For beginners to seasoned poets, here's your chance to get back to the basics.
Basically, I was looking up "poetry challenges" and about all I could find were the 30 days of poetry stuff, but then I stumbled on a workshop file, which looked pretty interesting. And from there the "crash course poetry term" was born.
So basically you sign up, start at the first class and work your way down to graduation.
Ready for school? Remember, all entries have to be poetry (and reviews for poetry)
Class 1: Reading Poetry
The best way to get into poetry is to read it, and read it properly.
Task: to pick a poem from our archive and read it. As proof that you have read it, you're required to leave a review of at least 30 words and at least one specific. In other words, this review must meet review-tag requirements.
Bonus: review poem that currently has no other reviews
Class 2: Warm Up Exercises
Now, time to get into the writing. You have three tasks to chose from. You only need to do two to pass this class.
Task 1: make a list of your favourite things. Let them stew for a while, then pick a few and brainstorm them. Come up with ideas, thoughts, even random sentences. Pick things from that and tie it together into a rough outline, then add things in between and all around to pad it up into your first poem. Or, if you think you can do that in your head, pick a favourite thing and just write a poem on it.
Task 2: look up a colour chart, one that comes with names as well. Pick an unusual one. Think about shades, differences, where the colour is found/used...and then go wild. What thoughts is that colour spurring in your mind? Write a poem based on what you're thinking while looking at that colour.
Task 3: pick a a shape - something simple, like a triangle. Think of all the different things it could be: a boat, a hat, a stand, a pair of bikini bottoms...you get the point. Think outside the box. Think metaphorically. Create a "self-portrait" of that shape you initially chose.
Bonus: do all three tasks.
Class 3: What Sounds Right
Pick a poem you've already written, preferably not the most recent one. Now it's time to rewrite that.
Task: Cut your poem into bite-sized pieces. Now, put it back together in a way that sounds right to you, without looking at the original piece. You can use filler words/phrases as the cellotape. Now see how it differs from your original.
Bonus: if the way you rearranged your poem completely changes its second genre (since your first is "poetry".
Class 4: Summarising an episode/chapter
A straight-forward poem.
Task: write out a series of dot-points summarising a chapter or an episode...or some other breakdown of your fandom which I'm not thinking of right now. Now, string that into a poem. Reword your dot-points. Re-order them perhaps. Flesh them out or cut them down. Add a bit of filler. But tell that entire story in your poem.
Bonus: if the events you mention aren't chronologically laid out in your poem.
Class 5: Objects Having a Chat
Time to move on to the slightly harder stuff: giving objects a voice.
Task: pick an object, and personify it. Take a look at a few examples, like Mirror by Sylvia Plath, to help you out. Give that object a voice. Make it speak out to humanity. For example, make an alarm be happy it can warn people, or be sad it's always set off by burning food and then switched off like a worthless thing.
Bonus: none
Class 6: Not Being Straight-Forward
In other words...metaphors!
Task: your job is to not be obvious. The clouds are cotton candy. The beach is a sponge. Patamon's a pig. I dunno, just make something up! Describe something, but don't use the word "like" and don't be plain.
Bonus: if you don't mention what you're describing in the poem, and yet a reviewer has been able to guess what it was.
Class 7: The Five Senses
Remember them? Sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. Pick a minimum of three, and go ahead.
Task 1: Look at something: a scene, an object, whatever. Write what comes to mind, then thread that together into a poem.
Task 2: Smell something: herbs, food, perfume etc. Write what comes to mind, then thread that together into a poem.
Task 3: Listen to something: birds, a song etc. Write what comes to mind, then thread that together into a poem.
Task 4: Taste something: food, tablets or something. Write what comes to mind, then thread that together into a poem.
Task 5: Touch something: from pillow to stone. Write what comes to mind, then thread that together into a poem.
Bonus: do all five.
Class 8: Being Praiseworthy
Time to scream out your passions
Task: Think about something you love. Write your heart out, poem-style. Make readers sense that passion.
Bonus: if you made someone who read this cry (or claim they cried)
Class 9: Starting to Teach
More confident in poetry now? Well, time to show that with another R&R-ing. But this time...
Task: read a collection from the archive. Review at least two entries in that collection. All reviews must meet the same requirements as Class 1.
Bonus: collection with more than 10 poems
Class 10: The Final Test
Can you think of anything you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole? Got that thing in your head? Good.
Task: write about that thing you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Get outside your little comfort zone.
Bonus: none
and...Graduation !!! Congratulations for completing the crash course poetry term.