Welcome to your monthly poetry writing exercises, written by Kylie Thompson, and inspired by Anxious in a Sweet Store by Anna Jacobson (Upswell Publishing 2023).
Kylie Thompson (she/her) is a street press and creative writer based in Queensland. Shortlisted for the 2020 Thomas Shapcott Prize, Kylie’s poetry appears in Cordite’s ‘Chewing on a Ruby Passport’, on Instagram as @wildkatpoetry and in an upcoming anthology from Unravelling Cryptid Press.
Anna Jacobson is an award-winning writer and artist from Brisbane. Amnesia Findings (UQP, 2019) is her first full-length poetry collection, which won the 2018 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. In 2020 Anna won the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing and was awarded a Queensland Writers Fellowship. In 2018 she won the Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award. Her poetry chapbook The Last Postman (Vagabond Press, 2018) was published as part of the deciBel 3 series. She has been a finalist in the Brisbane Portrait Prize, Blake Art Prize and Marie Ellis Prize for Drawing. Her website is www.annajacobson.com.au.
Book cover artwork: Anna Jacobson, Allsorts Adagio for Xylophone, 2022.
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Poetry writing prompts:
As in the poem ‘Anxious in a Sweet Store’, tell the story of a relationship in a collage poem or series of small narrative poems. Don't just focus on the positive moments.
In ‘Anxious in a Sweet Store', Anna speaks of a loss without ever truly naming it, letting readers infer an ending. In your poem, give readers clues but no clear answers about an important element of the story you're telling, and let them fill in the details. Bonus points if you include unusual or unexpected symbolism or metaphor.
I love the formatting of ‘Cake Music’. Technically the poem is two columns, but the gap between them changes with each line, making it look like the cracks formed in cakes while they cook. In your poem, try to have the format or shape of the poem reflect its contents.
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