A Monster of a Workshop
Unleashing Creativity with Words and Art
Our latest Monster Poetry workshop at Knowles of Norwood was a fantastical journey over the Easter Holiday. We reached deep down into the realm of creativity, meeting an enthusiastic group of young poets, budding artists and their supportive adults.
An Hour Packed with Creative Exploration
We kicked off with some inspiration, listening to poems written by a previous Monster Poetry workshop group.
We discussed the poet’s influential super-power to sway the thoughts and emotions of readers.
Using a set of sacred and ancient letter tiles (from my 1986 Scrabble set) we used our powers of divination to discover our monsters names.
Embracing fate, we allowed the random scribbles of chance to shape our monsters, while our imaginative and artistic talents added detail to these fantastic creatures.
From Words to Wonders
The talented young poets brought their creations to life using similes and metaphors to create powerful and vivid imagery. With the help of templates and word banks they carefully selected words that best captured the essence of their monstrous creations.
To finish the hour off we had a few excellent performances from some of our poets. Everyone involved had something to add to the whole experience and I thoroughly enjoyed working with you all!
Thank you to Saffy and everyone at Knowles of Norwood for hosting the workshop.
Brace Yourself… The Monsters Are Here!
The Tart by Zofia (9)
Beware! The Tart approaches!
It sprints from a swamp,
Its 2 eyes are rotten rabbits,
Its fangs are jagged marbles.
The creature nests in Streatham,
Sleeping in stinky trenches.
It wakes at dawn, burping about like an elephant.
Hungry, the Tart searches for food.
It eats rebellious leeches, lumpy poles,
Upside down bricks and metallic pies.
The Tart crushes bicycle tyres like pins,
It twists people like oranges.
It leaves nothing behind it except a trail of
Destruction and drab bowling pins.
The Tart doesn’t go to school,
It goes to the castle where it learns how to bite
By shouting at buildings, which isn’t how it’s supposed to be done
The Tart doesn’t care.
The Tart can’t speak English,
Instead it talks by curling and bloating.
Maybe if we listened, we could hear it saying,
“I’m very tired.”
The Loafs by Dexter (8)
Beware! the Loafs approaches!
It hovers from the void,
Its 53 eyes are uncountable,
Its teeth are sharper.
The Tyezfn by Robyn and Ida (both 9)
Terrible dagger like teeth with a horrible aroma,
Yellow, pink, purple - many colours on the wings,
Everybody who meets him will get slimed,
ZAP! He’s here with his red bow tie,
Flapping like feet with Batathon close by,
Never come close or that will be your last
❤️ heart red meat gets devoured.
The Tanadeoo by Fiona (Grown-up)
Hush Hush!
(All birds) stop tweeting.
(Humans) Silence the sound of your breath.
Beware the boom-de-boom bellow
Of your heart beating.
The Tanedeoo dines on such delights,
These nature’s calls.
With her strawberry juice lips,
Her four shark’s teeth claws
Deep-sea Spongebob square eyes
Licked with a trap of beauty’s lashes.
Her serpent tongue split in a trio of
Daggered slashes.
The Tanedeoo looks kind of kind,
But not so.
She has a nasty, nasty inside.
The Eige by Razin (7)
The Pest by Avan (7)
The Cloru by Dionne (Grown-up)
Cloru creeps through the cracks,
Leaching noxious fumes,
Oozing odious slime
Ready to render its victims
Unconscious from the stench.
