An update from our forty-sixth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, October 22, plus some of the output published below This week Emma Hoff, 10, led her third class since joining the Stone Soup workshops, and taught us all about the form poem known as the Villanelle. First, we went over the requirements of a villanelle: A villanelle has 6 stanzas First five stanzas have three lines Last stanza has four lines First and last line of each stanza rhyme First and third line of te first stanza repeat alternately in following stanzas as the final lines, until they both appear in the final stanza The four villanelles we read were “The House on the Hill” by Edward Arlington Robinson, “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, “The Waking by Theodore Roethke, and “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas. In all four poems, we noted that the poets had the option to play with the form by using off-rhymes and sometimes they didn’t adhere to the rhyme scheme at all. The Challenge: Write a poem in the form of a villanelle. It can be about anything you like and you should feel free to tweak the structure of the poem. The Participants: Anushka, Benedetta, Savi, Arjun, Aditi, Samantha, Robert, Alice, Allie, Russell, Shelley, and led by Emma Quiet Night Emma Hoff, 10 It’s a quiet night, alone, ashes on the ground instead of leaves, cities turned to bone. A voice, speaking over the phone, the little girl, laughing, it’s a quiet night, alone. The scraggly pyramid shaped like a cone, in front of which sits the hunched old man, cities turned to bone. On the clock the time is shown, you sigh and admit its existence, it’s a quiet night, alone. You need to go home, but you chew on your pen, cities turned to bone. You want to write one more poem, but you can’t think of anything to say, it’s a quiet night, alone, cities turned to bone.
weekly
Saturday Newsletter: October 29, 2022
Drift (Sony a5100) by Anna Koontz, 13; published in Stone Soup September 2022 A note from William Rubel Dear Friends— An update: continuing website improvements! The Stone Soup team has been working for months with britecode, our web design and development firm, to make our site easier to navigate as well as more beautiful. We’re very proud of the new homepage launched some weeks ago. We recently completed the new landing page for the magazine. I encourage you to visit the page and enjoy the linked writing—the stories, poetry, and memoir—and art! Anna Koontz’s dreamlike photograph is not the only photograph Stone Soup has published that rewards contemplation. We have two more big pages to go in our revision process. They are the blog and classes pages. Improving these pages is important to us and Stone Soup’s future as we begin to market Stone Soup’s website to teachers to use in their creative writing programs. We will begin our Annual Drive within the next few weeks and are looking for sponsors to help with this redesign project. Each page will cost in the neighborhood of $3,000. If you would like to sponsor a page, please write to finance@stonesoup.com All my best, William’s Weekly Project A dream, a sigh. Anna Koontz’s photograph captures the ineffable. A wisp, a gesture, it takes us into the realm of shadows dancing by the candlelight, clouds blown by the wind, shape-changing. Anna’s photograph is like a poem, a haiku, capturing an instant in time. I’d like you to look at this picture for some moments, letting your eyes follow the gorgeous curves of the smoke. Congratulations, Anna, for finding this flash of beauty, this emanation from the spirit world! As you, our newsletter readers, view this photograph, let it speak to you and jot down your impressions. They may be very different from mine. Then, sit down and describe what you see around you. They can be small observations, like a spider in its web in the corner of the windowsill or your cat curled up sleeping. Try to capture what you see as mysteriously and succinctly as Anna did in her photograph. And as always, if you like your creation, please submit it for possible publication in the magazine. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
Saturday Newsletter: October 22, 2022
The Fall Impression (gouache) by Serena Li, 10; published in Stone Soup October 2022 A note from Laura This week I’d like to draw your attention to Olivia Lee’s piece of short fiction, “The Note.” For me, this piece perfectly combines a sense of mystery and intrigue that carries the story and makes you want to read what happens next, with an attention to detail—a kind of deep observation—that allows you to imagine yourself at the center of the narrative. As I read this story, I want to know the narrator better. How did she discover the tree, and why is she so certain that the mysterious girl she discovers there wouldn’t want to be her friend? I also want to know more about the mysterious girl. Where did she come from? Why is she there? Did she leave the note alerting the narrator to the hunters? But despite the mystery that the narrative holds, there’s much that I can relate to and imagine clearly, like the appeal of the tree itself with its soft patches of grass beneath and the solitude it affords. Aside from the sharp detail provided in the story, another tool the author uses to help plant the reader in the center of its setting is the use of second person narration. The author uses this narrative style briefly and effectively in the second paragraph. Lee writes: If you felt the grass, you knew that it was very soft. When gazing up, you would see many birds of different shapes and colors sitting on the high branches. You would feel safe under the tree, like it was protecting you from bad things. Using this technique, the author transforms “you,” the reader, into a character in the story, steering you to experience the unfolding narrative firsthand. This weekend, I invite you to try using second person narration in a piece of writing. Play with this style of narration to see how it affects the tone of your writing and how it can act to immerse the reader more deeply in your story. Until next time, A New Magazine Page We are delighted to announce the launch of a new magazine landing page on our website! The new page makes it easier to navigate to the current issue, our archives, and past artwork and writing, all from a central location. We very much appreciated your patience during its preparation and testing phases. Be on the lookout for more exciting revisions to stonesoup.com in the coming months! From Stone Soup October 2022 The Note By Olivia Lee, 10 The path that led to the tree went zigzag, but it wasn’t very long. It had slight curves with small bumps. It was like a stone platform, with barely any cracks. But what was really a sight was the tree. It was a very tall one, its leaves dark green as ripe cucumbers. The branches curled softly, like breezes tickling waves into the air. Under the tree was a spot to sit, with patches of grass covering the dirt. If you felt the grass, you knew that it was very soft. When gazing up, you would see many birds of different shapes and colors sitting on the high branches. You would feel safe under the tree, like it was protecting you from bad things. You would sit there for a long time, but then it would be time to go. The patches of grass would sit still, hoping you would come again. I only saw someone else come once. She was a girl, one who sat quietly under the tree by herself. Often, she would fling one of her long legs over a thick branch while the other leg stayed hopelessly on the ground. I tried to say “Hi,” but before I could, the girl went off into the forest behind the gates to the left of the tree. I wanted to follow her but decided not to because if she saw me, she wouldn’t want to be my friend. I sighed. I came to visit the tree whenever I had time left in my day. Even if I had only a few minutes, I wouldn’t miss a single moment to come to the stony pathway. I’d come here before breakfast, before school, before anything, or after anything. But sadly, I had no one to bring with me. I’d ask my mother, but she was always busy knitting with her sharp darning needle or busy dealing with my sister, who was always running around. I’d ask my father, but he was too busy changing into his work clothes. I’d ask my sister . . . actually, I wouldn’t. She would be too loud and energetic to sit under a quiet, peaceful tree, and people would be annoyed. I’d ask my friend Cindy, but she was just like my sister. Talkative and energetic. I wanted someone who would enjoy the tree with me. …More Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
