Monday Poetry Stretch - Recipe Poem

Lately I've been spending my evenings outside with a few trusty companions--my son, our dog, a notebook, my new fountain pen, and the book A Crow Doesn't Need a Shadow: A Guide to Writing Poetry From Nature. In the section Creating a Landscape, Lorraine Ferra shares a recipe poem and guides readers through the process of writing their own. Here's an excerpt.

Look through a cookbook. As you read the directions for several different recipes, write down the verbs which tell you what to do with the ingredients. Make a list of about ten or twelve different verbs. Keep in mind that you probably won't use all the verbs you find. Be selective for your poem.

Some possible subjects might be a recipe for a cave, foggy morning, a bird refuge, a season or particular month, a moonlit field, a river, or a sunset. Once you decide on your subject, start listing some ingredients.

Elaine from Wild Rose Reader is a master at recipe poems. Here are the directions she shares for writing them.

Directions for Writing Recipe and How to Make… Poems

• Write each direction in a separate sentence.
• Begin each sentence with a carefully selected verb.
• Try to use a different verb in each sentence.

You can read more at her post Recipe & How to Make ... Poems, Part II. This, of course, means there is also a post entitled Recipe & How to Make ... Poems, Part I.

So, there's your challenge for the week. Write a poem in the form of a recipe. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.