Showing posts with label I love Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I love Poetry. Show all posts

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Why I Love Poetry

By Laurie Epps

I've told this story before, but today I'll uncover what elements of poetry make it so endearing to me.

So join in, and let me know why you love poetry in the comments sections below. I'd love to hear from you.

Happy New Years everyone! I couldn't have done this without all of you.

Blessings,
Laurie

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Words in Their Natural Habitat

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

Words in Their Natural Habitat


Poetry is the natural use of words, even more natural than expressing facts. In fact, the word “expression” describes the purpose of poetry: it is used to communicate a feeling or idea in much the same way that a facial expression is.

The earliest human written document is poetry, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Like virtually all early human writing, this epic poem describes the relationship between man and the gods. Nearly every religion’s scriptures use poetry to communicate ideas about God.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Southern Summer Swelter

Intro by Laurie Epps

The sweltering summer heat in the Southern U.S. is notorious for being muggy with temps as high as the humidity. Nothing else is like a southern thunderstorm in the middle of July. Thunderstorms are often very loud, and give life to legends like God moving around his furniture or having a party in heaven. 

So break out your lawn chair, shorts, lemonade or sweet tea, and get comfortable. Play a little blues, and make sure to serve up some Carolina barbecue for this nostalgic type poem from our beloved Kenneth O'Shaunnessy.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Ebb and Flow of Love

By Laurie Epps

This past semester in my Art History class we had a creative writing option in lieu of our term paper assignment. Being a creative writing major, and completely burnt out on a thesis driven paper, I just embraced to express myself and my ideas in a different way.

Of all the portraits, Portrait of a Young Woman by Mary Louise Elisabeth really resonated with me. I imagined the subject of this French rococo painter to have the sweet and precocious nature of Marianne as in Sense and Sensibility of Jane Austen. So I just went with my idea, and much to my essay's delight. Please send a query to my email for a copy of this essay. Embedded in the essay, was a poem from her suitor. I will share with you his poem to her below.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

I Dreamed of You

By Laurie Epps

This May Column is dedicated to the moms who have lost a baby either in the womb or after birth.

Dreams. The moment you find out you are pregnant, you start dreaming about your baby. Everything from your baby's nursery, to what your child would look like are creeping into your every thought. Sometimes we even dream about what the baby grow to maybe become one day. All those dreams are lost the day your child is either miscarried, still born, or dies at a young age. It seems like such a tragedy. Share your dream with me in the comments section.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Recovery

Thoughtful Thursdays: A Poetic Column

April is National Poetry Month

Not all poetry is happy. I think of tragedy as leading to the most powerful and sublime of all poetry. We have all had our struggles. The first five years I lived in South Carolina, I was always sick. I grieved three miscarriages, and had numerous surgeries. This poem is a reflection about one of them.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Thoughtful Thursdays: A Poetic Column

On Good Friday 2007, I took my entire family down to see where my grandparents lived in the low-country of South Carolina. This was a reflective journey and a response to a story I had published about my tea parties in this old house with my beloved Grandmother. To view this story, click here Tea Time with Bammy


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Writing Sonnets




Happy Valentines Day! The most famous type of love poem is the sonnet. So today, I'd like to talk to you about what makes a poem a sonnet, and next week we will begin to talk about how to write a sonnet, and share some local authors contributions to the sonnet. This is not your Hallmark type greeting, instead it is an art form with a very different musical sound to it that resonates sentiment.


What is a sonnet? 
Sonnets were made popular by William Shakespeare. Generally speaking, most sonnets have 14 lines and four quatrains.





  • Sonnets have a very definite rhyme scheme. (Example: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG)
  • Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. This means that each lines contains ten beats (syllables). What makes it iambic is that they alternate stressed and unstressed syllables.




Four Quatrains:

1. First Quatrain: This should establish the topic of your sonnet. Rhyme scheme: ABAB (4 lines)

2. Second Quatrain: This should establish the theme of your sonnet. Rhyme scheme: CDCD (4 lines)

3.Third Quatrain: This should round of the theme of your overall sonnet. Rhyme scheme: EFEF (4 lines)

4. Fourth Quatrain: The soul purpose of the fourth quatrain is to act as a conclusion to the sonnet. Rhyme scheme: GG (2 lines)

So give it a whirl, and you'll be writing sonnets in no time. Next week, you'll learn how to write sonnets and there will be a poet showcased. For now, give it up to the guy that started it all. 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Writing Love Poems

Love Poems
With Valentines Day on the horizon, I thought it would be a cinch to teach you and your kids to write love poems like a pro. After many painful hours of research, I can tell you, that love poems, as famous as they are, aren't actually a separate form of poetry. But I can share with you some tips to get your poem going in the right direction.


Thursday, January 31, 2013

Thoughtful Thursdays: A Poetic Column

Hello. My name is Laurie Epps. I am a senior at Anderson University and I have been writing for most of my life. My first love of writing was Poetry, so it would stand to reason that my first real column would be devoted to the craft of words and alliteration that I love so much. I hope you will come back every Thursday to see my latest work, as well as, spend time to get to know different sorts of poetry with insightful columnists who will teach you how to write it yourself.

Just so that you learn a little more about me as a writer, I received my first poetry book when I was seven years old. I memorized nearly every verse, and I was captivated by the beautiful words of poetry. Through the colorful pictures and words rich in imagery, I escaped to another world.





This past Christmas, my dad sent me my beloved old Poetry book. I cried when I opened it. It was like a long lost friend. So much of my childhood was wrapped around it's words of rhyme.




When you open my poetry book, you can tell which verses were my favorites because of the acid stains from my hands on its pages. Every stain has a memory, and an imprint from my childhood. Inside the front cover, you can see where I wrote my name in cursive for the first time.











This poem in particular, I recited to my fourth grade class from memory. My teacher was delighted that I memorized such a long poem. She was also told my parents that the other students were on the edge of their seats listening to my poem. It was the first time I can remember feeling proud of myself in my young life.


I am so excited to take this journey with all of you. Come back every Thursday, and we will begin the conversation.

Sunflower Photobook

Sunflowers Captured By My iPhone 8 By Laurie Bower Epps I knew I was in need of headshots since my last photoshoot was in either 2012 ...