This column by Tom Radzienda, an instructor in poetry and culture at Srinakharinwirot University, aims to encourage your interest and develop your skill in creating poetry. Poetry is a combination of visualisation, observation, imagination and creative use of language. Discover your poetic side, too!

January 14, 2003

Explore the colours of music

One way to prompt your poetic imagination is to spend quality time listening to music. This activity requires not only listening to music, but also tasting, smelling and touching music. This is an opportunity to discover new styles of music that are fresh to you, rather than listening to the same old stuff played over and over on the radio.

Borrow some music from a friend who has different musical tastes, go to the library or music shop and explore music that you've never before heard. You might experiment with music from other countries such as South Africa, Brazil or Russia. Try sampling different styles such as jazz, classical or opera. Investigate several different styles of music by various performers until you find music that is attractive to you. Bring the music home and listen closely to it throughout the week.

Music through all the senses

This poetic activity is to help you appreciate music through all of your senses rather than just your ears. Your imagination will work better if you select instrumental music without any lyrics to distract your interpretation.

After deciding on the music about which you would like to write, listen without any distractions. Close your eyes as you listen and imagine the colours of the music. Take notes on the music in colourful language.

Instrument	Colour
Piano	Pink and white colours, like a magnolia flower

Listen to the music again. This time, concentrate on imagining the taste and smell of the music. Do not force your imagination. Rather, let your imagination gradually respond with awareness of tastes and smells. Write down your observations of the music such as spicy, hot or sweet.

Instrument	Taste	Smell
Violin	Cotton Candy	Sugary

Listen once again, this time concentrating on touching the music. Imagine putting your hands and arms on the music as it plays. Observe the shape and texture of the music. Consider the vocabulary of shape such as square, round and long. Sense whether the music is rough like old wood or smooth as glass.

Instrument	Shape	Texture
Cello	Big, wide, wavy curves	Smooth like glass

After completing all of your poetic observations, use the most interesting lines and blend them together as in the following example:

John Coltrane, Tenor Sax

A man breathes into a saxophone
Jazz sexing its mouth like a duck quacking its bill
A decoy for the drummer
To smash sense into the cymbals

The world resonates

Mad trumpets play on
While bass notes stroll casually
All across the universe
Pulsing like the deepest stars

Of the origin

Play sensuous melodies on your lips
As an ivory indicates its lonely pitch
Seeking among the rhythms
A cause for celebration

The sax sweetens as it pours

Symphonic Poetry

A piece of music can be written for several different instruments to play together. Can you use the same technique with a poem? Write lines for several different "voices" in your poem in the same way that an orchestra is written for several instruments such as violin, cello, percussion and winds. You can use the poetry written in the exercise above, or create a fresh poem of your own choice.

Rehearse the poem as if you are the symphony itself. Consider ways of performing the poem with multiple voices. Ask your friends to join you.

First Voice	Second Voice	Third Voice	Fourth Voice
This is the poem	This is the poem	The white wind	Cold silence
------------------------	With a child’s touch	Whispers across the page	Frozen steel
Where the wind	Where the child	------------------------	Where the ice
-------------------------	Whispers	Whispers, whispers	Whispers, whispers
And the gentle touch of silence	Gentle	Touches	Cold silence
Silences the soul	Sweet Silence	Whispers	Touches the soul

Performance

Unless you have multiple personalities with multiple voices, and you are an expert in multi-tasking, this kind of poem can be quite difficult to perform by yourself. One option is to tape record yourself reading each of the voices of the poem and then blending all of the tracks together.

A more fun option is to perform your symphonic poem with several friends. Each friend performs one of the voices as you ‘conduct’ the poem. You may decide to revise the poem while it is being performed.

The finished poem

The poems presented in this column truly need to be shared with a live audience. If you’re at school, it would be interesting to perform in front of your classmates. For those writing on their own, try performing for friends or family at home. Play the music and let your audience feast on your musical poetry.

Tom Radzienda is an instructor in poetry and culture at Srinakharinwirot University. Visit his poetry column at www.bangkokpost.com/poetry

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