Influenced by Others

Abstract Anxiety by Madison White

There were um, lights - different circles of red, white, purple, orange - 
filling non distinctive shapes. 

Then it shows you brushing through 
blurry grass;
your under someone’s feet
as feelings swell;
your rushing through clovers as the music 
builds 
your anticipation to nothing. 

There were plenty of light taps against 
metal,
mixed with the clattering of multiple cutoff 
sounds.
Multiple deep thumps like splashes underwater
Whooshes
thundering in your ears, almost like a train.
Sounds 
of grain being piled. The loud buildup clearly ended 
into a calm noise of a rice filled shaker.

This poem was written after watching Otavia – Abstract video art, which was posted on youtube by Anat Gutberg on April 2, 2016. You could go and watch it if you want to. (Other junior literary students have already seen it, but the link is above if you want to watch it again.) 

I wrote that poem as an attempt to replicate the sounds and images from the video. Abstract Anxiety is a free verse poem – I basically wrote my train of thought after watching  Otavia. 

A Small Child by Madison White 

Laying in your 
lap

A small 
child 

Wrapped in a 
blanket 

Their hand tight on your 
thumb

This poem, A Small Child, was also an imitation. The goal was to copy the format, or the stanzas, of The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams.

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

So I’m gonna end this post by saying this: using mentor texts is a really good way to experiment with your own writing style. Imitating a certain characteristic that you like of another author’s work is an easy way to expand your abilities and try something new. And you don’t have to imitate the same thing every time; you could imitate the topic, the tone, the message, the format, the word count, the line count – you can pick whatever you want to imitate!

Everybody has different strengths, and imitating others’ work is a great way to grow – and that applies to most everything! But don’t forget that even if imitating is a very helpful process, you still need to get creative and come up with your own!