevens.

Even though it was written in the 1950s, it still feels really modern. The poet has written essentially 13 tiny mini poems that are connected by the idea of a blackbird. 

Instructions: 

Look at the prompts for your category and choose the one you like the most. Try writing like Stevens did, imagining a number of different ways to see that thing or place. You can come up with whatever number you want, but try seeing it through a selection of different people’s point of view. Try describing it in the first person, the second person and the third person. Describe it in the past, the present and the future. Describe it the way you’d see it if you were joyful, or if you were desolate. 

Each of these mini descriptions can form a stanza in your poem, one way of ‘looking at’ your topic.

Happy writing!