Counterpoint; TheExcercise...

COUNTERPOINT
THE EXCERCISE

Survey

Imaging

Horizontal topography

Typology

Morphology

Semiology

Stereotype

Construction

Scanning and reconstruction

Scanning and construction

BUILD DATABASE

1. Between what I see and what I say
the color of language
the sound of form

1. Some poetic devices
1. alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds
2. assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds [English: a-e-i-o-u]
3. imagery: words or phrases that appeal to any sense or any combination of se
of feeling; images work by association
4. metaphor: a comparison between two objects with the intent of giving clear
Often forms of the “to be” verb are used to make a comparison, such as “is
5. onomatopoeia: the use of words that imitate sound
6. personification: a figure of speech that endows animals, ideas, or inanimate
abilities
7. meter: the recurrence of patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables
8. simile: a comparison between two objects using a specific word or comparis
“than.”
9. rhyme scheme: the sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first end sound
the second as “b,” and so forth.

nses; used to express a quality
er meaning to one of them.
” or “was.”
objects with human traits or
on such as “like,” “as,” or
is represented as the letter “a,”

3. Onomatopoeia
ON POETRY
by Juan Gelman, from Unthinkable Tenderness
translated from the Spanish by Joan Lindgren
a couple of things have to be said /
that nobody reads it much /
that those nobodies are few and far between /
that everyone’s caught up in the world crisis / and
with the business of putting food on the table /
and that’s no small problem / I remember
when my uncle juan died of hunger / he used to say
no problem since he’d forgotten how to eat anyway /
but the problems came later / when
there was no cash for the coffin /
and when finally the official truck came from the city
to take him away uncle juan turned into a bird /
the guys from the city looked at him with contempt / complaining
they were always being given a hard time / that
they were men and men was what they buried / and not
birds like uncle juan / especially
since unc was singing cheep-cheep all the way to the municipal
crematorium /
which to them seamed like a disrespect they didn’t like one bit /
and when they slapped him to shut him up /
the cheep-cheep was heard in the cab of the truck and even their ears

ang with cheep-cheep /
that’s how uncle juan was / always singing /
and he didn’t see that death was any reason to stop singing /
he even went into the oven singing cheep-cheep / and some chirping
rose up from his ashes for a while /
and the city guys stared at their gray shoes in shame / but
to get back to poetry /
poets are having a rough time of it these days /
nobody reads poetry much / only a few nobodies /
the profession has lost is prestige / it’s getting harder every day for
a poet /
to get a girl to fall in love with him /
to run for president / to get credit at the grocery store /
to get some warrior to perform heroics to be sung / or
some king to pay three pieces of gold per verse /
and no one knows if this is because we’re running out of girls /
grocers / warriors / kings /
or just poets /
or the two things at once and there’s no use
racking your brains over the question /
in the strangest of circumstances /
uncle juan after he died / and now me
so that you’ll love me /

3. Meter
WE REAL COOL
Seven Players at the Golden Nugget
by Gwendolyn Brooks, from Blacks
We real cool, we
Left school, we
Lurk late, we
Strike straight, we
Thin gin, we
Sing sin, we
Jazz June, we
Die soon.

4. Select a poem and retell it
mimicking a form
finding your voice
5. Visualizing the verbal
the power of language and the essence of form
and / or
the essence of language and the power of form
6. From poetry to prose
quality of being: inventing a character
raison d’être: premise and purpose
7. Storytelling
persona and place
ideology and actions
8. Visualizing the verbal
character portrait as triptych: who – why – how

2 exam

ples

English version
G-sus Tokyo rock
the evening reggae roemba,
my parade of heels, glitter-strap
a shiny sound, who is this beautiful
man, understanding toyota
sultry beat, but I proud giraffe
baby, dancing so solitary
G-sus Tokyo rock
the morning:
totally not armani
from behind the counter, there
the last nail for a Lady
mug hair tickles, coco-nut oil
bara bara, I see you
man, thoughtfull mercedes
sultry beat, but I, proud giraffe
baby, dancing so solitary
G-sus Tokyo rock

G-sus Tokyo rock,
de avond reggae roemba,
(mijn parade van hakken, glitter-riem)
een glimmend geluid, wie is die mooiste
man, begrijpende toyota
zwoele beat, maar ik giraffe trots
baby, ben zo eenzaam dansen
G-sus Tokyo rock
de ochtend:
helemaal nie armani
vanachter de balie, daar
de laatse nagel voor mevrouw
kroeshaar kietelt, kokosolie
bara bara, ik zie jou
man, begrijpende mercedes
zwoele beat, maar ik giraffe trots
baby, ben zo eenzaam dansen
G-sus Tokyo rock

Scanning _ sel

ections _ Day

Scanning _ sele

ctions _ Night

Or/A

nd:

Diamant _

Now&Wow

Diaman

t _ Car

Diamant

_ Trash

Scanning _

selections

Or/A

nd:

COUNTERPOINT
THE EXCERCISE