Facts

Fact: Beautiful Spring days like we've been having in St Andrews really make me thankful that I live in a castle with a garden next to it! It's great to wake up and go sit outside to do a bit of writing. That's what we did yesterday during class, as well. 


We persuaded Jacob to have our poetry class (on the topic of "the meaning of meaning"....ooh.) out on the grassy lawn behind Poetry House. After our discussion, Jacob led us in an 11 verse poem exercise that yielded some really interesting stuff from everyone, myself included!


First, he had us write down four facts. He also had an envelope labeled "Facts" (in case we couldn't think of any good ones) with cool tidbits such as "the average speed of a raindrop is 17 miles per hour."


Then we wrote 11 four-line stanzas with specific instructions for using the facts and referencing back to the previous stanzas. It was amazing how they cohered around some facts-- just like-- as we learned-- snowflakes have to cohere around a spec of dirt (completely pure water = no snow) or sand dunes that need seaweed in order to form. 


Mine was around facts, timetables and distances on a drive to Skye. And my poem became a fictitious, yet oddly truthful, carpool to Skye with all my favorite people. Here is a bit of it:

"You'll pass Eilean Donan," she said,

"Where six sisters live,

And all the furniture

was crane-lifted in."

The drive to Skye 

takes six hours by car

unless the deer

are out in the moonlight

I can hold a steering wheel

but not a pen, for too long

because of the long scar

on my ring finger

"Unlucky for a writer," she said,

"Not to be able to hold a pen,

but you get off easy

with Tennessee Williams as  your cousin."

How long until Ardverikie?

How long until Portree?

An hour and a half,

Six hours...unless there's deer

Jacob said he was going to send the steps, and when he does, I'll give them to you. I highly recommend basking in the sun and writing a long poem. That's a fact.