Creative Writing Workshop at Whitleigh Words Festival

A sincere thank you to everyone who came along to the Japanese Poetry Workshop on Saturday 4 July 2015 as part of the Whitleigh Words Festival.  A group of people who barely knew each other were blended and revitalized by studying some of the methods of Haiku, Tanka, Haibun and Renga.  This was just a brief introduction into the mysteries of Japanese poetry but one which was enjoyed by all.  We also took time to explore and discuss the history of Japanese literature and the ancient culture which supports it.  It is a complex subject and not one which can be fully analysed in a couple of hours but I trust the handouts helped.

Sincere thanks to Sandy Wager, Organizer of the Whitleigh Words Festival for her succinct administration of this event and other activities going on in Whitleigh.   Don't forget folks that Whitleigh has been a thriving suburb of Plymouth for 65 years.  In fact the key reason for the Festival was to celebrate that era of time from when the first foundation stones were laid.  Prior to that, Whitleigh was sprawling farmland consisting of many green acres and traditional farm buildings.

Sadly Whitleigh Hall was knocked down just after the war which is a pity because like most manor houses in Plymouth, it would have enhanced the currently desired City of Culture status very well. But in those immediate post-war years, like all the Plymouth based manors, it was seen as a sign of capitalist living and not emblematic of socialism, so down it came.  And now the Council want to apply for City of Culture status ... when the backbone of its history was wilfully destroyed .... by the .... Council ... while they keep the grotty Civic Centre Council House (circa late 1950s) standing as a listed building.  You couldn't make it up if you tried.

P.S.  I'm glad they don't work for me.

Let's Start Looking At Haiku ...

Let us start looking at Haiku.  That small but philosophical piece of poetry in the 5-7-5 syllable count which gives a snapshot of a moment in time. Here are some I did earlier (as they say) ...

Summer morning dawns
as gulls sweep glittering seas
Plymouth awakens

Vast skies unfold blue
above a river's strong flow
which stills each poet

Each snowdrop wavers
in woodland green glades of dew
February gems

A silent world waits
over a golden seabed
yet above there's storms

(c)  Ruth Snell
2015

Look forward to meeting the fellow creative writers at Whitleigh very soon.

Ruth

Looking at Japanese Poetry

In due course I will be running a workshop as part of the Whitleigh Words Festival 2015 on Japanese Poetry.  Below is a poem which caught my eye several years ago and was written by Tamura Ryuichi, Japan's most popular modern poet:

A Man Who Writes a Poem

A man who writes a poem
floats in space
No one can tell
where the buoyancy comes from

A man who writes a poem
is like a pianist
whose hands are already moving
before the key's been chosen consciously
His hands precede him
His hands caught by the sound cannot escape
which is why they struggle

The sound guides the hands
and the hands
trying to escape the sound
drag him along
somewhere

    Where?

To see the shape
of a man writing a poem

Jump off the highest place in the world
upside down

And then your falling eye the wrong way up
might catch a glimpse
of a man writing a poem
floating in space
inside the gloom

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We will look at this and more traditional styles of Japanese Poetry.  Workshop details available through the Whitleigh Words Festival website.