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Poetics

Louise E. Sawyer

Create a Magnetic Poetry Kit

I use a metal cabinet to play with my words. Of course, anything metal will work. A neat gift idea is to put the words in a small metal box. If the lid of the box is big enough, your friend can use the inside of the lid to create poems.

What You Need to Get Started:

1. Magnets

Go to your favourite craft store or the craft section of your favourite department store, and ask about their magnet products. Most stores have sheets of magnets and rolls of magnets. I've used both kinds. Usually the sheets are thinner than the rolls. I prefer the sheets, which are painted white. You don't need the self-sticking kind. [They are excellent for making photo magnets for the refrigerator]

2. Tin or metal box

If you have a cookie tin which you would like to recycle, this is a good opportunity to do so. Also, many dollar stores have metal boxes. They usually have scenes on the outside and are often available in a number of shapes and sizes.

3. Metal board as background (optional)

People use all kinds of backgrounds for making magnetic poems. Here are some ideas, but you'll likely come up with others. I use a large metal cabinet in my office area. Sometimes I've used a TV tray. The lid of the metal box is another handy background. A metal needlework board works great.

4. Creative ideas for lists of words

You might wish to focus on one theme for your words. However, to get you started, here is a list of common words to consider. You won't need them all for a beginning kit. You'll likely think of others I've missed. To start, aim to make 100 words. But you'll probably want 200 before you are finished. Of course, the number is limitless, and you can always add to your kit.

• Creative verbs: sing, dance, paint, write, create, draw, play, mimic, act, dream.
• Active verbs: jump, startle, race, run, skip, drive, stand, blow, shout, bite, wave.
• Body verbs: yawn, bite, eat, listen, see, smell, taste, touch, hear, breathe.
• Sensing verbs: moan, groan, bang, bump, cry, tingle, shiver, clang, laugh.
• Feelings: sad, joyful, happy, angry, loving, desperate, hopeful, peaceful, grieving.
• Sensing nouns: velvet, satin, perfume, bell, incense, herbs, vanilla, chocolate.
• Body nouns: hand, arm, fingers, head, throat, heart, body, leg, foot, toes.
• Connectors: and, or, but, as, when, like, is.
• Prepositions: in, to, of, into, for, by, at, on, upon, before, under, with.
• Articles and Adjectives: the, a, an, some, few, many, great, small, large, soft.
• Colours: yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, navy, aqua, green, brown, black, white, violet, crimson.
• People: boy, girl, woman, man, baby, mother, father, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, parent, grandmother, grandfather, friend, partner, wife, husband.
• Food: apple, pear, cherries, juice, milk, coffee, crackers, fish, tofu, bread, cereal, oats, rice, carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, tea.
• Clothes: dress, shoes, jacket, pants, skirt, hat, blouse, slacks, suit, socks.
• Household: cup, plate, bowl, knife, fork, spoon, broom, laundry, garbage, hammer.
• Furniture: chair, table, cabinet, bookcase, bed, mattress, desk, couch, lamp
• Pronouns: I, we, he, she, they, me, them, him, her
• Jobs: writer, policeman, salesman, nurse, detective, therapist, actress, teacher, artist
• Animals: dog, cat, hamster, bird, fox, sheep, snake, goat, horse, butterfly, gull
• Nature: ocean, sea, forest, woods, trees, leaves, flowers, stones, water, rainbow, stars, oak, pine, rock, mountain, meadow, hill.
• Weather: sun, wind, raindrops, storm, hot, cold, hurricane, typhoon, snowy.
• Seasons: summer, fall, autumn, winter, spring.
• Time of Day: dawn, sunset, dusk, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night.
• Buildings: home, house, tent, office, store, bank, jail, prison, mansion
• Fantasy: dragon, angel, beast, elf, fairy, witch, monster, castle, knight, princess.

Don't forget to include a few special interest words and holiday words. Also, you can have fun writing lists of rhyming words, such as bird and word.

5. List of Letters: (optional)

You may wish to make a list of single letters of the alphabet to cut out, so that if you or your friend can't find the word you need, then you can add letters together to make words. Some letters, which may prove helpful are: a, e, h, i, l, m, n, o, r, s, t, u, w, y.

How to Make the Kit:

1. Cut strips of magnets 1/2 inch wide. Use kitchen or craft scissors.

2. Hand print words on the strips, leaving 1/2 inch between the words. An ordinary ballpoint pen, even pencil, will work. But you could get fancy and try various kinds of pens with different colours of ink, calligraphy fonts, etc. Markers will work on some surfaces.

3. Cut the words apart. Also, write a few letters and cut them out.

4. Try them out on the inside of the lid of the metal box, or on whatever metal background you wish. You're all ready to take one of the poetry courses! Or create a class of your own.

As you play around with the words and create first lines for your poems, or parts of poems, you'll find other words you want to make. If you have made letters, you can use them to fill in until you make other words.

5. Put them in the tin box.

6. If you are sending this kit to someone as a gift, you might want to write a card to accompany it, in order to explain what the kit is, and how to use it. You might even want to include a few blank magnetic pieces, so that your friend can add her own word interests.

With a little creative brainstorming, I'm sure you can find other ways to play with magnetic words, as well as writing poetry. Use a metal cabinet near your computer to create plot sentences for your novel; log line for your screenplay; first sentence of a scene; and prompters to get you started writing anything at all.

Can't wait to play?

Here is a click and drag diversion at Electro Magnetic Poetry:

http://www.phys.ocean.dal.ca/~dwalsh/myPoetry.html

Enjoy!

Louise E. Sawyer

copyright (c) 2002 Louise E. Sawyer

Louise lives in Victoria, B.C. and has always had a love for words. Poetry is the genre which often naturally appears when she writes in her journal or on her computer, but also as she plays with magnetic words on her metal cabinet.