The Poem as Home

Time yourself as you write in some way (with a timer, the length of a song, or the length of a page). Write for roughly 10 minutes in response to the following prompt. Try to write for the whole time, without stopping, in sentences, with no line breaks. Work to get all of your thoughts on the page, without worrying about what you are writing, or how. It is encouraged to follow wherever your mind leads.

Writing Prompt:

• Write down everything you know about your home. This may or may not be a house. This may or may not be where you live in the present.
• What do you love about your home?
• What is difficult about your home?
• What questions do you have about your home?

Read the following poems:

• Sandy Florian, "House"
• Britteney Black Rose Kapri, "We House"
• Denise Levertov, "What My House Would Be Like If It Were A Person"
• Camille Rankine, "The Current Isolationism"
• Natasha Tretheway, "Housekeeping"

Questions to consider in writing, or in discussion with others:

• How do these poets define their houses? How do they define home?
• What is the difference between a house and a home?
• What do the details about the houses tell you about the people who live in them? The homes?
• For each of these poems, is the form of the poem (how the poem looks on the page) connected to the type of home described?

Assignment:
Write a poem about your home. Think about how your poem looks on the page. Is there a connection between the home you are describing and how your poem looks, the language you use, or the sounds that repeat? Try to structure your poem on the page in a way that amplifies or complicates your description of home.