Clifford Liles has won, been placed or shortlisted in many poetry competitions. His work has been published in magazines and he is currently preparing his debut chapbook featuring a thematic selection from his over sixty sonnets.
Attention!
“Oi”, the dock worker stopped me, “where’s my money?”, his breath frosting out on “money” and stood solid before me in his grease-stained AC/DC T-shirt. This could be the first line of a thriller. It helps establish a setting without telling. It hooks the attention of the reader. Something that that may be difficult for … Continue reading Attention!
The Song of the Sonnet
For thousands of years poetry has endured as an oral expression, holding up a mirror to the human condition. From the early poets of ancient civilisations to a modern slam poetry session, the tapestry of sound rings out in performance. Spoken rhymes and rhythms facilitate poetry’s power to move. Between English poetry and Western music … Continue reading The Song of the Sonnet
2019 Summary
If you recall my last blog finished with a mention of breaking rules but in an informed way. At the last session of the SaveAs Writers monthly meeting, I read out my sonnet Seen Through a Prism of People. This was an example of a new form of sonnet that I have devised with a … Continue reading 2019 Summary
The Volta
A sonnet may juxtapose two contrasting ideas to generate interest or emotion. Where can you place this join? Right at the end might work, like a punch line in a joke, a big reveal. Shakespeare did this to such an extent the trick was named after him. In this blog, let’s look at where else … Continue reading The Volta
First Version
You can write a poem in fifteen minutes. A common poetry workshop exercise is to start from some inspirational object or image handed around the participants. Each puts their hand into an envelope and pulls out a photograph. Of an ice-like quartz crystal. Of a misty water-meadow. Or perhaps of the Mona Lisa. Then each … Continue reading First Version
