So, here we are at the final five poems in the “Another Affair with Water” series. I’ll be honest. I was not sure I’d make it through 28 connected collage poems. But I did and my little red book has gained a few ounces.

At this point, I started really thinking about how to tie up any loose ends within this series: my dear Fish King, Specter (Spectre), Light, Mistresses, Hearts, and Boats.

The pictures for this page are a little different this week. You’ll be seeing only process pictures, and no final images. Let’s start:

Step One: White out every word except the first. If the first word is not a word (such as ings or cially), that’s what you get, leave it. Leave the entire last line full.

Step Two: Find another article. Personally, I chose the first one that spoke to me. I liked the blue words, I liked the length, and I loved the title. The title of this article will be the title of this poem.

Alternate step two: If you prefer, you can basically stop here with the collage. Use the shell you have created (the line of words down the left margin) as the prompt for a written poem. Fill in the rest as needed with a pen (your own words). Leave this on the page in mixed media, or take it to a separate page in ink.

before-the-flood-1-2

Step Three: Start filling in those lines. Use as few words as possible. If you can leave a couple words on that left margin without adding anything, go for it. Feel free to put words to the right or left.

I handled the two odd words in two different ways:
“ings” was turned to Kings
“cially” was pasted over entirely (with tsunami, how appropriate).
I tried my hardest to turn that thing into a word, but it was destroying the whole poem… and that is NOT the point of these prompts.

When you make it to the last line, use any of the words you want to help you complete the poem.

See you next week.