Happy birthday
Happy Birthday to the excellent poet, James Joyce. Joyce was born on February 2nd, 1882 in Dublin. He is most well-known for his novels Portrait of a Young Man as an Artist and Ulyssess as well as his numerous books of poetry. And, if this picture is anything to go by, a really snappy dresser.
Here's one of his poems:
Flood
by James Joyce
Gold-brown upon the sated flood
The rock-vine clusters lift and sway:
Vast wings above the lambent waters brood
Of sullen day.
A waste of waters ruthlessly
Sways and uplifts its weedy mane,
Where brooding day stares down upon the sea
In dull disdain.
Uplift and sway, O golden vine,
Thy clustered fruits to love's full flood,
Lambent and vast and ruthless as is thine
Incertitude.
Here's one of his poems:
Flood
by James Joyce
Gold-brown upon the sated flood
The rock-vine clusters lift and sway:
Vast wings above the lambent waters brood
Of sullen day.
A waste of waters ruthlessly
Sways and uplifts its weedy mane,
Where brooding day stares down upon the sea
In dull disdain.
Uplift and sway, O golden vine,
Thy clustered fruits to love's full flood,
Lambent and vast and ruthless as is thine
Incertitude.
Free Writing rules
- Keep your hand moving for the whole time (if you get stuck repeat the last thing until something new comes to mind).
- Lose control.
- Be specific. For example, the shiny black car with neon lights that seemed to change colour every 5 seconds.
- Don’t think.
- Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or punctuation.
- You are free to write the worst junk in the universe. No one judges free writing, they just appreciate it.
- Go for the jugular. Go for the kill. (If you feel like you are not really saying anything, and you want to get deeper. Try writing “what i really want to say is…” and then keep going.)