The act of composing a poem involves making creative decisions that sometimes are a mixture of conscious and unconscious influences. Creative decisions in poems can be identified through craft elements like images, symbols, figurative language and varying degrees of density in their meaning among others. These creative decisions generally tell us something about ourselves as writers, the worlds we interact with and the worldviews we possess. The purpose of a process analysis is to explore, unpack and make explicit why and how particular creative choices were made to compose a poem and what larger meanings they possess.
Prompt: Adapting your understanding of poetry from the reading, discussions and reflections on Craig Santos Perez’s [saina] from unincorporated territory, compose one poem that shows your relationship to a place or environment of significance to you. Afterwards, write a brief process analysis wherein you explicate and explain why you made the creative decisions you did in writing your poem and what larger aspects of the world and your experience you intended to address in writing.
Questions to Consider:
Poem:
· What form best represents my content? How will form affect the meaning of the poem? How will form communicate to a reader?
· What is your relationship to the chosen place? How are identity, politics, or other personal, social or cultural concerns connected to your experience of this place? How might you show this in writing?
· What craft elements of poetry might you utilize to compose this poem? What poems of Santos Perez’s do you find inspiring that you might emulate or adapt?
Process Analysis:
· What creative decisions did you make in composing this poem and how did you wish to address a place in a meaningful way?
· What themes, concerns or larger picture ideas related to politics, society or culture appear in this poem?
· What is your relationship to this place? How might this be reflected in the poem?
Evaluative Criteria:
· Exploration of craft elements and unit themes evident in writing
· Creative/analytic engagement in project
· Single poem reflective of the above concerns
· 3-4 page (double-spaced, MLA formatted) process analysis addressing the above concerns